Posted by 7.5 miles, plus 4 off trail miles.
An easy nero day into town to resupply.
I broke camp early yo make the most if the day in town. The earlier arrival the better as it leaves plenty of time to get cleaned up, eat and purchase supplies for the next leg ahead. I had cell service last night and booked a cabin at the Healing Waters Retreat on the east side of Pagosa Springs close by eateries.
Closing in on the Pagosa Springs ski area I ran into X-Ray breaking his camp. I haven’t seen him since Cuba. We talked about options in town for accommodation and I told him about my cabin booking and that he was welcome to share it for the night to split costs. He’d have to settle for some bunks though, the queen bed was all mine. My thinking with a cabin booking is that it was more likely to be ready and available on arrival as opposed to motel room. Check in wasn’t until 3pm. If a cabin was ready we could check in immediately.
I finished out the trail to Wolf Creek Pass and attempted to hitch solo for 20min without success. X-Ray wasn’t too far behind and two thumbs out helped. It was a busy road but few were willing to stop. After another 20mins a guy travelling back from a bachelor party the night before picked us up. He had a 6 hour drive ahead of him to Flagstaff, Arizona and was happy to break the ride up a bit by picking us up.
Dropped off in town we headed straight for burgers and with next to zero dairy for close to a month I was able to get a chocolate shake that I’d been craving for weeks. So few eateries offered shakes up to this point.
We sussed out a few places for dinner on our short walk down the road to the accomodation. My hunch on a cabin was correct and we were checked-in in no time. The cabin was the perfect self contained unit that would see us through the night. Pagosa Springs is famous for it’s hot springs and the resort had several hot pools at various temperatures that I would hit up later to soak tired muscles.
We needed to resupply with food but this is easier said than done. Pagosa Springs is split east and west by 4 miles. We were in the east with the nearest supermarket on the west side of town. We exhausted the options that may be available to get us there. The local taxi service had no drivers for the day, the local bus didn’t run on weekends (it was a Sunday) and there were no Ubers available. Reluctantly we began the four mile walk hitching along the way. Not a single vehicle pulled over. We were without backpacks though so ultimately looked like two dirty transients.
Making it the full 4 miles on a busy road with no shoulder we reached the supermarket and purchased supplies for the next leg ahead. For X-Ray that would be 7 days through to Spring Creek Pass. Me, I was indecisive about which route to take ahead. There is a snow free alternative called the Creede Cut, leading to the town of Creede, cutting off about 85 miles of some of the hardest, snowest sections of the San Juans. This would take 2 days. The CDT proper along the red line through the San Juans would either take 5-6 days to Stony Pass and into the town Silverton or the same 7 day option as X-Ray. Ultimately I decided to take the red line as its been described as some of the most spectacular scenery in this area. It would mean snow travel and potential slow progress. I chose to get off trail at Stony Pass to carry less food. This would mean 10 off trail miles to either walk in to town while attempting to hitch on a quiet dirt road. Exiting at Spring Creek hits a hwy towards Twin Lakes but can take several hours to hitch the 32 miles off trail. Walking 10 miles would take 3 to 4 hours.
Long story short, with food in hand we needed a strategy to get back to the east side of town. Weighed down with supplies in handless paper bags there was no way we were walking back. I started to approach people in the car park exiting the store offering money to drive us back. One the second attempt we had a ride. The driver would not accept any money and despite essentially living across the road from the supermarket drove us across town.
With food sorted it was time to hit the hot pools before heading out for dinner. Food, showers. laundry, recharging electronics and resupply is basically what hiker do in town.
I met a few other hiker in town over dinner. I sense I am walking fast and starting to move into the main hiker bubble.
Mick Beckers 