Colorado Trail Segments 15-21

Six days and 105 miles in the wilderness alone

“In the wilderness, life is stripped of distractions. It is quiet. The topography demands discipline, simplicity, and fierce attention. Solitude in the wilderness makes irrelevant all the people-pleasing habits that have become interwoven into your personality.” — David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life.

This is a recap of my third annual solo backpacking adventure on the Colorado Trail.

The goal is to eventually complete all 28 Segments (486 miles) of the Colorado Trail, starting in Denver and finishing in Durango, segmented out to roughly one week of backpacking per year.

The broader goal is to build a habit of going into the wilderness alone every year.

I completed Segments 2-10 in 2021 (160 miles in eight days), and Segments 11-14 in 2022 (91 miles in five days).

In 2023 I completed Segments 15-21 (105 miles in six days), which means I should be able to finish the whole thing in 2024.

This article is divided into three sections: (1) hike recap, (2) lessons learned, and (3) gear list.

Hike Recap

The original plan was to do an out-and-back. I parked my car at S Fooses Creek Trailhead outside of Salida and aimed to hike out about 90 miles to San Luis Peak and then all the way back to my car over a span of eight days.

But once I was out on the trail, after roughly three days of hiking, I decided that there was no way I was going to turn around and re-hike the trail I had just covered. The thought of backtracking was demoralizing – it made me (figuratively) vomit a bit in my mouth and die a little inside. So I changed up the itinerary.

Instead of turning around as originally planned at San Luis Peak in Segment 20, I pushed all the way to the end of Segment 21. Then, to get back to my car, I hitchhiked from the Spring Creek Pass Trailhead down into Lake City; then up to a McDonald’s off the freeway in Gunnison; then over to an RV Park in Salida; and finally back to my car at S Fooses Creek Trailhead.

It was my first time hitchhiking and it was surprisingly easy (even fun!). Of the four rides I got, only one of them was weird (creepy driver with a lead foot, but harmless). The other three rides – with an ultra-runner, a young family in their camper van, and the owner of an RV park in Salida – were pleasant and a breeze. The only stressful part (aside from the aforementioned lead foot driver) was waiting on the side of the freeway in Gunnison, in the hot afternoon sun, for about an hour. I took a brief break to cool off in McDonald’s with an Oreo McFlurry, and soon after I was in a van on the way to Salida.

Two lessons learned: (1) no backtracking, and (2) hitchhiking is an option.

As for the hike itself, it was awesome, brutal and beautiful as always.

On Day 1, as I was driving to the trailhead, I noticed a backpacker walking along the highway with her dog. They had just come off the trail. I figured a mitzvah would be a good way to start the day, so I picked her up (and her little dog too!) and gave her a ride to the RV park nearby.

This good deed (1) introduced me to the RV park, which is where I got my final ride back to my car at the end of my journey, and (2) must have given me some good karma that allowed for a smooth hitchhiking return.

After that brief digression, I started hiking at 9:30am from S Fooses Creek Trailhead, on Segment 15, outside of Salida, just at the base of Monarch Pass. It rained in the afternoon, which created some nice hiking conditions afterwards. I ended the day at about 7:30pm. Rain, thunder, and lightning at night. It was nice to be in a tent. Day 1 Total Miles: 22.5

On Day 2, I started hiking at 8am with a brutal morning hike and lots of climbing. I was struggling, possibly dragging from Day 1, and possibly not eating enough in the morning. I stopped at Baldy Lake to refill water in the afternoon, and it soon started storming around 3pm. Since I was so exhausted, I went ahead and set up my tent and figured I’d either take a nap or just call it for the day. The “storm” only lasted about 30 minutes. The brief rest in the tent, and stop for food gave me a strong second wind, so I decided to keep moving. I packed up everything in 20 minutes and got back on the trail by 4pm. I hiked up to a summit and then back down the other side to a campsite, where – exhausted – I set up camp again, had a quick dinner and was in bed by about 7pm. Day 2 Total Miles: 14.1

On Day 3, I started hiking at 7am, and the early start was beautiful. I ate a bit more in the morning and felt a good amount of energy throughout the day, even though the hiking along this segment was really exposed, sunny, and hot, along lots of roads. I came across a nice Trail Magic setup (Pantry and Spoonless) at about mile 18 of Segment 17, which was nice pick-me-up. I loaded up on a couple hot dogs, tangerines, and a Gatorade. Day 3 Total Miles: 24.3

On Day 4, I was on the trail at 6:30am, a great start to a great day. This was a beautiful segment that ran all along Cochetopa Creek in a big canyon, with some tough climbing. I ended the day at about 5pm at the most picturesque campsite of the trip (which, of course, I took no photos of): a beautiful open ledge at nearly 12,000 ft, next to Cochetopa Creek, at the base of a saddle that looked down over the canyon. The ground was pretty bumpy, but it provided a beautiful view of the stars and Milky Way (I think it was the Milky Way) at night. Also, a bright, bright moon every night this trip. Day 4 Total Miles: 21

On Day 5, I started hiking at 7am, took a two-hour detour to summit San Luis Peak (14er bagged!) and was back on the CO Trail at about 10:30am. This was an extremely beautiful and tough day of hard hiking and climbing. I felt especially inspired and grateful – for the beauty that surrounded me, for the ability to be doing what I was doing, for all the magic in my life – during this stretch of the trek. Since the weather was so nice and clear I pushed all the way to mile 9.5 of Segment 21 where a small pond on an expansive mesa provided the backdrop for my last campsite of this trip. Day 5 Total Miles: 17.6 (it felt like 176)

For Day 6, the last day of the adventure, I left myself an easy downhill five-mile hike to the Spring Creek Pass trailhead at the end of Segment 21. I, along with another hiker, hitched a (nerve-racking) ride in to Lake City after a short wait. Then, after standing for not very long on the side of the road that leads out of town, across from the country store, I hitched a ride up to Gunnison from a friendly Lake City resident. She was an ultra-runner and we chatted about running and races and what not. She dropped me off at the McDonald’s in Gunnison on the freeway heading toward Salida. I stood on the side of the freeway waiting for about an hour – with an Oreo McFlurry break tossed in – before a family in a nice camper van picked me up and dropped me off at the RV park in Salida, which I mentioned earlier. The owner kindly gave me lift from there back to my car at the S Fooses Creek Trailhead not too far up the road. Day 6 Total Miles: 5.2 (many more miles hitchhiked)

–

I made two big changes to my gear and nutrition plan in 2023. First, I switched out my tarp-bivy-shelter setup for a tent instead (the Zpacks Plex Solo). The tarp-bivy-shelter was fine, but the bivy wasn’t very comfortable and sometimes the bugs got annoying at night. So for this trip I glamped it up in a tent that easily kept all the bugs out. It was a great call, and it probably ended up even saving me some weight in my pack since the tent is so damn light.

Lesson learned: having a tent is nice.

The second big change related to my nutrition. In past years I mailed myself a re-supply box of food that I would pick up at a hostel somewhere along the way. This year, the hiking segments were extremely remote and the logistics didn’t allow for an easy re-supply point. Since I wouldn’t be able to stop for a re-supply, I would have to carry about a week’s worth of food with me the whole way.

To make this happen, I made my own pemmican using beef and bison heart, tallow, and assorted nut butters. This stuff never goes bad, tastes OK, and packs a hearty punch of nutrients on the trail. Plus it’s easy to carry in plastic peanut butter jars, and easy to spread on tortillas, which are also easy to pack for the trail. So with my new friend, pemmican, along with a bunch of bars, jerky, and dried fruit, I was able to complete the full hike without stopping for a re-supply.

Lesson learned: pemmican, bro, pem-mi-can.

Summary of lessons learned and notes for next time

  • No backtracking
  • Hitchhiking is an option
  • Shelters and bivys get the job done, but having a tent is nice
  • Pemmican, it’s what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
  • Go without sunscreen, just cover up
  • Ditch the spare SmartWater bottle, bring a small spare bladder instead
  • Bring small travel stick of sunscreen just for face and hands if needed
  • Get lightweight gloves for sun protection
  • Need to check the waterproofing of my rain jacket shell and see about restoring it
  • Bring balaclava for extra warmth, protection, easy to toss in clothes bag
  • Ditch the sunglasses
  • Consolidate incidentals bag to 1 2L dry bag for everything instead of 2 1L bags
  • Packing strategy: left strap pocket easy access food; right strap pocket: chapstick, compass, multi-tool, small daily trash bag

Gear list

  • Backpack: Hyperlite Southwest 2400
  • Sleeping bag
  • Insulating sleeping pad (replaced my leaking inflatable pad with a NEMO Switchback because it’s light, easy, and leakproof)
  • Tent: Zpacks Plex Solo (big fan of this tent after one solid adventure)
  • Tent stakes (10x + 1 extra)
  • Spare shoe laces
  • Nalgene bottle (2x)
  • SmartWater bottle (backup) (I would ditch this next time to save space and bring a spare 1L bladder instead)
  • Warm Phoenix Suns beanie
  • Quick-dry towel
  • Floss
  • Toothbrush
  • Altra trail running shoes
  • Luna sandals
  • Hat for sun protection
  • Play Golden Buff for additional sun protection
  • Trekking poles
  • Headlamp with spare batteries
  • North Face Rain Shell
  • Gloves (light)
  • Water filtration system (Sawyer Squeeze, CNOC 2L bladder, blue bottle adaptor)
  • Nutrition and Hydration bag (pack in Ursak bag)
  • Sunscreen
  • Sunglasses
  • Lip balm
  • First Aid Kit
  • Map and compass
  • Notebook and pen
  • Personal locator beacon
  • Ursak bag
  • Odor bag liners
  • Carabiner
  • Multitool
  • Poop shovel
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash bag
  • Emergency bivy

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe here and I’ll send the latest posts right to your inbox.