Pretty Pictures of a Shrinking Scarecrow

taken by Scarecrow

It has been a week of updates from Scarecrow - he finished the piece of Wyoming, waiting for the terrain to clear a bit in Colorado.  He, along with the Warrior Hikers, took a ride back down to Colorado with Theresa Martinez from the CDTC to reconnect their steps and finish up the missed section.


Pictured, you can see Jabba, Scarecrow, Theresa, NO2 and Grayhound taking a break from what was surely an interesting car ride for all.

Jabba & Scarecrow looking like twins (minus the beard)

An early checkpoint once entering Colorado through the San Juan Mountains is Wolf Creek Pass, with an elevation of 10,857 feet.  The hikers will continue to head North, through Colorado and into Wyoming.  They are so thankful they conquered the piece of Wyoming that will have little or no water supply by the time they were "supposed to" be there without flip flopping.  When they finally reach the Great Basin Divide, they will be able to launch forward about 200 miles and continue up to their ultimate goal of Glacier National Park.  

Teddy finally stepped on a scale and has lost 23 pounds since his departure.  He is now just over 200 pounds and shrinking.  He has about 1200 miles under his feet, with about 1900 left to conquer.  He has separated from Jabba, who stepped off the trail for family obligations and hopefully will reconnect with Scarecrow when he returns back to the trail.  The other Warrior hikers are still together, I believe, but Scarecrow has been on his own for a few days now.  He is cranking out the miles, heading North through Colorado eventually ending up in a town called Twin Lakes this past weekend.

 There was not much to report along the way, other than a resupply and some beautiful pictures sent of the amazing scenes he walked through on his way North.  He definitely needed an ice ax, his shoe spikes and winter gear to get through those snowy mountains.  Thankfully there are miles of no snow as you can see.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a delay from when these pictures are taken and when I actually get to speak to him about them, so information is limited.  My instructions were to make sure he was in the pictures he is taking, so we can see how he is making out.  Great job, Teddy - you look great and the scenery is amazing.

Teddy took this picture of a fellow hiker to show us the terrain and how vast the snowy land is.  I do not think he shared with me who it actually was.

 So, as Teddy heads North through Colorado, the kids and I know the time we will meet up with him is getting closer.  While in the town of Twin Lakes over the weekend, we were able to solidify plans for our reunion.  We are so excited because Scarecrow will hike into Monarch Pass, and be transported to the Denver area, and fly out to Washington to see us on the 4th.  That is just under a week from now - we all cannot wait.  Scarecrow will enjoy some much needed family time with our family trail angels, the Christman Family, and be back out on the trail within a week.  Hopefully, he will be rejuvenated, full, rested, and ready to attack the rest of the CDT.

I want to give a quick shout out to the creator/programmer of the trackleaders.com program Scarecrow is using to check in -  Teddy told me he met you while in Twin Lakes.  Thank you for all you have done to allow families to follow along while their loved ones are hiking.  The real version of this shout out is: thank you for allowing me keep track of my husband and make sure he is not really in the Bahamas sipping Coronas with his buddies.  All joking aside, it is amazing that our supportive family and friends can click on a link such as where is Scarecrow? and be able to see his progress and follow along.  It is so appreciated and I am grateful for all of your hard work.

Scarecrow also wanted me to again, thank each and every one of you who have shown and spoken their support in such an amazing endeavor that he is undertaking.  I share with him all of your messages, posts, phone calls, and actions which mean so much to our family.  We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends who are so supportive of Scarecrow's dream of becoming a Triple Crown Hiker, as well as his family as we root for his success across the finish line.  THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU.

taken by Scarecrow

Until Next Time,
The Thruhiker's Wife