I wake in the early hours before dawn and pack up my final campsite.
The woods are cold and dark, and it’s one-hundred percent night-hiking.
A dim light gradually emerges, but the morning is still void of color.
The few heavily traveled miles to the end of The Colorado Trail take longer than I’d expected. Eventually there’s a gravel parking lot and a sign marking the trailhead, just like all the rest. I’d seen plenty of photos of thru-hikers at this sign, the official end point. The place and moment doesn’t strike me as particularly memorable or dramatic this morning, and I skip the picture in the dim light.
From the trailhead it’s another few miles into Durango. Most hikers easily hitchhike from here, but at this early hour I’m left to walk the road. The first signs of people stirring to life on this Monday of Labor Day weekend are faintly detectable, though I sense that most are still asleep. Newspapers lie dormant outside every home.
Finally in downtown among the chill scent of exhaust fumes I stop in a gas station for a soda and candy.
Then it’s over to Denny’s for a whopping breakfast of a Moons over My Hammy with hashbrowns, six pancakes, and bacon.
Soon the gift shops are open and I find myself a nice cotton T-shirt that says DURANGO in big letters.
Who do I see walking the sidewalk but Ole and Meadow Bruiser! We talk for a while and make plans to meet later for dinner. We’ll all be staying at the hostel tonight.
A six pack of beer from the store, and I wait in the green sunny grass for my friend from Pagosa Springs to come pick me up. On the way out of town we stop at a ribs joint. The owner is apparently quite the Woody Nelson fan – I love the photo of Woody’s profile that says “A NATIONAL MONUMENT doesn’t have to be a PLACE.”
I spend the afternoon hanging out near Pagosa, retrieve my car, and drive back to Durango. The first thing I reach for in my car is a pair of sandals. I won’t wear shoes for almost three weeks – the entire duration of this road trip back to Pennsylvania – allowing my foot to finally heal.
Ultimately I never have my foot looked at by a professional or find out what was the exact injury. It clears up on its own in due time.
Ole and Meadow and I enjoy dinner at a hip pizza place down the street from the hostel. I consume a whole pizza.
The next morning I drive them to the airport and take care of errands in Durango – picking up my last maildrop, a haircut, an oil change on my car…
The next day I go back to my friend’s at Pagosa Springs and have a nice time at an amazing brew pub there.
I take two days to drive across Colorado from Pagosa Springs to Boulder. In Boulder there’s an old friend that I’ve known since grade school, a childhood friend that I haven’t seen in over ten years.
On the way I leisurely drive through all the trail towns – Creede, Gunnison, Buena Vista, and Leadville.
Most of the time spent with my friend in Boulder happens to be at yet another local brewpub.
Peak foliage along the roadside
When I leave Boulder I visit Rocky Mountain National Park, but don’t do any hiking. It all looks the same as the world that’s been my home for the last five weeks.
At last I say goodbye to Colorado, and visit Nebraska for the very first time.
From there I drive north to the Black Hills country of South Dakota.
South Dakota is not-so-surprisingly very cool, with the Black Hills and Badlands.
Crazy Horse
The Badlands
I drive due east, clear across South Dakota. I turn north to visit Fargo North Dakota (Just because), and make a sort of loop that hits Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula, and Iowa.
When this road trip is over, I’ll have visited every state in the US with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii.
Lake Superior, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
The Field of Dreams is my final and ultimate stop of this year’s adventure. After this I’ll spend a full week with one of my best friends in Illinois, a weekend with another in Ohio, and then finally home.
I roll into Iowa in the late afternoon, and the golden light already gives it a magical quality. I arrive at the field a few moments before sunset. The site is technically closed for the day, but there’s nobody around, except for a single other tourist. He says he’s spending the night in a nearby town, and invites me to come back to play ball tomorrow. For some reason it had never occurred to me that people would actually play baseball here! Hmmm.
“Well I’ll leave you alone with the field,” he says, and drives off.
I sit on the bleacher, dodge the sprinklers, run the bases, and walk in the corn.
Thanks for reading!
If you found value here, please consider leaving a donation for my work. There’s enough words here to fill a book… but considering the abundance of photos, I think this online format best portrays the experience I’m trying to convey. Thank you so much, and cheers!
12 years later. Really enjoyed your blog. Getting the courage to hike princeton hot springs to durango since I was just laid off.
Thanks Janice! Go for it, that’s a great section.
I’ve had your blog up on my work computer for a few weeks and have been reading the your CT trip when I have time and I just wanted to say, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy reading published books 🙂 Very well written and has gotten me pretty excited for my own long distance hiking experience when my kids are old enough.
thanks Amanda! 🙂
Thanks, Duct Tape for an informative , well-written and creative blog with magnificent photography that lets the mountains speak for themselves. I, too, have done the A-T and will be hiking the CT, God willing, in August 2021 with several of my A-T friends. I appreciate you sharing your blog! Rainbow
Hi, Korean backpacker here who wants to do one of the major trail in US one day. I was searching thru hikers gears in google and somehow ended up in your site and had a blast time wasting my work time(?) reading your journals, gear reviews and et cetera hahaha. Your blog was very informative, inspiring and humorous!! I will continue to come and check out this place often. Great stuff!! Cheers!
Thank you for the nice comment Yuhan!
Thanks a great journal of the colorado trail! I really enjoyed your comments and many photos. Awesome!!!
thanks Bruce
Great journal. I’m supposed to head out with my brother in August, to hike the whole CT trail. Interestingly, my foot is KILLING me, and has been for about a month. I have about 90 days until the hike. It’s good to see you pushed through with the bum foot. I will just have to do the same 🙂
Glad you made it man! I kept waiting for you to tell about how you got blown off the mountain or hit by lightning in those storms. Awesome journey! Can’t wait to tackle it myself some year.
Thanks Eric! Sorry I didn’t have any more exciting mishaps? 🙂
Thank you for writing such a great story of your travels. I enjoyed the pictures as well. I love in Italy and plan to hike the trail 2 years from now. Your journal has me even more excited.
Thanks man. I’m heading to the trailhead in Roxborough Park on July 5th to start this journey. Appreciate your very descriptive and well written experiences. I’ll think about you and smile when I speed up to avoid letting another hiker catch up to me for no apparent reason;)
Wow! Thank you! I love this!
Such an interesting and inspiring story on hiking Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Thanks for sharing how you coped with injury by pure will power and Vitamin I to finish the CT. After living in Denver since the early 70’s and now being 70 and retired, I am planning to hike the CT next August and September. I loved all your excellent photos, which gave a real feel for seemingly every mile of the trail. And your gear list will be invaluable. Thanks for your journal.
this blog has been enjoyable as well as informative. I am 56 and wonder if I am mentally and physic ially able to try it. being partially disabled it will most likely take my twice as long as you. that’s my personal challenge., the hike is the reward as I see it. I’m not the 13yr old boyscout who did 2/3 of the AT ( grew up in Maryland ), it was a blast and I’m sure the CT will be too.
I live just a few miles from segments three and four and have hiked parts of both plus others here in Pike National Forest. I want to try to do segments one and two shortly but the aspens are changing and there is snow above 11,000′. most likely a short window is available.
it’s nice to get information from some one hiking it and documenting at the same time. thank you.
this has been enjoyable as well as informative and has just fueled my desire to try the thru hike.i am 56 and wonder if I’m mentally and physically able to try it. it well probably take me twice the time as you being disabled. that’s my personal challenge, complete the CT, the hike is the bonus and reward as I see it. ‘im not the 13yr. old boyscout who did a large chunk of the AT. I grew up in Maryland.
I live 2 miles from segment three and four and have hiked parts of both as well as others in the Pike National Forest. I may try to do the first two segments rather soon as the aspen are changing and there is some snow above 11,000’.this blog has helped my especially coming from a hiker who documented his journey on the CT. thank you!
Wow!!! thank you for sharing this. Been vacationing/ hiking/ enjoying Colorado vacations since 1970. Im planning on retiring next year and plan to take the summer to hike this trail. Your words and pictures are inspirational and informative. I hope I can do half as good as you did. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am considering this hike, or at least doing segments of it, and your site has been very helpful and informative. Thank you!
Just read through your blog, all these years later, and absolutely loved both the photos and the narrative! Great inspiration for hiking the CT, either this year or 2018. Thanks so much!
Loved reading this. Thanks for sharing. Dreaming of doing this trail now.