I did the unsupported fkt of the colorado trail, denver to durango, collegiate east. i wanted to do CW but there was a thunderstorm rolling in when i got there. i didn’t run with anyone. i would catch up to people on trail but never walk with them more than like a quarter mile before i passed them. i did not resupply, started with 51740 calories on my back and thats all i ate the entire time. i also had all my other gear on my back. i got water from creeks n streams.
day 1
i tagged the sign at waterton canyon at 5:49 am. the first 8 miles are flat road walk so that was super cruisy but my pack was very heavy, which wore me down a lot more than I’d hoped it would. I think ive only had a heavier pack once in my life. pretty easy hiking at the start but there was this horse race which was kinda annoying having to get off trail for these people on horses. Most of them didn’t even say thank you, they just made smug little faces in their stupid horse hard hats. Then like 45 miles in there was a big hill that really slowed me down. i’m also not used to eating on the go so i didn’t have enough energy. I decided to call it a night just after 50 miles.
day 2
got a lot of sleep, more than I was planning on for sure. woke up feeling pretty good and started moving, but not as fast as yesterday. pretty uneventful day, the only crazy thing i saw was this huge dog kennel. never seen a dog kennel that big. another 50 and i called it a night.
day 3
didn’t get as much sleep as the night before but woke up feeling alright. today i knew i would pass by copper mountain and walk on the mountain right past some restaurants, but then there was construction on the mountain so i had to walk right past them and smell all the food. i packed way too much candy and not enough real food. Then it started hailing as i was going up towards kokomo pass, my feet got wet which wasn’t fun but then i met tortuga who was going for the collegiate west self supported record in the other direction. we chatted briefly, wished eachother luck and went our separate directions. then there was these crazy bomb shelter hideout things in the middle of a valley that were cool and i wished i coulda camped in but i had to keep crushin. at mile 146, i must have missed the low battery notification on my watch and my watch said “critically low battery, saving activity” and then i charged it and it didn’t show up in my activities. i thought about quitting, thinking i lost the gpx file but kept going.
day 4
chill morning, got some rain as i went around twin lakes. i had originally wanted to do collegiate west cuz it is prettier and seems cooler but there were thunderstorms rolling in when i got to the junction so i decided to do collegiate east. pretty brutal night and i had to hike very late.
day 5
another pretty boring morning, i was kinda irritable, the colorado trail logo is probably the worst trail logo there is, the mountains r crooked. the comments on the ct are also ridiculous. someone used all caps to warn people about a 6.6 mile water carry. there was also an annoying road walk today that went by this resort that definitely had a cold root beer that i wasn’t allowed to drink.
day 6
not that much happened today, i just walked 50 miles.
day 7
i started eating my second squeeze peanut butter and it has this gross purple stuff inside of the cap. i don’t trust it. get it together jif.
pretty long road walk today too. i passed this old dude with a massive external frame pack. also passed the cdt nobo 1000 mile sign. cool stuff. then in the evening i saw my first impressive view of the trail. the ct had been pretty underwhelming to this point. now i was gonna have to night hike the first pretty stuff. cheehoo
day 8
the morning started by walking thru a herd of sheep, which were cute and funny. i’m kinda worried im gonna run out of power, but there’s nothing i can do at this point. trying to push a bigger day today to set up for tomorrow. kinda got lost down silverton canyon at night and ended up running too far on the train tracks, missing my turn. it rained for a couple hours into the night and i was not having it.
day 9
only had time for an hour and a half nap overnight. made the mistake of not blowing up my air mattress in an effort to save time. i definitely lost sleep overall. the ground was wet and it was not fun. i woke up and my hips hurt more than they did when i went to bed. i really didn’t wanna start moving but knew i had to. it started hailing at 6:49am..what in the blue moon. my feet got wet pretty quickly and stayed wet until 2 pm when i changed my socks. about an hour after i changed socks it started raining again. i kept pushing the whole day, knowing that i needed to keep a faster average to make my goal. at night i was hallucinating a bit, hearing voices in the water. i thought I had made up enough time but i ended up hitting some slow sections and it rained until about 4 am which slowed me down. i ended up having to run the last couple miles pretty fast to make my goal of breaking 9 days. maybe i was just exhausted and sleep deprived, but i will also add that the last 3 miles of the colorado trail are some of the dumbest trail i’ve ever hiked. undulating switchbacks and a super confusing muggle maze at the end. i stubbed my toe like 4 times in the last couple miles and my altras ripped out. surprised they made it almost 500 miles. I made it to the terminus at 5:47, pumped my fist a little and sat down on the big rocks there. then i tried to cowboy camp there and it started pissing rain.