408 miles
15 days
8 lb base weight
4000 cals/day
3 toe blisters
Countless jaw drops in the San Juans


Having a summer off in between my last two semesters in college seemed like a perfect opportunity to venture on a thru hike. This being my first long solo hike, my main focus for this trip was to maximize the amount of time walking and hitting big daily miles.

My original plan was to make it all the way to Durango. I was going up to pace hitting about 32 miles a day for the first six days, but accidentally going off trail and hitting snowy passes at the Collegiate West section led to me losing a considerable amount of time and made me reconsider my goals. I managed to make it to Silverton by hitting around 26 miles a day for the rest of the trip.

This has been one of the most rewarding thru hikes I’ve done and it was great meeting like-minded thru-hikers along the way. Hiking in the Sierras in 2015 gave me some big aspirations to come back there for a PCT thru hike, and now doing the Colorado Trail makes me want to do the CDT and experience the San Juans again.



My Gear List : https://lighterpack.com/r/7ibnj3