2024 CDT # 6 Lake City CO – Monarch Mountain Lodge CO – Twin Lakes CO

“Do or do not, there is no try.”
Master Yoda, Jedi, Star Wars

Colorado hiking is challenging and committing to this trail puts us on the ‘Do’ path. There is no going back once you start your day and you are miles away from towns and find yourself in the middle of a wind tempest that wants to blow you off course. There is only holding your ground and moving forward. Then you realize in your exhaustion there is a 6th 12,000′ pass to climb before you camp. Or you come to a pass that still has a ridge of snow obscuring the way down, and after finding a spot to assess the situation, you hope you have chosen the safest way down since both the snow route and the rock scramble are risky.
You don’t know what lies ahead each day but you ‘Do’ it often wishing that other loved ones don’t play in risky playgrounds like this. Yes, I, an emotional, non thrill seeking, outdoorsy grandmother has faced fear many days in these mountains!

According to National Geographic, “A continental divide is an area of raised terrain that separates a continent’s river systems that feed to different basins.”
While walking along and frequently crossing over this great divide in North America, I have come to see this imaginary line not as a line of division but rather as one of unification. The seam of compromise where things join together before they run their course. This thought comes to mind in a  powerful way when actually hiking on the geographic line. I think of how important compromise is to unifying all the  relationships in life, politics, in simply being human.

A large part of the spruce forest in southern Colorado has been infested by spruce beetle and the results are devastating. The dead standing trees look like someone has brushed them into the landscape with gray paint.

We are crossing paths with lots of hikers on the Colorado Trail as it overlaps the Continental Divide Trail. We appreciate being on the CT as the maintenance (removal of blowdowns) and engineering (bridges, filled and leveled pathways) are amazingly well done! Daily Jobie exclaims out loud how great the trail is and how immense this whole area is. ” This is sooo huge!”

May Peace be with you all!