CT Part 1 – The One With the Heat

Mile 0-40

Segments 1-3

Hiker Bio

My name is Sophie and I am attempting to thru-hike the Colorado trail with my two furry companions, Elijah and Kai. We have lived in Colorado for almost a decade and each year we find ourselves venturing further into the mountains. What started as short day hikes turned into long treks to alpine lakes, bagging 14-ers, and overnight backpacking trips.

My dogs are easily their happiest on trail. Nothing excites them more than seeing me fill a camel back or pull out my backpacking pack. When i learned about thru-hiking a few years ago I thought about how much they’d love to live out there for longer.

Life got in the way of the dream for a while, but Elijah turning nine last May made me realize they didn’t have the time to keep putting it off as I had been. So now we’re making it happen.

I know dogs thru-hiking is a polerizing topic which I fully understand. I know they love it out there for a few days, but i don’t know if it will last for weeks. They may get hurt or lose to much weight or just get too tired.

Just like any human can bail a hike im doing my best to make sure my dogs have that option. My dad is meeting me for all our resupplies and will be ready to give them a break or take them home if needed.

I hope we all make it the whole way, but mostly i just want them to be the happy lil guys they are whenever we step on trail.

The beginning

I woke up at 5:05am on day two after two snoozed alarms. I am NOT a morning person. But i knew we needed to get going if we were going to beat the heat. As i unzipped the tent and watched the dpgs bound out, much more excited than I was to start a new day, I thought: “besides the waking up early thing this is pretty awesome ”

Wiping the sleep from my eyes i started reminiscing on the first day on trail to solidify that fact in my mind. Unfortunately all of the memories that my brain conjured up were not only not awesome, but rather miserable.

I remembered the 230am wake up to drive to the trailhead. I remembered the unrelenting heat and exposure as we climbed through the burn scar in segment 2. When we pulled off trail to one of the few shaded spots hoping for relief and found little. We spent four hours there waiting for it to cool down. I was so slick with sweat that one leg would slip off the other if i tried to curl on my side.

I remembered feeling zapped of energy by the sun but having to hike on to find a campsite.. and the one I’d been hoping for being taken.. forcing us to hike even further. I remembered the heat being unrelenting into the night making it nearly impossible to sleep.

And yet the very next morning I was convinced that I’d had a great time. Confused I thought harder. And I started to remember the little things. The things that brought me smiles throughout the day.

I remembered seeing the trailhead sign and the excitement to begin. Foraging a wild raspberry for a snack. Walking though beautiful forests full of ponderosa pines. Meeting other thru-hikers and feeling an instant bond. Watching the dogs play joyfully in the river. The hummingbird that visited us twice during our siesta. And on and on.

Enough little, barely memorable, moments of joy had added up to make all the misery seem well worth it. And maybe that’s the point of this whole thing. Of course its going to be hard, and often downright miserable im sure, but as long as you can smile at the little things it will still be pretty awesome.

 Onward 

I spent the next two days trying to remember the little things which was helpful because segment 1-3 is honestly a little boring. Segment 2 is brutal with nothing to see but burned trees and no water to be found. 1&3 had lots of pretty forests and some wildflowers to spot but I’m partial to the big mountain vistas and alpine lakes so I’m ready to start climbing. Made a quick stop in Bailey where everyone was very kind and welcoming to hikers. 

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!