Tomorrow morning, I hop on a plane bound for Denver, Colorado. My friend Kim and I will be hiking a few more segments of the Colorado Trail, maybe the most beautiful trail I’ve been on in my life! I’ll be soaking up sunshine and tree aura, falling asleep to the night music of nature, and waking up to songbirds.
Being on the trail is like getting a blast of pure oxygen – intoxicating, mind clearing, overwhelming, and reenergizing all at the same time. Besides the eye-aching beauty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and their rugged peaks, the trail gifts us with hundreds of acres of wildflowers in stunning colors and the olfactory delight of pine forests. Marmots, squirrels, bighorn sheep, deer, and elk hear us coming and usually disappear before we see them, which makes catching even a glimpse of a patch of fur a thrill for that day. There are too many species of birds to count, but we try to identify as many of the winged gems as possible.
But the best find along the trail will always be other hikers. Their stories of why they hike, their adventures and misadventures along the way, the most beautiful places they’ve hiked, and the people they’ve met draw us in. If we find we’re hiking a similar pace, we’ll see them again at each night’s campsite. After a few days, we become a ‘tramily’. We exchange email addresses and follow each other on Facebook.
Kim and I will complete our hike over 9 days, putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes hiking side by side, sometimes a half hour or more apart. Sometimes remembering and belly laughing. Sometimes just hiking quietly and absorbing peace. Camaraderie on the trail is fluid, sliding along like the shadows of the clouds we see in the valley below us.
Pictures coming soon!
