Mile 63.4 - 84.2 Most of the Colorado trail overlaps with the Continental Divide Trail and today we joined the combined path. We will follow roughly along the Continental Divide most of the rest of the way to Durango. Storm clouds We've quickly learned that afternoon thunderstorms are common this time of year. So far, … Continue reading Day 5. Continental Divide

Mile 44.5 - 63.4 Our guide book marked a significant stretch of today as being an "unnaturally straight meadow". We were not disappointed, as we did hike in a very straight line for more than six miles. Meadows are pretty rare so high up in the mountains, and as long as it's not too hot … Continue reading Day 4. Meadow

Mile 27 - 44.5 One thing that stands out so far about this area is the wildflowers. This probably isn't the peak time for them, but still they are plentiful. We're also seeing wild raspberry everywhere. Rocket was able to accumulate a meager harvest for snacking today. Starting a new trail, for me, comes with … Continue reading Day 3. Wildflowers

Mile 8.6 - 27 We hiked several miles in the morning and stopped for a snack at a trailhead and large river. Nearby campers offered us Gatorade and strongly discouraged us from climbing the rest of the hill in the heat of the afternoon. A fire in the late 90's destroyed the vast majority of … Continue reading Day 2. Chair

Mile 0 - 8.6 We've been looking forward to spending some quality time in the Rockies. This was our backup plan last summer for the JMT and it has been a goal of Rocket's for a long time. Rocket starts the fall semester of their senior year in high school in a few weeks. It … Continue reading Day 1 – Waterton Canyon

Unlike the JMT, no permits are required for the Colorado Trail. Also, we are not sending any food boxes in advance. So, all we need to do is show up at the starting point. We're going southbound so that means we need to get to Denver.Starting near a major city definitely makes logistics easier. We … Continue reading Getting to the Trail

Lou Sander, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The plan for the Colorado Trail, crossing the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Durango, began in the early 70's and was officially completed in 1987. It is around 486 miles long with total elevation gain in the southbound direction of 89,100 feet. Around 500 people per … Continue reading Colorado Trail

Mile 776 - Stealth To Mile 789 - Border Monument 102 First day / last day I wake up yawning, the sun streaming through the windows. I throw my blankets off, and check the clock. 9:00 am. My eyes were open before the alarm, silently waiting. It's dark outside, and cold. A draft seeps from … Continue reading Day 44. Mexico

Mile 755 - Stealth To Mile 776 - Stealth We woke up to ice on the inside of our tents and frozen water bottles. This was probably the coldest night of the trip so far. Between us and the border stands Miller Peak, our final sky island. At over 9000' it is just slightly lower … Continue reading Day 43. Miller Peak

Mile 737 - Patagonia To Mile 755 - Stealth We had enough dinners, more than enough, to get to the end from here, but our crazy calorie consumption made us run out of snacks. So we decided to stop in Patagonia, a town 50 miles from the end. Mary, a local, has a hostel arrangement … Continue reading Day 42. TerraSol