The Denver terminal.

The adventure continues. Fatigue and solitude. Training my mind to function in this state.

I had to go back for water... VITAL

Not having water here will kill you!!!

From how I see it...

One more thing!

My child support haven't been paid.

The Inner City

The story continues. I'm downtown headed home. Don't get me wrong, I've just had a life experience. I came out here to find what I was afraid of. I found it. Solitude. I'm afraid of being cut off.
Back to Denver... the inner city... it's not unusual to see people sleeping in the street. It's very different here. 5280 feet above sea level... the city is a jungle of concrete. I'm here til 8:40. Time to pick up a camera! If I had a light weight camera with a huge battery, I'd be excited!! Any ideas??

I feel as though y'all missed something important

This is the way I wrote the events that took place in my own journal...

"I just waited out my first Colorado storm. I saw dark clouds on the western horizon as far as I could see. Felt my first rain drop, then pulled all my gear into the roadside restroom... less than 5 min and 100 drops later, the sun was shining. So much for a storm! :)
And then the real storm hit. High speed winds, dust storms, it hurts to walk outside. I'm currently (in my journal) shacked up inside the roadside restroom. No running water (water is vital to survival, I only had what I carried up), no electricity. Just a hole in the ground with a toilet seat. It sounds angry. About to cook dinner and try to get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be better. "

For the first time in my life, I actually knew what fear was. There was nobody else around. No cars going by, a days walk back to town. The sand was coming inside through the edge under the door. Suddenly, I realized, I was alone... I got scared. Terrified, to be completely honest. I've never known fear so I was scared of the fact that I, Mark David, was actually crying, alone, in the dark... alone...
After the events of that night followed by the elevation sickness, and weighing my pack finally (70 lbs), I'm rethinking my decision to attempt this journey. I still have yet to truly decide.

Limitations

I think sometimes in life the hardest thing to do is understand that the human body has limits. I got my first dose of elevation sickness today. Dizziness, confusion, swelling in my fingers, and the pins and needles feeling in my lower body. I'm not one to give up, but for the first time in a long time, I realize that I have physical limits. I know in my heart that I can make this journey. I'm not willing to permanently damage my body in the process. I don't yet know where I go from here but I know this is not the end of my journey and if nothing else, I'm away from the problems I've had for so long.

On the move again today!! Next stop, the northern end of Horsetooth Reservoir!!

Elk for lunch!!

As I was waking up this morning, I was stopped by the park rangers. They informed me that the site I had slept on last night was for RV's and that I'd have to pay for the night I'd stayed. He only charged me for a tent site but I decided I needed to get moving. I need to find some national forest. I then asked a married couple, Gail and Don, as they walked by if there was anyplace to camp on the northern end of the reservoir. They didn't know but then invited me to lunch before I left. I accepted. Gail had prepared organic noodles and vegetables with elk meat! It was amazing!! We got to talkin and they offered to let me share their site for the night so I could have a day to rest. I'm having an incredible day so far!!! Thank you so much Gail and Don!!

Cabins on Horsetooth Reservoir

May 1, 2012 Good morning!!