Thru-hiking the Colorado Trail

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

A long hike is more than a short hike extended. At nearly 500 miles long, it takes a million steps to get from Denver to Durango on the Colorado Trail. A million is, by just about anyone's reckoning, a large number. And that means that long hikes are subject to the Law of Large Numbers: anything that is not impossible is inevitable. Hike long enough and you will see beauty on a grand scale as well as many tiny ones, experience freakish weather, fall down, get lost on an easily-followed route, see unfamiliar birds and flowers and animals, encounter odd people, be surprised by gear failures, and receive unanticipated kindnesses and unexpected moments of both bliss and gloom. Take enough steps - and a million is usually enough - and all of these things will happen. Hikes of a few days or maybe a week tend to be goal-oriented: get to the lake, get to the summit, complete the loop. A long hike too has a nominal goal: get to Canada or Katahdin or maybe Durango...

@HappyHour takes us along on his thru-hike of the Colorado Trail in 2 Parts - check out the hike below in Issue 27:

Part 1: Finding the Trail

Part 2: Following the Trail

Issue 27 Page 1

[PaulMags]

Fantastic long form article on the CT.  Well done!