Getting Started

I have been looking forward to through-hiking the Colorado Trail this summer ever since I finished it in two halves the summers of 2008 and 2009. I will be leaving soon -- I have my plane ticket for Durango on June 14. I actually will be starting the trail from the north end, but I am flying into Durango to ride up to Telluride for the bluegrass festival.
This winter I was telling some friends about my plans, and they ask me if I was going to take pledges and raise funds for a cause. I told them I hadn't thought about it, but I would consider it. I decided that a good cause for a Springfield Missouri public school teacher would be Care to Learn, and organization that meets the immediate needs of Springfield schoolchildren so the can get back in the classroom and learn. For more on this great organization, go to http://www.caretolearnfund.org/.
The Colorado Trail is a little less than 500 miles, running from near Denver to Durango. It goes through some of the most scenic parts of the state, and hiking it over two summers is one of the best things I have ever done. For more on the Colorado Trail, go to http://www.coloradotrail.org/. For purposes of pledging, I am going to round the mileage up to 500. My actual mileage probably will be close to 500, because I will have to take some side trips for water, camp sites, and to resupply in towns. Rounding to 500 miles will make the math easy, and as a math teacher I am always looking for ways to make the math easy.
I am not going to lie – I am hiking the CT (Colorado Trail) because I love it, not to raise funds. But if you have been looking for an excuse to donate to a good cause, this is it. Please visit the website of Care to Learn and see if you agree with me. Any pledge would be appreciated.
School is still in session and will be for another two weeks, so my blog posts will be shorter until the school year is over. Please check back – I plan to add pictures and give detailed accounts of how I get ready, what I will bring, and what it's like. I will update this blog as I hike this summer when I go into the towns along the way to resupply. Also, I have a satellite messenger device I will use while hiking that I use to trigger an automated e-mail every day that sends a link to my location on Google maps, and I am going to try to figure out a way to link that to this blog.
Also, I have added a Paypal button to this page that will allow you to donate anytime, including when I finish if you want to make sure I did the entire 500 miles. If you want to e-mail me with questions, my address is djgood69@yahoo.com. Put Colorado Trail in the subject line.