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.