Battling hallucinations and exhaustion, ex-Summit County resident sets fastest known time on Colorado Trail route

Former Summit County resident Brent Herring is accustomed to adventuring in Colorado’s High Country. 

The now-Durango resident has set several speed records on peaks spread out across Colorado. A decorated ski-mountaineering athlete, he is frequently testing his limits in the high Alpine.

After securing the fastest known times for numerous single-day challenges, Herring set his sights on a more daunting project.

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“Chris Fisher knew I had attempted to do all of the 14ers self-supported a few years back,” Herring said. “The monsoons, just like this year, came in extremely strong, and it thwarted my efforts. About eight or nine days in I gave up on that because it was raining pretty much everyday at 9 a.m. and there was lightning by noon.”

After bailing on the Colorado 14ers project, Fisher put Herring in touch with Jason Hardrath, who was in the process of completing the Rocky Mountain Slam, which consists of all of the Colorado 14ers, the Wyoming 13ers and the Montana 12ers. 

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Herring and Hardrath linked up for three days near Aspen and completed the seven Elks Range 14ers. While attempting to finish off the rest of the Colorado 14ers, Herring was introduced to several other through-hikers and soon became enthralled by the idea of completing a through-hike project of his own.

“I had never tried a multiday effort, and it sounded completely insane to me at the time,” Herring said. “After talking to them, it sounded like a new challenge.”

Inspired by his new through-hiker friends, Herring set his eyes on getting the self-supported fastest known time for the Colorado Trail’s “East to West, Collegiate West” route.

“Having lived in Summit, I was always on the (Colorado Trail), and I was always curious what it would be like to connect it from Denver,” Herring said. “Once I moved to Durango, it was just the perfect excuse to finish where I live.” 

Spanning 500 miles from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail travels through some of the most awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping scenery in the country. The rigorous trail crosses through six wilderness areas and eight mountain ranges while gaining close to 90,000 vertical feet. 

Beginning his journey from the Waterton Canyon Trailhead in Littleton on Aug. 11, Herring started off hot, taking advantage of the overcast conditions and completing close to 60 miles in the first 24 hours.

Although Herring was making great progress over the first day of the long endurance project, his excitement and eagerness on the first day ended up costing him a few hours later, reaching his first low point on just the second day.

“I had trouble sleeping probably because of all the adrenaline on that first night,” Herring said. “I am guessing that I probably only slept two or three hours. I went to bed around 12:30 to 1 and I was back on the trail by 3:30.”

Due to the lack of sleep and the blazing sun, Herring became utterly exhausted early in the day while climbing up Georgia Pass towards the heart of Summit County on Aug. 12. Around 2 p.m., while climbing up Mount Guyot, Herring peeled off to the side of the trail, ate a dehydrated meal and sent his wife a defeated message via his Garmin inReach.

“I told my wife that I wasn’t sure that I could do this,” Herring said. “She messaged me back on the inReach and told me that I could and to get back out on the trail.”

With some encouragement filling his sails, Herring forged forward, but he reached his second low point when he competed Segments 8-10 of the Colorado Trail on the fourth day.

“In my head, I thought I was in plenty good enough shape, but it was only after I did that first day that I started having more foot pain,” Herring said, “probably as a result of tendinitis, ligaments and muscles that are not quite in shape for stacking 50-plus mile days on top of each other.”

After crossing through Summit County and over the Tenmile Range to Copper Mountain Resort on the third day, Herring reached his cache of supplies at Tennessee Pass on the morning of the fourth day, but soon after ended up stopping near the entrance of the Mount Massive Wilderness Area because of the pain radiating from his feet.

“It was only 2-3 p.m., and the fatigue in my feet was just excruciating,” Herring said. “I would stop every hour, hour and a half to soak my feet.”

Herring was able to eventually push past the pain in his feet, allowing him to click off miles with minimal speed bumps.

“It did get easier,” Herring said. “I was surprised at how I was able to adapt after six to eight hours of sleep. I can’t remember if it was the fourth or fifth night, but one of those nights I got uninterrupted sleep for eight hours because it didn’t rain at all.”

Feeling slightly rejuvenated, Herring truly began to enjoy the taxing but breathtaking trail. Herring even came in contact with several other through-hikers, which allowed him to feel a sense of community despite being on a solo journey.

Unlike the supported and unsupported fastest-known-time effort options, self-supported efforts allow participants to interact with others on the trail. 

“Part of the reason I did self-supported was so I didn’t have to carry as much weight and so I could get help from other people if I needed it and not be disqualified,” Herring said. “If you ever have your doubts about humanity, something like this restores your faith. People were so friendly and very helpful.”

Although Herring did place several caches full of gear and fuel throughout the Colorado Trail, Herring would on several occasions run out of much-needed calories, leaving him searching for people who could be of help.

“I asked one guy, and he gave me a gel,” Herring said. “Another woman gave me a gel, and I thought that getting other fuel was going to be a struggle. All of a sudden, I came across these women who had started at Cottonwood Pass and were on their way out to Twin Lakes. They had a really heavy pack because they hadn’t eaten all their food. They offered all of their trail mix and protein bars. I went from having 1,500 calories for 30 miles to having 6,000 calories thanks to these women.”

From there, Herring tackled day after day, cowboy camping through the rain, sheltering behind trees and growing closer to the finish line at the Junction Creek Trailhead near Durango.

Over the last 48 hours, Herring remembers experiencing auditory hallucinations where he thought he could hear people talking or gathering for a party, despite no one else being on the trail with him. On top of the chilling sounds, Herring also experienced numerous deja vu episodes where he swore he had already crossed a portion of the trail when he indeed had not. 

“The feeling of deja vu was over the top,” Herring said. “There is something about hiking in the dark that really messes with your head, especially when it is pouring down rain.”

As Herring entered the final 3 miles of the adventure, he allowed himself to reflect on the accomplishment of pushing his mind and body further than it had ever gone before.

“I had a bit of a profound emotional dump in my last 3 miles,” Herring said. “I kept looking back on how hard it was. I don’t usually have great feelings of pride, but I was really proud of myself for getting to that point.”

Herring completed the Colorado Trail on Aug. 22 in a time of 10 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes and 0 seconds. The feat set the fastest known time record for the self-supported “East to West, Collegiate West” route of the Colorado Trail.

Once completing the effort just after midnight, Herring was met with his wife and a cold, 16-inch pizza.

Herring says the pizza was gone within 10 minutes.