He's back at it! Pawel Szafruga on the Continental Divide.

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Mel Kel
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He's back at it! Pawel Szafruga on the Continental Divide.

Post by Mel Kel »

Hey all,

Altho not 14er related, wanted to share that Pawel Szafruga (you may remember his name when he did a self-supported thru hike of all the 14ers in 2021) has been grinding for the past month on another mountain adventure.

This time he has been hiking south on the Continental Divide Ridge from the WY border. It's a bit different than the trail (that you may be familiar with) as he is hiking primarily off trail, traversing on the ridge between peaks and tagging all the high points. And he's linking them in one big go!

As you can imagine, that means a lot of time above treeline, anxiety producing weather, and often navigating a lot of unknown terrain as he connects peaks on ridges full of, at times, garbage rock. He's had to wait out hail storms, bushwhack down to find water, scramble over blowdowns and generally question what the f*** he's doing with his life. There have been a lot of low moments along the way but somehow he has managed to put himself back together each time and keep on.

He's close to finishing this massive undertaking and as his girlfriend, I'm super proud of him and wanted to brag a little and give him some recognition.

You can view his Garmin track here-
https://share.garmin.com/share/returnofthedodo

My insta for updates/stories: @theemelkel
His insta (which he rarely updates)- @projectofscience

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Of note** - you may see a few small gaps- unfortunately Garmin's new inreach has some MAJOR flaws and updates without warning causing the tracking to stop. As you can imagine not only is this dangerous but it is also anxiety inducing for his support crew and friends who are left wondering why he has stopped moving. Its absolutely unacceptable and they will certainly be hearing about this issue- has anyone else had this happen? We never had problems with the original inreach.
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That's all! I expect him to finish tomorrow (hopefully he gets the weather window), on his 40th birthday! 🥳🥳
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bdloftin77
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Re: He's back at it! Pawel Szafruga on the Continental Divide.

Post by bdloftin77 »

Pretty cool! Thanks for sharing. It'll be neat to see his stats once he's finished.

Is he holding up okay? I remember his feet were pretty beat up last time. Was he alright near Walden? Looks like there was a quick stop up there.
seannunn
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Re: He's back at it! Pawel Szafruga on the Continental Divide.

Post by seannunn »

Best wishes to Pawel!!!
I remember being astounded that a self-supported tour of the 14ers was even humanly possible.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains."

--Psalm 36:6