July 22, 2023 – July 27, 2023
The final part of my Colorado Trail journey continued to live up to the general hype: the trail keeps getting better and better. When I had originally planned this trek, my idea was to break off from the CT during this section and continue along the CDT and finish on Wolf Creek Pass. Due to a crazy wet and snowy year, I opted to finish along the CT instead: conditions were safer/better, I had good hiking company, and honestly, I really wanted to hang out in Durango with other hikers. Growing up in Grand Junction, surprisingly I’d never been to Durango, so the idea of visiting, especially as a Colorado Trail Finisher (kinda?) sounded really fun. The San Juans certainly lived up to their reputation as grandiose and awe-inspiring. At the end of the day, I’m really happy I made the decision to enjoy the last 110 miles to Durango, instead of post-holing my way to Wolf Creek.
Day 22 (7/22/23): 8 Miles
Surprisingly, I had a pretty hard time sleeping in the bed at the hostel, like my body wasn’t used to sleeping on something so soft. There were four other hikers staying at the hostel that night, so we all chilled and chatted in the morning before Mags came to resupply me around 11:30AM. We had some fantastic burritos in town, packed up my bag with the final week of supplies, then hit the Spring Creek Pass Trailhead around 4:00PM. Cheeks and I opted to continue hiking together, so we climbed up another 8 miles just past the top of the mesa and stopped for camp. Absolutely unforgettable views of the San Juans and Cock’s Comb from here. We met up with a large group of hikers near a meadow and decided to camp with the crowd. Made the mistake of camping in a meadow again… Feeling: COLD!
Day 23 (7/23/23): 25 Miles
Yep, I was right. Coldest night of the trip so far. Woke up with frost all over my bivy and face. I managed to sleep about 6 hours until about 3:00AM, but was lying awake very frigid until about 5:00AM when I decided enough was enough. I got out and started hiking the big climb up to the Colorado Trail High Point (13,271′) as fast as I could. By around 7:00AM the sun was up and I was happy. I pushed myself to hike 7 miles before breakfast because I didn’t want to stop on my way up to the high point. Met up with High Five, Cheeks, Toejam, Anchorman, Chef, Ghost and Gulley at the high point and had an incredibly satisfying breakfast at 13,000′ with some of the best panoramas you could ask for. The rest of the day from the high point onwards reminded me a lot of the Collegiate West: a lot of alpine walking over steep mountain passes. Today would be one of the biggest and most strenuous days of the trip. I stopped for camp at the intersection with Stony Pass and set up my bivy inside the remains of an old cabin, nicely protected from the wind. Feeling: Cozy! Hopefully tonight is better.
Day 24 (7/24/23): 18 Miles
Had a wonderful camp inside the cabin ruins. Blocked from the wind and rain, I was sleeping like a baby. Cheeks and I opted to hike the Weminuche Bike alternate down to Silverton due to nasty thunderstorm conditions all day in the mountains. We left around 7:00AM and hiked about 4 miles down the alternate before hitching a ride with a Jeep guide down the rest of the pass. She was nice enough to drop us off right outside of Silverton, where we walked into town and had a huge breakfast at the Kendall Mountain Café with a couple other hikers. We did a little resupply at the local grocery store, then hitched back up to the Molas Pass Trailhead late in the day after the storms had dissipated and crushed another 13 miles out. The last 4 miles of alpine walking were a little anxiety-inducing due to the lack of cover and proximity of thunderstorms, but we made it down to tree line just before dark and had a nice, flat camp in the woods. The three deer at our camp were absolutely fearless and were coming within two feet of me trying to get food. They nosed around our campsite all evening and it honestly kind of kept me up. Feeling: Very positive.
Day 25 (7/25/23): 17 Miles
Those deer wandered our camp all night and were still hanging out when I awoke in the morning. Someone must have recently fed these trouble-makers! Today, I had only planned on hiking 16 miles to be in a good position for the high elevation and water carry coming up the next day. The afternoon storms were becoming more obvious and severe now that I was hiking in the San Juans and it was getting me to think differently about how I pace my days. I hiked 8 miles down to Celebration Lake where I stopped and gathered water. As I was scooping some water, I couldn’t help but notice some little critters swimming around in the lake. Fish? Frogs? Salamanders! I couldn’t believe I was seeing Tiger Salamanders in Colorado. Apparently, paedomorphic salamanders are found in just a few lakes in Colorado and Celebration Lake is one of them! The rest of the day would consist of hiking up and over the beautiful Blackhawk Pass, collecting a bunch of water for the upcoming 16 mile dry section, and setting up camp. The night was turning out to be pretty peaceful until a big group camped a little too close and were pretty noisy. Feeling: A little annoyed…
Day 26 (7/26/23): 17.5 Miles
I awoke before everyone at my campsite and hit the trail quick. Today was supposed to be another shorter day just to set myself up to hike Indian Trail Ridge in the early morning tomorrow. The ridge is the final section of high-altitude alpine walking and I wanted to get it done in the morning to avoid bad weather, so today consisted of climbing just a few hundred feet from the high point and setting up camp. I took today slow and had a lot of breaks. I even broke off trail for a scenic overlook which is something I don’t normally do, but I was good on time and having a chill, positive day. Had a two hour nap on the overlook then ambled my way up to camp in the final remaining trees before the pass. At this point, the rest of the trip could be split up into either two shorter days, or one long 27 mile day. Since I was already at camp so early, I thought I’d wake up extra early tomorrow and crush all the miles into one big day. Feeling: Positive!
Day 27 (7/27/23): 27 Miles (+1 mile to hitch)
My final day of the trail awaited me. I awoke around 3:00AM, headlamp adorned, and hiked the Indian Trail Ridge section in the early darkness. Descending to Taylor Lake in the twilight hours of dawn were certainly a sight to behold. I stopped at the lake for a nice long breakfast to get myself energized. Time to put the game face on! Today was going to be a lot of miles, but it was pretty much all downhill from here, which is my specialty. With the storms at my back, I zoomed down the trail as fast as I could, snacking and drinking water as I moved and managed to make it down to the southern terminus of the Colorado Trail at around 3:10PM. I had hiked about 27 miles in 11 hours. I was overjoyed and absolutely ecstatic, though there was definitely a creeping bittersweet feeling. Even though I’d be relieved to get off-trail and go back to my home, my garden, my partner, my dog; there was a serious sense that I was going to miss this way of life oh so much…
I hiked a mile down the road, managed to pull off a solo hitch looking like a crusty dirtbag, had two giant dinners and shared a hotel room with a few other hikers as one does in town. The next morning a big group of seven of us would hang for most of the day in celebration and sharing trail memories before saying our goodbyes in the late afternoon.
My Colorado Trail Journey:
- ~ 437 miles total
- ~ 83,000′ elevation gain
- 25 days on-trail
- 2 zero days off-trail
- Longest day: ~28 miles
- Highest elevation: San Luis Peak 14,022′
- Starting point: Lizard Rock Trailhead (Lost Creek Wilderness)
- Ending point: Durango, CO
And some of my final thoughts on living outside for a month in beautiful Colorado:
- 25 nights on-trail and I only really got rained on once. What a blessing! I swear, not two days after I got home, the monsoons started coming in consistently every afternoon and would dump rainfall. I’m so glad I did not camp in that.
- I couldn’t have picked a better water year to hike the CT. I think I only did about 3 or 4 big water carries along the whole trip due to how many streams there were and how much I could rely on the beta on the FarOut App. Even though hiking a trail that so many frequent is less adventurous, I see the benefits when it comes to having more water beta along the way. Less weight = more fun.
- I enjoyed the social aspect of the trail much more than I thought I would. I deliberately picked the CDT alternates (and originally to Wolf Creek) in hopes of seeing less people, but by the end of the trip, I was thoroughly enjoying my time spent with other hikers. The companionship and shared goal really go along way for my trail morale.
- I got everything I wanted out of this trip: I couldn’t have asked for anything to go down differently. My high moments of joy were equally met with just as many moments of struggle. There were plenty of times I was soaking it all in, and others I was wishing I was home. It’s all part of the experience!
- Well… what now? There’s a real sense of being lost after finishing something so focused such as this. Long distance hiking is so simple: all you have to do is walk and find water. Life on the outside is complex and unprecedented. I’ll always long for my simple times along the trail. These four weeks have me pretty consumed with this backpacking again; I’ll certainly be back for this kind of experience again!
To many more, folks! Thanks for reading!
Not Ideal, but Fine 