21 days on trail

[strollingalong]

Of course I'd love to just do the whole thing, but 3 weeks is all I can take off work :/

But the weekend either end would allow me exactly 21 days on trail starting July 27th.

I'm an AT thru hiker in fairly decent shape and already live at altitude (7500). I like smashing down decent miles but I also want to take advantage of vistas and colorado's recent legal change so I don't think 23 mile days are realistic! haha. I averaged about 17 miles a day thru new england, but i caused myself a few problems with that schedule.

Where would be a realistic jump off points to get back to Denver for a return flight?

[strollingalong]

Which part of the trail is the most beautiful? Should I start at the beginning or jump ahead?

[bearcreek]

You are probably going to want to come back and finish it, so I would either start in Denver and hike as far as you can, or start in Breckenridge or Leadville and hike to Durango. That would leave you with a single contiguous piece to hike and finish when / if you come back.

[StubbleJumper]

I would try to get on the trail at Salida. It's relatively easy to get to, and the really nice part of the trail is south of there. From Salida, you could probably go all the way to Durango in 21 days, and if it looks like you'll be short of time, you can abort your hike in Silverton and just hitch to Durango.

[StubbleJumper]

You are probably going to want to come back and finish it, so I would either start in Denver and hike as far as you can, or start in Breckenridge or Leadville and hike to Durango. That would leave you with a single contiguous piece to hike and finish when / if you come back.

Starting in Breck would be nice too, but there's roughly 380 miles from Breck to Durango. It's possible to hike 380 miles in 21 days, but it's a quick pace with little latitude to take a zero day. Leadville would be a little better, but it's also pretty ambitious...

[strollingalong]

oh for another week! thanks

[Cookerhiker]

How are you at acclimating to high elevation? Starting in Breckenridge, you'll find yourself over 12,000' the first day. And BTW, while everyone raves about the south half (Segments 22-28, San Juans etc.), I thought the Elk Ridge stretch in Segment 8 was my favorite. This would be your second day out of Breckenridge.

I'd follow Bear Creek's suggestion and start in Denver, hike as far as you can. I haven't hiked the Collegiate West but I hear it's very rewarding. End at Rt. 50, get a ride to Salida, and shuttle back to Denver. Save the second half for your next hike.

[strollingalong]

Altitude isnt a problem. I live at 7500 feet all year round and regularly hike to 13000 in mountains surrounding mexico city.

I'm watching athru hike video on youtube and theyre raving (and video is amazing) about the mountains in the southern section. How about a northbound hike starting in durango? I want awesoe beauty.... who knows when I'll be back,

[strollingalong]

hmmm.... well it appears there is no bus service to durango and I'm going to buy things that can't fly in Denver

[bearcreek]

There is excellent bus service to Durango from Grand Junction via http://roadrunnerstagelines.com. You can get to Grand Junction by bus or train. The Durango bus and Greyhound use the same terminal in Grand Junction and schedules are timed so you can go to or from Durango and Denver in a long day.

[strollingalong]

ahhh.... thanks! wish I could do the whole bloody thing!

[map man]

Start in Durango and see how far you get. I'm sure you can find one way or another to get to Durango and away from your end point. This page at the Colorado Trail web-site has a section on transportation and shuttles:

http://www.coloradotrail.org/resources.html#transport

This web-site has a lot of helpful information that I used on my last CT section hike:

http://www.pmags.com/colorado-trail-end-to-end-guide-2

Nothing you buy in Colorado should leave Colorado. Don't be one of the nimrods giving "the man" reason to crack down on what Colorado has going. End of sermon.

[strollingalong]

Don't worry, my man, I'm no douche and will utterly respect such laws. I'm damn grateful for them, that's for sure!

[map man]

It looks like I misunderstood where your destination might be if you flew out of Denver. I apologize.

[StubbleJumper]

It looks like I misunderstood where your destination might be if you flew out of Denver. I apologize.

No, I think what he might have meant is that state regulations are a shade different than federal regulations. And the airport at Durango has federal luggage inspectors....

[hikeandbike5]

durango is a full service town, it has all the supplies you might need or want.

[strollingalong]

Ahhhh. No , I'm planning on arriving at denver then hiking then heading back. No flying Involved

[MuddyWaters]

ahhh.... thanks! wish I could do the whole bloody thing!

Leave...of...absence....

Seriously, one weeks pay(after taxes) and insurance cost,(you normally pay this in unpaid leave) is offset by the expense of going back to finish later.

[nickoli]

Personally, I would opt for the leave of absence plan...but, if you absolutely can't get one more week off then starting in Breck or Leadville and trying to finish. You could always bail in Silverton if you run out of time. The hitch from the airport to summit county is usually ridiculously easy with a sign at baggage claim. It's right off of I70 and once you're there you can bus around, or hitch to leadville, or all the way down to salida. There's lots of traffic on hwy 24 in the summer, and it's really the only road. I did segments 9 (tennessee pass) and 10 this past summer when I was in leadville, and that would be a pretty good entrypoint.

I guess it all depends on how fast you want to travel. I hadn't really trained at all, and had never backpacked long distance in my life and I covered the seventysomething miles to Kenosha pass in only 4 days. My pack weight with food/water was right around 28lbs.

I did the sections from denver to kenosha pass in 2012, and am planning on taking the 4-5 weeks and doing the whole thing this summer. Deciding between ~august or ~june still, when were you thinking of going? It's really hard for me to want to do sections 1-5 over again, but the ocd in me says I have to. So at this point I'm planning on leaving from Denver, potentially with my best friend's mother and her husband who are also thru hiking this year.

[marktrumpet]

I'd start in Durango and see how far you can get. You will definitely make it past Salida. Once past Salida, numerous options exist for getting off the trail and back to Denver in short order. You could probably make it to Leadville, then when you do come back, do whichever Colliegate option you didn't hike, and finish it off the rest to Denver.