Sam Norton, Greenhawks and Opinion Editor
The night had been cold and windy, and I was glad my tent stakes had stayed in the ground. The ground I slept on was rough and rocky, and it had been six days since my last shower. I gained 3,000 feet of elevation the previous day and had carried extra water to sustain myself through this dry stretch of trail. But that morning, my seventh morning on the Colorado Trail, I opened my tent to an unfathomable sunrise. I slept at an altitude of 12,000 feet, deep in the Rocky Mountains, and the early morning sun painted an incredible mosaic of colors across the horizon and basked the mountain ranges around me in a soft orange hue. My body was sore and dirty, and I longed for a cheeseburger. But at that moment, I understood what had called me to this place. The beauty and the serenity of hiking into the wilderness and up into the mountains were intoxicating.
I continued my journey for another 10 days after this morning, with stops in towns along the way and many more rugged peaks to climb and views to see. It was an incredibly difficult but infinitely rewarding two and a half weeks that only furthered my desire to adventure.
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