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. Beyond the awesome trail, everyone on the trail was so friendly, and I met really great, interesting people. I definitely want to do another long trip like this in the future!