Colorado Trail users take to the Trail for myriad reasons. Completer Susan McKnight echoed the feelings of many long-distance travelers when she wrote about her thru-hike experience on the Colorado Trail Thru-Hike 2019 Facebook page:

For me the CT was a cleansing experience. I wasn't like a lot of the super-fit trail hounds. Though I had trained hard in preparation, every day was a struggle mentally, physically, and emotionally. I started the trail broken spirited. I had experienced an unexpected, devasting loss of a loved one six months prior. Every wonderful, precious day on the CT was really and truly a matter of putting one foot in front of the to move forward in my live. I was in survival mode.

Unlike so many of the long striders, it took me 62 days (including my zero days) to finish. I roller-coasted not only over the terrain, but with my emotions. The task of completing such a lofty goal seemed darn near unattainable some days. But when I ran out of trail at Junction Creek, I walked away triumphant. I was actually relieved when it was over.

For me the transition from the CT to my life back home was easy. I came away with renewed confidence that I would be able to continue putting one foot in front of the other. It took me the entire two months of arduous physical and emotional strain to come to the realization that we never stop grieving becasue we never stop loving.

Colorado Trail Foundation, Treadlines, Fall 2019