August 26, 2022

A Short Guide to Hiking the Colorado Trail

August 26, 2022/ Casey Handley

From the flower-filled alpine meadows of the Sawatch Mountains to the dramatic craggy peaks of the San Juans, a hike on the Colorado Trail is sure to be a journey full of challenges and rewarding experiences.

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We're Dave & Annie, the outdoor adventurers behind CleverHiker. We love backpacking, international travel, useful gear, and all things nature. Read more on our About page.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year for all of us adventure seekers - the @rei Anniversary Sale! May 19th-29th is REI’s biggest sale of the year. Check out our 60 Great Deals at REI's Anniversary Sale post (link in our bio) to see the deals we're most excited about! Here are some pictures of the team rocking a few of our favorite gear items that are on discount. 1. Dave wearing the REI Sahara Shade Sun Hoodie and prAna Stretch Zion Shorts on Silver Star Mountain. 2. Dave and Annie sporting Saucony Peregrines on the Everest Three Passes Loop in Nepal. 3. Heather having a relaxing afternoon with her 32 oz. Hydro Flask in the Columbia River Gorge. 4. Heather's husband spending some quality time with their dog on the Exped Megamat in Tygh Valley. 5. Casey wearing REI's Midweight Base Layer Half Zip Shirt, Mountain Hardwear Dynama Pants, and Altra Lone Peak shoes to play on some rocks at Smith Rock. 6. Casey's partner hiking on the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon with a Gregory Paragon 58 backpack. . . . . . #optoutside #cleverhiker #reianniversarysale #hikemoreworryless #hiking #getoutside

Big Agnes has a solid reputation for making some of the most comfortable backpacking products on the market. More comfort can often mean gear that’s slightly heavier and bulkier, but the Zoom UL pad is the best of both worlds - super light and luxuriously comfy. This 3.25 in. thick sleeping pad has an R-value that will keep you warm to right around freezing, a valve design that makes for easy inflation/deflation, and a rectangular shape providing more room for sprawling out. Head over to our full review at the link in our bio to see why we think this pad is such an awesome value. . . . . . #cleverhiker #bigagnes #ultralightbackpacking #hikemoreworryless #backpacking #hiking

CleverHiker founder Dave Collins here with a fun life update. We recently sold our old adventure van and bought a new one to accommodate our growing family. We took our maiden voyage to the Oregon coast for a camping trip with close friends two weekends ago and spent this past weekend camping in the Gifford Pinchot and Mount Hood National Forests. We love our new van and know it's going to help us spend more time in nature with our family. Check out some of our favorite photos from our recent adventures and stay tuned for more updates. We hope all is well in your world! 🚐🌲 . . . . . #cleverhiker #vanlife #pnwlife #pnwwonderland #vanbuild

The MSR Habiscape was designed for families and groups who want solid weather protection and convenience for their frontcountry camping trips. It’s spacious, easy and intuitive to set up, and has an excellent pocket arrangement to keep you organized. On top of all that, it packs down pretty small so you have more room in the car for fun stuff on your camping trips! Get all the details in our full review linked in our bio. . . . . . #homeiswhereyoustakeit #msrgear #camping #familycamping #cleverhiker #camplife #campvibes

Made with thru-hikers in mind, the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound 40 backpack is everything you need and nothing you don’t. This pack is essentially waterproof, incredibly durable for the weight, and has convenient pockets galore. We put our Unbound pack to the test over hundreds of miles in the Sonoran Desert, and we think it’s a big win for long-distance hiking and ultralight backpacking. Check out our full review in the link in our bio for more info! . . . . . #hyperlitemountaingear #ultralightbackpacking #thruhike #ultralightgear #everythinglessmatters

Hyperlite Mountain Gear's Unbound 2 tent is a fresh take on a tried-and-true ultralight design. We’ve put ours through the wringer over hundreds of miles in the Sonoran Desert, and we found it to be a spacious retreat after hard days of hiking. Read our full review at our link in bio! . . . . . #hyperlightmountaingear #ultralightbackpacking #thruhike #ultralightgear

Sometimes the best sign of experience and preparedness on trail is knowing when to cut it short and/or come back when conditions improve. This year, the Arizona Trail had some unique perks and challenges for thru-hike hopefuls. An intense snow year in the Southwest meant we didn’t have to worry much about dried up water sources or long water carries, and we got to see a massive super bloom in the Sonoran Desert. But it also left feet of snow and chest-high water crossings on the Mogollon Rim late into the hiking season - some hikers were snowshoeing that section! On top of that, there was a rockslide on the North Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon that will leave that part of the AZT closed until June. We learned about the closure pretty early on, and decided we would just do half of the trail in spring and then come back in fall to finish the rest. A little bittersweet, but still totally awesome because that meant we’d get to hike in the Sonoran Desert twice this year! Well, we ended up getting off (for now) around mile 300, as I’ve been struggling with keeping my plantar fasciitis pain in check since about mile 40. The pain finally won out over the fun of the hike, and it just wasn’t worth it to continue on at a reduced pace. So we’ll have about 500 miles left to hike when we return in the fall, and I couldn’t be more stoked to experience the desert in a different season! . . . . . #azt2023 #arizonatrail #thruhike #longdistancehiking #ultralightbackpacking #hikemoreworryless #hikertrash #hiking #goingfarout

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