Hello – The walk

Hi, my name is Chris and I’m going to be doing some hiking on a couple of trails this year. The first is the Yampa Valley Trail in northwest Colorado. It stretches 123 miles from Duffy Mountain to Dinosuar National Monument. The second is the Colorado Trail, but I’m still figuring out the logistics of traveling to and from the trail.

Anyway, I’ve been hiking steadily since 2009 and always wanted to do a long distance trip backpacking, or thru-hiking as some call it. Very soon, I realized that this was too big a goal to begin with and that this was going to be a process for me. Yes, I walked, but not enough to know that there was a lot more to a walk than I thought. I saw it as a puzzle that I had to put together. Starting with hiking more, getting gear and just spending time on trails and sometimes camping.

In early 2016, I set a goal to hike the Colorado Trail. There are no specific timelines or dates, but a day later I thought, “I’m going to hike the Colorado Trail.” Although the idea was there, I knew that I was not going to launch into such an undertaking without being prepared. The seed was planted

After two summers of single-day hikes, I realized it was too big a goal for me to begin with. And I kept walking and covering miles, but really just enjoying the outdoors and doing something that became more than a hobby for me.

Why do I hike?

Although I dreamed of doing something as inspiring as a hike, I realized that just a day hike and an occasional overnight camping trip was helping me immensely in several ways, having a positive impact on my life.

I lost weight, gained a new perspective on my life, and discovered that this was something I wanted to do forever. It became kind of addictive, that feeling of accomplishment after a day of hiking or spending the night somewhere, like you’d overcome a fear or leveled up somehow. The feeling is still there after every walk, every kilometer.

That’s something that made me know I had to keep walking because the feeling afterwards was great and it benefited me on so many levels and in other ways.

So fast forward to now, 2026, I’m still doing day hikes, but doing more miles each year and just enjoying the process of working towards long distance hiking.

The miles add up quickly when you enjoy hiking, and last year I logged about 1,100 miles between the Yampa Valley Trail and some nearby sections of the CDT.

Ready for something new, bigger than a day hike

My thoughts have drifted toward a longer multi-week hike these past two years and I knew it was time to do that long-distance hike I’d been working on, dreaming about every day, every night.

However, day hikes are still fun for me and I will drive several hours just to spend some time on the Colorado Trail near segments 6 and 7 because it is the closest to where I live. After seeing only a small portion of that section of the trail, I knew I had to see more.

Where am I going hiking this year?

I’m excited to share with readers my hikes on the Yampa Valley Trail, a lesser-known and not-so-used trail in northwest Colorado that has piqued my interest over the years, and obviously the Colorado Trail, the trail that’s been on my mind since I first heard about it.

Depending on the snow, or lack thereof, I will probably head to the Yampa Valley Trail in April or May. Then, sometime in June or July, I’ll head out to the Colorado Trail. However, on the Colorado Trail, I most likely won’t update as frequently, but I’ll post when I can or when I’m done because I really want to focus on the hike at hand and just soak in the experience.

I hope to give you all some quality stories, posts and images from my adventures and I look forward to sharing them with you.

See you on the road!

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