The Beginnings of Preparation

Usually when planning a long-distance backpacking trip of any sort, there is a decent amount of preparation involved—if you are a planner like me, that is.  There are a few people out there who enjoy flying by the seat of the pants and just winging it.  I'm not in the category.  Besides, the Colorado Trail is a little more remote and less accessible than a trail such as the Appalachian Trail, and so planning becomes a little more imperative if one enjoys being able to eat and find fresh water.  As Ben and I get ready to hike the Colorado Trail this summer, we have begun our time of preparation by: 

1.  Purchasing the Colorado Trail official guidebook and planning out our resupply locations (and where we can find a shower!)

2.  I have already dehydrated several meals, but have many more to go.  

3.  We have barely begun, but we have started physical training, which includes any machine that works the legs, hiking, running, and doing "stairs".  A weighted pack will be added a bit later, as well as longer hikes on the weekends.  

4.  Checking snow reports and trail conditions to determine our start date (as of now, the mountains still have a lot of snow from a hard winter, and so we may have to delay our originally planned start date of June 10th.  We are already anticipating at least June 15th, unless Colorado has an unexpectedly warm spring.)

As the hike gets closer, there will be other items on the agenda, like scoping out some of the water sources, looking at resupply locations a little bit closer (maybe even printing maps of the towns), packing up food packages to be shipped at a later date, purchasing a few gear necessities, etc.  We’ll keep you updated.  

So What Is the Colorado Trail and Why Hike It?

We find ourselves once again longing for the wilderness...our hunger has been lingering for sometime, as our last backpacking trip together was the Superior Hiking Trail in 2009.  Our lives have simply become busy and practical, which is not always bad, but we understand the need to satiate our desire to connect to God and one another through our escape into the mountains.

And so was born the idea of the Colorado Trail, which has been brewing since 2011, but is only now finally being realized.  It is this deprivation of solitude and untouched beauty that drives us to seek out the mountains of Colorado.  Having ourselves met on the Appalachian Trail, the trail life has a special place in our hearts and we both seem to have an understanding of our need for fresh air and adventure.  We hope our trip to also be a time of reflection and reconnection to our spiritual roots in the Lord...If even Jesus needed time away in solitude, then I suppose we probably do as well, and what better place than the mountains.

Trail life is simple--everything one needs in a single pack on the back.  There's no fluff, and everyone is equal with a common goal: survival.  It's so easy to fall in love with the simplicity and lack of competition; the trail life often breeds a certain togetherness that I wish our society could experience daily.  Hopefully we can be reminded of the common bond of humanity and bring that back with us to our daily grind here in Oxford.

So, what is the Colorado Trail?  A little blurb from ColoradoTrail.org says, "The Colorado Trail is Colorado’s premier long distance trail. Stretching 486 miles from Denver to Durango, it travels through the spectacular Colorado Rocky Mountains amongst peaks with lakes, creeks and diverse ecosystems. Trail users experience six wilderness areas and eight mountain ranges topping out at 13,271 feet, just below Coney Summit at 13,334 feet. The average elevation is over 10,000 feet and it rises and falls dramatically. Users traveling from Denver to Durango will climb 89,354 feet." The trail will also present many chances to encounter the unique history of Colorado, including many old mining towns and sites.

As far as weather, there is potential to face sections of leftover snow from a hard winter, and the Rockys are known for their sudden afternoon thunderstorms, which poses a serious threat of lightening strikes for hikers who have planned poorly and find themselves on the tops of ridges during such activity.  The air is generally dry and temperatures a bit cooler with the high altitudes, but we anticipate facing a wide range of temperatures.  

Our anticipated start date is July 15th, but may need to be pushed back due to snow.  We'll keep updating as we use the next 3 months to continue our preparations.