I’m one of the newest additions to the Osprey team in Cortez, Colorado, and I absolutely love working here! I just returned from an 8-day backpacking trip, where I hiked 85 miles of the Continental Divide Trail with my friends, Jessie Davis and Melanie Gross.
We hiked from Stony Pass to Wolf Creek Pass through the Weminuche Wilderness. We all grew up in Durango, Colorado, so we found it particularly impressive and interesting to connect several remote, familiar places in a single trip. The views and scenery are stunning, and we had surprisingly fair weather and good timing most days…
Though one afternoon, after 14 miles of hiking, we were caught in a terrifying hail and lightning storm while coming down from a ridge. We had to run downhill and crouch under a beetle-killed tree for about an hour. When the lightning finally subsided, we dashed to pitch our tent 
in the rain on a sloping hillside. We settled down for the night, filled our cook pot with buggy water, and boiled it to make hot chocolate with dead bugs, all the while being soaking wet and freezing cold – we still enjoyed ourselves.
That afternoon we sarcastically proclaimed, “Backpacking sucks!” and listed all of the reasons that we could think of – laughing the whole time. Of course, backpacking consists of some hard work, which at times can challenge one’s positive attitude, yet the difficulty makes the trip feel that much more rewarding. We kept our cool and had a great, unforgettable trip!
Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Southwest Colorado, adventure
adventure, backpacking, camping, Colorado, hiking, mountains, outdoors, women
