CDT Colorado Section in August

[Miner]

I just had a few questions about the ~500 miles of the Colorado Section of the CDT between Steamboat Springs and Pagosa Springs. I will be likely be hiking from the very end of July to a little after Labor Day.

Last year I attempted a SOBO thru-hike but got injured at the beginning so was off trail and/or moving slow for awhile in Montana. I didn't want to compromise on my route and didn't take any of the alternates whose sole purpose was to cut off miles. I was fine with the implications of that. I didn't get to Colorado until early October and the snow started to fly in the northern part. After having some negative experience in the snow above 10k, when reaching the highway to Steamboat, I decided to jump south where the snow hadn't appeared yet. The nice lady, who picked me up, was heading to Pagosa Springs in the southern part of the state, so I was happy to go along for the cost of paying for all food and gas (and changing out a flat along the way). So I'm heading back this summer to pickup the missing miles.

1. Steamboat Transportation: I take it my only options are flying into the small airport there, trying to get a shuttle from Denver, or a long hitch from somewhere like Granby (near Grand Lake) which has Amtrak service. Also just spotted RideBusang which is a bus from Denver, which I didn't see as an option last year. Website has some issues displaying some stuff, so is this really a legit option for this summer?
2. Pagosa Springs Transportation: Only option I've found is using one of 2-3 taxi services to town of Durango and flying out.
3. Any cheap lodging/camp options in Steamboat as I'll likely need to stay the first night and I heard it's expensive?
4. How bad is August in Colorado for thunderstorms? Can I expect them to be daily or just every few days? Are they common at night or mainly during the late morning to early afternoon?
5. Any advice for this section? My main summer mountain hiking experience is in the Sierra Nevada in California which is different since you are often going over passes and dropping low again. My limited experience in Colorado suggest you often stay high.

[Patrickjd9]

I hiked with friends from Tennessee Pass to Breckenridge a couple of years ago, and getting over passes early in the day is good advice there. We had to hurry off of one before a thunderstorm.

I found good information, including a shuttler, in the Colorado Trail Section Hiker group on Facebook.