Excerpts from Columbia resident Charles Daniels’ journal along the Continental Divide trail

March 15: Columbia, Md.

It’s hard to leave home for six months and leave so much of what is important to me behind, and after hiking the AT in 2000 and the PCT in 2007, I was fully prepared to hang up my hiking poles. Although I have dreamed of doing the CDT, at 70 years old, I didn’t see myself once again just going off and hiking the trail alone. Even my wife, Andee, who is very supportive (both emotionally and financially as she still works!) of my adventurous nature, has huge concerns over my traveling alone in the wilderness without anyone really watching for my whereabouts.

But, they say, of the big three, “You can hike one trail, and you can hike three, but you cannot hike two.” And I love the outdoors and can’t get enough of a good thing. So, when Eric Yakel, (a.k.a. Robocop), wrote in my guest book, “I am hiking the CDT in 2009. Let me know if you are interested,” my heart jumped. Interested? I immediately replied, “I’m in.”

May 15: Between Bonine Canyon Road and Zuni-Acoma Trailhead, New Mexico

I awake at 3:30 am, and then decide just to get up and start hiking in the moonlight — I figure there is not much to fall over on a dirt road. It’s quite a different sensation watching the morning light rise over a prairie without bounds, void of all humanity. As I stop atop a hill in the road, I feel as if I’m the only person on earth, and I own the world.

July 6: Between Knight Ridge Trail and the town of Grand Lake, Colo.

I wish this morning were only a nightmare — it is my wettest experience to date. Yesterday I walked six miles and climbed 1800 feet, all in a thunderous rainstorm. ...
Inside my tent this morning, water droplets have formed on the ceiling and are dripping onto my sleeping bag, waking me up. I notice water also dropping on my food bags, clothing bag, and already wet shoes. I just lie still, ready to scream obscenities. It’s hard even to breathe in 100% humidity, and I find myself nostalgic for the desert heat of New Mexico.
 
July 30: Between Lost Lake and Silver Creek, Wyo.

As I again attempt the pass, my maps show the proximity of the route the trail takes up and over the mountainside. All I need to do is walk in the right direction, and I should intersect the trail. However, the trail turns out to be basically a tiny goat path, switchbacking toward the right about halfway up the mountain, then moving left for the upper half — which is mostly covered by, and therefore hidden by, snow. I see where other hikers have tried to cross the snow face with ice axes, and I attempt to follow in their footprints. But I take about five steps, and realize with only poles, it’s too dangerous, and I’m not willing to die this way, so I backtrack my steps. To get around this snow face, I return to the right side to the last visible switchback, and then make my own switchbacks up the remainder of the mountain, going around and between snowfields up a canyon wall of loose stone, my feet sliding out from under me. I reach the top and breathe a deep a sigh of relief.

Aug. 29: Between Pattee Creek and Pioneer Creek, Montana

I’m moving right along at a good clip. And suddenly, there it is, less than 100 feet in front of me, a big, brown, humped bear, standing in the middle of the trail, foraging for food. I look, and he looks, and he looks again, as if asking himself, “Am I hungry enough to want to bother with this skinny hiker?”

I hold totally still until the bear finally meanders off. Now I need to decide if he is lying in wait up the trail and I should bushwhack a wide-berth path around his territory, or if he really has moved on. I tell myself that he doesn’t scare me, and continue on the trail—with bear spray aimed and ready to fire. I make it through safely. I’ve now seen my first CDT grizzly — up close.

Sept. 29: Between Gable Creek Campground and Many Glacier Lodge, Montana

I awake this morning, knowing this is my last day on the trail! I have hiked from Mexico to Canada, yet in some ways it feels as if it was only yesterday that I started, not five months ago. In just a few days I will be back in the real world of “Who cares?” and “Get out of my way, or I’ll run you over.” But, I want today to be the best day of my life on the trail.

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user comments (1)

user rynamay says...

Cool story and a cool guy. You should do a story on his annual Christmas display too. I went to see it yesterday, and it's as good as ever. A real community oriented guy with a great sense of tradition.

Posted 6:23 PM, 12.13.09 | Permalink