I’m enjoying the earlier-than-usual wake-ups, with a bit of coffee time before heading out early. It’s kept the crowds down on our hikes. Mostly, all we see when we head to the trials are hunters. Then, by lunch, the hikers are out. The cool mornings are excellent for hiking, too, even though it’s a little more complicated to breathe it in with the altitude!
While we got ready in the morning, a herd of decent mule deer bucks were coming right by the fence out back of the kitchen. John commented that they’d been great bucks in a couple of years, but someone would likely shoot them this season! One of the boys had his new binoculars out to get a better look on the porch. I hoisted him up on the BBQ grill for a better vantage point. I was met with grins of gratitude!
The drive to the trailhead this morning was breathtaking. It is Touted as one of the best drives in Colorado, especially during the change of seasonal colors. The drive yesterday was great, but there was something special about this one. Maybe the elevation gain and the shorter distance, but it was gorgeous. About halfway through the drive, I thought, “This is my kind of place,” when I had to lean down to see the sky.
With our qualifying hike going well, this one would be about twice as long as yesterday’s. After checking the reviews on this hike, I realized it would be steeper than I had anticipated, and most of the gain was in the first half before we turned around to hike back out. I almost scrapped it, worrying about Amanda. I’m glad I didn’t! I finally thought if it were too harsh for her, we’d turn around and let the rest of the crew go on to the lake at the end.
I had to tell Amanda to rest on the way up so she could pause and take breaks. It was pretty steep in places, and the gain was much more than I thought. I thought we’d have to turn back, for sure. I kept checking in on Amanda and making her take breaks. It’s easy for me to gauge the knee but not the heart. With the 9,000-plus foot elevation, even my chest felt the thin air. The steep slope made my bad knee feel it, too. So when my knee was smarting, I knew hers was way worse, and I’d suggest a stop.
Amanda just kept chugging along, though; I’m so proud of her. Once we hit a large grove of aspen trees, we knew most of the climb was behind us. I remembered a review starting that, but I kept checking my hiking app to confirm. After the aspen grove, it broke into a meadow with a mountain in the background. It was one of those literal breathtaking moments.
There were a few stream crossings. Amanda got ahead of the group while the rest of us milled around. She was stopped and giving me the “look” at the first water crossing! She’s not a fan of getting wet. I told her it was shallow and her boots were waterproof.
There were many more water crossings after that. I would blaze the rest ahead of her and help her with foot placement on the deeper ones. She’s still a little unsure about the stability of the new knee and balance on some of the make-shift branch crossings. So I’d help pick the best rocks for her to step on. Near the end of the trail where the alpine lake was, there was a log bridge crossing. It wasn’t very long, but the edges of the creek made the crossing deep. Amanda was instantly worried. I went across first to look for a better spot upstream. We were so close I had to find a way. I found one, but her feet would likely get wet and muddy. She’d decided to give the bride a try calling me back. She wanted to sidestep the log, so I stepped out and held her hand to get her across.
Once at the lake, it was a grand view—a small lake with a stunning mountain and cliff view as a backdrop. The boys wandered off with John to make a fire; they were in total boy mode! I hung back with the girls and chilled on a fallen tree for a break.
After some water, I mimicked John from yesterday and found a nice spot in the grass to lie down. The sun was out, beaming down on me. I just laid my arms out on the cool grass, taking it all in. I can’t quite explain my feeling of lying on the ground there. It’s not often that I lie down on the ground, and then the South Texas heat would just be baking! It was sore of an energy exchange. Stress leaving and restorative energy coming into me, I felt.
Brittany was explaining about grounding and how they have a grounding blanket for their bed. She said it was a positive exchange of energy; I could feel all the positive vibes for sure. I hesitate to call the feeling spiritual, but it was a remarkable experience. The mountain air, the sun on my arms and face, and the cool grass have never felt anything like it. I encouraged Amanda to come lie down, but she’s too girly to do that. I knew she’d be all worked about her clothes and whatnot. Finally, she laid down beside me, but it didn’t last long. She said it was too moist, see too girly, like I said. I wish she’d just relaxed, not worried about her clothes, and took everything in.
The hike was probably longer than my app showed by about a mile, so it was later than expected when we turned back. We brought a trail mix bag, but our counterparts didn’t bring anything. I wish we’d have packed a lunch. The motivation to get down was that there were snacks in the car, and lunch would follow! Oddly going down is harder on the knee than going up. Mine bad one was starting to hurt about 3/4 of the way down so I knew it was time to break for Amanda. So we found a log to sit on as the rest went ahead.
The drive out was busier than coming in; there were many more vehicles going both in and out. The cabin was on the way, so we made a quick stop, and then we were off to downtown. There was a Mexican restaurant on the river in the middle of town. They had outdoor seating with a view of the springs across the river. To our surprise there wasn’t a wait but the hostess would not seat us boys, who walked ahead of the girls and the youngest who was getting some dry britches on! The hostess would just point a sign that said the entire party had to be there before you’d be seated. I tried to not be annoyed, but it wasn’t working!
Lunch was good the salsa was hot in typical New Mexico/Colorado style. I enjoy spicy food and love this style of Mexican food. Amanda and I had veggie burritos. I had mine smothered in green chili, when in Rome I guess! After lunch it was shipping time.
All we had to do was walk across the now very busy street. There are many crosswalks with buttons to make traffic yield. There are also flags to carry so you can be seen, which the boys proudly carried! We’re getting to know the shops, which ones are good and which ones are just tourist traps. We didn’t get much; the boys got a few things, including some shark-tooth necklaces they made.
After that it was back to the cabin. I prepped things for dinner, then took a load off next to Amanda, who had her knee up and was icing it. Her knee was sore and swollen pretty badly. The extra mile and elevation gain were taking their toll. Finally, after much prompting, I went to finish dinner. We were having pasta primavera with eggplant schnitzel for us and pork schnitzel for the meat eaters. It was a win for the boys, but oddly enough, they didn’t like the plain noodles and sauce but had seconds of the pork. I need to get better at taking pictures of food. (I did have a photo pop up after the fact!) The primavera was beautiful, with bright colors galore. An early turn-in followed quickly after our bellies were full.
My Oreo treat was good, and the boys seemed to like theirs, too. The girls were pouty about what they wanted. Amanda was looking at another place’s menu and rattled off a few things; one interested them, so we drove that way. For the second, they didn’t have piqued their dessert.
The evening was just chill time with an early turn-in. Without kids, we aren’t used to getting in bed before 9, but we were tired enough to hit the sack. We were both out well before ten and slept on top of the comforter with an extra blanket and sheet in hopes of a better night’s sleep since the bed was so hot.