Up well before dawn and started hiking by flashlight. It wasn’t so much that I was anxious to finish as that I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep and might as well start hiking.
There had been a substantial rainstorm during the night, and the lush wet vegetation overgrowing the trail soaked my shoes and pants well before sunrise. A fit ending to a very wet hike, I suppose.
I hiked quickly and efficiently and was soon at Gudy’s Rest, a pleasant overlook dedicated to Gudy Gaskill, one of the visionaries and founders of the Colorado Trail. This seemed an appropriate place to express some gratitude – to the Colorado Trail Foundation for making the trail possible; to the hikers I’ve shared the trail, a camp, a whisky with (especially Willis, Reid, Mark and Veronica), and the kind operators of the hostels along the way – the Fireside Inn, the Colorado Trail House, Ravens Rest and Blair St. And most of all to my wife Cathy, for understanding my need to keep hiking farther.
mile 480 – Gudy’s Rest
Thank you, thank you all.
The trail end itself was anticlimactic. No monument or marker, just a plain metal sign in the parking lot saying “Colorado Trail”. I touched it, and was done.
490 miles for a free beer at Carver’s