Colorado Trail Solo Thru Hike Documentary

the 486 mile colorado trail runs from denver to durango colorado it's well known for its various plants and animals as well as thunderstorms the total elevation gain of this trail is like climbing mount everest from sea level three different times there were several obstacles on this trail that i had to overcome and didn't foresee this is my story this is the entrance right here the gateway [Music] [Music] so i'm just walking along minding my own business and all of a sudden i thought it was like a moose that was trying to cross the the river here and it was a freaking bear so it's like coming up onto the bank and it doesn't see me so i'm i start making noise so i don't startle it and they get and it picks me up you know that was a good way to start out the trip that was cool [Music] i am pretty glad how this worked out because this is a super exposed section of the ct here and i would recommend either starting in the morning or in the evening like me i didn't do that on purpose but basically when i started was perfect because i got to the trail at 5 pm and had 9 miles to the first campsite i knew that i would most likely be setting up under headlamp [Music] this is night one of the ct [Music] you may have noticed that i actually had a tent set up last night instead of the cowboy camp had about 2 a.m it started sprinkling and thundering it's probably the worst pitch that a tent like that's ever seen we have about 24 miles or so to do today so i got an early start uh the water situation here is a little wonky so i gotta pay attention to gut hook i'm trying to beat some of the storms as well so they've been forecasted for the next few days okay there's camp still raining i gotta get everything in here asap [Music] all right we're at the plant river right now we got what 10 miles of no water right got to figure out how much water you'll take to the fire station [Music] i definitely got thunder coming with this cell over here and it's definitely dropping rain probably a few miles away um we've got this cell here that i'm kind of walking into but yeah i mean it's just the jmt all over again i mean it's just what happens on these mountains [Music] [Music] all right that's what the fire station looks like two liters was perfect i prepped my cold soaked dinner at the fire station as the winds picked up indicating a fresh storm was on its way one of many i would have to contend with on the colorado trail okay we're getting lightning flashes right by me i got like a mile to camp it's only 5 30 but i gotta get there unfortunately i'm still climbing unfortunately when i arrived at the camping destination all of them were taken up meaning i had to go an extra couple miles in order to find a flat spot camp still raining i got to get everything in here [Music] we're in camp right now no idea where i'm camped at okay we're dry for now that storm freaking is a lot heftier than i thought i'm just trying to keep everything dry from this condensation now which is kind of a real with these single wall tents but we'll be good got two other people that quit it's raining sprinkling thunder's going and it's not even one o'clock so man the mountains don't give a about you i stayed in that rain for way too long i got like soaked my shorts are still wet everything's just really wet right now thank god that the sun is out today so i can start drying some stuff later today tense condensation is coming in my sleeping bag's a little damp what would i have done if the sun wasn't out today i would have been really screwed here's what we got this morning looks like it's going to be a lovely day [Music] i came upon a parking lot area on my gut hooks and i was like ooh that's where i'm going to dry my stuff big open area so everything's dry everything's good we got about 16.3 miles till camp which actually is pretty good so but we'll be up at around 10 and 11 000 feet so [Music] just met a girl right after thundered again and she was coming back this way she said that she's actually going home doesn't like the thunderstorms i'm like fair enough got two other people that quit i've been walking up this forever it's raining sprinkling thunder's going and it's not even one o'clock as the stormy weather was picking up i also began to notice the rash of my leg getting worse it's starting to break out for me i don't know if they're mosquito bites or what it is usually i'm not allergic to mosquitoes uh could be these biting flies i don't know [Music] okay i'm making my break for it [Music] uh we're at ten thousand two hundred feet right now uh thankfully we came down from where we were because um i was getting a little bit of a headache still have one but par for the course when you are at altitude so expecting at least one more day of this tomorrow we're climbing again so we'll get up and over i think kenosha pass and [Music] keep rolling expecting another thunderstorm that's all you can do this rabbit just keeps following you [Music] oh last night i had a heck of a time going to sleep realize that i don't have my first aid kit i don't know where i put it so it didn't have any ibuprofen to take my head was killing me with the elevation i battled that all night finally started to feel better and then i can't find my left gator i don't i don't know man i don't know but let's make today a good day i need it [Music] i just thought about how when i was watching ib tap another youtuber he went through the sierra and he lost his sunglasses so he used his buff over his eyes to like go through the entire sierra can you imagine that and i'm crying over a lost gator so it could always be worse [Music] we got some trail magic i'm so pumped one of the best things about through hiking is the complete act of kindness by strangers also known as trail magic it has the ability to transform a shitty day into an amazing day [Music] should pass that highway down there or the trail header i don't know i'm going down there at some point i know [Music] this has been a pretty good part of the trail uh the last few miles have been awesome and uh i only got like 4.7 until camp and it's not even 3 o'clock so pretty pumped that night i went to bed early knowing that i had 23 miles to do before 3 30 to get into breckenridge the next day okay it's 5 30 and we're rolling gotta get up to the top of this pass we camped at about 11-1 so this pass is probably going to be mid 11's mid 12 or 12 i don't know if i can feel it we did about 24 yesterday we've been doing about mid-20s [Music] okay we got about a little over nine miles to the next water source and i have about a liter and a half i'll be pushing it [Music] [Applause] [Applause] okay we got a little bit over 12 miles by 11 o'clock which is good still got six and a half miles to water as my anticipation to get into breckenridge increased the rash of my leg was becoming increasingly problematic gosh everywhere hey there it is and right there goes the shuttle god damn it okay very important when you go under the highway bridge go left to get the free bus into town to breck don't dick around like i just did and miss the bus 23 miles by 3 15 pm not bad [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] times like these where being solo i think is super hard it's difficult because it's just it's a morale booster to have someone else with you i booked this hotel for an exorbitant amount of money but this is the reason i did [Music] now we have a large climb out of here to 12 000 feet and gotta do it before the storms start at about four so that's what the forecast is and it's about 9 30 right now so kind of gotta book it but we'll be okay [Music] the serendipity of the trail i get into the hostel and this guy's there and i'm like god he looks familiar and we're talking and i'm like were you doing the oregon desert trail last year and he's like yeah i was like dude i was the one that gave you a lift out to brothers oregon and oh my god i haven't seen him since he's the first person i see in the hostel the trail works like that dude and i thought with ib tat that i might see him out here and randomly just as i got off the bus from breck he's coming down into breck crazy just as it looked like i would be facing another storm by myself this afternoon i ended up meeting two other hikers that i would hike with for the remainder of the day give me the rundown what do we got here we're pretty close to the top it's gonna be good once we get there been a long hike up it's been a long hike up long and sunny finally got this would you rank this on one to suck um probably about a three-fourths way to stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] the excitement factor was high as we approached the summit between peaks five and six we even ran into the tick tock stars tim and renee because of the massive climb in late start we got up at the top of the peak just as the storm was forming sweet [Music] i got drenched separated from the two guys that i met and now face the decision of what i wanted to do that night pretty much right there is where we just came from i feel very lucky that we weren't stuck up in that cloud ceiling there that's where we came down from 12 400 some feet because there was no available campsites around copper mountain and because i was still cold and wet i decided to get a hotel well it turns out you need a college degree to rent a room in copper mountain i booked this hotel for an exorbitant amount of money but this is the reason i did you can see new precipitation up to where i would have been camping tonight the thing with copper mountain is that there's not a lot of campsites there's well there's in fact there's like no campsites for three four five six seven miles near it so i was like dude if i don't get into a hotel i don't not quite sure what i'm gonna do i might just pitch it in their freaking backyard this is why i landed in this hotel um i didn't want it to be a morale buster for if again i would have kept going on trail probably would have not found a campsite and then i would have ended up wet again so i kind of feel a little bit like i like i wussed out um but i think long term i'm gonna make i'm making a good call because this is a ultra marathon not a sprint yeah i think that's that's gonna do it for tonight all right good morning bye black in my teeth it's because i was eating an rx bar we have another huge huge climb out of copper mountain goal today is to get over the past before thunderstorms we're going up to 12 000 again so it'll likely take half a day i am about three miles behind schedule but it's really only like an hour and a half of hiking [Music] do still gotta go there [Music] five hours of climbing this is the pass that i thought was about an hour ago uh yeah beautiful i think we're headed that way once i start feeling hungry i want to get like hopefully i'm on like a descent and so i can eat at a lower elevation because i know your body recovers better at a lower elevation i don't know if it matters or not right now i'm a thousand or 1400 feet lower than when i crested the saddle so i like to think it helps my recovery times like these where being solo i think is super hard it's difficult because it's just it's a morale booster to have someone else with you if they're the same attitude you know it was really at this point of the hike where my loneliness started to set in there's a lot of pros with going solo but also a lot of cons i figured this out on my first section hike when i tried to go solo i started to realize that hiking with like-minded people really made the experience more enjoyable the feeling even plagued me when i was on the jmt last year it's a little lonely out here man trying to catch up with that family that i met on the bus but there's just not that many people on trail right now kind of sucks because sharing it with other people is one of my favorite parts like that shared suffering and i really wish that i could link up with someone which leaves me with the constant struggle of wanting the companionship of a partner or the freedom of just doing things by myself [Music] the trail provides check out that flat spot no one here we got a privy over oh i'm there pumped i did this this actually makes me super freaking happy i'm only like a couple miles short of where my itinerary has me but i'm not too worried about that right now i think my biggest concern right now is my poison ivy or whatever the heck it is it's um i think i have it under control but it's pretty gnarly if i was back home i would definitely have went to the doctor to get something for it but i mean i don't know how i'm going to do that right now so i think my hydrogen cartridge zone will last for another two days i've resorted to only putting it on at night now because of how much i have left a hitchhike for 10 minutes we'll see if this sign works [Music] it's about a two days walk to buena vista well to a trailhead outside of buena vista i can either see if i can get a hitch or i have two people on tick-tock that might be able to give me a ride there i think my hydra carter zone will last for another two days i've resorted to only putting it on at night now because of how much i have left every hike has something that doesn't go to plan and this was it throughout my short career of through hiking and ultra running i've learned that the worst days make the best stories and it's really all about how well you can adapt my first taste of this again came on the john muir trail around mir pass i'm dying right now oh this is probably my lowest we'll point there but i've been hiking for about 12 hours which is every day even a little bit more sometimes feet are sore i think today we're gonna get around mid-20s again in mileage and about 5000 feet of climbing [Music] what do my days look like i like to be in a routine um i get up at 5 35 ish pack all my stuff and then hit the trail by 6. if i've been a good boy that means that i have already filtered my water but a lot of times i forget to or i'm too lazy to at night get my caffeine and squirt that in my bottle about hopefully about a liter and i'll drink that usually i don't get to the next water source till a couple hours later at that point i will fill up again and then i will do some squirts of caffeine but also my lmnt electrolytes which is super clutch well between that i'll eat a little bar or something for breakfast in the morning when i'm filtering that second liter i will throw in a little bit of water for my cold soaked oatmeal and i'll eat that while i'm walking on trail after i'm done with that i'll brush my teeth while i'm eating on trail or after i'm eating on trail and then take my vitamins that's usually about eight nine o'clock and i try not to take too many breaks in the morning because it's so nice and cool and the hiking is really easy in the morning in terms of i guess heat and stuff so minimal breaks but usually every maybe every three hours or so in the morning for like five to ten minutes usually just to filter water now usually i'll eat lunch around i don't know noon lunch kind of comes whenever um depends if there's a ba if there's a big climb coming up i'll usually uh have lunch before that so i can minus some weight blood plus get some calories and carbs in me so i like to make most of my miles by like noon in the afternoon i take longer breaks more frequent breaks my my feet hurt more so i got more frequent breaks i really like getting into camp at about seven because then i can set everything up i can do what i need to do and i can kind of chill out a little bit before going to bed i listen to an audiobook try to get into the same routine that i do when i'm at home so then go to bed by like 8 45 9 o'clock and then started all over again so yeah that that's basically hiking for 13 hours a day or so which i guess is what i like to do because i was running out of hydrocortisone i made the call to try and hitch into twin lakes to see if they had any at their general store all right i'm going gonna hitchhike for 10 minutes and we'll see if this sign works if not screw it the hitch took all but 12 minutes and i found myself in twin lakes waiting for the shops to open and also chilling with some of the locals unfortunately the general store didn't have hydrocortisone but i was able to get food and then a quick hitch back to the trail [Music] so worth the couple hours off trail um and now i'm trying to make this exposed walk under the clouds so everything's been working out so far i met a cool older couple uh they ended up giving me a hitch back so literally perfect didn't have to walk any extra miles and now we're back on trail yes amazing super pumped gonna officially go on record and say that this walk from twin lakes to the next water is way worse than in segment two [Music] so [Music] it was at this spot where the collegiate east and the collegiate west diverged and i took the collegiate east [Music] this has been my favorite campsite thus far maybe because i haven't rolled in here like a chaotic mess i'm letting my tent kind of air out the comment from the condensation last night um which seems to be working which is pretty cool uh tomorrow's a big big climbing day we're only gonna do 20 miles we did i think 24 today we get to do 20 miles tomorrow but it's 6 300 feet of vert to be a long day so i'm gonna get started early i think i'm gonna try to shoot for 5 30. hey on the cold soap menu tonight are some more idaho and potatoes albacore and and some olive oil yes i'm making it in here because there's a ton of ants outside there you go gotta get the perfect consistency it's like frosting see that haze over there that is all wildfire smoke i'm gonna be behind in my itinerary but what do you do my phone is not working but my inreach is so i'm texting people off of that and getting charged 50 cents a pop whatever i don't care crisis number one was averted that morning i met up with another thru hiker named whistle who was a past triple crowner and who i had met the day before in twin lakes this pumped me up because it was nice to have someone else to hike with and let me tell you what filming someone else is incredibly easier than having to do it yourself we're doing some bartering here wow interesting stuff here definitely some maple almond butter in the market for that tomorrow i am getting a ride into buena vista to go to urgent care for my poison sumac i need to get it checked out before we start getting into the san juans and i'm not sure but i think the hitches are harder so i need to get this done and taken care of now the next day i'm hoping that i can get a ride back to the trailhead extremely like fairly early um so i can make up some time that's the plan that's the play don't don't know too much after that [Music] although i didn't know it at the time this morning was the last time i'd ever hike with alex on the trail as we got separated after i would hitch into bb okay we're here at the avalanche trailhead waiting for a ride in to buena vista i'm gonna get my rash checked out i'm gonna be behind in my itinerary but what do you do i got a hitch from the tick tock star hiking honey and found myself in buena vista however i couldn't find my insurance card for the longest time and had to sit around trying to figure out what to do about it but finally i was able to get into the doctor holy man i got a prescription the doctor was dope i still don't know where i'm staying tonight i have to walk a mile to the pharmacy i'm thirsty but uh at least we found the insurance card i had to look for about an hour man that would have been bad i don't know even know about hotel but craig crisis number one was averted my phone is not working but my inreach is so i'm texting people off of that and getting charged 50 cents a pop whatever i don't care thankfully the girls found me where i was sitting and we went to the same mexican restaurant the girls graciously dropped me back off at the trailhead and i tried to make up miles so i could be into mount princeton in time for breakfast in the morning [Music] one of the things i never really realized until i started through hiking was the genuine hospitality of complete strangers and how much i would come to rely on that in the coming days [Music] that night was also the first time i started seeing signs for my next obstacle fire what a great time to be alive yes last night i went to the bathroom three times because of that mexican food and then i ran out of toilet paper so what did i do i sacrificed my uh last gator oh my gosh man the smoke from the night before began to fill up the area that we were in and caused the red sunrises that most westerners are now getting used to while getting an early start that day i met up with a couple other people that had the same idea of rolling into mount princeton before breakfast closed [Music] we got hollywood hey that's your new trail name hollywood oh my gosh we've got the gators we're done with food killing it and we're resupplied world's heaviest backpack coming right up [Music] after a short stop for breakfast casey and i got back on the trail only to find that the smoke had gotten worse that haze over there that is all wildfire smoke but we're headed south right and that's where i saw the plume yesterday so we're heading away from the plume who knows how many fires there is so i just sent a text to haley to see she can dig up some info on smoke and where the fires are we can smell smoke a little bit it's not a it's not like too too bad hopefully we get away from it or the wind shifts casey was a complete inspiration to me being in his 60s and having just completed the appalachian trail what do you have to tell the camera about the climbs today i love to hang out with people like this because they've taken what society has said about them and they throw it out the window [Music] sadly we were both on different itineraries so i passed up where he was camping and kept going solo i would never hike with him again [Music] a poison rash is starting to go away however a new issue cropped up that is my ultra shoe is falling apart after 250 miles the next resupply spot 120 miles or so i know a long way and i could have a pair of shoes shipped there or i could go into salida tomorrow it's the hitching that could be time consuming but i think i might do it yeah i don't know [Music] [Music] gonna be a wet one today it's already raining it is 11 a.m it is so smoky out here i might be screwing myself but i don't know i'm kind of taking a risk i want to make it at least 50 miles the problem after leaving where i am right now is that there is really no good towns to get out at plan is is i need to get a hitch into salida and get some new shoes if i only do the mileage to salida and i like stay in slide i'm going to be 30 miles almost 31 miles behind my itinerary i want to get into slider buy some shoes get some cbd get some food and then get out after managing to get a hitch from a ct shuttle or into salida i was able to get new shoes and also meet up with whistle for a little bit of breakfast after hitching back into trail after breakfast the smoke i was experiencing the morning got even worse you can see i am double masked right now because it is so smoky out here i might be screwing myself but i don't know i'm kind of taking a risk i want to make it at least 50 miles to try to see if i can if the smoke clears out the problem after leaving where i am right now is that there is really no good towns to get out at if i don't want to hike and smoke anymore hoping it'll clear up in like 50 miles i'm gonna do everything that i can to finish this you know i'm not gonna put my long-term health in danger either so if that means that i have to get off trail and do the second half of this later this year that's what that means but we'll see [Music] as the day went on i began reflecting on what it would be like if i had to abandon my hike because of the fires [Music] okay so we are at where the cdt and collegiate east and collegiate west meet can see all around how bad the smoke is as it turned to dusk i found a little lean-to cabin with its own little surprise as i went to bed there's literally deer all around me [Music] [Music] mmm [Music] [Music] i do want to get out of this open area i haven't heard of thunder in a bit but i think i'm getting up into the trees here pretty soon so that's good it was definitely dark from where i came from got him out of there frick i am ready to get done with this trail i kind of want to get back into the swing of things eating healthy and doing what i do back home but we'll finish this up and then it's always a new perspective on life after i get done doing this type of stuff so that'll be it for tonight after a night of non-stop rain i woke up needing a morale boost but was unaware that rain was forecasted for the entire day another day so this cold front moved in and you can definitely feel it i mean it is very very chilly this morning it doesn't really look like the sun is going to be popping up anytime soon which kind of is concerning for my drying out my tent and a little bit of my sleeping bag i tried drying my gear out in the brief sun breaks to no avail all right it's gonna be a wet one today it's already raining it is 11 a.m it's raining pretty good i gotta cross kind of an open pretty open area here and i'd get pretty wet but [Music] deal with it [Music] it's gonna rain all day i've come to imagine it's funny because once you make a plan noth you can't make a plan out here because nothing nothing will work my sleeping bag's a little bit damp from last night i think like i said i think i can be another night would be fine but after that i need to get it dry be optimistic that it'll clear in a few hours so if that happens i will be pumped be a good day if it clears in a few hours but i gotta i gotta make these miles so here we go [Music] in addition to the rain i had one more obstacle that i was severely under prepared for seriously dude there we go good job this [Music] is where i'm supposed to get water because i didn't do prior research i wasn't aware that cow ponds were the primary water source for several miles [Music] just as things were looking bleak something amazing happened i gotta get this trail magic all right cold drinks lovely lovely trail magic that was awesome it was really weird because like literally as the rain stopped trail magic was right there and they were just setting up crazy serendipity of the trail [Music] and just like that the sun started to shine it's like the sun is literally shining down on me so so cool [Music] okay we got the tent aaron out got the sleeping bag airing out and sunning out good good time maybe eat a little something and then kick back i did 28.6 miles today holy really want to get into lake city on friday which is wednesday today so we'll see but a heck of a day today that was a dog fight steep ups and you're going past 12 000 every time you go up so it's like four times as hard i haven't seen anybody for the last few days i've been solo for the last three days four days maybe this is a perfect example of why you never expect anything to be a gimme day in the mountains while this was the most beautiful morning i experienced on the ct it was also extremely cold and an indication of what i was to come the further i got into the high country i'm gonna be camping at about 12 000 some feet it was cold last night at frickin under 10 000 feet so i don't know how to tonight's gonna be i mean we'll get through it today's climb peaked out at about 12 600 feet which meant i had to be extremely cognizant of surrounding thunderstorms got a lot of clouds coming up right now par for the course we're gonna get wet the rest of the day consisted of a constant uphill journey and i couldn't quite figure out where the heck we were supposed to peek out at i think we got to go there i mean then up through that saddle all day today i'm like okay there's going to be a climb there's going to be a climb there's going to be a climb there's going to be a climb there's going to be and it hasn't hit yet finally the bulk of the climb hit and i could feel the high altitude getting to me that was a dog fight been 22 23 miles started all the way snaking through and ascended all day all day [Music] [Music] i made camp early that night with the intention of getting up early in hopes to make the shuttle into lake city the next day it was a beautiful morning but the climbs were getting in my way and slowing my progress towards the 12 30 shuttle into lake city i solely began to realize i probably wasn't going to make the shuttle and i might also get stormed on now those clouds look like it's going to rain another of a climb continental divide that is pretty pretty cool steep ups and you're going past 12 000 every time you go up so it's like four times as hard don't wish it to be easy just wish to be stronger by this time i realized that the tough terrain would stop me from getting to the shuttle in time so i would have to figure out a different solution this is a perfect example of why you never expect anything to be a gimme day in the mountains [Music] one i'm less than one mile from the trailhead to get hitched out thankfully there was trail magic at the trailhead so i could sit chill and figure out what my next plan was the hitch into lake city took all but 20 minutes and i finally got to shower after 11 days on trail wow i look rough [Music] okay i found my first blister i'm gonna sterilize my knife i'm gonna pop it and put some leukotape over it with some antibiotic oh right in my face hey it's been a great day here in lake city i got some disinfectant and some lotion for my legs the lotion has been really cut a lot of the itching out which has been great the disinfectant i did my sleeping bag and i washed everything in the sink as much as i do not want to leave town i know that i have to because i will get too comfortable here we gotta head out today it's just gotta happen it was back in 2019 where i learned this concept from a thru-hike veteran named salty dog he recounted tale after tale of people quitting when they got into town and started to be too comfortable i was talking to another guy that has spent like a couple two days three days here and he's like yeah i don't really want to go back okay resupply good hiker box what's your role the other thing i knew about leaving town was that i was gonna have to carry a 120 miles worth of food over the most difficult terrain on the colorado trail yet the san juan mountains [Music] just got some energy bars from those hunters and now we're gonna camp somewhere up in here hey this is the site i actually really like it it's a obviously not an established but it looks like someone's been here before it's nice and flat got some wind breaks with trees hopefully that also cuts down on condensation still trying to figure this whole condensation game out but pretty good sunrise sunset here i'm pretty pumped about the spot i went to bed that night in anticipation of summiting the colorado trail's highest point at nearly thirteen thousand three hundred feet in the morning i ditched my trekking poles in my bag at one point and did the lightning crouch that was so scary trying to make it to the freezer [Music] [Music] thirteen 13 271 feet [Music] ct high point almost out of water but we're good my first few miles in the san juans were amazing but i didn't realize how much the sun exposure altitude and extra nearly 20 pounds of food was going to affect me later on in the day welcome to my shade spot not a lot around here so makeshift today's mo has been tackling these 12 000 and 13 000 foot passes it's been exhausting but the views do not disappoint [Music] we have gone 20 miles we're at again nearly 13 000 feet this is probably like the fourth saddle ridge or whatever summit we want you want to say whatever it is that we've done today exhausted i made camp in a giant open area just as it began to rain then an unexpected storm hit at midnight literally never been so happy to see the moon storm is over here seems like it's clearing out from behind me here is my tent it was lightning everywhere up here it's insane how much the weather changes here i'm gonna get out of this high country today and into some at least 11 thousanders one of the things i was told i was going to encounter was a giant avalanche debris field evidence of how strong mother nature really is [Music] the san juans are kind of like the sierra very rugged steep rocky remote high elevation so jamming 25 miles is super tough just as i was about to stop and set up camp i've met a fellow hiker named bear claw who i had originally met in lake city hiking with someone immediately improved my mood and again made me question why i always put a premium on hiking solo so anyway i've been dying to eat these things for a month all right here's camp dude yeah the elk snake but this is this is just this is prime gourmet you know was frozen a couple days ago and is on the cusp of going bad but it's gonna be good it's gonna be good one of the hot things [Music] still getting bloody noses out here even though it was a great time with bearclaw i had to go back to hiking by myself because we were at two different paces but it would have been great to have him along for what would happen later on in the day [Music] as the day went on the clouds got bigger and bigger indicating something was on the horizon definitely just saw some cloud to ground lightning right there wow that was crazy it's a big storm okay just after i filmed that we had lightning and literally within one second thunder so that's crazy trying to get off of this ridge this is going straight for me within minutes the temperatures dropped and the wind picked up oh ah the storm was directly on me and the hail was pelting me in every direction oh trying to make it crazy oh i was forced under a group of trees where the thunder crashed around me and i was getting close to hypothermia oh [Music] i like phys i physically cannot button my shirt or unbutton these sleeves my hands are so cold i sat in the rain and thunder for over an hour and finally decided to move as i was shivering and i could not warm myself up after moving i started hiking and eventually it started to clear up and i started to regain some warmth but i still was unable to use my hands at all and it was then when i truly discovered that the mountains do not care about anybody i sat under a tree and was getting soaked um the rain was coming right into it i mean i was just getting soaked there was so much rain that the tree was getting soaked and dripping on me so really i had no place to go the thunder and lightning were right on top of me i ditched my trekking poles and my bag at one point and did the lightning crouch i was sitting under that tree shivering which is not good i knew i had to keep moving i did some kind of jumping jacks and tried to do some warming drills i knew i had some uphill too that would get my heart beating too so and that worked that storm put into perspective just how much the mountains do not care if you're rich poor experienced or not it will take your life if it wants to and if you're not prepared [Music] [Music] the issue with today is that i'm on a ridge basically the whole day which obviously isn't good because it's one of the higher points saw some lightning strikes up here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] going out by headlamp today because i do not want a repeat of yesterday i know that towards the end of the day today um it's gonna be exposed wide open high elevation and also there's a dry stretch blackhawk pass pretty much the last one thank god though the large water carry was concerning i was way more concerned about being on exposed ridges when the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in it's crazy to think that yesterday i was so cold my hands were so numb that it took me at least 10 to 15 minutes to try and get these unbuttoned and i just did it right now walking in five seconds very scary yesterday definitely in for some big rumbles today i'm afraid it's only 11 o'clock right now so i'm gonna watch these clouds the issue with today is that i'm on a ridge basically the whole day which obviously isn't good because it's one of the higher points i spent the next several hours picking my way quickly across the ridge to set myself up to be in a good position in case of a future thunderstorm yeah just saw cloud cloud to ground lightning again [Music] with storms rolling in nearby canyons i had to make the decision of whether or not to traverse the ridge that we were on i know luckily for that day the storm gods had mercy on me i think we're going to win the storm game today we'll see we still need to get up to these peaks up here but then we drop down and it's only less than about 1.7 to camp so saw some lightning strikes up here on these peaks but a bit ago so and with that i settled down to look upon my final camp of the colorado trail [Music] my final night on trail was not spent solo but was spent with danny and cassie two other colorado trail hikers that had to overcome their own obstacles to complete [Music] [Music] oh [Music] a ton of things stuck out in my mind as i neared the end the challenges the highs the lows but what really stuck out of my mind was the people that i met on this solo journey [Music] nice all right [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Chad Lubinski

Views: 46,811

Keywords: Colorado Trail, Durango Colorado, Southern terminus, Thru hike, Backpacking, Hiking, Colorado, Solo, waterton canyon, denver colorado, documentary

Id: 0xJkGF7Oim0

Length: 67min 41sec (4061 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021