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Monday, August 13, 2007

Skywalkers Report In

This report and photos just came in from Todd Fontaine of Team 20.

"Group 20CO, aka Skywalkers, finished their section of trail on August 4th. Our trip brought us through some parts of the CDT that were currently under construction as well as across the well-established Monarch Crest section. With the help of Mal Sillars (CDT surveyor), who joined us for the first two days, we were able to map approximately 12+ miles of the soon to be CDT. We had decided to go with light packs for there were sections that hadn't been established yet. This meant crossing talus and scree fields as well as navigating our way through sections of brush, but the payoff was amazing. Once we hit the completed trail we were able to really appreciate all the work that goes into trail construction. Our group met up with a couple of crews and their work was truly incredible. The next three days we hucked our heavy packs up and over Chalk Creek Pass, past Hunt Lake and then to Monarch Pass. Due to some time constraints and a desire to beat the hordes of mountain bikers on the Monarch Crest Trail, we dumped our heavy packs and decided to blast out the 11 or so miles with light packs to finish at Marshall Pass."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think two of my National Park Ranger buddies, Mike & Susanna, met you guys on the CDT this summer. They mentioned that they came across a group working on the CDT through Backpacker Magazine. I wasn't with them on that trip, because I was summiting some fourteeners. We were on the CDT from Copper Mountain to Tennessee Pass a couple weeks later, but didn't come across you guys, I wish we had. Anyway... checkout my website. It is devoted to my summer volunteer experience as a National Park Ranger in Colorado the past two summers. I am a teacher and have the summers off, so I try to get out and volunteer in places that I know I will have the opportunity to experience the wild places of our country and share my experiences with the kids in my classroom when I return. I truely loved my two summers out in Colorado, I summited 21 fourteeners, hiked a ton of trails, and backpacked sections of the CDT. I have also been an SCA and Americorps volunteer too, but that was a few years ago. Back then I worked on wildlife biology research on desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert. I was out there for 4 years. I hope to hear from you. If not, hope your experience was a good one!