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"By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp." Cormac McCarthy
"The sky, at sunset, looked like a carnivorous flower." Roberto Bolano
"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." Charles Bukowski
"The worst of the wildlife wears clothes and can pray." La Dispute
Getting to the start of my Colorado Trail trip was infinitely more difficult than the actual walking. I forgot my passport, had a drivers license that expired over a year earlier, and got searched like I was on the terror watchlist at LaGuardia Airport. I lost my ATM card in the airport in Denver, infuriated an Uber driver because I cancelled my ride (due to the canceled credit card), and had my Greyhound bus break down 20 minutes outside of Denver on my way to the trail. I ended up getting a ride to the trail from 2 friends and 8 hours later I was in Silverton, Colorado. I slept at a campground at Molas Pass and started hiking the next day. In a matter of a few days I’d gone from 397’ of elevation to over 12,000’ and I felt like hell. What you can’t see in these photos is the fact that I was suffering from some pretty rough altitude sickness; vomiting, 5 hour long bloody noses and excruciating headaches. What you also can't see is the sense of pride I took in heading into the woods by myself for the first time. It was only 6 or 7 years ago that I was afraid to go more than a quarter mile onto the Appalachian Trail for fear of being killed by a bear.
It was less majestic than the Sierras, less otherworldly than Iceland, less familiar than Vermont but it was a beautiful way for me to shake off some of the demons that have been plaguing me at my job as a tech in an insanely busy Emergency Room.
Every step was just as it should have been.