Portrait 17: Derby

I met Derby in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We’d taken a few detours from the main line of the CDT but we had mostly been on the official corridor. And somehow we didn’t see anybody else for hundreds of miles.

We took our first major deviation from the official lines in the Scapegoat Wilderness. The official CDT was closed for fires but there are ATV tracks, equestrian routes, bike trails, and even highways. There’s always a way forward.

On our ride back to trail, Derby looked at me and said, “this trail really can be anything you want it to be, can’t it?” Oh yes, my friend. I knew at the time that the CDT could be anything I really wanted. But I had no idea that the CDT and the people on it would be everything I desperately needed. Derby and I spent thousands of miles planning, improvising, and adapting while we met a ton of new friends. I’m very much looking forward to the next time he and I can go make new friends on the trails.