Fall came early this year in the Rockies and mountains further West. Since hiking with Andrew Skurka in Washington back in June, I found myself wondering what kind of hardships he might be facing on certain days. If it was extremely hot out, if there were wildfires burning, or it snowed in the mountains, I wondered how he was dealing.

Late September was one of those times. The West had a sharp cold snap. Skurka, in Colorado on the Continental Divide trail, could not have been comfortable. He called me this past weekend and left a message. He invited me to the finish of his journey on the rim of the Grand Canyon in November. He sounded normal. No drama Andy. He is a very calm, and calming, person. This morning I read a report of his trip posted by his Mom:

"Andy had been concerned about CO since starting the hike. He was aware of how an early fall storm could hit the mountains. On Sunday, Sept 24th, Bob and I arrived home to discover a message from Andy on the home answering machine. Since we had our cell phones with us; it meant that Andy needed to give us a message but did not want to speak with us directly. This was one of the last days that Andy had his cell phone with him. The cell phone battery was nearly dead and Andy was not sure it was working. In the background we can hear the wind howling and the message began like this: "Mom and Dad, this is somewhat of an emergency. I bailed off the trail because of the horrendous weather. I am following the East fork of the Piedra creek. I am cliffed out and cannot get down. I will need to hike back up to the divide. …" the message continued to say that he would call by Tues. , Sept. 26th. Bob and I could hear the anxiety in Andy's voice. We had no doubt that Andy had the ability to get through this storm but an undercurrent of concern filled the next few days. Andy called on Monday, Sept. 25th at about midnight. He woke us from sleep but it was so good to hear from him.

The temperature was about 33 degrees, which is hypothermia weather. Andy's tarp tent did ok but he could not spend the day in his tent. Andy was walking on the Continental Divide Trail, so he was above treeline and there was no protection. He decided to bail out, or get off the mountain, by following a road that he could see on his map. Once he made the decision and was out of his tarp, he had to run to get warm. Andy had to ford a river that was swollen from the rain. He got caught and was dragged down 30 yards. There was a point where Andy said he could see the road but could not find a way down the 500-700 foot cliffs to get there (cliffed out). It was here, he told us, that he wished for a way to call in the helicopters. He called home instead."

It's inevitable that on a 6,875 mile hike like Andy's Great Western Loop there will be some 'moments'. When he's asked, I doubt Andy will spend too much time talking about the really difficult times he faced. Hopefully he will have mostly good conditions for the next month and complete the Loop as planned.

You can read more about Andy and Great Western Loop here.