I recently embarked on a 35-day journey to hike the entire Colorado Trail, starting in Denver and ending in my home town of Durango. I embarked on this journey as a full-time professional landscape photographer with the hopes of capturing some incredible images and to have a transformative experience. Since returning, I've been bombarded with amazing questions about my experience and I figured why not turn this into a podcast episode!?
Here's a photo of Matt on the summit of Mt. Massive at sunrise while he did his thru-hike of the Colorado Trail.
Photo © copyright by Matt Payne.
Today's episode of the F-Stop Collaborate and Listen Podcast is a little bit different! We have Brie Stockwell hosting the show and I'm in the hot seat! We collected all of your burning questions about what it was like to thru-hike all 491-miles of the Colorado Trail (via the Collegiate West route of course) as a photographer.
On this week's episode, we discuss:
- What is the Colorado Trail and what is involved in thru-hiking it.
- Gear considerations for the Colorado Trail. Check out my Colorado Trail Gear Guide!
- Training and logistical preparation needed to do the Colorado Trail.
- Hygiene challenges including... pooping on the trail, laundry, and water filtration.
While camping at Porcupine Lake on my Colorado Trail thru-hike, I enjoyed this beautiful sunset.
Photo © copyright by Matt Payne.
- Photography choices and balancing hiking with making photographs while doing a thru-hike.
- How I charged my photography gear while on the trail.
- Lots and lots of stories from the Colorado Trail.
- Discussions about philosophy and psychology relating to my experience on the Colorado Trail.
- And a lot more!
Other topics/links discussed on the podcast this week:
- Support the podcast on Patreon.
- Holy Hiker Backpacking Bidet.
- Gear Skeptic YouTube Videos on backpacking food and nutrition.
- My podcast conversation with Sean Tucker.
- Brie's podcasts, A Creative Affair, and Wild Women in Photography.
- Watch podcast episodes on YouTube, where we overlay photos with our conversation via video.
I love hearing from the podcast listeners! Reach out to me via Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter if you'd like to be on the podcast or if you have an idea of a topic we can talk about. We also have an Instagram page, a Facebook Page, and a Facebook Group - so don't be shy!
We also have a searchable transcript of every episode!
Thanks for stopping in, collaborating with us, and listening. See you next week.
P.S. you can also support the podcast by purchasing items through our B+H affiliate link.
Below you can find a few more of my Colorado Trail photographs, and I still have so many more to edit!
