One morning I’m cowboy camping and wake up to see a coyote approaching me. I scare it off, usually they’re pretty skittish around humans.

Unlike wolves that come back to investigate dead members of their pack, when coyotes come under pressure they disperse either by themselves or with one other. This is why coyote populations have spread across the East coast.

My buddy Ryan rolled through on his motorcycle trip, not a bad campsite.

The trail in northern Colorado is a lot of forest singletrack. I soon hit the Wyoming border. Colorado was an incredible adventure, beat the crap outta me but we’ll worth it.

The trail transitions quickly to scrubland as I near the Great Divide Basin. It’s flat too so I’m able to do big miles.

I end up doing a 50 mile day and 130 miles in 3 days to get to Rawlins, WY where I rest for a night. It’s dry again out here, the terrain reminds me of New Mexico.

Onward to Atlantic City, Wyoming!

I hike a 20 mile loop through Rocky Mountain National Park. This place is a bit weird, if you want to do backcountry camping here, you are limited to a number of designated sites. Something about the rules and crowds (and wide well groomed trail) here make it seem a bit less like the wilderness.

However, not many people climb to 12k feet for the sunset so I have the place all to myself.

I have a good weather window after last week so I’m ready to do full day pushes again. On Friday I do 38 miles with 8600 ft of gain, hitting the last two big climbs in Colorado.

Parkview mountain has an old lookout which I contemplate sleeping in, it’s a bit too early to post up so I decide on 5 more miles.

On the grassy descent I roll my ankle the pretty bad. I’m 45 miles from resupply and I limp the next three miles to camp. I tell myself I’ll figure it out in the morning. After 800mg of ibuprofen and “warming it up” I’m pretty much good for the 34 mile day.

The mountains are getting tamer by the day and soon I’m on my first road walk in roughly 600 miles.

The next time you see a guy walking down the highway singing his own rendition of “In The Pines” in the middle of nowhere, maybe he’s on a 3000 mile thru hike. Or maybe he’s crazy. Or maybe he’s crazy and on a 3000 mile thru hike. I dunno…

Are y’all getting tired of pictures of mountains? Okay okay fine, here’s how I get water:

Here’s how big your breakfast burrito is when the guy finds out you’re a hiker:

Here’s a picture of my feet:

HAH! Just kidding (I can’t believe you kept scrolling)

My next stop is in Wyoming. Goodbye Colorado, you explained to me the CDT motto, “embrace the brutality”. I’ll never forget the intensity of these mountains.

Also, one if my hitches was the brother of the 1988 freestyle skiing gold medalist. Neat!