Colorado Trail


 
In 2022 I no longer needed to stay out of the U.S. to qualify for the FEIE (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion) as I had retired. I decided to take advantage of this freedom and do what they call a thru-hike.  The question is which one to do, the Appalachian Trail (AT), the Continental Divide Trail(CDT), or the Pacific Coast Trail(PCT). Are you nuts? There is no way I would hike any of those long trails as they were all over 2000 miles.  Having lived in Colorado most of my adult life I knew of the Colorado Trail. At roughly 500 miles it seemed like a much more reasonable goal than the AT, CDT or PCT. Since had done some backpacking in Colorado I knew roughly what the conditions would be like which also made the decision easier.
It had been a few years since I had done any backpacking. All of those trips had been less than 50 miles. So after researching this trip I decided at my age, 65, I needed to drastically reduce the weight I was going to carry. from 45 lbs to less than 20lbs. This resulted in me also replacing all my gear except for my down sleeping bag.

So here is what I took on my trip:

Gear:

Klymit Insulated Static V Lite Inflatable Sleeping Pad

Coghlan's Backpacker's Trowel
Microfiber Towel

3F UL GEAR Lanshan 1 pro tent

Gossamer Gear G4-20 backpack 
Rope for bear bags
Stuff sacks
Trash Compactor bags - 2


Electronics:

Anker Portable Charger, 313 Power Bank

Pixel 6
Charger

cables

Ultra Bright Mini Hands Free Cree LED Clip on Cap Light - Rechargeable

USB C Charger, Spigen 30W USB-C Power Adapte

Jabra Elite 7 Pro in Ear Bluetooth Earbuds

Misc:

Colorado Trail North, Monarch to Denver Map

Colorado Trail South, Durango to Monarch Map

BSN Medical BEI076168 Leukotape P Sports Tape
Medical Kit

Lighttrek Hiking Umbrella

CuloClean

Clothing:

Hoody

FROGG TOGGS Men's Ultra-Lite2 Waterproof Breathable Rain Suit

ALTRA Men's AL0A4VQE Lone Peak 5 Trail Running Shoe

CAPAS 2mm Neoprene Waterproof Socks

OHOHAI Warm Socks
Patagonia Shorts

Injinji Men's Trail Midweight Mini Crew Toesocks

Darn tough Socks (2 pair) Crew socks

Other Items:

CETAPHIL Sheer Mineral Sunscreen Stick for Face & Body
Glide

Preparation:

Get the Colorado Trail - book (yeah, I didn't read much of it)

Join the Colorado Trail Facebook group

Get the Gut Hook/Far Out app for your phone

Watch youtube videos on both backpacking and the Colorado Trail
Read various web sites regarding the Colorado Trail

I ordered or bought most of the food I was going to need. This I feel was a mistake. Yes, the stores near the trails in the mountains were more expensive, but shipping stuff costs anything I saved by buying it at home. The one advantage I did see was some items would not be available at the small stores along the way.  I might do a mix next time and ship to a few of the more remote places.

I did an overnight shakedown backpack trip. But one thing I did not do was check my battery backup. This bit me in the first part  of the trip, because even though my backup had a usb-c port and I had a usb-c cable. The usb-c port was only for input, not output. Uggghh.  The hikes with all my gear did start getting my feet ready for the trek.

The Start

I tend to be a bit of a contrarian, so rather than taking the usual route of Denver to Durango, I decided to go from Durango to Denver. Most and myself would advise most people against going that route as there are some pretty extreme elevation gains on the first day. 

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