Thirty years ago, almost to the day, Durango resident Dan Aggeler completed the Colorado Trail, a path from Denver to Durango stretching over 500 miles that winds through eight of the state’s mountain ranges. On Sunday, his daughter completed the trail for herself.
Bryn Aggeler, 19, said she wanted to hike the Colorado Trail because her dad had told her so many stories about his own expedition. She grew up in Durango and is no stranger to backpacking, and she knows other people who have completed the trail. So she decided to take on the trail for herself.
“It’s just an inspiring culture and something I wanted to be a part of, and I had this summer mostly open, so I thought, ‘Hey, why not? Now’s the time,’” she said.
Bryn said the trip lasted 36 days. She hiked a total of 33 days and took three days off to rest: in Copper, Salida and at home in Durango after making it through Molas Pass.
She carried a 55-liter Osprey backpack that she’s owned since she was 12 years old and 30 to 40 pounds of camping supplies, food and water.
She averaged about 15 miles per day, hastening her pace in the later stretch of the trip.
“You get your trail legs even though the later stretches are harder,” she said. “There’s a lot more elevation gain and loss and you’re at a higher altitude, and it’s more exposed, and the trail’s more technical. But you get your trail legs and you just feel better.”
Byn said she is someone who likes to be prepared, and she spent more time researching the Colorado Trail than one needs. She started planning the trip in March.
“By late April I had a spreadsheet planned for every single day of my trip,” she said. “I didn’t follow that exactly, of course, but I feel like having a plan was super, super helpful.”
Before her first steps onto the trail, she knew where she would be camping in the evenings and how many miles she would hike per day. She knew what days she would spend in nature and when she would visit towns to resupply. She made her meals in advance.
Oatmeal, protein powder, peanut butter powder, greens powder, cinnamon and a honey packet for breakfast. The oatmeal “wasn’t very good,” she said.
A tortilla with tuna or peanut butter for lunch. A variety of snacks throughout the day – sesame sticks, trail mix, snack bars.
She said she would cook rice, burrito bowls, stir-fries and sauces for dinner, and sometimes she would heat up a freeze-dried meal for the sake of convenience.
Dan said he hiked the Colorado Trail with a friend after graduating from college. The trail itself had only recently opened, to his recollection, and not many people had actually hiked it yet.
“It’s hard, but awesome,” he said.
A lot has changed in the past 30 years, and he saw for himself how the trail has evolved when he joined Bryn for a 54-mile stretch.
Like her father, Bryn had set out on the trail with a friend. But nine days in, her friend decided she wasn’t up to the task. That’s when Bryn’s family stepped in to help.
Bryn said her mother, father and sister joined her on different segments of the hike. She managed some segments alone, although she met plenty of fellow hikers on the way.
Dan said he hiked with Bryn from Spring Creek Pass to Molas Pass. He met up with her in Lake City and he could tell the trail had already changed her.
“She just had this amazing aura about her. She was tan. She had a huge smile. I could just tell she had changed,” he said. “It was just awesome to see her so happy.”
He said he “kept having to pinch myself,” realizing the experience he was sharing with his child, and he was living more “in the moment” than usual during the hike.
“It’s a really incredible – just incredible – stretch,” he said.
Dan said it was cool his family had the chance to help Bryn along her way, but the stretches she tackled solo were good for her, too. He is “stunned, blown away and proud” of his daughter.
He said they passed the time on their stretch together with “awesome conversations.”
He said they had a good amount of time in camp, but they also got up just after first light most days and spent most of the day hiking. He said they put in nine hours of hiking on two of the days they spent together.
“It was great to have uninterrupted time with her like that for four days, because she’s already been off to college for a year,” he said. “… Having her gone for a year already? You know how much you miss your kid when they leave, and I just soaked up every second I had with her.”
Dan said what he took from the trip is it’s good to slow everything down and appreciate life’s little details.
“It’s your next water source. Where are you camping? What is the weather doing?” he said. “You have to learn patience and to just not stop.”
He said the Colorado Trail has a low completion rate of about 25%. According to the Colorado Trail Foundation, about 500 hikers finish the trail every year. He didn’t know how significant it was to finish the trail when he and his friend did it 30 years ago, but now he appreciates his accomplishment a little more – and he’s proud of his daughter too.
“Overcoming doubt, perseverance, knowing that one step at a time is going to pay off in life,” he said. “Especially in today’s society, people want the result. They’re not willing to put in the details that add up to that result. They just want the result, and they want the next result, and they want the next result, and they want the next result. Things like the Colorado Trail show that’s not how it works.”
Bryn said it was “special and amazing” when her family offered to help her complete the trail.
“It’s really privileged and really special that was able to happen,” she said.
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