Another major segment of the Colorado Trail done—in the high mountains, crisp autumn air, the last gold of aspens, and even a wild moose sighting!  And a total of ten new chapters dictated in the new Seven Suns series, The Dark Between the Stars.

Tim and I have already done two CT segments this summer, and because of my crazy travel schedule as well as a downturn in the weather, it didn’t look as if I’d manage another one.  But I did clear three days in between Stan Lee’s Comikaze in LA and RushCon in Toronto—so we made our plans, each of us driving down to the old west mining town of Silverton, where I had reserved a room at a local, and very rustic hotel.  After a 7-hr drive, I arrived at Silverton in mid-afternoon on Monday, with enough time to walk around the quaint town and even sample a new Oktoberfest brew at the Silverton Brewery.

When Tim arrived later that evening, we packed our backpacks, readied our maps, and got a good night’s sleep for an early start—we wanted to hit the trail at sunrise, because the segment was more than 20 miles long and passed through some of the most ruggest and isolated wilderness in Colorado, the Weminuche.  This late in the season, days are shorter, which results in markedly reduced hiking time.  We would park Tim’s car at one end of the trail segment on the highway at Molas Pass, then drive mine to the other end high on a mountain pass, and hike back.

Unfortunately, the day began with frustration.  The usually excellent Colorado Trail Guidebook had very confusing directions to reach the Molas Pass trailhead, and we wasted half an hour driving back and forth in the general area, checking out false starts and campgrounds before we finally found the (now obvious) trailhead.  Then we drove my Expedition back to Silverton to head up into the mountains to Stony Pass for the opposite end of the trail segment.

This time, even worse, the Colorado Trail Guidebook directions to the trailhead wasn’t just confusing, they were just plain wrong, with incorrect road numbers, which sent us off in the wrong direction.  Another 45 minutes wasted, and we finally had to go back into town to ask a local for directions!  We finally toiled (and jostled and bounced and rattled) up the rough (correct) road to Stony Pass at 12,600 ft.  We got started on the actual hike more than an hour later than we had planned. Not an auspicious beginning.

At the summit of the pass where we left my car, the temp was 29°F, but the sky was clear and bright and it looked like a beautiful day. We bundled up and headed out, the only hikers on the trail (in fact, we never saw another person the entire day).  Tim and I usually maintain a two-mile per hour pace, which meant we could expect a ten-hour hike for the segment.  But with our late start, we would be cutting it close to get to Tim’s car at Molas Pass by dark.

I’ve just started writing the first volume in The Saga of Shadows trilogy, The Dark Between the Stars. On the long drive to Silverton the previous day, I dictated three chapters on the way, and during the 20-mile hike I was determined to get another batch done. Surrounded by such spectacular scenery, I could certainly find inspiration.  Wearing gloves for the first several miles in the cold, I took my notes and digital recorder and trudged off, walking and talking, with Tim following, taking numerous photos.

For the first seven miles of this segment, the CT follows the Continental Divide Trail, but neither trail was very well marked, with several trail intersections that left us guessing (which is somewhat unnerving out in the middle of the vast emptiness).

After the CT split off from the Continental Divide Trail, we began a dramatic descent into the rugged Elk Creek drainage—seven miles of steep downhill past mining ruins and sheer canyons, losing over 5000 ft of elevation. Every turn in the trail led to another breathtaking view, extremely rugged peaks all around, mining ruins, rushing streams, waterfalls.  Even with all the beautiful distractions, we kept looking at our watches, trying to maintain a good clip, but we were losing the 2 mph pace.

We hiked all the way down to the Animas River, the low point of the trail, and the tracks of the scenic Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge railroad.  Tim and I had taken the Durango & Silverton RR several years ago when we backpacked into the Weminuche to climb three remote Fourteeners. We reached the Animas River at 4:30 pm, where shadows already filled the canyon. Even breathing hard, though, I managed to finish dictating my fourth chapter for the day.

Only a little more than two hours before sunset—and still five miles to go.  Oh yeah, and from the river, the next five miles climbed two thousand feet, switchback after switchback to get back to Molas Pass. Those were a long five miles, and we fueled ourselves with GU and Red Bull.  The sun went down, twilight set in, but we still had a long way to go.  I finished all my water in the Camelback, but I had a bottle of Vitamin Water left, which I rationed.

Full dark set in, and we still had another hour of hiking. (Grrrr, we really regretted having lost an hour looking for the trailheads in the morning!)  Flashlights out with our beams shining down on the ground so we could follow the well-packed trail, we kept working our way toward the Molas Pass parking area on the highway.  (Maddening and tantalizing, since we could see the highway not far off, with car headlights rolling past, but the trail wound back and forth as if to confuse us!)  After twenty miles of gorgeous scenery, by now the most beautiful thing we wanted to see was the car.

We finally shucked our packs and climbed into the car after 8 PM, exhausted and starving (there’s only so much that GU, Red Bull, and trail snacks can do).  We were very much looking forward to a nice shower…but in the small town of Silverton, everything shut down early, and we weren’t going to miss a real meal! We rushed back, foregoing the shower to find a restaurant before they all closed at 9 PM.  Tim had pork chops, I had fried chicken, and back at the room I could finally relax with a pint of Pikes Peak Brewery IPA from the growler I had brought.  A very good night’s sleep indeed!

Next morning, stiff and sore, we packed everything in Tim’s car because we still had to drive back up to Stony Pass, where we had left my car overnight. This time we made our way up the rugged road without trouble because we knew how to get there. After throwing my stuff in the back of the Expedition, I followed Tim’s car back down from Stony Pass Road to Silverton. As a cap to the trip, on the drive out of town, I spotted three wild moose in a broad meadow alongside the road. In more than sixteen years in Colorado, these were the first moose I have seen.

Total in the three days, I dictated ten new chapters in The Dark Between the Stars, which gave me a good head of writing steam for the project.  And final tally, we’ve now completed 418 miles on the Trail (which runs from Denver to Durango, through some of the wildest parts of the state).  Only 68 miles left to go!