Hiking

My sister and I did a great hike today. Just beyond the Eldora ski area we hiked up toward Devil's Thumb Lake and Jasper Lake. The final bit of road to the trail head was more than a car could handle when we got there, so we had to park a bit further away then we planned. The beginning part of the trail was plenty steep and strenuous, and it wasn't long before we had broken a good sweat. We hiked up along side a raging river of snowmelt and then on through some beautiful mountain meadows. The trail steepened again beyond the meadows as we turned toward Jasper Lake. About half a mile from the lake we stopped for a break as my sister was beginning to get a pretty bad blister on one heel, and I was ready to sit for a bit myself.

We had been aware that there was some stormy weather around us since we first entered the meadows. But as we stopped to break, we rather suddenly found ourselves boxed in on three sides by ominous looking clouds. We were half a mile from lake number one and then another mile further from lake number two and our goal. But her feet were getting bad, my feet were beginning to get a bit sore, the weather started to look a bit scary, and we had already gone four and a half miles. When the lightning and thunder started in earnest, we decided to call it a day.

Maybe a quarter mile into our descent it began to rain. I think my buddy Stu will vouch for me when I claim that I like to be fairly well prepared when I go off on an adventure (and I do consider the possibility that every hike could turn into an adventure). And luckily, I was well prepared. I had rain gear for myself and my sister which we donned after realizing that this was a bit more than a brief, passing shower.

It rained the entire way back. At one point, as the rain started to come down a little harder, I snickered to myself as I thought of what I was about to say. I turned to my sister and let her know, "Well, at least it won't rain any harder than this."

I don't think I had the sentence out of my mouth before it started to rain a little harder. The rain came down harder and harder with every passing half mile. It wasn't cold, and it wasn't generally very windy. We stayed relatively dry for a while, and we maintained fine spirits as we were very hopeful that the weather might bring some woodland creatures out for us to see. There were plenty of warnings posted about bears, and we were really hoping that the dreary weather might bring them out to play.

Alas, the hairy mammals didn't emerge from their hideouts, and we less hairy creatures eventually began to get more and more wet. It seems there is only a certain amount of time you can spend in a downpour with a plastic jacket before at least parts of you begin to get wet. As we got closer to the bottom, the effects of all the rain above began to make its way down, and soon we were hopping puddles and then walking through them. Before we made it back to the car we had to walk through water that was above both of our hiking boots.

It took us nearly four and a half hours to hike the nine miles round trip. We took plenty of breaks on the way up, and sat for around forty-five minutes before we turned down from our highest point. It was a great hike. We both agreed that we want to do it again with an earlier start to ensure we can make it to the top before the typical Colorado afternoon thunderstorms roll in. It was long and fairly strenuous, but it sure was peaceful and pretty. It was nice to be walking through meadows of grasses and wildflowers with a heavy afternoon rain falling straight down upon us. I sure don't understand the three groups that we saw heading up in the rain and with a very late start, but neither of us complained about the rain at all.

To top off a great hike, we called some friends of my sister on the way home and asked them to meet us at the bar for a drink. They declined but instead invited us over and proceeded to make us big ol' New York strips on the grill along with corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and plenty of margaritas.

Today was a pretty good day.

Jonathan 7/17/2004 09:27:00 PM