I stopped along the way to take some other great shots and wound up in Vail where I parked and found a cute cafe that sold crepes. I sat outside under a big, red umbrella and read and waited for my friends.
When they arrived, we all ate some lunch and seeing as how they had brought their two dogs with them, we decided to take a hike.
We found a trail head but it seemed to go nowhere. George called up to some lady on a balcony and asked where the nearest hiking trail was. Her words went something like, 'oh, there's this trail right over there and if you take it, it goes up the mountain'. Before us was a smallerish mountain (more like a big hill) with ski lifts planted on the side, the chairs swinging in the air. Not too daunting, we thought. Something we can be up and down in a hour and then we'd make our drive back to our respective places. George and Stephanie were having a cookout with some friends in Denver that evening and I had family coming to my Uncle's place.
Okay. On we went.
The first stretch was this dirt and rock trail that simply led straight up the hill at a 10% + incline. After we got up the hill, the trail led into the woods and from there just kept right on going. It was 2 1/2 miles up to the top we found out later. The trail alternated between switchbacks and straight incline drives. We climbed over rocks and jumped over streams and once even ran out of water on our way up. We contemplated a stream. George thought it was safe to drink. Stephanie filled up the bottle. I found some hikers right at that moment and asked them how much further form the top. George asked them on a scale of 1-10 how safe this water was to drink.
"Don't" was their reply. They had a ton of extra water so they gave us some. It was good because we were all parched and I'd honestly been getting worried. We'd packed for a quick hike, not a 3 hour long adventure up a mountain...
It was overcast and a little chilly when our trail broke through the forest and the wide majestic Rockies opened up before us. The cars on the highway below looked like periods at the end of this sentence. I could barely make out the buildings. We were 10000 feet in the air. Breathing was a little difficult and we stopped often the closer we got to the top. I looked at George at one point as we were resting and my thought process was, forget this trail. I can see the top right there. That's not too steep. Let's just make for it. He thought I was crazy. He really doesn't know me that well.
"You're doing it, aren't you?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm doing it," I said as I turned off the trail. Bless his heart if he didn't turn and follow me. Stephanie followed. There were a couple main ridges to get up. The first was the most difficult because of steepness (things never look as steep from below. The others were difficult because we were determined but exhausted and running out of air.
At the top, we just stood there. My legs were quivering. Stephanie and George kissed. We took some photos, let the dogs drink from a stream at the top and we contemplated the trip down.
We didn't get to the bottom until 7:30. I got back to Grand Junction after 10. I was limping when I got out of my car. I'd txt'd mom a couple times. Something like, "Mom, I'm going to be late, I'm on this mountain..."
Oh, Colorado.
(I took steph's camera up the mountain. I'll post photos when I get to see the pictures!)
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