John hiked the 500-mile Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango in the fall of 2016. This is his journal and photos from the final leg of his journey. You can read from the beginning here:
Leg 1: Denver to Breckenridge
Leg 2: Breckenridge to Leadville
Leg 3: Leadville to Princeton Hot Springs
Leg 4: Princeton Hot Springs to Lake City
Leg 5: Lake City to Molas Lake
Day 33: September 11
Hiked 13 miles
I started the last leg of the journey. There’s nothing between here and Durango: no resupply or highway, just mountains and more mountains, lakes, rivers, and a few forest service roads.
Today was a semi-beautiful day. The morning was sunny, then there were early afternoon thunder storms, followed by a partly cloudy rest of the day. As usual, the San Juan Mountains were spectacular.
I bought plenty of pain killers but didn’t buy enough Ibuprofen. For some bizarre reason I thought there was 80 pills in the bottle but there were only 40. Nothing I can do about it now, I’ll just have to cut the dosage in half. My body desperately needs a rest, a long one, say a couple of months. It’s pleading with me to stop what I’m doing and rest. It just can’t understand why I’m doing this to him. I keep telling my body we’ll be done shortly and then I’ll treat you with tender loving care.
Today I felt kind of blah and had very low energy. I had to focus as I put one foot in front of the other. My shin bothered me all day, my ankles started hurting, and my feet hurt. When the trail was rocky the pain was amplified. Every rock I stepped on would grind into the bottom of my already sore foot making hiking over the forest service roads agonizing. Yet for some reason I’m determined to make it to Durango, almost obsessed with it.
Day 34: September 12
Hiked 10 miles (52 miles left)
I’m depressed. It’s been a very depressing day, one where I constantly ask myself why I’m doing this and where I say this is a really stupid idea.
The day started out late in the morning. I slept in thinking that I’d limit my daily mileage to 10 since my body seems to be falling apart.
Not 10 minutes into hiking the on-and-off sprinkles started. Just enough to get the plants wet so when I touched them I got soaked. My hands and feet cried out in pain from being so cold. After a couple of hours of agony the sun came out and it got warm. Warm enough to dry my shoes and gloves. Other than my aching ankles, shins, and now my hip, I felt pretty good.
Then it happened, and I saw the whole thing because I was climbing an exposed ridge and had a great view of the storm coming in. Great, dark, billowing clouds formed on the horizon and charged towards me. The winds dramatically sped up and within minutes the temperatures must have dropped from the 70’s to the 40’s. Thunder and lightning added to the chaos. What did I ever do to Mother Nature that she would throw all this on me? Me, whose body was all but broken down and climbing an exposed ridge with no protection.
The hail hit, the rain hit. I rushed, painfully, as best I could into a group of trees at the top of the ridge. My gloves and shoes drenched once again. I sat under the tree for an hour before the rain broke through the pine needles in the tree. With a slight letup in the rain I rushed out to find a place to camp. Luckily I found one relatively quickly. I set up the tent real fast, threw everything in it, and jumped in. The inside of the tent got a little wet, but nothing I couldn’t mop up with a dirty, stinky sock.
So here I am lying in my tent at 3 pm listening to the rain hit my tent and the thunder echo throughout the mountains and valleys. I’m fully clothed with my jacket, gloves, socks,T-shirt, wool shirt, and long underwear tucked inside my sleeping bag liner which is nestled inside my sleeping bag. I’m shivering and literally chilled to the bone. Food is not what I’m craving. Oh, what I’d give to be transported back to my house in Boise sitting on the recliner next to a blazing fire in our wood stove. To have the companionship of my wife and dogs rather than be lying in a tent for 15 hours in the middle of this isolated, lonely God -forsaken wilderness.
Day 35: September 13
Hiked 12 miles (39 more miles to go)
Today wasn’t too bad of a day. When I got up at dawn, the mountains were socked in with clouds and it looked like it could start raining at any time. The visibility couldn’t have been over a quarter of a mile. After being stuck in the tent for 15 hours I couldn’t stand it anymore. If I had to walk all day in a cold rain, so be it.
As it turned out, it didn’t rain all day until later that afternoon when we had a 10 minute downpour. Fortunately I was able to take cover in some trees. Nevertheless my feet were soaked from all the wet grass and bushes that hang out over the trail. Hopefully they’ll dry in the tent tonight.
I started a 22-mile stretch where there is no reliable water. At the last stream I hydrated myself and packed 3 liters of water. The backpack is noticeably heavier. I heard a rumor that there is one source of water in the 22 miles. If not the 3 liters should last me until the next water source.
Day 36: September 14
Hiked 9 miles (30 more miles to go)
The reason why my mileage is so low is because I don’t want to push my shins too hard. I’m also camped out the base of my last climb and I really couldn’t start it today since there are no campsites until you get to the other side. Another reason is the weather was so bad.
Yes, it’s the last climb of the trek, but a doozey. Six or seven miles up, then mostly downhill all the way to Durango: almost 20 miles of downhill. That ought to wreak havoc on my shins!
Two hikers I met last week are camping with me. I got to the campsite around 2:30 so we had plenty of time to chat and kill time.
The weather today, again, sucked. It was cloudy, cold, and windy all day. There were on and off again brief showers all day until I got to camp when violent downpours and hail storms broke out. And it turned cold. The other hikers had a SAT-com and looked up the weather for Durango tomorrow. The good news is that it’s supposed to be sunny. The bad news is that at 6:00 am it’s supposed to be 27 degrees. Durango is at 6,600 feet, right now I’m camped at 11,300 feet. I’m going to freeze my buns off tonight! For the first time in this trip I’m donning my down vest!
Tomorrow I’ll definitely get over the last pass but I’m not sure what I’ll do after that. If I am relatively comfortable, I’ll camp at the campsite several miles down from the summit. If not I’ll have to push myself to hike a total of 14 miles so I can get down to 8,500 feet where it will be much warmer.
Day 37: September 15
Hiked 10 miles (20 more miles to go)
Last night wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. Today was beautiful: blue sunny skies, the first since before Molas Pass several days ago. The San Juan Mountains said goodbye in spectacular style. Sweeping vistas all day long as I straddled a high ridge. I descended off the ridge toward Durango. It’s one hell of a descent – 22 miles of almost pure downhill ending in Durango. Unless my shins get worse or something else goes wrong, I only have 2 more days of hiking. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Boise.
I was setting up camp and guess who came hiking by? David. He’s going to finish the trail tomorrow and maybe stay In Durango an extra day. I’ll see if I can snag a phone and call him when I get into town.
Day 38: September 16
Hiked 16 miles (FINISHED!!)
I was ready to be through. The nights were getting very cold and it was getting harder and harder to get up in the morning. So I took lots of Ibuprofen and pain killers and did the whole 16 miles to the end of the Colorado Trail.
It was a beautiful day and fall was just starting to kick in. The aspens were changing colors and the smell of autumn hung heavy in the air. It’s deer and elk season. Most of the hunters I met are really nice people but today I met one who was not so nice. He claimed he hadn’t seen any deer because us hikers are scaring them down into the valley where he was too lazy to chase them. I wanted to tell him how full of shit he was but I just said “sorry.”
I’d been seeing deer almost everyday and elk several times a week. When hunting season started they all seemed to have disappeared. That’s not at all a surprise since the mountains were crawling with hunters. Dozens of hunters passed me on the Colorado Trail at a time when there were maybe 5 hikers within 100 miles of each other. ATV’s, motorcycles, and pickup trucks cruise the forest service and logging roads hoping to spot some game. They would use these noise makers that are suppose to attract game. They sound more like those noise makers people use to celebrate New Year’s Eve. If this guy thinks quiet, peaceful hikers scared his game away, he’s delusional.
So anyway I’m done with the hike. I feel like it’s an accomplishment that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I especially enjoyed just walking in the woods, meadows, and mountains. I also thought all the people I met were another interesting aspect of the trek. Each person I got to know enriched my life in some way.
I’m done with the hike but I won’t be done with the adventure until I’m home with my family. Tomorrow morning I leave for a $240 bus ride to Boise. I didn’t tell Nancy I’m coming. I’m going to surprise her, I just hope it’s a pleasant surprise.
Day 37-38: September 17-18
Hiked 0 miles
I was on buses for almost 30 hours and waiting for connections another 10. From Denver to Salt Lake City I had to contend with a snoring-while-asleep, chattering-when-awake transvestite. There were some strange people riding the buses, much stranger than anyone I met on the trail.
When I got to Boise I walked the 3 miles from the bus terminal to our house. It was warm, clear, and my pack was the lightest ever. After that easy stroll I did surprise Nancy and her sister. And all is well.
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