Starting out on Colorado Trail Segment 6 from Kenosha Pass
With both kids away at two-week long summer camps Marcy and I decided to do something we had not done in decades and had never done together: take a backpacking trip. I have been semi-obsessed about the Colorado Trail for some time so we decided to head up to Keystone and tackle most of Segment 6 from Kenosha Pass. Officially it goes to Breckenridge but we diverted to Keystone for the last part of it so that we could walk home.
An hour in and we have beautiful views of the valley towards Fairplay
We started at 6pm Friday after getting a Lyft ride to Kenosha Pass – which is 56 miles by road from Keystone. We will get back to Keystone via a more direct route which is 32 miles. Friday evening started out a bit dicey with threatening clouds and we got rained on a little but it wasn’t too bad and we made it to camp just after 8pm, hiking six miles of relatively flat terrain in a little more than two hours.
The highest elevation of the hike on Georgia Pass at around 11,900 feet (above tree line)
Saturday we knew would be tough. We climbed 2,000 feet up to Georgia Pass (11,900 feet), which was spectacular – you could see what felt like 100 miles in every direction and began a long descent until good camping by a river after around 13 miles of hiking. My feet were bothering me and I had some issues with my pack so I struggled the last few miles and we didn’t make it to camp until almost 7pm.
Setting up camp on the evening of day two
Today, we faced the steepest incline of the trip with over 1,000 vertical in less than three miles. We did pretty well on the way up but then we began the long decent (almost 10 miles) back to Keystone. By lunch time my feet were shot and I wasn’t sure how I would continue on. But we were right by Keystone Gulch Road where you can drive cars so Marcy had the great idea that I could ditch my pack and we could pick it up tomorrow.
Olive loved playing in the snow at the higher elevations
So, we made it back to our place in Keystone by 5pm enough time for me to catch the last hour of the US Open golf. Then we went to the local Mexican place for dinner. I counted eight different blisters on my feet and I have a lot of aching muscles. Marcy did great, she said at dinner tonight that she could have easily stayed out on the trail another week. It was a great trip overall and we know how to make some changes so it is better next time.