Live Ultralight Podcast | Backpacking, Travel, and Adventure · Outdoor Vitals

EP 193: Hiking 140 Miles in 6 Days Part 2 - Craig Obrist on the Colorado Trail

·1 hr 1 min·3 clips

Craig says he looked down for his camera gear, stepped right, and rolled both ankles on the trail.

Craig Obrist comes on after the crew’s Colorado Trail 140-mile hike. He was one of the two people in the five-person group who had to get off trail, so the conversation starts with what happened and why the call mattered. The hosts also spend time on Craig’s background. They use it as the opening to a wider look at the kind of work and play he gets into. The ankle injury sits at the center of everything. Craig talks about rolling his ankle and realizing pretty quickly that it was not just a small tweak. He compares it to a previous injury where he had torn a ligament and chipped a little piece of bone. The swelling changes the equation. Once the ankle is swollen tight enough that he is not feeling much, the immediate goal becomes getting to camp and figuring out the damage there. Weather keeps pressing in. The hosts keep returning to the practical side of moving slowly while conditions are changing, and that makes the whole thing feel like trail judgment instead of drama. The gear conversation is just as concrete. Craig’s camera setup comes under the microscope, along with the tripod and the chest rig. The hosts notice that what sounded ultralight was actually a serious load, estimating the extra camera gear at close to 14 pounds. They also point out that the chest rig shifts the weight to the shoulders instead of the hips. That matters on a long day. It also means Craig cannot see his feet as easily, which gives the whole trip more context once the ankle goes bad. The episode keeps circling back to that mix of terrain, load, and timing. It does not pretend the answer is obvious after the fact. It stays with the trade offs. By the end, the conversation feels less like a story about getting defeated and more like a conversation about making a smart call before a bad day gets worse.

As heard by us

A practical Colorado Trail story about injury, gear weight, and the call to get off trail.

This episode follows Craig Obrist from his background and work into a 140 mile Colorado Trail hike, then stays with the ankle roll, the swelling, the weather pressure, and the awkward fact that the camera setup was heavier than it looked.

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Why you'd press play

When a Colorado Trail ankle turn forces you to rethink the whole pack and the whole day.

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