Colorado Trail-Denver to Durango-July

[Wildmtnchild]

Hello,

I'm planning on bikepacking the Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango. This will be my first extended bikepacking trip (previously I've done the Tahoe rim trail in increments). I'd love to have someone to do some or all of the trip with. I'm planning on 35-45 miles per day with a few longer days thrown in on the wilderness detours (on roads). So I'm thinking around 14 days total. Maybe a bit more or less.

I'm a woman and a strong, competent outdoors person. That being said.....experience has taught me to mention the following disclaimer.........I don't want to see your penis. Really. I found a climbing partner off Craigslist once and he insisted on walking around naked in the hotel room when we were in Canada. It made be a bit uncomfortable.

Also, I'm from Santa Cruz, CA. I've been training, but I'm expecting altitude to effect me. Maybe you can be from sea level too, or at least be comfortable with a slow pace until I acclimate.

I'm easy going. And if you don't mind being made fun of, you can even be Republican!

Let me know.

[BryanKola]

What dates are you thinking in July? I'd like to do the first few sections sometime this summer and rather not alone. I live about an hour south of the starting point of the CT.

Cheers,

Bryan

[tomis916]

I can't join you, but thanks for the laugh!  Best of luck.  I did it last year and I'm still on a high.

[stumpyfsr]

Hi! I'm planning to start around second week of July. I'm thinking about 50-70 miles per day but being from low altitude not sure if it'll work. My biggest concern is how to get back to Denver? Maybe we can drop one car in Durango and drive back to Denver? Let me know

[Wildmtnchild]

My idea is the second week of July for a start. I'm driving from Santa Cruz to Santa Fe and then my Pops is going to drive me and my bike to Denver (all so he can partake of Colorado's newest legalized recreation.....) and then pick me up a couple weeks later in Durango.

I'd love to do more miles but I want to be conservative in my estimate as I once flew out to Boulder from Cali for some alpine ice climbing and it kicked my a$$ with the altitude. I also didn't take time to acclimate, which I'm hoping a slower start will help with this time.

[boomslang]

I'm glad I found this site and this thread.  I am planning on doing exactly this, and would be cool to have company.  My tentative plan is to start around July 10 in Denver, finish before July 24 in Durango (although I have no idea how far I should expect to go in a day).  It seems like renting a car in Durango and returning it in Denver is the most convenient way to shuttle back.  I'd like to travel light and stop in any towns along the way to fuel up as much as possible.  Rather than miles, I usually look at elevation gain to assess difficulty, so I would stick to about 8000 ft gain per day.  So Wild, stumpy, and Brian, if any or all of you want to coordinate for riding together or logistics send me a pm. 

[boatmana]

I'm not riding the CT in July but from one bikepacker to another if you need a place to crash, rest and shower when your done im in Durango and have the room.