Trailangel stay @ Breckenridge

Day 59

Date: 29.06.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 1'215.7

Miles hiked: 21.6 miles / 34.5 km

Elevation: 3'586 feet ascent (1'093 m Aufstieg) / 6'125 feet descent (Abstieg 1'868 m)

Camping at: Trailangel, Breckenridge

A big advantage of cowboy camping is that you don't have to pack your tent. You are ready to hike much faster. We hit the trail at 6am, which must have been the earliest for Vista😁 She is not so much of an early hiker normally. And we have an amazing sunrise while getting ready.

The first 6 miles of the day are mostly downhill and through a skiing resort down to Copper Mountain. In Copper Mountain there is a Starbucks I really look forward too. I didn't had any Starbucks yet since beeing in the US. Hardly believable but the towns we pass are so small, they do not have such fancy coffee's places (but they actually have better coffee places than Starbucks is) 😁 Boss is waiting for me at Starbucks. He texted me last night, telling me that Patches has decided to hitch to Denver and break or leave the trail. He was asking me, if he can hike on with me again. Of course I am fine with that. I was all worried about hiking and camping alone. I was lucky that Vista and Ducky hiked out with me together, but I don't know for how long we will be hiking the same pace.

Vista has met a trail angel at Monarch Pass which has invited her to stay in Breckenridge, our next town stop, and while in Leadville, Vista checked with them if it would be ok for Ducky and me to stay with them too. So all three of us can stay at this trailangel place which is amazing. Breckenridge is super expensive and therefore I haven't planed to stay there for the night but if we can stay at a trailangels place for free, I will for sure take it.

We hike on after I had two breakfast bagels with cheese, egg an bacon and a swiss cheese and ham croissant. All super fatty but I was so hungry I ate it all. We have a big climb ahead of us and would like to reach Breckenridge in the early afternoons to enjoy town as much as possible. It was however not a very good decision to eat all that food at Starbucks. While on the uphill climb, I get sick. I feel like I have to throw up every minute. Boss passes me and a wait a while before I really have to throw up. Hiking on around the corner, a women is starring at me. Oops, I didn't thought anyone would be near me and I must have made quite a lot of noise. She asked if all is fine with me and my explanation that I have eaten too much fatty food at starbucks doesn't seem very convincing to her, even if that is the truth. The uphill is a pain for me. I am very slow, but it is also super steep, we are up in higher altitude and I still feel very sick. There is still some food left in my belly. But there are so many day hikers out here, I can't throw up again. So I just bite on my teeth, try to keep it down in my belly and try to hike on as good as I can. My stomach must proceed the food faster if I move.

The downhill on the other side is long but pretty smooth. We have to cross a couple of snowfields. I did not expect to see snow down here anymore! And I pump into SwissChris on the last miles to the Parking lot, from where we want to get a hitch into town. And just about 1 mile out of the Parking lot we run into an american couple. While chatting to them we get offered a hitch to town. Wow, so we are already sorted! Driving to town we pass Boss, standing at the side of the road trying to get a hitch. (Turned out that Boss texted me like 30 minutes ago that I must come as he can't get a hitch without me😁 Now I picked him up again, haha!) We stop for him and get dropped off in the middle of town. Breckenridge is very nice, very touristy too. The town is quite big and long. The three of us get some drinks and snacks and wait for Ducky and Vista to arrive. They come together with the trail angels in the early evening and all of us enjoy delicious burgers, before we wen to the trailangel place. Turns out that our trailangels, Kevin and Karen, are pretty cool. Also Boss and SwissChris can join us for the night. Kevin and Karen have sold their house and live out of their Pick up Truck, renting Airbnb places all around the US, and traveling a lot internationally too. I like their lifestyle! They have rented a place for 2 weeks in Breckenridge, our luck. We get to shower and wash our clothes and enjoy the night talking and drinking beer and wine!

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