Hiking to End 68 Hours of Hunger

7/20-  Welcome Madeline Mabe Bongiovanni!  My daughter Hannah and her husband Frank had their second child today.  I am a proud G-Pa!  Wishing I were home to. Hug everyone and to hold Madeline.  Resting and prepping so RM and I can return to the trail tomorrow.  7/21-  Rolling Creek to Long Gulch.  We need to get to Kenosha Pass in 2 days (32 miles) so our goal is to hike 16.8 miles to Long Gulch today. It will be a 2000 ft gain in elevation. It is a beautiful day and we feel strong as we head to the mountains. Met new friends Annabelle and Dave today. Who are from England.  7/22-  Long Gulch to Kenosha Pass Another long day but beers and.burgers wait for us at Kenosha Pass. We will be meeting Sue and the Boys of Summer. No real elevation gain today so we moved with a purposeful pace.  Kenosha Pass and party time!  We invited Annabelle and Dave to join us.  7/23- Kenosha Pass to just below Georgia's Pass.  While Fred ...

7/16-  It's start day and the excitement is in the air!  The CT starts at around 5000' in a small suburb of Denver called Watertown.  The first 50 miles of the trail are in the foothills where the terrain is rugged, dry and hot. Temps in the 90's and limited shade make for tough but beautiful hiking. 7/17-  12 miles first day. Looking to do same today. Hotter than yesterday.  Coming into 10 mile stretch with no water.   Time to camel up!  I am able to carry 200 oz.  Water weighs 8 lbs per gallon. Do the math...Ouch!  Heading into area that burned in 1997.  Desert like and hot! 7/18-  Our first 13 mile day.  Pretty tired but plenty strong. Sleeping well-About 9 hours a night.  More foothills but mountains getting closer. Plenty of water. Meeting other through hikers. Mishu from NYC, Julie and Ed from Columbus, OH, Tom from Chicago, Frank from SanDiego, Tintin and Reku from Brussels. Good people!  All we need to worry a...

(A cold beer with H after a long day of travel) Hi All-   It's 5:00 am Colorado time Sunday, 7/15 and I have been awake for an hour. The two hour time difference is toying with my inner clock. I'd like to say my flight was uneventful but it wasn't. I had a layover in Chicago that was suppose to be an hour. I was there for five hours because of mechanical issues with the plane. Better safe than....Needless to say I was wiped by the time I made it to H's house in Fort Collins.   Of course, my inner clock allowed me four hours of sleep that night before I was staring at the ceiling wide awake and exhausted. Ugh!   I have spent most my time here in the Fort packing my food drops. The logistics are incredible when organizing a six week hike.  (Food for 8 trail crossing drops) Hats off to H, Reanman (RM) and Sue for the hours of legwork they have put in on this end to ready our little group for this journey.  They are all amazing people. I am blessed to have them as m...

Hi All-  Happy fourth of July!  Could it get any hotter?  I feel like I am melting! I've been getting texts from H that simply say,  "Tick, tick, tick..."  July 13 is fast approaching and I still have so much to accomplish!  If you have been following the blog you know I am in the midst of replacing a shed off the back of my garage.  I am so close to starting the roof but it is so blasted hot with no end in sight.  My wife Brenda and I are looking to leave for a 4 day camping trip in northen Maine this upcoming Monday.  I am feeling the pressure! I always tend to bite off more than I can chew. Enough whining already.  I finally finished dehydrating all of my meals.  I ended up with 38 in all.  If I need more, I'll be purchasing food during town respites.  This past Thursday I got most of my equipment to H who is back east to visit family.  He will be transporting my things to Colorado.  Thank you H! So yo...