Day 44 through 50 June 13- 19th

I took a break from blogging while I was with my family, so I’ll just do a quick summary and also answer a frequently asked question from this weekend of hanging with my family. Thanks again for reading, I really appreciate it. I’ll be back to writing every night and posting when I’m in town now that I’m back on the trail.

I stayed in Salida for two days and had a Turo rental car scheduled. The second day I woke up in the morning feeling fine but ate something that didn’t sit right and ended up getting pretty sick that day. It made the drive towards Colorado Springs very difficult. I ended up stopping halfway and staying at the RV park. Showed up there around 3:00 and was in bed by 4:00.

I’m not sure if it was food poisoning or if I potentially got some bad water. I swapped out my water filter just in case. But it was a rough day.

I woke up the next day feeling just fine. In Colorado Springs I met up with my old boss and first sergeant and had coffee for a couple hours. We talked about the trail and Air Force retirement.

Picked up the family early in the afternoon. We hung around the Airbnb, grabbed some dinner, and played some games together. It was really awesome to be back together. We spent the rest of the weekend exploring the sites of Colorado Springs. It went by super quick, but it was nice to see them.

The difference between backpacking and thru-hiking

These questions are hard to answer. What’s the difference between a marathoner or an ultra-marathoner? What’s the difference between someone who lives in a van and someone who vacations in an RV? What’s the difference between a bank and a credit union?

There’s a lot of nuance here and no absolutes. But I think the biggest difference is that thru-hikers are looking for something. Maybe they’re just looking to complete their triple crown, or maybe their life is dedicated to adventure and this is just one more day of it. But that seems to be the one commonality with the thru-hikers I’ve interacted with.

I met a hiker yesterday who is carrying the ashes of her deceased boyfriend. He had completed the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, and had the Continental Divide Trail on his list next. She’s completing the trail on his behalf. I think it’s safe to say she’s looking for closure.

There are a ton of other little things that make backpacking and through hiking different, like cleanliness and hygiene, mileage completed every day, and what we eat. But those aren’t huge differences. And I’m sure there are plenty of backpackers who get really dirty and eat ramen.