Epic journey

I've been pretty lazy the last few days up here in the high Rockies (Garfield, CO, elevation 9600'). There's been some great soccer to watch, wonderful scenery just out my window, and cool breezes most of the time.

So I don't have much to blog about now that I'm at my final destination of the trip. But I hope you'll agree that I'm entitled to a little R&R after you see the road I had to travel to get here.

Actually, I didn't have to come the way I did, as there are other roads that take you from the Pacific to the Atlantic drainage in Colorado. But the most direct route from Grand Junction to Garfield isn't particularly scenic (although this is a relative assessment up here). And an even more adventurous route than the one I chose involved some unpaved driving, and I've never been particularly fond of that.

So, with my sister's encouragement [typical comment: "it's not nearly as scary as Red Mountain Pass on 550 and I do that all the time"] I took off east on I-70 Thursday morning, exiting at Glenwood Springs on CO 82, with my sights on the second highest pass in the state (the first one takes you across Rocky Mountain National Park). Independence Pass. Where, as a child experiencing altitude for the first time, I ran around and then thought I was dying when I started to wheeze.

As you can sort of see in the photo of the Pass sign above on the right, it's well above treeline, so there are wide meadows that looked pretty inviting for a kid who'd been stuck in a car for hours. Nowadays, we have a better appreciation of the fragility of the alpine tundra ecosystem, and so there's a paved path to which your walking (or running) is restricted.

But getting to the Pass is the adventure! I have never done much driving in the mountains except on pretty nice, wide roads, and was more than a little anxious about attempting the long, very narrow, and very curvy road up to the pass. And I did take advantage of many of the pullouts along the ascent. For several reasons: 1) to let less wimpy drivers pass me by, 2) to take pictures, and 3) to take deep, calming breaths before tackling the next section.

Unfortunately, for my anxiety level, on the way up the northern side of the pass, you're in the outside lane. Fine, or almost fine, if no one is coming the other way, but if they are, then you have to be all the way over into your very narrow lane, and there's not a lot of real estate between you and the edge of the mountain. The picture on the left will give you some idea of how this looks, although it was taken at one of the pullouts and not while I was in motion!

Most of the time the road is wide enough that there is actually a center stripe, but there are a few sections, which I came to dread, where the road was really just one-and-a-half-lanes wide. Talk about white knuckles on the steering wheel!

Here's another shot of the road ahead from one of the pullouts:

As you can see, the weather was gorgeous. If it had been raining or precipitating in any other way, I might not be here to tell the tale. The road is completely closed in winter, which at these altitudes is a majority of the year.

I had a nice rest and walk at the top (a nice, slow, walk, remembering my childhood fright!) and as you can see I had plenty of company. Fortunately not all those cars were on the road at the same time!

I was a little worried, as I took in the amazing views on offer at the top of the pass, about what the descent was going to be like. But it turned out to be not nearly as exciting at the road up. There weren't any of the really narrow stretches, and by using my engine braking, I was able to keep my speed down well enough to take the hairpins at a comfortable, secure pace. You know it's going to be a real hairpin when the warning sign suggests 10 mph, as this one did!

It really is a gorgeous, awe-inspiring place, and it's worth the journey. Although I will happily let Henry do the driving next time we come this way. However, I have proved to myself that I can do something like this if I need to, and that's a nice thing to learn about yourself at my advanced age.

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Happy Fourth of July, everyone!