This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 33 ~ We slept late because we knew that everyone needed time to get to us and we had only 7-8 miles to go the last day.  Becca, a friend, and her daughter met us about 4 miles from the finish and hiked the last miles with us.  We just can’t believe we are just about there!

We made it to the finish line!  We took pictures, enjoyed some snacks, and made our way to the YMCA for a shower.  

I had decided before I started that if I finished the entire trail, I would get my first and last tattoo. We had dinner and drinks and went to the tattoo parlor.  Both Heidi and I got the same tattoo, the Colorado Trail symbol that we saw all along the way.

Colorado Trail Takeaways

Things I will miss:

1. Stunning beauty – seeing things that I have never seen and may never see again.
2. Quiet – while hiking, in my tent in the evening, no news, no outside world to worry about.
3. All the people who supported us and took care of us:  we would not have finished without you all.

Things I won’t miss:

1. Wondering what is outside my tent at night.
2. Blisters on my feet – I ended with about three, and one that was really giving me some issues in the last few days.
3. Carrying a huge backpack that gives you aches and pains.

Things I appreciate:

1. Heidi – for sticking it out and finishing this adventure with me, and someone to yell to in the middle of the night when we heard strange animal sounds.
2. Sunrises and sunsets
3. Stunning beauty that I never imagined was out there.

Things I am looking forward to:

1. Daily Showers
2. Toilets
3. Clean clothes daily

Segments to do again:

Segment 23 & 24 – San Juans

Kokomo to Georgia Pass

Segment 7 – Breck to Copper

Segment 26 – Blackhawk Pass

Segment 20 – San Luis Pass

Hope you’ve enjoyed this series! Thanks for reading!

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Days 31 & 32 ~ It’s getting hotter as we near Durango and boy do we STINK and need a shower.  We didn’t have cats last night, but we had a herd of deer.  We heard them throughout the night, and I kept looking out, and it was only deer.  We started our last big climb this afternoon and will finish it tomorrow.  Next is a 7,000-foot descent into Durango.  We are hoping our knees hold up.  

We met so many people hiking today it felt like rush hour on the trail.  So many people are catching up to us – those young ones that are fast.  We love talking to them and hearing their stories.  We are leap-frogging a couple of other people, camping and hiking with them.  You can feel the excitement and anticipation as we near Durango.  

We are mentally and physically tired, but there is another stunning view tomorrow morning, so we will get up early and see the sunrise coming up over the pass.  We hope to avoid some impending storms too.  

We were excited to get the water that someone had carefully laid a leaf to dribble it to easily capture it in our filter.  We are looking back over the San Juans seeing all that we accomplished.  It is overwhelming and amazing to us both.  

We will try to sleep as the mozzies (mosquitoes) and flies do their best to get into our tents.  We also had a deer just outside our tents.  We must be in his sleeping area, because he just stayed right by our tents and stared at us while eating for hours. We also had coyotes howling close by during the night.  

We were chased by storm and caught in rain on our second day.  People had hunkered down in their tents, so finding a spot was impossible.  We kept hiking and wondered if we might just hike into Durango.  Finally, we found a camping spot that wasn’t quite as flat, but we didn’t care anymore (this segment was 20.8 miles and 4,186 elevation gain – we were tired!).  We had a couple of other young hikers ask to join around us and we readily agreed. 

One more day!!

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 30 ~ Today we hiked 11.1 miles with 1,827 feet of elevation gain. It was difficult finding camping AGAIN.  We are sleeping a little lower tonight at 10,000ish feet.  It was warmer and easier to breathe.  We are realizing that we sleep better at lower elevations.

40.6 more miles to go to Durango!!  A friend is meeting us to hike the last few miles out!  Steve and my brother-in-law will meet us at the end to take us home.

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 29 ~ Last night we heard some rustling in the bushes. I shined my headlamp outside and didn’t see anything. As I laid back down, I heard it again. So I looked out again and saw eyes shining back at me. I started yelling and the other gals joined me and started clicking their poles together and yelling as well. I am fairly certain it was a large cat. We had another gal camping with us tonight. She also heard something come through our camp later in the night and she heard the chirping sounds of the mountain lion. They sound like birds. 


Needless to say, we didn’t get a lot of sleep! We got up at 5am, knowing it would be a long hiking day (Segment 25 is 20.7 miles with 3,799 feet of elevation gain). The great thing about hiking something the first time is the unexpected. We came upon Blackhawk Pass with unlimited wildflowers. We made it to the last water source for 14 miles and pushed in another couple of miles. It will only be 10 miles for water tomorrow and we have plenty with us.

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 27 & 28 ~ We had to camp in the open at 12,000 feet – above treeline. There were violent storms without any cover, so we didn’t sleep a wink. There are nights like this on the trail. Our tents did hold up and we were dry when we got up, but very tired. We were just about to give up today, when we came across patches of snow and there stood a moose! It excited us and kept us going.

A thunderstorm was chasing us up a hill today, again still above treeline. But we didn’t get one drop of rain. Then we turned a corner… and OH MY GOODNESS!! The most awe-inspiring views of the entire trip were right in front of us.

It is wildflower time, and I have never seen wildflowers like this. Nothing compared to this with the jaw-dropping backdrops. We started down the enormous switchbacks (always thankful to whoever did all this work to make these) and came down into the canyon. It was daunting in places, but we took our time and watched each step we took.

We easily found a campsite tonight. This hasn’t always been the case. We are nestled in the mountains away from the wind and safe from storms. The San Juan mountains are beyond what I ever imagined. I knew I wanted to make it here from what I heard, but WOW! On this segment, we hiked 20.9 miles with an elevation gain of 3,475 feet.

Silverton tomorrow and the first time we’ll be hitching a ride into town. Glad we get to have this experience, as most hikers must do this their entire hike. We have been fortunate to have such support.

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 26 ~ Today was life-changing beauty!! I cried as I walked through this segment. You cannot walk this and wonder if there is a creator.

We started the morning by waiting at the bottom of the rugged road to get to the start of Segment 23. We sure didn’t want to hike that!! A guy was driving by in his Razor, and we just about jumped out in front of him! Justin was a lifesaver as he was going uphill to do some silver and gold mining for fun. He and his family were on vacation from Tyler, TX. Even though it was a 2-seater, he quickly let us know that we could all squeeze in. He was only going up to the creek, but he was such a nice guy and drove us all the way to the top where we were starting our hike today. This was our best trail magic from a stranger on the entire trail!

Of course, it was a hard uphill today (we hiked 16.1 miles with 3,515 feet of elevation gain). This was the best segment to date. I hiked behind Heidi today, as I just wanted to take in the beauty. Seven more days to go and one of those will be resupply in Silverton.

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 25 ~ It just gets more beautiful every day!  We are meeting more people along the way now.  Steve, my husband, slack packed up today, so that meant we had to get to Carson Saddle today (hiked 17.3 miles with 3,829 feet of elevation gain).  What we didn’t know was the point Steve had to drive to was extremely rugged, even in our Jeep.  He made the drive but will never make it again.  We contemplated staying there and having him drive down by himself, but I really wanted to help guide him down the 5-mile road.  And we were glad we did, as we were out of the car and checking the tires and where to go for most of the drive.  

We will have to hike it back up or find a way up tomorrow morning.  Also found the very last hotel room in Lake City for tonight (there was supposed to be a downpour all night, so camping didn’t sound so fun).  We all needed a good night’s sleep after the very stressful drive down the mountain road today.

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 24 ~ We were just amazed to see things that most other people will never see!  There weren’t many people on this part of the trail.  We were entertained by marmots and pikas along the gorgeous, hard uphill walk today (14.7 miles and 3,116 feet of elevation gain).  There was smoke in the skies from Canadian fires today.  We were so fortunate to see the mountains yesterday when the sky was clear.  

Today we made it to Lake City and my husband picked us up.  I had been told that you MUST go to Lake City, and it was so true.  It is a cute little town with four-wheelers and Razors zooming around.  We stayed in a cabin for our zero day.  We have 125 miles left to go.  I can’t believe we are counting down the miles rather than counting up.  We are going to make it!

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 23 ~ Today we had an unexpected surprise in store for us!  

The morning started with wet equipment, so we stopped and let it all dry in the first sun we saw.  We had a camp area picked out, so that we would have a shorter day after a long and tiring one yesterday.  We made it to the large camping site and two young guys from another country were setting up their tents.  There was plenty of room, but the attitude was not welcoming.  This was the first time we ran into rude people.  

We decided to keep going to find another camping spot, knowing it was a hard climb ahead.  We were NOT looking forward to this and had a bad attitude. But when we got to the top, WOW!!  It was one of the top three areas so far on our hike.  Amazing views and beauty that no one else sees unless they walk this.  We were both in awe and couldn’t stop taking pictures.  

We found three other people who were searching for a camp area.  We all ended up close and were able to enjoy each other’s company.  Sometimes you just know there is a reason for things going the way they go.  Such a blessing today.  Making it to Lake City a day ahead of schedule due to our two very long days. 

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This post is part of a series featuring Jana’s journal entries from her Colorado Trail thru-hike

Day 22 ~ We started our day with the girls hiking a few miles in with us.  There were large herds of cows that wouldn’t move for us and the trail was too small to go around.  The cows ended up running alongside of us.  It was a bit unnerving as they surrounded us–wondering if they were trying to protect their babies.  

Today we were swimming in wildflowers–yellows, reds, purples, oranges, whites, and pinks.  Segments 18-19 are some of the harder segments to find water.  We ended up hiking 22.7 miles (some of Segment 19) the first day due to not finding a campsite.  We settled in a meadow due to sheer exhaustion. It wasn’t the best spot, because the lightning was upon us.  The thunder rumbled for 30 seconds at a time.  

Tired!  That is all I can say for the end of this day!

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