Lead(ville) legs
Early on I wrote a post and named it mind vs body. The gist of it was the amaze in how the mind can conquer over the body when pushed hard enough. The body hurts but the mind pushes forward. Today, I felt myself expanding on that thought, and how the body is at the mercy of the mind in general; when the mind hurts so does the body.
I woke up at 6, but decided I had no desire to start moving around so forced myself back to bed for another hour. I packed up my goods and headed out. Unfortunately, this town has one restaurant and it’s not open for breakfast. So I went to the general store to grab a little egg microwave thingy. Not a bad hiker breakfast.
I walked the mile or so on the road back up to the trail and started to climb. A Saturday in a mountain town of CO on a nice day makes for busy trails. Saw lots of folks up on them. Runners, bikers, weekend campers, and heard there was a thru hiker behind me from a runner, but we never crossed paths.
There were some climbs here and there, but nothing crazy or difficult. But I was just not having it. Physically I felt fine; I wasn’t sore, in pain anywhere. But I just couldn’t keep a good pace. It was a similar feeling to be high up at elevation where your breath runs away from you and you’re exhausted with little exertion.
I didn’t want to take more days off, but I knew I wasn’t going to do too much, and needed to end inside. If nothing else, whiskey and real food will help raise the spirits. My mind wasn’t having any of the usual struggles of hiking, even though conditions were pretty ideal. I almost turned around to go back, but decided I needed to push forward otherwise I’ll never get closer to my goal.
I reviewed the maps and found a road to Leadville, where I stayed last time I rolled through here with the car during my break. Decided I would do a shorter day and hop on that road to go down to town.
I also carried a beer with me that I had leftover from my day off. So I chugged that at one point which is always fun (when not doing hard miles that is). Chatted with a few nice folks and made my way down to the road.
There’s was a 14er off a side trail (14,000+ foot summit) and apparently it’s a common climb. There were so many people and cars and everything. A couple people rolled by and I asked if they were on their way to Leadville, but they were going the other way. By the time I got to the edge of the lot I threw out my thumb and the first car (a pass van!) stopped off to give me a ride in.
There were four folks who were Americorps volunteers working with teenagers in the mountains of CO. Seemed like a pretty sweet gig, and today was their day off so they climbed the 14er.
Once we got into town, it was a boomin. There was a big race here so hundreds of folks in this small little town that had 10 a few weeks ago when I rolled through.
I went and got some food and ran some errands and then went into the hotel room to try and relax a bit. Even with the shorter miles I still was feeling pretty exhausted. Just drained of energy really.
I just took two weeks off. Then back to back zeros in town. It’s not sustainable to go like this for money, or time. It already feels like I’ve been out here forever.
I’m fortunate that this stretch of trail is quite populated. I.e. many roads and lots of town. So tomorrow I decided to stay at the hostel here (need to start being more conscious of costs if I’m making it more frequent) and there’s another point up the trail with a road into town I can take. So I’ll go out in the morning and slack pack a bunch of miles then come back here to Leadville. Slack packing, as a reminder for those who don’t know, is when I leave most my gear behind and only carry some food and water and maybe rain gear. Less weight, same miles, ending inside.
There multiple towns ahead after Leadville, and my buddy Zach is going to come pick me up from Denver. So at least I’ve got a relatively easy stretch ahead and can still put in some miles.
Now I’m eating steak and drinking whiskey. Then off to bed in the hotel.
