The Destiny
of the trail pulls Michael Simone What does a first-time backpacker look like in your mind? I never asked myself that question before the summer of 2018, but the images I conjured were plentiful. by Graham Coffey
Michael Simone
Maybe an adolescent getting introduced to overnight backpacking by a parent or through scouting. I also imagined this scenario in reverse, an adult taking up backpacking so they could join a child who was passionate about the activity. Or perhaps a college-age person who was learning to backpack from more experienced friends. The list went on and on... I had never explicitly asked myself the question before meeting Michael Simone, but the day I met him I realized that, indeed, I had an image of what a new backpacker looks like. The idea in my head was, well, nothing like Michael. I was the manager at Backcountry Experience at the time, and in my role, I’d fit a lot of backpacks. Oftentimes those pack fittings happened with a new user, and Michael didn’t fit any of my preconceived ideas. I didn’t know his age at the time but later learned that he was 68. When he stood
56 Durango Magazine Summer/Fall
across from me and casually mentioned that he was buying his first overnight backpack so he could hike the 567-milelong Colorado Trail, my first instinct was to talk him out of it. I now know how wrong I would have been. Michael has experienced much more in his years as an outdoorsman than I have in my 32 years. But let’s be honest, not too many folks of any age look at a 35-day trek across the Rockies and say, “Yup, that looks like a nice first overnight backpacking trip.” Even fewer would do their first one at almost 70. In reality, Michael Simone has been hiking for more than 40 years. He started in 1978, while living in the Salt Lake City area, and he hasn’t stopped. Remarkably, he has kept a log of all his hikes over the years. He tracks his route, mileage, elevation, and anything else about the day that he deems memorable. Even before
he became an overnight backpacker, he averaged about 500 miles of high-elevation hiking a year. He does a standard 13to 14-mile in-town route to stay in shape during the winter, but he doesn’t include that in his log. When Michael goes to the high country, he makes it a point never to repeat the same trails. In addition to his log, he takes USGS 7.5-minute quad maps and marks them whenever he completes a trail. He also writes the date on the trail map so he can go back to his log when he wants to remember a hike. After 19 years as a Durango resident, he can’t fit any more marks on the La Plata and Silverton USGS maps. In an era when so many of us document our outdoor adventures with cellphone photos posted to social media, it’s hard not to admire Michael’s method of documentation. There’s a beauty in the discipline,
