Distance = 26 Miles; People Met = 24
Gloomy skies were above us the whole day as we hike on CO 91 to Copper Mountain. There was a massive road construction project going on with very long waits for vehicles. They would pass us, we would pass them, they would pass us again. As we walked by the long string of workers three stopped us to chat. Dennis van Horn commented that he liked reading about such journeys and that ours would probably make for good reading; which is my intent, of course.
Dennis van Horn
Jason was a surveyor who had completed some long distance hikes, including the Pacific Crest Trail in 2001. His Dad also had attempted the CDT this year, though the huge snowpack this year foiled those plans.
Jason
Kim Wilkinson had owned his own construction business until the down economy changed that. He knew what it was like to depend on a food pantry and now he volunteers at one in Steamboat Springs. He showed the same heartfelt appreciation for what we were doing as the string of folks we encountered near the UT/CO border.
Kim Wilkinson
We reached Copper Mountain, a resort area, in late afternoon and took a break while I called Denver media to alert them to our journey and our talks at two colleges in the area. We took advantage of a coffee and donut deal at Daylight Donuts, and then Andrew and Natalie gave us a couple more pastry sandwiches that they otherwise would have thrown away.
Andrew and Natalie
Hugh stopped to chat with us for awhile and expressed interest in attending our presentation at the Colorado School of Mines on the 20th. When I asked the standard joke if he was running from the law before I put his picture up on the Internet, he replied he was the law – federal law that is. He worked with the Equal Employment Opportunity office in Denver and was checking up on the massive road construction project we had just passed.
Hugh
The next person we chatted with Andy Held, was waiting patiently for our conversation with Hugh to end. He then gave us his card for his web marketing business. He was not looking for our business, rather, he overheard our purpose and was excited for us. He had also done marketing with MountainSmith and vowed to put in a good word with them regarding a new pack for Cindy. He new the area well and filled us in for the trailhead we wanted to get to. However, the weather was getting colder and wetter and Any informed us they were predicting up to 6″ of snow above 10,000 feet. He suggested if we came to Frisco, 6 miles down to road, he might be able to find something for us that night.
Hmm, go up into the snow or down to some type of indoor accommodation? We chose the latter, but not before meeting Rick and Deborah, two motorcyclists from Nebraska, who were also in a quandary regarding what to do about the arrival of the storm. Rick was kind of a big teddy bear … and so enthused about our journey and purpose he gave us a big bear hug and they made a donation to our cause. We told them we heard that Kansas was the friendliest state along our route and they informed us that Nebraska was even friendlier. They certainly were good representatives of that.
Rick and Deborah
We hiked on a bike path down to Frisco, arriving at dark. We called Andy to see what was up. He had arranged for us to stay at the Hotel Frisco on Main Street! The next morning we would meet up with him again to chat.
At the hotel we ran into Todd Williams at check-in. He was from the Cincinnati area and said he’d like to take us out to dinner when we get there on Valentine’s Day. I thought I would have the opportunity to speak more with him, ask him why he was visiting Frisco, but unfortunately that did not happen.
Todd Williams
Aaron checked us in and was very polite and accommodating. He gave us the hotel’s card and wrote his email on it, wanting to stay in touch with our journey. He spent a lot of time chatting with KC, a real estate broker and, I suspect, his girlfriend.
Aaron
Bill and Marianne (Mary Ann?) Myers from South Carolina were in the hotel lobby. They came out for a wedding and were continuing to vacation in the area for awhile. They had been to the Colorado National Monument, which now seemed so long ago for us.
Bill and Marianne Myers
The next morning we got to meet the manager of the Hotel Frisco, Sarah Chevalier. She is from Australia where she did a lot of exploring all over the continent. She was encouraging us to do a similar journey there some day.
Sarah Chevalier
We met Wendy, Andy’s wife, at the Rocky Mountain Coffee Roasters shop and we thanked our benefactors profusely for putting us up in the hotel. Andy joined us at a booth and we chatted for quite awhile. At one point I recorded him about an Art Gallery project he was behind, where people of all types came together in a communal setting to chat. Hopefully, I can find a way of posting that soon.
Andy and Wendy
Andy also had been part of a green building initiative in Frisco. The town council had declined the initiative at first in favor of more traditional development; got burned by the traditional development; went with the green building initiative a second time around; and now have some green building codes. Before we left the coffee shop we chatted with the owner, Nate, who shared some good information about Montezuma which lies along our route.
Nate
We needed some maps from The Wilderness Shop in town, where Matt and Chris had very good information about the upcoming weather and our route over Argentine Pass. Matt in particular helped us out a lot. Though we’ve already surpassed 13,000 feet now when we took an earlier cross-country route over the Continental Divide, this still may be the highest point we reached. The prognosis looked good for both the weather and the route. We were pleased to give them some business in acquiring a much needed map for that journey.
Chris and Matt
This was a resupply day, and we waited for Ky to come to us at Frisco’s Visitor Center. There we met three people who thought our mission was of the utmost importance in today’s fragmented and alienated society. We received our second donation in two days. Ardie and Gretchen were husband and wife, while Gloria was an accompanying friend. Gretchen pointed out that Ardie was a writer and maybe I should get in touch with his agent. Hmm. Maybe …..
Gloria, Ardie and Gretchen
We spent the evening in a cabin owned by Kent and Melissa, the son and daughter-in-law of the Redstone pastor Bruce Gledhill. We never got to meet them, but we were appreciative given just how cold the weather was.
