I am writing this from my phone and mile 412 of the Colorado Trail. I am in Silverton, CO having walked here from Denver. I have 75 miles and about 5 days of hiking left.
The trail has been stunning, challenging at times, amazingly beautiful, and full of curiosities. I am grateful to have the time living outside and experiencing the backcountry of Colorado in an extended format.
I have been telling the story of the trail in my Instagram feed. I invite you to go there to see photos and read about the hike. If you want the story chronologically which is how I wrote it, start with THIS post and then scroll up (that should be the photo below on July 29, 2021).
There is much to be said about spending almost 6 weeks just walking. Above all, it has been marvelous to have the time to let the tight places inside unwind and to give myself time to just look around and find joy in my surroundings.
Now that I find myself nearing the end of the trail, I am a little sad to see this particular journey end. But I am stronger for the trip and that strength will follow me in “regular life.” I am feeling quite tired and it is time for rest. In 75 miles I will have more than earned that.
I do have to tell you that I shipped my loom home in Creede so you won’t see any more weaving photos. I kept the journaling supplies and my spindle. I wasn’t weaving much and was fairly desperate to decrease my pack weight over the strenuous hiking coming up. Hiking a long trail is not quite the same as a 3-5 day backpack. On a shorter trip I can plan mileage each day to be short enough to give me camp time and thus time to weave. On a thru-hike you can only carry so much weight and the distances between resupply points on the second half of the Colorado Trail are long. So the thing you must do each day from before dawn until at least 4-5 pm and sometimes later, is walk.
I am sure I will be blogging more about the trail and all the ideas and curious things that appeared in a few weeks. In the meantime, I hope you had a summer full of explorations of your own.
Happy weaving!