[00:00:00] Tayson: Everybody welcome back to the Live Ultralight Podcast powered by Outdoor Vitals. Today, we have a special guest on Craig Obrist, who actually came on our Colorado Trail, 140-mile hike, this year. Now Craig was one of the unfortunate two of the five of us out there who had to get off Trail. So, on this one, we're gonna we're gonna learn a little about Craig, his background, because he has a very interesting background in what he gets to do for work and play. And then we'll talk a little bit about his experience of getting off trail how he approached that how things went and what we can learn from those. from those unfortunate Adventures but I
[00:00:39] Tayson: think there is a lot to learn and obviously Craig your wealth of knowledge and so this will be valuable whether you ever have to get off Trail or don't and also just some of the decision-making process I think that they had to go into that to make a smart decision. So Craig, happy to have you on the podcast. How you doing today?
[00:00:58] Craig: Good really, really good. Hot in here where I'm sitting right now. So,
[00:01:03] Tayson: I I was just thinking the same thing, we don't have much airflow in this room that I'm in right now and so you're going to progressively see my face, get red. If you're watching this on YouTube, but not nearly as hot as I think you are in Georgia, right?
[00:01:18] Craig: Yeah.
[00:01:20] Tayson: So, let's do a little bit of background on how, you know, we met how we came to know each other, how we like, how you ended up on the trail with us for OV100 hike this year and you would honestly remember more. So how you originally talked to us? Because I don't think you reached out to me directly, I think it you know I started working with Derek but how did you get into the OV Stratosphere and what do you do for us?
[00:01:45] Craig: Yes, so it would have been a few years ago, I messed. I messaged you guys on Instagram so it's probably Derek that I talked to. I'm pretty sure it was Derek. And I just like, hey man, I'm going on trail and I'm a photographer and a videographer and, you know, pre-COVID I was doing 100% wedding. And then after covid, I was like, hey, I need to add a diversify. Everything that I do, just in case, I can't shoot events for a certain amount of time or whatever and I love the outdoors. So, I was like, hey. Seen Outdoor Vitals gear, loved their message love, you know, the gear and stuff like that. And
[00:02:24] Craig: what I've heard so I messages like hey man, I'm going on trail and we'd love to shoot some. Stuff for you guys. And then I ended up going on a trip shooting stuff for a few of your bags and clothing. And from there, just got a good relationship with you guys and shooting gear. I go out on trail and as I'm going on adventures and stuff like that. Just letting you guys know like, hey I'm gonna be here. What kind of content do you need? And so I talked mostly to Derek. I think I stopped by the office. One time a couple years ago because I was going to Zion and I was driving through
[00:02:59] Craig: where you guys are. And came to stop by and said, hi and stuff like that. So it off with you guys, and there was a trip last year. I think the trip you guys went on was the one I was Hopefully gonna be able to go on but I was in Paris with our family for like our big family trip that we hadn't been trying to do for years. And so was lined up this trip. This year opened to do, you know, 100 and 130 140 miles with you guys was hoping to do it, but you were ready. You
[00:03:30] Tayson: were absolutely ready for sure, but to back up just a little bit in this story. It's very rare that someone cold emails. A cold message is us and that we take any action on it. So, And this is kind of your livelihood now, so if you don't really want to like speak too much on it, but I wonder if, if you have any thoughts on my, why why do you think Derek was like? Yeah, well, we'll send you some gear. You can give it a shot, man. I mean, I will say first off, you were willing to work. For gear at first, right? So like you aren't coming in and being like, hey, Send me
[00:04:05] Tayson: gear and five grand and I'll take some pictures. It was like you were, you were putting in The Sweat Equity.
[00:04:11] Craig: Know, exactly. I think you guys were actually when we talked about this that on Trails, like you are one of the first companies to really give me not a platform but you know, give me a chance. To shoot gear and stuff like that because at that point I had no outdoor portfolio at all. So is mostly just, you know, I've shot a lot of corporate stuff, a lot of event stuff. I've gone Outdoors of shot for some sporting companies and some you know, big corporate companies and stuff like that but When you don't have a portfolio to show and no one really trust you they're like, hey, you know, I mean, it's great, you think
[00:04:45] Craig: you're gonna go outside, but are you really gonna be able to take some cool pictures? So Yeah, you guys sent me some gear. I sent back some me where epic images. So, you know what, the sun setting and everything. I just love and then I think one of the things too was like you guys love real imagery, you know, like you can contrive stuff out in someone's backyard in the woods but there's something different about me, going out on a trail and shooting something where I have to carry it all out there because a lot of times when I'm taking pictures, you know the picture looks like I just have gear on. But in reality
[00:05:21] Craig: I have two or three changes of clothes in my bag that I don't really need for what I'm hiking. But I need it for pictures. I might need an extra few lenses. I might have two sleeping bags because I'm shooting one, you know, two different sleeping bags that you guys have or a company has you know, two tents, you know. And so some of those flip the weight with my wife. When she's With me, so I get for all the easy stuff of course. But, but yeah, it was the real. I think it was the real image that I was creating that really kind of connected us to the outdoors.
[00:05:53] Tayson: Yeah, I mean if anyone has seen our last model of catalog like almost every photo in their Craig has taken. So obviously
[00:06:03] Craig: you
[00:06:03] Tayson: take great photography and we've really come to appreciate that. And I agree because I think you of all the people that I've heard about working with, or that I have worked with, you seem to really just get out there on trail and and like do real trips. your Trail Runner, you run Ultras, you get out on trail a lot and I think that's that to the success because it seems like you just have a real passion for it. Like you really love it. And you're able to lean into that, you know, because it's really easy. For work to become, or for play to become work and like, kind of lose that spark, but it seems
[00:06:40] Tayson: like you are just constantly planning and doing it because you, you truly enjoy it. So, I think that's, I think that's awesome and a big part of what, what makes it all work. So, Tell us a little bit about your backpacking background because I kind of took you on this trip based off of Just Derek's. And oh yeah this guy. He knows what he's doing and I was like, okay Derek if you're gonna vouch for him, he can come with us, you know, but clearly backpacked a lot and you've done some some running. So maybe give us a quick background on kind of like how you got into backpacking, if you do it your whole
[00:07:11] Tayson: life or if you came into it later,
[00:07:13] Craig: Yeah, so I grew up in Canada and I hated backpacking when I was a kid. So, That my parents always send me to this place, and every year, they do a 30 mile hikes. So that hiked 15 miles in, we build our own campsites with lean-tos and Cedar branches on the ground and everything and sleep outside in the snow.
[00:07:32] Tayson: 30 miles is a kid.
[00:07:35] Craig: Yeah, so and I hated it. I like I would scream at the people that were running it. I would be, I don't want to do this. I'm only here because my parents told me to I was a bad kid growing up. So say I would be 15 miles in you would camp for two. I think it was two nights and then you'd hike back out. So I did that once and then I think the second time they wanted us to do it, I got like halfway through and I had a Big pot hanging on the back, off the back of my backpack. and, It bruised the back of my leg huge because it was just
[00:08:12] Craig: banging on the back of my leg and I mean, I must maybe 12 years old, you know, 13 years old. So I didn't know what was going on. So, uh, yes, I did that. I hated the outdoors until I moved to America when I was 20. Started. backpacking around 27 is really when I started to kind of enjoying the outdoors again and stuff like that big, once my kids got old enough to enjoy the outdoors, And I was like, Hey, you're not playing video games all day long, we're gonna go outside and play so and there's about 80 acres of woods behind my house. That goes to a Chattahoochee River So we can easily get
[00:08:51] Craig: outside in no time. So fell in love with that started. Just camping a night here and right there started watching, you know, binging YouTube videos and stuff like that and realizing like hey I love the outdoors. Let's start camping more and then plan a couple of long trips with my friends. I've done. Did the Wonderland Trail last year, which was awesome. It's done other smaller like two or three day trips. I've never done anything like crazy thru-hiking, like the guys that I met on trail that are like spending, you know, six, seven months of their lives doing nothing but walking. Yeah. Yeah, definitely different. So that's that's basically what I did and then, you
[00:09:38] Craig: know, prepping for this trip too. Like, I remember you saying, like, I don't know. Yeah, he looks to get a lot of gear there and I was like, no I'm good. I'm good. You know, would be running six to 10 miles every day and then swimming a mile as every other day to get prepared for it. And I've been doing that since I mean, I'm doing that for last like seven
[00:09:59] Tayson: or
[00:09:59] Craig: is now so, Yeah, so I'm I but I know is the oldest one there. So I was a little, you know, like I don't know if I keep up with these young guys. So
[00:10:11] Tayson: Um, yeah, I remember so so you you flew into Grand Junction. The guys picked you up met up with me at the Airbnb. And then we kind of loaded up packs. And the next morning we took off. And I remember like helping you load your pack and just kind of seeing it and I specifically saw your big chest pack and was like, oh
[00:10:33] Craig: yeah, I got it right here.
[00:10:34] Tayson: So you may need to look on YouTube to see this sucker. It is it is I mean it would go shoulder strap to shoulder strap if it was on your your chest. And it's really big. And I remember just like picking up or moving it and being like, Craig, I don't know about this man, like, what are you? So there's a driving I started asking him like, what are you bringing? And I talked to her out with a few things. I talked about some extra mics and an extra camera. I try to talk you out of a lens, I think. And so we got a couple pounds out of it, but you were still coming
[00:11:06] Tayson: in. With a lot of camera gear big tripod. He had a couple battery banks and so we did, you know, you did hand off a few, the battery banks. But I was very minor compared to what you were carrying as we'd find out later. But yeah, we started the trail and, Any thoughts, I guess coming into this trip before we just dive into the actual trip itself on how you're feeling or what your expectations were or anything like that.
[00:11:32] Craig: Yeah, I think I was I was expecting For you guys to just be way ahead of me. So I thought I was training extra hard because I told my wife, I was like listen, I don't know and she's like no you got this, you got this no problem you know because I'm always I always downplaying myself and when we got on trail I was like hey I'm keeping up. And you know because the extra weight of that pack I actually waited when I got home to see exactly how much it was like 11 pounds with everything in that chest pack that chest pack was 11 pounds. We thought I think it was like eight or
[00:12:05] Craig: eight
[00:12:05] Tayson: and I was saying 8 to 10. Yeah I was thinking 8 to 10. But oh wow.
[00:12:10] Craig: Yeah, so and there's no support other than just sitting right on your shoulder straps and it's just digging in. So we'll get to
[00:12:16] Tayson: get to my thoughts on it later. But yeah, I mean, you're carrying extra weight and you were going to so you're trying to plan accordingly and be. Yeah prepared.
[00:12:26] Craig: Yeah. And then elevation all so, you know, since I live at 1000 feet, little below 1000 feet here where I am in Atlanta. you know, how am I going to do with it with elevation and So I actually was surprised how well I did with elevation, considering and said, I think since I swim, I've always heard that if you swim a lot that helps with elevation because you're always kind of hyperventilating when you're swimming and doing deep breaths and stuff like that. So That was my thought. That was my thought. Yeah.
[00:13:00] Tayson: So you're so you felt like you were scared coming into this because you had extra weight. You thought you're gonna behind us. All things there. Yeah, you weren't behind right out of the gate by any means. And I would say that this was the least prepared I've ever seen the team beat to go on the hike and I have a few reasons for that one. Think we're all a little bit busier than we were in years past. Just families are growing job, responsibilities things like that. But two, I think because we've now done four or five of these things, You get complacent and you're like, I know I can do it, you get confident in
[00:13:39] Tayson: that. And so, then the fear isn't there to motivate you to go and Log miles and stuff. So I would say Going into it. I was also scared because I have trained a lot less than I wanted to specifically run training and pack training. You know, if I obviously I mean, I go to the gym. All times a week, typically and do some weight lifting. But I was just trying to get 10 miles a week in running. consistently and not even that was sometimes hit or miss. And so I was definitely nervous going into it. And then, as I look at some other guys in the office,
[00:14:13] Tayson: I was also like, Brigham, he's pretty steady. Derek, I feel like I've seen some of his mileage drop, pretty considerably since he had a kid last year. And so I was also nervous for us. And then we did go straight to altitude. And I I feel like the swimming thing is actually really interesting. I think that they're probably is something to that. He's the some extent, you know, like that's gonna maybe helpless certain areas of it, but I think the bigger thing is, if you show up to altitude and you're just a really fit human, you just gonna do better the mud. Like, the people that I see that have really struggled altitude,
[00:14:51] Tayson: even if they've come from low altitude, I think just overall Fitness has a big big part of it and then obviously, you being an ultra Runner. Understand how to hydrate and Fuel and stuff like that. And those play Big dividends. But yeah I can see why you're like concerned coming into it because there's a lot of variables. You haven't really done this many miles a day and we had to do we had to we're planning to do about 25 miles a day and we started at 12,500 feet and
[00:15:18] Craig: yeah
[00:15:19] Tayson: like stay there for a long time.
[00:15:22] Craig: so
[00:15:22] Tayson: yeah, I can see that but Yeah, you come out. You know you meet all of us. Crazy. So we hit the trail, you're feeling pretty good. Yeah, I guess walk us through. Kind of how you feel like the first day when and anything that stood out.
[00:15:39] Craig: I mean, the first day was I mean it was amazing. So in the weather was great. So I was expecting to be a lot warmer and so when it was a lot cooler, I helped a lot when we got to Camp, you know, I was worn out. I think that night was the first time I was like, hey, I'm resting and it's hard to breathe. That was probably the hardest
[00:16:01] Tayson: that you also woke up in the night. Yeah,
[00:16:04] Craig: I woke up in the middle of the night and I don't remember exactly part of it. Had to be like a dream slash panic attack. but from what I talked to somebody is your body's so used to Breathing at a certain heart rate when you go to sleep. And so my body went down to that heart rate. But yet we're at elevation. So I'm trying to take in these deep breaths. And I woke up in in a cold sweat, dizzy, feeling about to faint, you know. Take off my my bag, my clothes. I'm just like lying there about this. I thought I was about to scream to you guys like, hey guys, I don't know what's
[00:16:41] Craig: going on. I took a few deep breaths and I was like, oh I'm okay. This is normal. This is you know little shortness of breath is normal. And I think I went into that a little too hot too because I expected to be cooler in the night. So I just like, you know, I don't want to wake up. I want to try to sleep. We're dead tired that first day, too. And the hiking part was to me honestly was was way easy. It was actually the falling asleep and trying to sleep at night, that was pretty brutal. I think all of us had a hard time kind of falling asleep that first not a little
[00:17:14] Craig: bit too.
[00:17:15] Tayson: Did you get a headache or anything? I know that most of us kind of got headaches by the end of the day. But
[00:17:21] Craig: I didn't get any, I never had any headaches. It was always just thought like, you know, it takes three normal breaths and all that I have to take like two deep breaths is what I thought like whenever I was just standing still or lying down but when we were hiking, my heart rate was just so Fast that I was just constantly just sucking an air all the time. So, It was hard like film you guys. And then be like, okay, now I gotta catch up because by the time I get a clip you guys are going so fast, you're already felt like you're like an 8th of a mile or a quarter mile ahead of
[00:17:51] Craig: me. So now I'm running and that pack is just slamming against my chest is on. jogging through the mountains with it on, so,
[00:18:01] Tayson: yeah, I definitely by the end of this trip, I learned that 25 miles a day, is just too much to accomplish what this is supposed to accomplish for us, like, You really can't film. You really can't, you know, like How energy to to take shots and stuff that you want to. And then even like, for product testing. It's okay, you test the product that you're wearing, but you're not going to test the stuff that needs to get tested Camp as much whether that's a tent or a bagger. So by the end of this, I I definitely had a like It's just we just can't do it that way. Yeah I guess the overall thought is
[00:18:38] Tayson: that learn from that that we should have. We've we can't do 140 miles in six days. But yeah, I mean, it is definitely challenging to be the film or on this because you're carrying extra weight and you've basically got to go the extra mile, right? So yeah, I could I could see that. But yeah, I mean amazingly enough, you kept up all day you even with the extra weight and trying to get somebody shots. And we had man that first day was was incredible. Like the high country was beautiful. We
[00:19:08] Craig: yeah,
[00:19:08] Tayson: you know, had a little bit of rain but no lightning and then that and the end of the day was was absolutely beautiful. Um, you know, it's the sum of setting and we were up on those Peaks above that lake way down below and we gotta we got a couple photos of that. But
[00:19:22] Craig: yeah,
[00:19:23] Tayson: definitely a great way to end the day found a pretty good campsite. And then yeah I mean I thought all was well but apparently you had a little little panic attack and then I actually had one of those myself but it's been since I was like a kid and I was in like a mummy bag and I think I got zipped up and way too hot and I like apparently just started woke up just flailing around I think. Yeah. That's how it all thing, but glad you calmed down. And, you know, you did it. You went from 800 feet to 13,000 feet and didn't get sick. So Also helpful.
[00:20:00] Craig: Yeah.
Editor’s note: Craig’s training, swimming, altitude response, nighttime shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, and first-day experience are personal accounts from the July 2025 trip, discussed in September 2025. They are not medical guidance or a forecast of how another person will respond at altitude.
[00:20:01] Tayson: Um, Yeah. So then day two, you you had kind of had our timing down, you're probably more familiar with the guys, kind of had our pacing down and yeah, day two. We we essentially started off up high. Walk to breakfast, had some breakfast, and then walked another few miles, and then we crossed the road. And me and you were together at that point. And just across the road, we talked to a hiker. It was standing there and he told us about a church that did a shuttle down into Lake City. So it was called And I mean, I was we didn't think much about it but we crossed the road went on our way. Went
[00:20:44] Tayson: up the mountain. And yeah, thanks for thanks for keeping along. Ended up, you know, stopping for lunch by halfway up the climb got up to the top and had this really amazing like flat walk at 12. Like I think it's 12,000 feet. Yeah. Just this huge Mesa completely flat at 12,000 feet. I've never really seen flat ground until I feel like so that was pretty interesting to see and cool. And we so we crossed all that. Got some water, talk to an OVI customer one of our packs and Then we we cut up and did this big climb? We get to the top of the climb. and, It's starting to like get a little bit
[00:21:29] Tayson: rainy. There's clouds coming in. So I think we were we're trying to get kind of over this and and down off this High Point. A hikers coming by, I let him buy and then I just kind of hear him say something like right behind me. And so I turn around and that's when the chaos. Happened. So what exactly happened?
Editor’s note: The roughly 25-mile days, 12,000- to 13,000-foot terrain, weather, filming limits, and conclusion that 140 miles in six days did not fit the team’s work goals describe this 2025 trip. They are not current route conditions, a pace prescription, or a safety guarantee.
[00:21:49] Craig: So that spot that you guys were hiking in front of me, it looks so great. And I have this, I have this rule that I always tell my wife and what I was doing for myself as if I never take my camera gear out while I'm walking. Down. I'll take my eyes off Trail, especially when it's all, you know, Rocky and stuff like that. I was trying to get the Drone out because it was opening up to the beautiful view and stuff like that and I looked I looked down at my camera gear in my bag and then I look up and there's a hiker in front like oh I got to get over so
[00:22:23] Craig: I I just move out. Move over to my right, I roll my right ankle a little bit and when I went to fall down, it's just a little Hill, but still, it feels like it's a cliff. so, I try to save myself with my left ankle and that's when I Rolled my left ankle. Really bad slam. I don't know when I slammed my knee inks. My knee was all cut up and stuff like that. and just kind of yard sale, all my gear and everything else onto the onto the hill and The guys just standing there. He's just looking at me like are you okay like what just happened? You know and then you came
[00:23:03] Craig: over. and in my mind, I'm thinking, oh man, the one time that I buy trip insurance and I might actually have to use it, you know, I was like it'll make for a good video, you know, if I have to have the helicopter come out getting these for some reason, because I think we're Probably at that point we're about six miles from going back or five miles from getting to. Our campsite for that night. I'm not mistaken because I think it was like 11 MI total, when I went back the next morning,
[00:23:33] Tayson: Yeah, I was gonna say it. Yeah, that's probably right because that makes sense that's gonna say like it was way farther for you to hike back but that's leader in the story I guess. But
[00:23:42] Craig: yeah.
[00:23:43] Tayson: Yeah, so we were a ways in their absolutely cross that Highway before lunch. And now we were like dinner time almost ready to look for camp.
[00:23:55] Craig: Oh yeah. So at that point we're like What do we do and the thing is that ankle sprain. Like I've sprained my ankle once before and I've torn a little bit of ligament and popped off a little bit of bone so this didn't feel as bad as that but I knew it was definitely. Not good. And when you can't see the injury, it's not as like, people on like, freaking out. Like, oh, he's dying because there's blood coming out of her. It's like, oh, you just twist the ankle a little bit and then my mind, I'm like, oh no, this is I think we're done but then the weather started coming. And everything. Okay? Let's
[00:24:33] Craig: just get to Camp. So, I can figure out what's going on. So, we started hobbling and, and goodness, it's swollen, so bad, and so tight. That like, I don't feeling anything at that point. So you're you're you take my bag and then are you take the, my camera gear bag, that's when you were like dang. This is heavy.
[00:24:52] Tayson: And yeah, because I grabbed your tripod, your carbon, yeah, ultralight tripod and you're, you know, lightweight camera setup. Yeah, 11 pound chest rig. and, Yeah, I threw that in my pack and was like oh my gosh Craig has been carrying this the whole time. Like what? Like first off I was like man, you are a beast but also like what are you doing? I guess. This is so heavy. And and so, when I put that chest rig on though, Immediately like all that weight goes straight on your shoulders like you you can't load transfer that down in your frame onto your hips.
[00:25:30] Craig: Yeah and
[00:25:30] Tayson: so I was like oh man like that is it's so feels like a very significant weight And then yeah, the tripod too. So like I mean in reality, that was close to 15 pounds, I would say for 14 pounds. Additional camera gear that you had. And then and then my thought too was the second I put that on I looked down and I'm like, dude, I can't see my feet. This chest rig is so big so between the weights and the chest rig I'm like, Well yeah this would make it easier to to have a trip you know the trip because yeah essentially you tripped, you fell rolled that ankle and when I came back
[00:26:10] Tayson: you know, after you kind of got your bearings and whatnot. You're like man I've done this before where I've actually like torn a ligament and tore a little piece of my bone. Like I didn't hear a pop, I don't think that happened but it's pretty bad and so we tried to take it slow and and whatnot. And so we got you back up on your feet were like well, let's just see how it feels. Yeah, you started down the trail and you you kept moving. So like okay, well we're moving now. Let's let's see how this goes. But I did want to make that point. I I there is no, there is no reason for
[00:26:44] Tayson: accidents, but I think that there are things that can
[00:26:48] Craig: help prevent it.
[00:26:50] Tayson: yeah, or give you a lower probability of an accident and I would just say the heavier your pack You know, the more likely you can roll your ankle because of weight the more fatigue on your ankle. And then too, I mean where that was in front of your vision. It might not have caused you to trip, but it might have not helped you get your second foot underneath you, you know what I mean? Yeah, once you look down to try to save yourself or something, but is my thought was, man when I have that heavy of a pack That's like when I'm hunting almost. And and when I'm hunting I wear boots with like a
[00:27:24] Tayson: mid ankle support too. So to me like I love Trail Runners, I'll always preach to run trail Runners but a part of what makes a trail Runner work is like going on the more lightweight side of gear. So anyways, There is that like you have a really strong ankles your Trail Runner, you're really stable, you're sure footed. But I just want to point that out there. Specially for people that aren't all of those things. Yeah, have your your pack is or if you put something on your chest, there's there's things that could increase the percentage of a chance of a trip or fall or getting injured. But so we get you back up on your
[00:27:58] Tayson: feet and you start moving and I'm thinking, okay? He's gonna walk this off, it's just an ankle and yeah
[00:28:03] Craig: and
[00:28:03] Tayson: I personally I've never twisted my ankle so bad
[00:28:05] Craig: that I
[00:28:06] Tayson: can remember like, you know, sprain just so bad that I wasn't able to kind of walk it off. And so I don't have great experience to know if this isn't in my experience is like, oh I think he's gonna walk this off and so we walked like a quarter of a mile. And then you say, all right, let's sit down and take this. And let's, and then we can try to catch up to these other guys, because they, they just, man, they were
[00:28:29] Craig: they were gone and no idea what was happening. They were just, they were often the distance and they were like, oh, they're just talking to the guy on trail or or whatever. And I was like, all right, thanks guys, I'm dying over here but it's okay.
[00:28:41] Tayson: Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. I'm like, I wanted to give these guys the camera gear. Why am I carrying it? Get back here.
[00:28:46] Craig: Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:48] Tayson: cuz they,
[00:28:50] Craig: we kept, we kept hiking, after I taped it up, and then I think we met up with them first, heard some lightning and stuff like that and was like, hey we gotta get going because we're up so high. I was like oh crap my ankles messed, that messed up and now we've got to get out of here before we get struck by lightning. Like I'm gonna die by lightning or get stranded
[00:29:12] Tayson: on trail. Well, and I just kind of because of that pressure. We have to hike 25 miles. We? We were like he's just don't have time to stop and wait and think about things. Plus you're in the High Country, ever wants to get to camp and so, When we did catch up with them, we told him what was going on. And at that point, we're still thinking, well, let's let's push forward, but I think I think we pushed forward pretty far because we saw the rain, the lightning coming in. So we got all of our rain gear on pretty shortly, and then we started hiking and then it gets into back and it just the
[00:29:48] Tayson: same thing of like, Let's try to hit our mileage today.
[00:29:51] Craig: Yeah. So
[00:29:52] Tayson: we start pushing I specifically remember getting to this one Hill that I called StairMaster Hill, because it was just so Steep and it's straight up zero switchbacks. And at that point in time, I had your chest rig on. And maybe still your tripod. I can't remember when I passed that off, but And I'm hiking the sale and I'm going, oh my gosh, this sucks. How is Craig doing this? I'm trying to, like, watch your ankle from behind and from what I could tell this, but you were still putting your heel down, but this foot, you almost were never touching your heel down. I'm like that doesn't look. Doesn't look too good.
[00:30:30] Craig: Yeah, but
[00:30:31] Tayson: we kind of made it through. that section and all of us are now starting to talk internally externally like, oh man, this is rough because anytime we started to go down hill and any go downhill and it was loose out all you like went from like moving our speed to like, You know, 25% of our speed.
[00:30:54] Craig: Yeah. And
[00:30:55] Tayson: so we got to the top of the hill and started to go downhill. I think hey, we're probably gonna Camp down here. We're gonna go ahead of you, you take your time on this downhill. and, Thinking that you're going to take a long time, really? And so we got to the bottom of this downhill. And we randomly ran into this guy named Pancho is laying in his tent at the door wide open like on the trail. Yeah. And so we started talking to him and within like, what felt like 30 seconds might have been a minute or something. You were right there behind us. You. Yeah, done this. Like 400 foot drop down. And I'm
[00:31:27] Tayson: like when I say there I'm like, ah, he's fine, he's good. Yeah, you know, and you're like, no, I really tried to push it there to see how it felt and I'm like, okay but you're good, you know? And so we ended up climbing up a little bit further. And stopping for camp and camp. We started to really discuss more now, you have another four miles or something on your your ankle you kept my mileage, okay? And my thought was like, okay, he'll wake up it'll be a little bit better tomorrow. He'll be good, but we kind of walked through these scenarios. Because the next morning, I was going to get up in hike, the
[00:32:03] Tayson: fourteener, San Luis Peak. So I was gonna leave Camp an hour before everyone else. You were gonna roll out with the other two guys, an hour after that. but you did say, like, I'm going to try to to see how feels over the night. Get up in the morning, test it out and then we'll really know. Yeah so yeah I mean tell me what your thoughts are rolling into camp that night specifically, like I know what you said but I don't know what you really think on the inside.
Editor’s note: Craig’s fall, ankle swelling, prior injury comparison, taped ankle, heavy camera load, trail-runner and boot discussion, lightning pressure, and continued travel are historical personal accounts. They do not diagnose an injury or establish that any pack, shoe, brace, or decision will prevent a fall; seek appropriate help for an injury and use judgment for current conditions.
[00:32:29] Craig: so, I really thought I think I might be able to do it. I was 90% sure. I was gonna be able to do it at night. Because it was still kind of loosened up and in everything else. I was still really swollen, so there's that tightness there. But when I went to bed, when I woke up in the morning because you already gone, because you were already gone to do that fourteener because you got up an hour earlier than us to go and do that. And I will walk up and I was like I couldn't even walk on it, it was just so stiff. as I was, okay, let me take Advil real quick,
[00:33:03] Craig: let me walk around on a little bit and everything else and then Then I went to the other way. I was like, okay, there's a 10% chance. I'm doing this today
[00:33:12] Tayson: because I went from 90 to 10.
[00:33:14] Craig: Yeah. Yeah. It's flip flop. The next morning and I was like I don't think I can do this and I and my wife will tell you like, I don't quit anything all go through when I'm like. Cut up or corn or won't sleep for days to get stuff done and everything else. I Quitting, I hate quitters. And then I was like, I don't think I can do this. So, I think, I maybe went 200 yards with Derek and Kaden and then I was like, I don't, sorry guys. I I can't go anymore because I think I could have done. I think I said this, I think I could have done. Maybe eight miles a day.
[00:33:56] Craig: You know, maybe 10 being able to take my time but at trying to push 25 miles a day. There is no way. I was gonna be able to do that because the downhills were torture. And uphills I could go on my tippy toes the whole time, but it's just something funky in the side of my foot and my heel that was just like, if I pushed myself too much, I am more prone to Rolling it even more now too, just on something simple. So,
[00:34:25] Tayson: You're just the abilities gone out of it and
[00:34:28] Craig: yeah. like man, this sucks like I Know, admit I when I turned around from the guys, I shot a drone shot real quick and I just sat there and cried for like five minutes. Going like man, the socks, this really sucks cuz now I'm just gonna have Few days or nothing. And then I let everybody down but I was like, I wasn't my fault kind of thing. It's you're running through all the scenarios in your head and stuff. And I was like well we'll make lemon out of lemonade and stuff like that. So I think I tried to message you on the satellite device but I would I didn't it didn't go through. So like
[00:35:04] Craig: I hope you find the guys
[00:35:07] Tayson: Yeah, I I had no idea because I went and hiked the peak. And I was trying to look way down below for three guys. Coming up the trail and never was really sure I saw you, then I hiked Down 4,000 feet and all the way across this massive drainage. So I didn't see the guys to like 245 on the whole time. I'm expecting. Three guys. And so this guy comes walking past me and he's like, hey are you hiking with some other guys? And I'm like yeah I'm hiking us some other guys. They got a gray backpack like this and there should be three of them and like he's like and he's like oh yeah.
[00:35:41] Tayson: Yeah and then I'm like there should be three and he's like oh no And I'm like, how many is there? He's like two and I was like, oh, Craig is just off behind them and still coming and you know, yeah, that's like positive. So when they rolled in like, where's Craig? No, like oh, he turned around like right in the morning and I was like, I was like shocked. I was like what? You know, because you did like four miles and was doing good and so I in my head I just was such an optimist and that's that's probably the big takeaway is guys like me and you we don't really know quit and
[00:36:16] Tayson: we are very familiar with pain, you know? And and it's just one of those things where like sometimes turning around early is so much more of a smart choice. But I think what I actually said to you on the trails, I said, you know, when you go to ultra marathons the people that drop out and get DNF, you know, did not finish, most of them regret it because the pain goes away in an hour or two or the next morning and I like oh I could have done it and so I said something like that to you. Yeah. Which probably isn't the smart thing to say. so, I take that back but like that's kind of
[00:36:55] Tayson: where my mind goes though is like don't quit early like just Like push a little bit. See how this? And that's exactly what you did though, you walked? Yeah,
[00:37:03] Craig: more
[00:37:03] Tayson: four or five more miles. Slept on it, you didn't just immediately twist the ankle and turn around. Yeah. I was like totally expecting to see you and they're like, oh no. He turned around quick. I'm like Oh, I bet he's on quite an adventure then because at that point you had to been 10 miles, at least from the highway.
Editor’s note: Craig’s decision to leave, estimates of eight to ten miles versus the group’s planned 25-mile day, downhill pain, emotional response, and the group’s reflections describe this specific July 2025 incident. Turning around, continuing, or evacuating depends on the injury, terrain, weather, party, communication, and available assistance.
[00:37:22] Craig: Oh yeah. so, I I was like, I sat down took a second and The funny thing is, is one of the things that when I do my own trips, I'm always the trip leader. So I already have the plan and everything else, but with this trip you know I was basically following you guys and bye. I said Derek an email asking him like Hey I just need the I need the GPS file, and can you get me? Like, so I need information because I've always heard like, if I always tell people, when they hike with me, hey, you need to make sure you have your info as well because yeah, you can follow me, but
[00:38:02] Craig: you still do your own research. I will sing goodness. I did my own research because I had the GPS file, I had like, what's that the app that shows your water and stuff is, and I can't, yeah, FarOut. I had FarOut on their all all ready and everything else, too. So, you know, I knew where I was gonna get water and stuff like that and the good thing is going backwards so I kind of knew where we got on water before. and so, I did all that research ahead of time, so, It wasn't as bad, you know?
[00:38:39] Tayson: Mmm. But you still have a lot of distance to cover on your ankle. So yeah. How do you, how do you decide how to manage that or like, how are you feeling? As you're starting to go back because you have You had to do freaking StairMaster Hill again? And oh,
[00:38:56] Craig: yeah. it was going down, it was Going down. It was while the good thing is, StairMaster Hill. It was down in that was a bad way, but the good thing that I didn't have to go back up it. So and I knew that we had that mesa that was like three or four miles. So I was like, okay, I think at least that's flat. I can take my time on that. But I also knew that there was a huge stretch. And so I basically pushed myself that morning going, God, I’d rather get to town and get this thing elevated and looked at. So I went actually got caught in a storm on that Mesa.
[00:39:38] Craig: I'm looking to my left
[00:39:40] Tayson: place.
[00:39:41] Craig: Yeah. Yeah,
[00:39:43] Tayson: nothing to hide behind. No, trees complete flat for three miles at 12,000 feet. Where the clouds are rolling in.
[00:39:51] Craig: Yeah, it was, I Have video of it, too, because I was like, looking over the storm going. Okay, there's a storm over here. there's a storm behind me in the winds blowing this way and I can Here coming. And so I almost start literally running at one point just going, okay? I gotta get off of here because the last thing I need is, you know, I'll get caught in a lightning storm. And stuff like that. So, so yeah, it was I mean it was pretty dang crazy getting back and then when I got back I was For the most part. I was caught at my tent. and I just sat at the tent for the
[00:40:34] Craig: rest of the night and, and did that though.
[00:40:38] Tayson: yeah, so ankle, I mean Manageable just slow going.
[00:40:45] Craig: Yeah, I think it was still swollen and I took, and I feel that I was, you know, I think it's different knowing that I didn't have to do 100 miles, you know, I'm only doing 10 miles. And once I'm done, I'm gonna be laying in a bed, so that my mind was that way.
[00:41:02] Tayson: Yeah, and then obviously, we had some other safety precautions. You know, we had some tape that we tried to take up with. Yeah, it did. It did make me think a lot about trying to find like an Ultra Lite, ankle sleeve to put in my first aid kit because rolling, your ankles got to be one of the most common possible things to have happened. First aid, wise in the wilderness and so Yeah. I kind of made it onto my list but we did have those things and then obviously we had Garmin inReaches and SPOTs and GPS communicators to reach out if it came to that which I think I'll just say this, I thought, I'd
[00:41:39] Tayson: say, I have two things to say about that. Number one anymore, I just think everyone needs to have one of those and I know, phones are coming around and it's an option, but I'll tell you, like, my phone. I couldn't message off it, like, at all the entire trip, the GPS function, just like wasn't working. And if I had relied on that at all, I would be screwed. So the technology is not reliable yet in my opinion, yes, to Um, so I think I think everyone just needs one. Yes, they're expensive. Plans pricing are coming down. I think the pressure from the cell phone's is making people. Like Garmin like drop their price significantly.
[00:42:12] Craig: Yeah.
[00:42:12] Tayson: Um, so your monthly fees are low and so they are getting a little bit more cheap and you can probably find used ones that are couple years old now, like a first-generation inReach Mini. but I just think like, those are like critical to me anymore and then two would be just realized too that if you did have to push that SOS button, you need to be able to Like shelter-in-place per se. For hours sometimes? Yeah, I've the worst one I ever heard of was a guy who was like dying of hypothermia in Colorado, And he had to wait. I want to say it's almost 18 hours before he got rescued and he Was
[00:42:54] Tayson: within an inch of death. I mean, he was barely, barely, barely alive when they got to. So um Yeah. Just be aware, it could be an hour, it could be 20 hours but they're still Mission critical. You obviously have one on the trail. You have the GPX file on your phone. You know, all those kinds of things which are really important and I would say also like do your own research because I actually totally messed up the GPS file in the first like, 10 miles of the whole trip. I somehow my mapping software followed, the Hardrock 100 course for like the first five miles of the Colorado Trail course and
[00:43:34] Tayson: it kind of threw us all off, and then no one had faith in my GPS file the whole rest of the trip even though it was only like the first five miles. So
[00:43:41] Craig: I was like
[00:43:46] Tayson: Yeah. And they're like, no it's down the road and we're like, oh this isn't a great way to start. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:43:55] Craig: yeah, and I I once I was once I had gotten closer to the road about a mile to the road, I realized that hey, that the church bus that I can catch Doesn't come until 11:30. So I was like, listen, I'm just gonna stay and Camp the night. Trying to get out of storm and stuff. I was so tired. I didn't want to walk a mile downhill to go get water. So I was like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get water, I'll just be fine until morning you know just wait and then this guy came up Trail and saw me hobbling and then ended up giving me a bottle and a half a water.
[00:44:31] Craig: And and then came back walked down hill and got me. Another full filled up. My bottle of water for me. And we talked for hours with or a couple hours with each other and stuff like that. And they made me learn a lot about elevation, too, because he had a friend that just passed away a couple of years ago on Mount Whitney you was through hiker and they went up on top and then he came down the next day and had a brain aneurysm or something like that and died. And I was like, man elevation is no joke. I'm like okay I'm gonna transfer elevation a little bit more and not push myself. If I
[00:45:06] Craig: feel like Elevation is hurting me too much so an elevation is different on everybody. So
[00:45:14] Tayson: Terrifying. Because also, right, before we started a trip, the Hardrock 100 race was going on right there in Silverton, right where we started Within five miles of where we started and a lady passed away right on the trail, like six miles into the race, you know, and you can't help but think that altitude, you know, and other situations. Altitude just doesn't help anything. Yeah, definitely exacerbates every weakness you have. Yeah. Yeah. It's absolutely no joke for sure. Yeah.
Editor’s note: The reverse route, GPX file, FarOut water information, Garmin inReach/SPOT discussion, phone limitations, Hardrock 100 detour, exposed mesa storms, water choices, shuttle timing, altitude stories, and rescue-delay examples are September 2025 recollections. Verify current maps, access, water, weather, transportation, emergency-device service, and local guidance; this account is not current route or emergency advice.
[00:45:46] Craig: but, I mean, but that I ended up evacuating was The most amazing town I've ever been to in my life. I met so many cool. Yes
[00:45:56] Tayson: you got down to the trailhead. You got down to that Highway like an hour after they were supposed to do a Suburban pulls up and you guys load eight people into a like six passenger car.
[00:46:06] Craig: Oh yeah.
[00:46:07] Tayson: You've got someone else's smelly backpack on your lap and you head into town for like 40 minutes down to what's called Lake City Colorado. You get in there and you're trying to find a place to stay, can't find a place to stay. You've heard that the camping area in the town has a cougar. That's been pesky. And then someone calls you back, right?
[00:46:32] Craig: Yeah, so I I put out to a hotel that was in town because like hey I don't have anywhere to stay because everybody else has for the most part, they've planned ahead. If they're thru-hiking it they're like I'm gonna be in this day so they have reservations and stuff like that and I Had No Reservations and there was a hostile that had just opened up. we're trying to get into that with a guy in his wife and Then I was like, man. If my legs all messed up, I know of the hostel is going to be in a bunk bed. I'm going to have no Comfort at all. And I'm just gonna be lying
[00:47:05] Craig: there all day. So, All the hotel they didn't have none of the hotels, had any reservations are openings and then they took my name. Read it all around town. Do a big group message board that they have and then they call me back and we're like, hey, we have a cancellation one night. We have a room, the other night. So they were the swap meet between rooms. And they got me a room, they were bringing me stuff to my room. I mean, it was like, I mean I was hurt and they were just taking care of me. And the whole town was taking care of me, people
[00:47:35] Tayson: would just kind of
[00:47:36] Craig: You up and drive you wherever you needed to go and stuff like that too. So,
[00:47:41] Tayson: That's so awesome because I feel like that's cool that they embrace it that way because I feel like you could also get annoyed that there's all these hikers, wandering through your town all the time. Like you can kind of The two ways you can look at it, you can be annoyed or you can lean into that culture, but that's really cool that they just kind of embrace it and you're able to find a hotel to stay in. Because you'd already spent a night on trail. Now, you only had two nights before, we would be able to come back and pick you up, which is awesome. Nice. I mean, because it seemed like he dropped it
[00:48:11] Tayson: felt or early in the trip, but really, it was With the date with the full day to get out. It wasn't quite as bad as it definitely could have been. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I see you sent me pictures of your ankle later. It was like super small enough and colorful and and like looked totally different than what I had seen. You know, because I never took your sock off and your sock. Yeah, you mentioned was like acting as compression on it so it wasn't getting a swollen. But yeah, that picture you sent me. I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah that's not what I thought it was gonna look like. Yeah,
[00:48:46] Craig: my leg look dead. It looked like a corpse from the toes all the way up to almost like the mid-calf. It was Really, really weird like my even my I don't even know how my toes were all bruised because I didn't feel anything down there. But like my toes and my Knuckles on my toes were all black and blue. So
[00:49:04] Tayson: yeah.
[00:49:04] Craig: And there's still I mean even right now, they're still black and blue.
[00:49:09] Tayson: Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. I mean, so just I guess any other parts of Lake City before we before we kind of talked about, just how you're doing now because it's it's still an issue now but I mean for the most part you got some good pizza, you got some gas food. I think. Derek wish you would have turned around with you but you know, he He stuck it out. I mean I'm sure I mean what did you think about? Like if you ever been on a thru-hiking trail, where you have Kind of got to experience the culture of a thru-hiking trail.
