Colorado Trail 2023
DISCLAIMER:
This is an unfinished through hike of the Colorado Trail, a 485-mile long trail that connects Denver, CO to Durango, CO. At mile 300 my foot pain, later found to be a stress fracture, resulted in a broken 2nd metatrsal. This was at first misdiagnosed as gout which lead to my trail-name "Bigfoot".
You will also find that these travel logs are much more brief and concise than the TRT logs. These are copied from "check-ins" on the app FarOut (fka Guthook). The frantic and irreverent prose reflects the vibe and dynamic of this trip with fellow hikers/psychos Kenny and Thom.
CT TRAIL LOG
7/6/23 - Camp spot 1. Fun miles. Hail storm at 12pm. Instant mashed potatoes good.
7/7/23 - Campspot 2: Huge shout out to Thoms mom for the bagels at the end of segment 2. Segment 3 is just OK. My feet hurt lol
7/8/23 - Campspot 3: nuts day. First real climb of the trail. Long meadow with biting flies and mosquitos was no bueno. Hit a euphoric high on an aspen ridge. 21.5 mile day!
7/9/23 - Campspot 4: nice hike to Kenosha pass. Big burger and picked up our box in Jefferson. Truckbed hitchhike back ascending to the clouds on the way back. More miles and friends met later. Jim beam shooters and pad Thai. Shin splints and mosquitoes are the enemy.
7/10/23 - Townspot night 5: last night a bunny bit my tent rope and it collapsed on me. Georgia pass rocked. Coming into Breck some rich ppl from Minnesota gave us beer. TV time at this nice place. Zero tmrw.
7/11/23 - Townspot night 6: lots of errands and town time. Hot dogs at the HD lounge. SpongeBob to end the night.
7/12/23 - Campspot 7: back on trail. Nervousness about shin splints pale in comparison to views before descending into copper. Detour led us through town and had to get a beer before hiking through the resort. Picturesque camp spot before 2 passes tmrw.
7/13/23 - Campspot 8: above tree line and cute marmot spottings in the morning. Concrete army barracks and old coke ovens later. CBD spliff looking out on the collegiates and mount massive at sunset.
7/14/23 - Campspot 9: after 22 miles and no ibuprofen I feel…fine? WTF! Holy cross wilderness > mount massive wilderness with many cool ppl in the hiker train. Near-o in Leadville w Rachel tmrw !
7/15/23 - Town - day 10: went about 11 miles into twin lakes had some coffee, snacks and topo Chico marg. Rachel picked us up and had some insane pizza. Camped in town and had an amazing veggie hash. Best of all got to snuggle with Rachel (:
7/16/23 - Campspot night 11: much needed lazy morning and delicious bfast burritos by Rachel. Forgot trekking poles at camp before hiking and also lost a stake -_- icy dips in twin lakes after scorching miles. First night in the collegiate west!
7/17/23 - Campspot night 12: Gorgeous Hope pass in the AM. Soda, goldfish and fruit provided by trail angels. Lake Ann pass in the PM complete with a snow field staircase before summiting. Listened to Phish and reggae by the campfire. Mosquitos are still the enemy but the shin feels ok!
7/18/23 - Campspot 13: Huge day. Up close and personal with a moose in the early morning. Wet and wild hiking in many different stunning basins. Did a total of 5 different mountain passes. Feeling cooked. Strangely camping at the most crowded backpacker site of all time.
7/19/23 - Campspot night 14: Halfway done! Another 24 mile day but this time more forgiving! A couple passes in the morning featuring many crystal alpine lakes. Ended the day going up over the divide and camping on the Monarch slopes. Zero in Salida tmrw!
7/19/23 - Campspot day 17: back on the trail. No check ins last 2 nights bc we were living it up in Salida. Lots of tasty food, swimming and libations. Started off the day dodging mountain bikers. The Colorado Trail foundation had a tent with snacks to duck into just in time for a hail storm. Met lots of cool people. Top of my foot is hurting bad, hopefully the forgiving terrain can be of help.
7/20/23 - Campspot day 18: waking up to a frozen tent is no bueno. Blasé miles felt like another day in the office. Ibuprofen helped with my weird foot thing. At the end of the day trail angels treated us to hot dogs and beer. Made it a 25 mile day thanks to some mild terrain. Shared camp w a great dude from honk Kong via South Africa. Hitting the 300 mile marker is pretty surreal.
7/21/23 - Campspot day 19: brutal day. Woke up to a swollen foot. After every painful step I decided to phone home for an emergency zero day. Cochatopa hills were hot and exposed. Descending to cochatopa creek was remarkably prettier. Praying some rest will get me back on trail ASAP.
EPILOGEAt this point in the trip my dad picked me up and talked some sense into me. I had to get off trail and recover. It was an emotially devastating decision, and it was for the best. I've learned that my pain tolerance is quite high and I unhealthily thought the this situation was more of a "mind over matter" problem.
Here's the x-ray that I got more than a month of getting off trail
