We had a great day today, and it was so great, that we just wanted to share with you our experience because it reminded us in the most glorious way, just how important the Trail is, and why we are working to build a strong foundation for CDTC so that we may be here for the Trail and for you, for many tomorrows to come.
Yesterday we received a call from a hiker along the Colorado Trail who needed a ride from Breckenridge, CO back onto the CT near CDTC's "headquarters". We obliged and arranged to meet "True" this morning and help her get back on the Trail. Along the way we discovered she had reached out to CDTC, very early on in our endeavor to build the organization, that she was a "triple crowner", she completed her CDT hike in 2006, and she knew some of our advisory committee members from long distance hiking.
It was great to connect with "True" and it was a pleasant reminder of how lucky and privileged we are to live in a country were we set aside such special places for recreation, and because of these places we have a chance to share moments with people we'd most likely never ever meet, and how we can inspire each other, bring a smile to someone's face, share support and compassion, and in a period of 30 minutes or so, share our life stories with a complete stranger like they were a long lost relative. How cool is that!
Of course these interactions and moments happen all the time on the Trail, and usually in the middle of the most remote sections at some random moment when you need it most. I mean how many times if we had turned left versus right on the Trail or camped in one spot versus another, we would have missed an interaction with someone who impacts us in such a profound way, that we spend the next two hours swapping stories and information like we've known each other for ever? And, how funny is it that in our "real" and daily lives where most of us live in close proximity to large populations of people, we travel in and around those people every day and all day long, we barely know our neighbors?
It was encouraging to hear how happy True was that we were building the CDTC and that she wanted to help us make it a success. We know that's how many of you feel, and as we told "True", her voice, like your voice, is very important to us, and it was great to hear that support in person. We are building the CDTC for this reason, so that we all form a common voice that helps us protect the this American treasure an legacy and help share how special the Trail is so that it can continue to inspire us, empower us, and provide us a place to get away from all the noise of our daily lives, even just for a moment, and reconnect to the most important things we have around us: our selves, our land, and each other. Thanks True, for sharing your thoughts with us today, for your support, and for your enthusiasm and passion for the CDT! We hope you have a great hike on the Colorado Trail, and we hope to see you soon back on the CDT!
We hope we get to meet all of you someday while out on the Trail in one of those great unpredictable moments, until then, many happy Trails and many happy moments of serendipitous trail connections!
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