Four days above 10,000 feet

Hiking the Colorado Trail

There's a brief window between snow and lightning, and I took it. The Silverton-Durango train ground to a stop and I stepped off. The only other living souls standing there were a man looking to replace the trail register and another backpacking couple with two “service dogs” (this seemed a bit unlikely as one lunged at me but regular dogs aren't allowed on the train so do with that what you will). I passed the couple and never saw them again.

Nobody else was on trail. It felt as though I had stepped into another portal, a wildflower and waterfall globe with only me in it. I camped solo for three nights, the first one near Lime Creek under a windy sky at eleven thousand feet, the next night near a pond full of frogs, and the third at the base of a twelve thousand foot ridge.

I was so close to the sun.

I went into this hike terrified of lightning. People pontificated on the Facebook group about ensuring that all hiking was done by 2 to avoid the ferocious storms in the San Juans. Crossing over the exposed ridges, I felt like a small, soft animal. But the monsoons haven't come. They need to come.

But they didn't. I was able to hike all day, nineteen, twenty miles, because of the surplus of daylight. The sheer beauty of the alpine was impossible. I talked to the marmots. It was a magical time.

I don't know why I'm drawn to long distance hikes. It's something to do with continuity, following a thin ribbon of dirt across the spine of a continent, just my feet taking me hundreds of miles. The satisfaction of finding the perfect campsite. The immeasurable joy of simplicity: water, food, shelter. Or maybe it's not so lofty. Maybe it's just walking.

I turned off the Colorado Trail at Taylor Lake and onto the Sharkstooth trail, like leaving a highway for a two-lane. Few people had passed this way, though I didn't know why. This felt wild and remote, with mountain lion tracks and a few cairns to show the route.

Up and over high Sharkstooth Pass at struggle bus pace and then it was down to normal elevations, where the air was thicker and there might be ice cream.

I'm coming back though.