FIELD
NOTES
Across Natural Skyscrapers
THE PROJECT
Field Notes: Across Natural Skyscrapers is a collection of stories from a 500-mile trek along the Colorado Trail.
Field Notes: Across Natural Skyscrapers will document the trail as it is experienced: through a series of encounters and human connections in natural landscapes.
To capture the vastness of the Colorado Trail, Field Notes: Across Natural Skyscrapers will culminate in a multimedia mosaic of trail stories.
This project is a part of Field Notes, an ongoing series of storytelling expeditions.
THE BEAUTY OF THE TRAIL
Completed in 1987, the Colorado Trail represents the power and beauty of community and determination.
Along a pathway stretching from Denver to Durango, volunteer trail crews spend between 12,000 and 15,000 hours maintaining all 567 miles of trail each summer. With about 99% of the trail located on public lands, the Colorado Trail is a reminder of the people who fight to protect natural spaces. The Colorado Trail Foundation's lessons in trail stewardship are valuable to communities everywhere, from mountain peaks to cityscapes.
The Colorado Trail is a high-altitude trek with an average altitude of over 10,000 feet. Hikers on the Colorado Trail cross eight mountain ranges, totaling about 89,000 feet of elevation gain and 88,000 feet of elevation loss. That’s the equivalent of climbing the Empire State Building 71 times or climbing from sea level to the top of Mount Everest 3 times.
Sometimes called “mile for mile the most beautiful trail in America,” the beauty of the Colorado Trail is not only found in the scenic views and wildlife, but in the human connections, rich history, passionate volunteers, and one-of-a-kind trail. .experience.
The Colorado Trail would not be possible without the passionate volunteers and communities, especially the Colorado Trail Foundation, which has been dedicated to protecting and maintaining all 567 miles since 1987. Thank you to the Colorado Trail Foundation for their support in telling this story.
THE CREATION
"Storyteller," will begin hiking the Colorado Trail in June 2026. While backpacking from Denver to Durango, she will record observations and interview the trail community. After the completion of a Colorado Trail thru-hike, "Storyteller" will develop, produce, and release Field Notes: Across Natural Landscapes.
This project is made possible through the generous funding from the Tisch Drama Community Engaged Summer Grant and NYU Changemaker Fellowship.
THE JOURNEY
MEET "STORYTELLER"
Tess Rowan, known by the trail name "Storyteller," is a theater kid and thru-hiker. She is a rising senior at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Tess's work has been recognized at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Capital Fringe Festival, the Playwrights Horizons Theater School, NYU, and Stagedoor Manor.
When Tess was 14, she started writing Static, a Morse code musical about the Appalachian Trail, and she fell in love with long-distance hiking trails. Last summer, Tess created Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey while thru-hiking the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America. Along the way, Tess was given the trail name "Storyteller." Despite the blisters, Tess is eager to get back on the trail to hike, explore, learn, and tell stories.
Photos curteousy of the Colorado Trail Foundation
STAY CONNECTED
- Follow @storytellerfieldnotes on Instagram and Facebook.
- Stream Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey
- Read Tess's hiking blog on The Trek for updates on her hike
- Questions? Contact storytellerfieldnotes@gmail.com
