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Fraser woman’s endurance hike raises $2,900 for Make-A-Wish

Fraser local Pam Starr will be hiking 23.7 miles of the Colorado Trail in one day as part of an effort to raise $150,000 for Make-A-Wish Colorado.
Pam Starr

A Fraser woman will be hiking 23.7 miles of the Colorado Trail on Saturday — for a cause.

Pam Starr is an enthusiastic endurance hiker and her latest challenge will be Saturday’s third annual Trailblaze Challenge, benefiting Make-A-Wish Colorado.

The 23.7 mile hike will cover sections two and three of the Colorado Trail in just one day.



Starr is no stranger to all sorts of endurance-based charity events. She’s done marathons, 24-hour hikes and three-day hikes for charity. As a former soccer player and cross-country runner, endurance activities are something she greatly enjoys.

“It makes me happy and I love when it mixes with raising funds for causes,” Starr said of hiking.



Each participant, including Starr, raises a minimum of $2,500 to help Make-A-Wish grant wishes to children with critical illnesses. As of Thursday, Starr had raised a little over $2,900 toward the cause.

She credits the people in her network with helping her to reach her goal of $2,500. Along with longtime contributors to her efforts, followers on social media and folks in Grand County helped her to raise the funds despite her relative newness to the community.

“I’ve only been in Fraser for a year and I don’t know many people here,” Starr said. “If push came to shove I would’ve donated myself, but people really stepped up.”

As an avid hiker, Starr usually hikes several miles a day and averaged 12-13 mile treks on the weekend. In her training for this event, she’s been increasing her hikes to make sure she’s ready.

Starr said she also “roped in” three of her friends to do the 23.7 mile trek with her. Combined, the “Grand Gunners” team has raised over $11,000 — the most of any team doing the challenge.

“We’ll see if we’re still friends at the end,” Starr said with a laugh.

She added that the biggest challenge of this event will likely be that they’ll have to finish the hike before dark. However, she’s not too worried about it.

“It makes me energized to work harder to finish it,” Starr said. “Me and my teammates are keeping in the back of our heads that it’s for a good cause so there is no quit.”

The 2021 Trailblaze Challenge has a fundraising goal of $150,000 and has raised $135,500 as of Thursday. The event is still taking donations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at wish.org/colorado/trailblaze-challenge.


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