We flew out to Denver on the 4th and were transported to the start of Segment 7 at Goldhill. We got started around 6pm and hiked up a gradual climb to just over 10,000 feet. We had a great view of Mt Evans and a good vantage point to check on the late day thunderstorms. We were in between Frisco and Breckenridge so the fireworks started on either side of us. We were deep in the woods so we only saw the sky light up. Anyway, the condition of this trail is very easy grade. Its a nice dirt path free of many rocks and roots, although there are some patches of that. The hardest thing for us was breathing. Acclimation took us 3 days. My wife got some acute sickness in Copper Mountain after we passed over 12,400+ feet. She had a headache that passed with some sleep and relaxation. We pulled up to a campsite along the river at Wheeler Flats, just outside of Copper. There was a festival going on so we wanted to get as far away as we could so my wife could get some rest without having to sleep at much elevation. We had been camping at higher elevations than we initially planned that early so it got tough. The next day, day 3 we were good to go. The views are amazing, the mountains are huge. I was amazed at how one small little cloud can explode into a thunderstorm. We heard lightening strike the boulders in the fields and could hear rocks falling after being hit. We had 2 days early on that were hazy from some of the smoke. ONce we got acclimated, we were doing 10 miles by 1:00. We met a lot of Thru's of the CT and CDT. Colorado is great and we plan to go back next year.
