BEFORE THE HIKE…

Summer of 2023, My mom and I drove to Hinsdale County, Colorado, driving through Cinnamon Pass leading to CO 30 Rd, stopping just shy of the Silver Creek Trail—where I would’ve begun my hike to Sunshine Peak. The condition of the road full of giant rock-pebbles, while driving in the night caused such uneasiness between my mom and I, that I decided to park on the side of the road for the night. I woke up early that morning and it was chilly and there was gentle rain, eliminating any motivation to start the hike. Daylight hit and we continued our drive through the rocky roads, eventually realizing the start of the trail (Silver Creek Trailhead) was probably less than a mile away. We decided to see if the road would somehow connect to Ouray, Colorado [which it didn’t], ending up all the way to the American Basin Trailhead.

Two years later, the opportunity to return and start let alone finish the climb was on. The etched thought of the missed trailhead was on my mind for two long years.

Last time I summited a Colorado 14er mountain, I was a second crew-member, a conductor assisting an operator of a train. This time, I move trains through the alignment—an operator—from Denver to Thorton and back. The diplomacy of being a conductor has ceased. Now I am the technical expert on maintaining the departure schedules along seven different stations, monitoring up to 21 cab signals with indications that may primarily be a red light or green light, and clearing platforms for passengers to safely enter and exit these steel carriers. However, trapped in the cab while operating the train, I still daydream about those hikes up a mountaintop.