Encampment, WY to Steamboat Springs, CO

June 25, 2019

Encampment, WY is probably the smallest town we’ve stayed in so far. We sent ourselves a resupply, but the only businesses open included the motel we were staying at and the restaurant next door. We had to walk a mile to Riverside, the next town, to get to a gas station (the only thing open before noon) for breakfast. I had donuts and milk and sat in the little gas station/gear shop and read the farmers quarterly.

At noon we ambled into the restaurant for our third meal in a row there. The wi-fi was great and they let us hang around, which was perfect.

Eventually we decided we should hitch out of town, and walked to the other end. A nice woman went out of our way to drop us at the trailhead.

We’ve heard reports that the CDT was covered in snow and blow downs this section, and another hiker we spoke to took forest roads to Steamboat Springs, so we decided to follow his tracks. I mapped out the route on Gaia, following forest road 550.

We did about 10 miles that evening. A thunderstorm passed us and we saw a couple of cars headed down to the reservoir. Overall, the road was beautiful and we could a nice place to camp. We enjoyed the beers we had carried, too!

June 26, 2019

Today was another long day of forest road walking. We slept in, which was nice, and finished our day at 6 pm, and still did approximately 28 miles.

Our tentsite was near a parking lot and pit toilet, but we set up in a little meadow with wildflowers and a fire pit.

The landscape got even more beautiful today. We saw some gorgeous green meadows and beautiful aspens.

June 27, 2019 - 1,000 Miles Hiked

Today the nice dirt forest road (forest road 550) we were walking on as an alternative to the trail, turned into paved county road 129. I did run into a female deer with two baby fawns with her. However, walking on paved roads with signs of civilization is probably the worst type of road walking.

We followed the road until we got to Steamboat Lake, by Hans Peak. We took a little detour and took a dip in the lake - we haven’t had the chance to do so the entire trail!

After finishing up our quick dip in the freezing lake, we walked down the road and found a little roadside cafe and restaurant. We figured we weren’t in any rush so we treated ourselves to beers and lunch (I scarfed down a taco salad).

Driver mentioned he was planning on re-hiking this section of trail anyway, and that he was fine with hitching whenever. I agreed that walking on this paved road was not very fun. We’d already seen (and mostly smelled) three poor deers that were hit by cars, and the hard asphalt is hard on our knees.

Thanks to Driver for these great photos!

We ended up walking another seven miles to hit our 1,000th mile. Luckily, that put us right in front of another general type store that served homemade ice cream. We sat on the patio and tried to celebrate, while figuring out lodging in Steamboat Springs.

We hitched from the restaurant to Steamboat easily, and got settled in our little timeshare hotel (the cheapest thing in town). The town itself was busy and touristy, but the free bus system and plethora of restaurants made it really fun.

June 28, 2019

Today we enjoyed a zero day in town and went rafting on the river, ate delicious tacos and margaritas, and burgers. We figured we would hitch to Denver the next day, stay in Boulder with some of Driver’s friends, and then catch our flight to Los Angeles. It definitely feels weird to be done with our hike a little earlier than planned, but we are proud of the 1,000 miles hiked and have lots to do to prepare for school, work and our big move coming up.