Day 1- Colorado Trail

My family and I left Chatfield State Park and drove to the trailhead where we would say our goodbyes and I would start my 39-day journey. It still hadn’t hit me that I was about to be on the Colorado Trail- the trail that has haunted and hugged me since I had left it last year. The trail had a hold on me, and I had to try again. And there I was, at the trailhead for what I hoped would be my redemption. I hugged my parents, quickly said goodbye, and started hiking. I was excited to feel the freedom of trail life again. I got into the canyon and immediately felt at home. 

About 7 miles into the hike, I felt like I had menstrual cramps. Shit. I had started my period, and I had bled through. I was only 7 miles in and I had started. I found a pit toilet to clean up in and was just thankful my shorts were black. I took some Aleve for my cramps, which kicked in soon after. I could just clean up in the South Platte tonight, I thought, which would mean I’d have a 16.2-mile day. I’d never done that distance, but I really wanted the comfort of having an abundance of water to cook, clean up, and stock up on for the 10-mile water carry the next day. I stuck with this plan and told myself that I had no other choice. It was either that or Bear Creek at mile 8.6, meaning I’d be done hiking by about 1 pm, throwing off my mileage for the next day. I had to get myself to that river. After a hot 90-degree day, I needed that cold river water. 

As I was hiking, I felt myself moving faster than I could last year. I felt so strong and excitedly took advantage of my fresh legs. The altitude wasn’t getting to me yet. I was able to do so much more than I imagined, and knowing that empowered me to keep going for the rest of the day. 

Around 11 am, I was ready for lunch. My first order of business was to pee and change my tampon, but I couldn’t find a safe place to do it and I knew there would be other hikers behind me. I had to do it anyway. I got to Lenny’s Rest and walked back into the trees a bit. I was just about to take care of business when I heard another hiker coming. I quickly walked back up to Lenny’s Rest and said hi to the other hiker. He asked if he could join me for lunch, and I said yes. We talked about our fears and our hopes for this hike. He explained he had never done anything like this and was nervous, so I was able to give him some peace of mind since I had some experience on the trail. While we chatted, I tried eating my cold-soaked taco beans and rice meal that I had made at home. It tasted like throw-up and I realized the beans went rancid. I couldn’t finish it, which meant I’d have to pack out that whole meal to throw away in town, and I’d have to rethink my whole meal plan since I’d have to throw away all of my lunches in my resupply boxes. I ate some snacks instead and dreaded being short on calories for the next two days.

When we were done with lunch, I let him go ahead so that I could go to the bathroom. I had bled through again. Good thing I was going to the river. 

By around 6:30 pm I made it to the South Platte during an awful thunderstorm that was projected to continue until 9 pm. I had no time to be excited about completing my goal for the day. I hurriedly set up my tent in the heavy rain in such a panic that I accidentally set up my tent on the trail on the underside of the bridge. The ground was soft and wouldn’t hold my tent stakes, so I used logs to hold them down. The inside of my tent was soaked, as was everything in it. 

While I was sitting in my tent trying to dry up what I could with my Pack Towel, other hikers began walking around my tent and it hit me that I was set up on the trail. “Just kick their tent!” One hiker said to another. Only a minute later, a bike came by and ran over my guylines, knocking one loose. It was still pouring rain, and I didn’t know what to do. I was so embarrassed and stressed knowing that I broke trail etiquette on accident, and there was nothing I could do about it. When a couple of other hikers walked by, I said “I am so sorry, I’m going to fix it!” In hopes that nobody else would kick my tent and have some mercy on me. 

Finally, it stopped raining for a bit. I quickly packed up and ran all of my stuff a little further down the trail to an actual campsite by the river. I was surprised that I was able to run after such a long day, and it felt good to run without the heavy weight of my pack on my back. It was sandy and wet, but it was perfect for me because I could finally clean up. I took off my shorts, washed them off in the river, and changed into a dry pair of shorts. I hung them on a branch, knowing they definitely wouldn’t dry by tomorrow, but it was worth a shot. I soaked my feet, rinsed off my face and legs, filtered water, and ate my favorite trail meal- spicy peanut butter ramen. Despite the hurdles I had to get over that day, I was so incredibly happy. I was proud of myself for pulling off what I had just done. 16.2 miles was the farthest I had ever hiked in one day. That was either the coolest thing I’ve ever done or the stupidest, I thought. I changed into my warm, dry bedclothes, turned off the string lights that I hung inside my tent, sent a goodnight message to my fiancé from my Garmin, and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a hard day with a heavy water carry, exposure, and heat. I needed to rest up to get an early start so that I could beat the heat.