Virginia to Iceland

 By Rachel

You might have already read the updates from West Viginia to Colorado, and all about Meggan hiking the Colorado Trail. While Meggan and Jason were spending time in Colorado, Rachel and Ava spent time with Grandma in Viginia. 

We had many fun "mini-adventures" together, including going to Washington, DC and spending time at the pool. One of our main highlights was going to Richmond, VA, where Grandma's sister-in-law Cynthia and her partner, Vaughan, live. We loved seeing them and being spoiled! 

We also visited Jason's cousin, Kelsey, and her family at "The Purple House" in Crozet. We spent a night at their house with Eli, Kelsey, and two of their daughters, Fia and Tansy. One of Ava's favorite parts was the various pets their family owned, including chickens, dogs, and cats.

Grandma never seems to get tired of us, which is impressive, considering how often our conversations sound like complete nonsense, and there is almost nonstop chatter. We are very thankful for her patience and love that she always gives us. 

Meggan and Jason returned from Colorado on Tuesday, July 19th. They had an amazing time in CO, but were tired and very happy to see their girls and Grandma again. We have been packing since then in preparation for the next section of our trip: Iceland! 

Today, we will fly to Iceland and meet up with cousin Ella. She will be joining in for this part of our trip, and hiking with us on a backpacking adventure. We are very excited!

Thank you for following our craziness!

All the people behind the CO trail project

 In 2012 I decided it would be cool to do the Colorado Trail, and in 2013 I officially added it to my "bucket list". Yesterday, after 10 years of working of this project, I completed it!

The CO trail is a 478 mile hiking trail from Denver to Durango, often done as a 4-6 week "thru-hike". But I didn't see a possibility of taking 4-6 weeks off from work and kids to do that, so I decided to get in whatever pieces of the trail I could, and keep track, checking off parts of the map every time I got a chance.

In the fall of 2012, my Dad visited us while we lived in Lafayette, CO, and we went to look at the fall colours at Kenosha Pass. I decided to run 3 miles out and 3 miles back on the trail. 

This past 11 days I hiked 154 miles/248 km to finish off the trail. I did 6 days of day hiking and then 5 days backpacking the last section between Silverton and Durango. 

This experience has allowed me to enjoy many beautiful parts of the state over the years. Although my logistics have been time consuming, less than efficient, and strange, it has been my reality. I have biked some sections, had a child since I started the project, and traveled back to Colorado twice since we moved away in order to make it happen. 

There are a LOT of people that have helped me with this project, and they have made it special because each part of the trail has memories associated with them.

Jason - my partner has backpacked some miles with me, driven me to trailheads all over, and cheered me on with the kids.

Rachel - biked some miles with me on her strider bike when she was little, and also I've carried that strider bike on a few bonus miles.

Rachel and Ava - have had to wait for me at a few trailheads and allowed me time to myself to go explore the wild without them.

Jeff - my brother Jeff flew to Colorado in 2017 and in 2019 to hike some big chunks of the trail with me. He did the highest sections with me and helped me get in my longest day.

My Mom - came to CO in 2019 to drive around in a campervan while watching my girls, providing 'trail magic' for other hikers, and cheering us on at remote trailheads.

Kirk - has hiked several sections with me, educated me along the way with his wisdom, and been a terrific friend

Susan K - drove a shuttle to pick Kirk and I up at the end of the 'mountain lion' section

Ashley, Dan, and Jake the dog - Ash and Dan are great friends and they have the world's best dog. They are my hiking mentors and are beasts on the trail. They thru-hiked it in 2020 and I can't wait to hike with them again.

Lori - joined me this year for some great miles from Copper to Mt. Massive and had awesome heart-to-heart conversations the whole way. Her friendship is very dear to me!

Randy - thanks for helping shuttle in the van and feeding us along the way.

Shelly P and Kiki the dog - Who is brave enough to go backpacking for 5 days with someone they've never met? This cool lady and her puppy, who have more CO trail in store for them going forward.

Nancy M - joined me on section 7 from Breck to Copper and it was a beautiful day!

Charles D - joined in on some of that same section 7 hike and made us laugh with his Dad jokes along the way. His family also skinned the 1.5 miles of the trail that I have skied, although I ended up hiking them again this past week.

Jen S - shared some glorius miles with me from Cottonwood Pass, was kind enough to go at my pace, and then joined me for a heck of a jeep ride hitch to get back to the car!

Susan O - has cheered me on the whole time and watched my kids through many miles. Thanks for being such a supportive mother-in-law and a terrific Grandma to our girls.

I am so grateful. Thank you!

West Virginia to Colorado

 West Virginia Family Reunion and Colorado Plans

 

Stop one on our journey was to Charleston, WV for a family reunion. It was originally scheduled for July 2020, and then was rescheduled to this summer due to the pandemic.

Our family had been to Charleston once before to visit “Uncle Jim and Aunt Beth” when Ava was a newborn. But this time, most of Grandmas’s family was there to join in the visit. And now our kids are old enough to remember and enjoy. Charleston is a very sweet town of 45,000 people with a large river running through its center. There are beautiful hills and forests all around.

If you haven’t flown in a while, things might be a bit different than you’re used to. Our flights were re-scheduled a few times before we flew. We started with a ferry trip and overnight stay in Vancouver, and then had three planes (YVR, SFO, ORD) before we arrived. Everything went smoothly enough and we received all of our bags, but line ups were long everywhere and we all needed to be patient at every turn.

Highlights of the trip included:

-          Having a connected room with Aunt Karen, Uncle Sean and cousin Molly, who recently turned 2 and is an absolute joy. Grandma’s room was nearby also, so we had a nice visit in a good hotel with plenty of games and pool time and food.

-          Seeing most of Grandma’s family, including both her brother’s full families (so all of Jason’s cousins on this side) – all together in one place!

-          Watching the local baseball game at the ball park with the whole family

-          Lovely walks / runs through the town and along the river bank, where many events were set up for the Sternwheel Regatta / 4^th of July celebrations. Stalls of food including ‘we will deep fry anything!’ were set up and it was fun to walk around and look at all the offerings.

-          Playing pool in Uncle Jim’s basement while eating apple pie and visiting with family.

-          Running a 5km trail run in the nearby forest for Independence Day. Rachel was the second female overall and won a trophy for being first in her age group.

-          A really fun boat ride on Uncle Jim’s boat – our kids loved going fast and bouncing along.

-          A visit to the New River Gorge National Park, which was lovely scenery under a blue sky before a thunderstorm rolled in

 

So what’s next?

 

Jason and Meggan left WV and flew to Colorado to have some time in the mountains. The girls are staying with Grandma and heading to her house in Northern Virginia for the next while. After getting organized (and working some) in Denver, we head to the high country.

 

The Colorado Trail Project:

For anyone who isn’t familiar, Meggan has been sectioning the Colorado Trail for many years. She has hiked most of it but has run some and biked some. There are three chunks of trail she hasn’t done yet, and hopefully during this trip she will complete all the missing sections.

 

Section 6: Meggan will hike approx. 26 miles over two days connecting the area between Kenosha Pass and Breckenridge, filling in a missing gap from her previous hikes. Jason will shuttle and support in our rental car, but work while she hikes during the day. The big test here will be the altitude. Landing and then heading out to hike at 10,000-12,000feet without much time to acclimate will be a challenge.

 

Section 8/9/10: Meggan will be joined by a dear friend Lori, and together they will hike from Copper Ski resort to the base of Mt. Massive near Leadville. Jason and Lori’s partner Randy will shuttle and run car support, so each night will be spending camping at the cars. Total is about 54 miles. The first day is the hardest because we have two higher exposed passes to get through before any possible afternoon storms arrive.

 

Section 24-28 from Silverton to Durango. A few summers ago, Meggan and her brother Jeff backpacked a beautiful section and finished near Silverton, CO. This year, Meggan will pick up a friend-of-a-friend named Shelley and backpack the last 75 miles over 4-5 days to finish at the Southwestern terminus of the trail. It should be fun to backpack with a new person and their dog, and so grateful not to be hiking alone. While this is happening, Jason will pace and support friends running the HardRock 100 mile ultra, which is a very special event.

 

Hopefully that all goes well, and then we fly back to Grandma’s and reunite with our girls.