Ken's Cabin, Section House, & Sangree Huts

The next day about killed Hart and I! We hiked down from Sangree Hut (3miles) drove to Breckenridge and strapped our snowshoes back on for a grueling 6 mile hike. The first section was very easy and fooled us into thinking that we we wouldn't need our snow shoes. After about a mile and a half, the trail quickly turned to an ankle deep, unpacked, snow field. Our place slowed to a crawl as we made out way up the road. (Yes, it is an operational road in the summer but in the winter it is an unmaintained path to the top of am 11,000 ft pass.)

After nearly 5 hours of hiking up combined with the 1.5 hours we had hiked down earlier that day, we arrived at Ken's Hut barely speaking, heads pounding, and stomachs growling. The hut was the same temperature as it was outside (around 12) so Hart went to work quickly building a fire. I crawled into bed and shivered my weary bones to sleep. The rest of the night was a blur of exhaustion.

The next day our hike was about 10 feet, from Ken's rustic cabin to the main Section House. These were both old ruins from the 1890's which have been preserved and are now used in the winter for sleeping at 11,000 feet in a wind storm by crazy people like us. Our stay in the section house was greeted by four gentleman which made our night there enjoyably full of conversation.