He told me his name was Tex, but he is from Moberly, Missouri, not

Texas, and he teaches at an alternative middle school. When I told him I was a seventh grade math teacher named Debbie, he started to laugh. I asked him what was funny about that and he told me his wife's name was Debbie and she taught seventh grade math. Only one of a series of connections and coincidences. Tex was a section hiker and his wife was picking him up at the next trailhead.

Big snow in Georgia Pass

This is a snowdrift in my first high-altitude pass. I put my trekking poles in for a size reference -- they are about three feet long. Fortunately the terrain was open enough that I could detour and not risk getting lost.

The Start of the Hike

At the Indian Creek Campground Trailhead, the start of the CT for 2011. Notice the skirt. I will hike in a skirt from now on, in most circumstances.

Brent, a Telluride Bluegrass Festival volunteer at the high school campground who helped me recover my missing property late Sunday night.

Robert Plant

For those of you who were not awake or alive during the '70's, this is Robert Plant, lead singer of Led Zeppelin, who has taken his British rocker history and blended it with British folk music and American bluegrass to come up with music that is incredible. This was one of the highlights of my summer.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival Grounds

This is the Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Thursday of the four-day festival, before it got crowded. The festival adds 10,000 people to the summer population of Telluride of about 3,000 people.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival High School Campground

This is where I camped for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The high school campground is the family-friendly, quiet hours and alcohol-free campground, which I thought was a good choice for an unaccompanied woman. The alternative, "Town Camp," is adjacent to the festival grounds and is the opposite of all of the above.

In the Airport

This was in the Denver Airport. I showed them my Colorado Trail Guidebook and they thought it was funny.

The Editorial

One of the things a solo long-distance hiker has a lot of time for is thinking. I went hours and even days without seeing another living soul, so I filled my time with thinking my own thoughts uninterrupted, which I can do very little of at home.

One of the things I thought about a lot is how I answer the question, "are you going alone?" One way to answer the question is to explain that the Colorado Trail is attempted each year by several hundred people and that we all start out within a week or two of each other, so I am not really alone, I just didn't bring anyone with me.

A deeper answer to that question, however, involves the difference between the typical lifestyle in Missouri  versus the lifestyle in Colorado. I could almost always tell if a person was a native of Colorado by their reaction when they found out I was hiking the entire trail solo. If they said "sweet!" then they were probably a native. If they looked at me like I was nuts, then they were probably from the Midwest, the South, or Texas (there are a lot of Texans out here). So in some ways, I feel less alone out here that I do in Springfield, because out here many people understand why a person would want to hike all day and then sleep on the ground. Even if they wouldn't want to do it themselves, they are active in other ways and know the physical, emotional and mental benefits of getting up off that couch and moving.

 These differences are reflected by some numbers. Missouri ranks eleventh on the obesity list, with about 30% of the population overweight or obese (Mississippi is first, with about 34%). Colorado is last, with about 20%. I have some rather unconventional ideas about being overweight -- I don't think it is necessarily a health risk. I believe, instead, that it is usually a symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle. It usually means that a person is consuming way too many refined carbs and is inactive. I have known thin people who were inactive and unhealthy, and I have known some overweight power walkers who were healthy.

Some of my friends and family who lead inactive lifestyles have indicated to me that they really don't want live longer, so that's why they sit on the couch. It's not about longer life, it's about better life. I was on a 20 mile bike ride, and and a fellow rider told me he would ride even if they told him it would shorten his life, because he feels so much better. This is from an asthma sufferer who would not be able to run or bike if he didn't have medication. I think the sale of prescription meds, including anti-depressants, would go down if people would just get up, get out, and move.

By the Numbers

I finished the Colorado Trail over a week ago. I am now in Estes Park, Colorado, resting while my husband and two sons attempt a summit of Long's Peak, a round trip of about fifteen miles and an elevation gain of over 5,000 feet. The summit itself is 14,259'. The have only been out here since Friday, so they are not fully acclimated to altitude, but I think they will be able to do it.

 We haven't done a whole lot since we arrived in Estes Park, which has given me time to review my hike. Since I am a math teacher, I decided one way to summarize would be "by the numbers."

By the Numbers

• 485 - the length in miles of the CT according to the data book.
• 16 - the number of miles skipped because of heavy snow on the trail.
• 8 - the number of extra miles hiked because of a wrong turn and a missed turn.
• 477 - net miles hiked.
• 72,000 feet -- the number of feet of elevation gain I hiked -- in other words, how many feet I walked uphill.
• 39 - total number of days on the trail.
• 5 - number of "zero days" in a town without hiking.
• 34 - the number of hiking days.
• 14 - average number of miles hiked per day.
• 4 - the number of times I was hailed on while hiking.
• 1 - the number of times I was hailed on while in my tent.
• 2 - the number of times I was sleeted on.
• 4 - the number of days I was not rained on sometime during the 24-hour period.
• 1 - the number of times I was hiking above tree line during thunder and lightning (dumb thing to do).
• 1 - the average times per day that I wondered if I was nuts for doing this.
• 102 - energy bars eaten.
• 29 - freeze-dried meals eaten.
• 2200 - the approximate number of calories consumed per day while hiking.
• 4000 - the approximate number of calories consumed while in town on a zero day.
• 10 - the number of pounds I lost.
• 5 - women I met on the trail who were hiking at least overnight.
• 1 - women through-hikers I met.
• 4 - Continental Divide Trail through hikers I met ( the CDT is almost 3,000 miles long and takes 5-6 months. It is not a complete, marked trail and is very difficult).
• 2 - the number of mountain bikers I met who were biking the whole CT.
• 1 - the number of times I contacted local law enforcement. This was because of an abandoned backpack at a campsite with some disturbing notes inside. Abandoned backpacks can mean that a hiker left to do a side hike or summit a peak and was injured or killed, or it can mean that  hiker decided to give up and go home and was too lazy  to take his stuff with him. This hiker was the lazy kind. I hope the sheriff gave him a ticket for littering.
• 0 - the number of people I met who were unfriendly, unkind or unhelpful.
• 0 - the number of native Coloradans who asked me if I had a gun.
• 1 out of 2 - the number of Missourians who asked me before I left if I would bring a gun.
• 0 - bears sighted. I met people who had seen bears, I saw bears droppings and even a bear skull, but no live bears.
• 0 - mountain lions sighted.
• too many to count - members of the rodent family: chipmunks, ground squirrels, pine squirrels, marmots. The scouts call these "mini-bears" because they will steal your food just like a bear will, but they usually don't cause personal injuries when they do.
• too many too count - beautiful views, even in the rain.
• can't be quantified - the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment I have from finishing the trail.

The Finish

I finished the Colorado Trail on Monday, August 1 at about 7:30 p.m. That was only four days to finish a trip of over 75 miles, which I hadn't thought I would be able to do. I was really lucky (sort of) with the weather on the segments. Instead of getting hammered while I was still out hiking, I was already in my tent.

The first night it happened it was about 6 p.m.on the second day and the sky didn't look too bad. I had everything done except the boiling of water for my freeze-dried meal. I felt a few drops, so I got into my tent to wait out what I thought would be a little shower. Four hours later the rain slacked off enough for me to retrieve my satellite locator device that I had set out to send the signal that gives my location. Fortunately it is waterproof. I never did get my hot dinner.

The second time was the night of the third day, which would be my last camp on the Colorado Trail. The weather all day had completely surprised me (as had much of the weather this whole trip). It was cloudy in the morning, which is usually a bad sign. Throughout the day they clouds lingered, but the strange thing was that there were about six different types of clouds in the sky. You know those posters that show all the different types of clouds and give their names? That's what the sky looked like. I guess all those different kinds of clouds couldn't get organized, because there was no rain all day. Because of the situation regarding water and camping sites on this next-to-last day, I was either going to have to camp about 2:00 p.m. after only about ten miles, or keep going to Taylor Lake at twenty miles. The second option would only be possible if it didn't rain in the afternoon, since about five miles of the second ten were above timberline.

 Since the rain and storms held off, I was able to make it to Taylor Lake. Almost as soon as I got there, I looked to the west and saw dark, evil-looking clouds. I threw up my tent, practically ran to get water, got everything in to the tent and boiled the water so I could have a hot dinner. The clouds kept getting closer and darker, but the rain held off. I ate my dinner, took care of a few other chores, and got into my sleeping bag. When the rain finally came, it was well after dark. It started out as a mist and got heavier. It rained almost all night long, and once when I got up in the night I saw that my tent was on a little island surrounded by standing water.

The next morning, my last day on the CT, was sunny at first. However, all the moisture on the ground quickly rose into the cool air where it condensed into the mountain mist or fog that is more typical of the Great Smoky Mountains. The view was beautiful, with the mist practically boiling off the slopes. This last segment into  Durango is almost all downhill, but the first mile took me up into Kennebec Pass, where I actually walked through the mist for about half a mile. I got some great pictures.

 The very last segment of the CT is 21.5 miles long, and I have to say it is not one of my favorites. The second-to-last segment has beautiful views, both below and above tree line, a nice mix of easy and challenging hiking, and, just to wake the hiker up, the only part of the trail with enough exposure that if you fell off the trail you might die. Of course, the trail is about six feet wide in this area, so you would have to be a real klutz to fall  off of it, but since I suffer from a little vertigo I make sure I am standing still before I look down.

However, the last segment pretty quickly takes the hiker down into Junction Creek Canyon, which is a steep-sided, wooded canyon with very limited views. Several miles of the trail follow the banks of the creek, and with all the rain Colorado has had this July, I almost needed a machete to get through. Vegetation that was thigh-high last year was head-high this year.

 After following the creek through the canyon for several miles, the trail leaves the canyon and begins a climb that is more annoying than challenging. It's annoying because by this time I am ready to get in to Durango and I know Durango is down, not up. Most of the climb is not steep enough to be challenging,  and I just find myself wondering when it will end, but it does. Finally the trail rejoins the Junction Creek Canyon about six miles from the trailhead, and I am on the home stretch.

 My finish was without fanfare. I love to see peoples' reactions when I am in the second half of the trail and they ask where I started and I say, "Denver." Since I finished about 7:30 on a Monday night, not very many people were out hiking or mountain biking, and only one guy asked me about my hike. He actually asked me if I was finishing a through-hike, which made me wonder how brown, thin, tired and dirty I  really looked. I was disappointed that no one was around to take my picture at the sign that marks the southern end of the trail.

My friend Karren from Durango that I stayed with when I first came to Colorado in mid-June picked me up from the trailhead. My flight to Denver wasn't until Friday, and I hadn't intended to get in to Durango this early, but she didn't mind and I enjoyed staying in her beautiful home.