This year was my 8th consecutive year hiking segments of The Colorado Trail with my siblings, and it did not disappoint! Every year we make a bit of progress towards completing the entire trail together, and although last year threw a little wrench into things with some injuries on the team, we were able to get back on track towards our goal. I have to say, this is the strongest I have felt doing this since this trek began for me, and I know that’s not the first time I’ve said that, but that just means I’m progressively getting stronger and more capable each year. I train year-round to help get ready for this, and for other reasons too, but through the Spring and Summer months of each year I push hard in my training knowing that every ounce of effort I put in ahead of time, makes each step up the mountain that much
easier later. And being from North Texas where I live at an elevation of 600+ feet above sea level, this adventure in the mountains that keeps us up above 10,000 feet pretty regularly, I have to train as hard as I can to simply overcome the altitude difference. The first few years of doing this hike I would struggle breathing up over 10,000 feet when having to climb and exert myself. But in the last couple of years, it has gotten easier, not that I don’t lose my breath sometimes, but nothing like I used to. And even this year getting to an elevation just below 13,000 feet, I still felt strong able to get the oxygen I needed. Sleep is a different animal, let’s just say the week we spend up there I am lucky to get a straight 4 hours of sleep at night between the elevation, the cold and simply being uncomfortable.
Enough about me and my personal feeling of accomplishment, this is a team effort to complete this trail. And we have seen our fair share of tests over the years to try and stop us from completing this goal. There are of course plenty of minor injuries, cuts/scrapes/bites… But it’s the more serious hurdles, like have you ever had a blister on top of a blister? Sounds miserable right? It is. But beyond that, countless foot and leg injuries that have hindered the team’s ability to complete the segments with ease. Sicknesses at the wrong time. Serious knee injuries. Serious back injuries and problems. Even battling cancer. When you pile up all the obstacles we’ve collectively had to deal with, it would make this goal of completing the trail seem nearly impossible. But although something seems impossible on paper, that doesn’t take into account the mental and physical strength of the individuals. And we have a pretty strong crew of siblings here. Fighting through all of the pain and discomfort listed above can take a lot of mental strength, no matter how big or small the obstacle. A blister doesn’t sound that bad, until you have10-12 hours per day for several days ahead of you of hiking up and down mountain trails with everything you need to survive strapped to your back. And with not much to distract you from that obnoxious pain but your thoughts and sometimes a pretty view, it can take a lot to overcome the urge to just quit, or continuously question why in the heck you are doing this in the first place! But obstacles big and small, we have pressed on towards the goal of completing this trail. And we are getting pretty close.
Every year we hike new segments of the trail (except last year, I ended up helping Suzie make up some missed sections). So every year we are seeing new sights, minus the endpoint from the year before where we left the trail behind to return home. We are somewhere about 350 miles from Denver (towards Durango) at this point in our journey, and it can be amazing to look at the mountains as we drive into them and realize we can point up there and say “we hiked all of that”. Yes, sometimes the trees and rocks start to look the same, and the creeks start to blur together. But on certain sections we do get exposed to some of the most amazing mountain views along the trail. 
Some years we may only get those spectacular views once in the whole week, and other years, like this year, we were blessed with amazing sights every step of the trail for entire days. We hiked Segments 19-21 and part of Segment 22 this year. And although these were some tough days of hiking at higher altitudes all week (we were bouncing around above and below 12,000 feet the whole week), we were at the tops of the mountains which meant we could see for endless miles. If you looked one way you would likely see a massive valley or mesa, and look the other way and you would see endless mountain ranges off into the horizon. Words and pictures can’t even describe the beauty of the sights we saw. A photograph will never let you feel the scale of your size compared to these massive mountains surrounding you. You just can’t capture the feeling of being so tiny in this environment until you stand there with the mountains, trees, and rocks towering above you. But regardless of that, I still do my best to capture as much as I can. If nothing else, it helps refresh that feeling in my own mind of how it felt to be standing there seeing it first-hand. I’m not saying my photographs aren’t pretty, just that seeing the real thing is truly the best.
I’ve said this several times before, but I’ll say it again. One of my personal goals in completing The Colorado Trail is to document as much of it as I can through my photography. And that has been a pretty serious commitment on my part to do so. I have invested money into my equipment specifically for this hike, from a specific bag/case to carry my camera in, to special tripods, and even upgrading camera bodies to make sure I could easily geotag my photos along the way. I’m sure most people reading this aren’t avid backpackers, and although it seems simple enough to throw some items in a big backpack and just go walking… there’s a bit more to it than that. Every ounce of weight you carry matters. When you spend 10 hours of a day on your feet carrying everything you need to survive, you need that to be the lightest possible amount of weight you can manage. Most of our team has worked very hard over the years to find weigh-reducing methods, from things like re-using food packages to eat out of every day, or cutting straps shorter on packs, and purchasing the lightest possible versions of the equipment we use like tents. Our packs weigh different amounts, but range from 25-30 pounds most years at the start of the hike, mine included. But for me, that’s before adding my 9 pounds of camera bag weight…. As you can imagine, adding that much weight is almost absurd in the world of backpacking. But it is truly what I consider the necessities for my camera setup to go with me on the trail. And sadly enough, that’s as bare-bones as I can make it! I carry a stripped down full-frame camera, with a fixed 50 mm lens (meaning no zoom), one extra camera battery, and a mini tripod. The other things that go with this to accomplish my photos are my phone (this is used for GPS info that gets tagged to my photos as I shoot), and then a battery pack for charging my phone. I know I’m not the only one out there photographing the trail, but I have truthfully never crossed paths with anyone else carrying a full-frame camera out there. I would love it if I did, then we could chat about our experiences photographing this trail!
Every year brings new experiences and new challenges for us. We have been exposed to hot temperatures, cold/freezing temperatures, storms, rain, snow and ice on the trail. We try to be as prepared as possible, and it probably doesn’t hurt that a couple of us are Eagle Scouts and the rest have been raised in the outdoors. So as risky as some of those elements can be, we never cut corners when it comes to having the right gear and knowledge to be prepared for anything. It can still feel scary at times, especially with the cold for me personally. I get so used to being in the high heat in North Texas, that when we get into the cool and cold temps high up in the mountains I am always freezing! We always laugh about it, but when everyone else is down to shorts and tank tops, I still have my jacket, hat and gloves on! And at night, I always fear that I will be too cold, and have had a scare or two of waking up shivering and not able to warm back up easily. But with all of the challenges, we’ve survived this far along. And with hopefully only a couple years left to be able to complete the trail, we are starting to feel like “professional” backpackers at this point. It’s funny to think back to the first couple of years and how much we have learned since then. We’ve gotten smarter, more efficient, and stronger. We’ve learned through trial and error, along with research to find the things that work for each of us individually, whether it’s the type of shoes and socks to wear, to the snacks (or amount of) we pack. If we only knew at the beginning what we know now…
You may notice a couple pictures with a stuffed moose and bear in them… those are the little critters I have carried with me every step of the trail. They are for my kids, the moose for RaeLee and the bear for Riley. Before the start of the hike for me I knew I wanted something to take along for my kids, something that represented what could actually live in the areas I would be hiking, and something I could photograph along the way for my kids like a story. (Keep in mind RaeLee was 4 and Riley was 1 when I started). It’s part of my reminder of why I am doing this hike, and although my kids get bored of hearing about my hike and seeing pictures, the lesson I’m hopefully teaching them from me doing it is worth it in the end. They hear about the struggles and challenges, and they know how much I train to help be ready for it, and they get to hear the fun stuff and see the beautiful pictures which is all a good lesson for them in many ways. But also they get to see how I make time and get to enjoy time with my siblings even as an adult, which is hopefully helping them see that they can and should have that relationship with each other as they get older.
I hope you enjoy the photographs I have shared from my trip this year, although if you’re able to I highly recommend seeing these sights in person versus just looking at the pictures! I am thankful for the ability to do this trip every year, it has become an important time for me, and although it can be stressful taking off work and leaving the kids at home with one less parent to help, I am grateful for this time I have gotten to spend high up in the mountains.
