{"id":443,"date":"2016-06-04T04:53:03","date_gmt":"2016-06-04T04:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=443"},"modified":"2017-05-30T14:29:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T14:29:15","slug":"here-we-go-into-the-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/06\/04\/here-we-go-into-the-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, June 4 Here We Go\u2014Into the Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>It was quite a challenge loading our packs this morning—we had all the usual stuff PLUS snowshoes and ice axe.\u00a0 But we figured it all out and headed to the train station for our ride back up to Cumbres Pass.\u00a0 Wow, was that fun!\u00a0 The engine huffed and chuffed its way along–according to the resident “docent”, it takes 2 1\/2 TONS of hand-shoveled coal to make it to the top!\u00a0 Then (with train passengers cheering for us) off we went on the CDT.\u00a0 It was nice trail at first (only some fallen trees and creek crossings) but then there was more and more snow, much on steep sidehills and in forest, where it was hard to see where to go.\u00a0 But we always found the trail again, and the views are spectacular–snowy mountains, deep valleys.\u00a0 It rained for a couple of hours.\u00a0 Tonight we are on a ridge at 11,6001.<\/p>\n

DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>Before breakfast this morning, we loaded up our packs–quite a challenge, with all the usual stuff, plus extra food, plus snowshoes and ice axe.\u00a0 I lashed my snowshoes to the top of the pack, where I could get at them easily.\u00a0 But when I lifted it up to try it on, oh man!\u00a0 Heeeeavy!<\/p>\n

Down in Chama, there was no snow at all; the morning was sunny and warm.\u00a0 We stuffed ourselves with a great breakfast, then went over to the train station to get our tickets for the ride back up to Cumbres Pass.\u00a0 ($25 each)\u00a0 Then Fixit went off to do last minute stuff, while I went to mail the journal and have one last “garden fix”.\u00a0 When we are hiking all summer, the one thing I miss is my garden–I grow pretty much all our veges and some of our fruit.\u00a0 So I really enjoyed seeing the vege garden preparations going on in people’s yards.\u00a0 I think every yard had a lilac bush in full bloom–beautiful!<\/p>\n

Lots of people were gathering at the train station, and I enjoyed talking to a “re-enactor” couple who come along to add a bit of late 1800’s “color” to the train ride.\u00a0 The guy re-enactor was dressed as a Texas Ranger, and his wife was with him.\u00a0 Finally came the call, “All Aboard!” and the train began chuffing its way up to Cumbres Pass.\u00a0 It’s a 4% grade, with only one engine, so that locomotive was really working hard!\u00a0 Docents came by periodically to tell us interesting tidbits.\u00a0 For example, it takes 2 1\/2 tons of HAND-SHOVELED coal to get the train up to the top of the pass.\u00a0 That means the fireman is lifting about 35 lb. of coal per shovelfull.\u00a0 Wow, he has muscles!\u00a0 Also, the black smoke coming out of the smokestack also contains many hot cinders (despite the screen designed to minimize them).\u00a0 So travelling along behind the train is a little “fire engine” that puts out all the fires that are started along the tracks by the fiery cinders.\u00a0 Apparently in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, when the railroad was busy serving the gold and silver mines, the trains all ran at night when everything was soaking wet with dew.\u00a0 That way the cinders died a dewy death and there were no fires.<\/p>\n

A costumed young guy walked into our passenger car and announced, “I’m Ranger Steve and I’m here to SHOOT you!”\u00a0 Then he brandished a camera.\u00a0 He then arranged people in family groups and took pictures.\u00a0 We declined, since we were getting off at Cumbres Pass.\u00a0 All the kids & parents\u00a0were having a great time–there was a snack car and an observation car, and the scenery was magnificent.\u00a0 When the train finally reached the pass, we were amazed to find that all the passengers waved at us and cheered as we got off.\u00a0 “Happy Trails!” they shouted (many were taking pictures of us) and we yelled back, “Canada, here we come!”\u00a0 Away went the train, and we faced our first challenge–finding the start of the trail.\u00a0 We’d been told it was down below the trestle, and yes!\u00a0 There it was, complete with a trail register!\u00a0 I decided to put on my SNOW gaiters, because it looked like soon we would be in the snow.<\/p>\n

At first the CDT was just regular trail, with an occasional fallen tree to climb over.\u00a0 Sometimes there were patches of snow.\u00a0 We went through three creek crossings–the last one was the hardest.\u00a0 I forded it, while Fixit crossed on a log.\u00a0 Gradually the snow patches grew larger, and the trail was winding and twisting uphill through forest.\u00a0 Finding the route was becoming harder.\u00a0 I began to feel a bit uneasy–“Oh no, here we go again, losing trail in the forest.”\u00a0 But God intervened.\u00a0 It was like He was saying to me, “Don’t be afraid.\u00a0 I’m with you–I will help you find your way, even here.”\u00a0\u00a0 So every time we spotted a bit of trail in the snow, I would mentally cheer, “THANK YOU!”\u00a0 to Him.\u00a0 Finally the snow was everywhere, and we put on our snowshoes for the first time.\u00a0 The route included several long sidehill traverses where a slip in the snow would mean a long fall to the bottom.\u00a0 Normally I find these very scary, but instead, I felt God’s peace and was able to just walk across OK.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, it began to drip ‘n drizzle, and that continued for some time.\u00a0 At one point, instead of snow, \u00a0we were crossing a clinky lava field, all shiny wet, but then it was back into deep snow and postholing.\u00a0 Sigh. This Colorado snow is so soft and mushy that snowshoes don’t really help much.\u00a0 It just means that when you posthole, you make a bigger hole.\u00a0 We lost the trail for awhile, then spotted it again and managed to get over to it.\u00a0 Up and up it went, switchbacking, to the top of a ridge where the wind was fierce.\u00a0 The trail immediately plunged down into the snow on the other side, but looking ahead, we saw that if we stayed on the ridge, we could reconnect with the trail up ahead and stay out of the snow.\u00a0 Fortunately, the rain had stopped and we were only dealing with wind.\u00a0 Wow, the views were spectacular!\u00a0Snowy mountains!\u00a0 Deep valleys!\u00a0 \u00a0We were WAY up high!<\/p>\n

At 7:15, we found a little hollow just below the top of the ridge, and (thank you, Lord!) the wind stopped while we were setting up our tent.\u00a0 Once we were inside the tent and in our sleeping bags, the wind returned, but we didn’t care.\u00a0 Here we were, at 11,600 feet, and so far we have managed OK, with God’s help.\u00a0 We will see what tomorrow brings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY:\u00a0 It was quite a challenge loading our packs this morning—we had all the usual stuff PLUS snowshoes and ice axe.\u00a0 But we figured it all out and headed to the train station for our ride back up to Cumbres Pass.\u00a0 Wow, was that fun!\u00a0 The engine huffed and chuffed its way along–according to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colorado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":983,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions\/983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}