Mark’s Photos- #33

It was mid-summer of 2017. I had finally recovered from torn ligaments in my right big toe and I was doing training hikes around Eugene, but now it was time to give my foot a real test. So I contacted Cappuccino about a possible backpacking trip in southern Colorado. She was game and invited her middle sister (who doesn’t have a trail name, but I will call her Engineer). Collectively the three sisters: Cappuccino, Engineer, and The Professor, are known as the Aunts. The Professor couldn’t make it, but the other Aunts could.

We were going to hike 75 miles of the Colorado Trail from Silverton to Durango. There had been trail closing fires near the trail earlier, but now, except for a 15 mile segment, the trail was open again and there was an alternate way around the closed piece.

Today’s photo was taken on our third day on the trail and I was struck by how it seemed to contain all the elements of Colorado backpacking trip scenery. There is the blue sky with the requisite interesting clouds. A truly iconic* majestic mountain range with snowfields, in the distance. (*14,200 foot Mount Wilson is the mountain featured on Coors Beer cans.) There are massive evergreen forests and vast meadows making up the middle and foreground. The Aunts are outfitted with their backpacks, walking along a well worn trail at nearly 12,000 feet. And it is a beautiful day!