I hiked the Colorado trail, a 500-mile trail from Denver to Durango, in July 2022. This is by far the longest backpacking trip I’ve done and also the only one I’ve done solo! Doing this trip alone was really rewarding and a great experience, and the trail was amazing. Getting to spend all day every day in the Colorado mountains for a month was really special.
The Colorado Trail guidebook made planning really easy, with detailed information about water sources, resupply towns, and more. I stopped in Breckenridge, Twin Peaks, Salida, Lake City, and Silverton along the way to resupply. My favorite section was probably the West Collegiate mountains between Twin Peaks and Salida. The San Juan mountains were also beautiful, but it was much rainier during that part. The weather in Colorado is wild, with very frequent afternoon thunderstorms and sometimes even hail. This made the hike more exciting, I think, at least when I wasn’t super wet.
Beyond the awesome trail, everyone on the trail was so friendly, and I met so many great, interesting people. I really enjoyed the community aspect of thru-hiking. I love how it is normal to stop and talk to every person you see while backpacking in remote places. It is so different from being in a city or suburb where it is often unusual to even say hi to people you don’t know on the street.
I definitely want to do another long trip like this in the future!