This was initially posted on my previous blog on July 9, 2018.
I cannot say enough about how much I loved this hike. If you have read my past blogs, you know that I love the mountains and this hike played perfectly into that love. It was about 28 miles through Tennessee Pass, Kokomo Pass, Searle Pass, and finishing on Copper Mountain. A majority of the trail was on the Colorado and Continental Divide trails. The trails were well maintained and easy to follow. And the views were stunning. The best part is that is was supported backpacking. I was worried about how my body would handle carrying 30 lbs and was slightly less anxious for the trip since I knew there would always be help nearby.
The Fjällräven Classic started in Sweden to be a celebration of the outdoors and to encourage and enable more people to get out and enjoy trekking. It started in 2005 in Sweden on a popular trail and has now spread to four countries and is still encouraging people to get out and trek. I thought the Fjällräven Classic USA did a great job celebrating the outdoors and helping the masses enjoy trekking.
Day 1:Holly and I flew in late on Tuesday so we registered Wednesday before the trek. The check-in was easy and the people were helpful in answering our questions. We were provided with a waste bag for the hike, a Grayl water filter bottle, a small Primus gas canister for cooking, a long handled spoon (too bad I already had one), a nice utility knife, and our freeze dried meal for lunch that day. We also got a passport to have stamped at every checkpoint and campsite to ensure they were tracking everyone. Then it was a 45 minute bus ride through beautiful terrain to Tennessee Pass for the start of the hike.
The start and checkpoint this day had sunscreen and snacks for us to grab. It was a great way to start the hike. Day 1 included about 9.5 miles of hiking starting at 10,447ft. We started the hike around 9am. It was a pretty easy day of hiking through fields and woods. At checkpoint 1, we were able to reload on sunscreen, snacks, and they even had soup prepared for us for lunch. There were several surprises along the hike including Kombucha and popsicles. The popsicle stop even had entertainment where a guy on a guitar was keeping us smiling. We reached Camp Hale around 1pm and Holly and I wondered what we would do the rest of the afternoon. The campsite is located in a field surrounded by stunning mountains. Holly and I were lucky enough to grab a spot by the water and we got settled in. I was so proud of myself for being able to put up my tent quickly and with no issue. There was so much going on at the campsite. People were heading back a bit to the river and jumping in, making lunch, grabbing beer and wine (I actually really enjoyed the Cucumber Sour beer), and enjoying the music. A little later in the day, a Bluegrass duo played live music for several hours and we had burgers and brats on the grill. We were also able to mingle with the 300 others and we met some wonderful people. It was a perfect day and I loved the vibe at the campsite. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before so I skipped the smores and campfire hangout and instead finished the night reading my book and watching the sunset in my tent.
Day 2:
Day 2 was the rough day. We were warned the night before that day 2 would be long and that we needed to start by 7:30. That wasn’t hard given the sun came up around 5:15am and people started packing up. We made our freeze dried breakfast, packed up, and got started around 6:30am. We retraced our path a little and a bit into the walk, we hit the checkpoint. This checkpoint was the last fully stocked one on the hike. They were grilling pancakes and sausages and had plenty of snacks. It was also our last porta potty of the hike. We enjoyed our Nutella covered pancakes, grabbed snacks, loaded up on sunscreen, and used the bathroom before starting our hike up the mountain. It was a gradual climb for a bit and then started to increase the incline. It was still beautiful in every direction despite our breathing getting a little harder.
Holly and I are great at hiking together because we both prefer slow and steady. We don’t race along, but we also don’t take many breaks. Our breaks are short and accomplish a certain task (sunscreen, quick snack, refill water). We reached the tree line and had over 2.5 miles exposed on the mountain. Slow and steady was the perfect goal for this part. Holly pulled out the music and we rocked out while climbing the mountain. The only thing I would switch about this portion is that I probably should have had more water. We reached Kokomo Pass and sat to enjoy the view. We finally took our long break and made lunch while catching up with some more cool people. I highly recommend going to see Kokomo Pass and the beauty in every direction.
Finally it was time to move on and finish the day. The hike was a little over 3.5 miles to the campsite with just a little more upward motion before heading down. The path was relatively easy but I found my body was getting tired. The stunning surroundings made it easier to push through. There were mountains, lakes, snow patches, wildflowers, and creeks all around. I finally was close to reaching my breaking point when we realized how close to the campsite we were. We filled up with some water at the last creek before the campsite and kept moving until we reached camp just before 3pm. The campsite was mostly just a large field area among the trees. We found a semi flat area and set up camp. I cannot express how happy I was to be done for the day. Slow and steady was the perfect method for the day, but I was still exhausted, ready to take my pack off, and still fighting the altitude. We went across the field to fill up all water storage we had and then napped or read. We finally made dinner and decided to call it a night super early to help fight our altitude headaches. I had my first major bloody nose at dinner, which was so much fun. I slept for about 45 minutes and woke up feeling sick. I wasn’t able to fall back asleep so I tried to think about ways to feel better. I finally forced myself up at 10:30 to go to the bathroom, get a snack, drink more water, and take an Advil. One of those steps work perfectly because I felt better and was able to get a decent night sleep.
Lesson Learned: Drink more water than you think you need at altitude!
Day 3:
The last day was by far the easiest. We only had to cover 5.5 miles down the mountain. We woke up around 6:15am and decided to just get going. We were out of water (my late night drinking finished my water) so we didn’t make our oatmeal freeze dried meal. Instead I finished some of my snacks and packed up. It was definitely an easier hike but still beautiful. We put on some music and danced off the mountain. We reached the finish line around 10am. We were thrilled to see the porta potties waiting for us (super clean since we were some of the first to finish). We got our last stamp in the passport and were awarded with a shirt, medal, pin, and patch. They had plenty of drinks and snacks out and several vendors were selling items that I made myself ignore. Live music was starting around 11am so Holly and I decided to go down and enjoy a shower before coming up for the party and food.
The hot tub and shower at the Copper Mountain Rec Center were incredible. I was so excited to feel clean and refreshed. We took the shuttle back up the mountain to Trekkers Inn for food and music. They had burgers, corn on the cob, and veggies for lunch. We had live music to enjoy too. By the time we made it back up around 12:30, most people were finished and enjoying the finish line. We hung out for a bit and then called it a day after pictures with a llama. We were set on ice cream, which thankfully we found down in town.
I highly recommend this hike. It was well supported, but still challenging. The views were beautiful and the company was fun. It was a great sense of accomplishment too. I can’t wait to convince a few friends to go back with me next year.