A couple of trips to the 11,000' level showed us some fabulous scenery. And for one of the junkets we didn't even have to do any climbing!
We rode the Monarch Pass gondola (that I last rode in 2009), wisely in the morning before the clouds rolled in, and had spectacular vistas in all directions. In the shot above you can see not only the vintage cars but the nearby ski area in the background. The photo was taken on our walk down, since we thought that small amount of exercise would be a good way to help us acclimate to the thin air....
....so that a few days later we could self-propel ourselves up to almost the same height. We took a dayhike up to one of the loveliest settings in the area, Waterdog Lakes. (Also hiked to in 2009, although then we got there from above, not via the steep trail up from the highway!)
The views are worth it, but, boy! that trail is steep! I guess gondola infrastructure would spoil the beauty of the trail environment, but occasionally I wished for something like that. Maybe a Star Trek transporter would work?
But a picnic place like this, all to ourselves (there were a lot of folks coming up the trail as we were on our way down, but we were the early birds and caught the worm of solitude up at the lake)...well, let's just say it is worth it!
Early birds also are rewarded with plenty of sunshine and white puffy clouds, instead of the rather ominous gray ones that habitually roll in later in the day....
We like to think that we used up enough calories so that a yummy dinner at the Twisted Cork in Salida that evening didn't result in weight gain. But since I somehow keep forgetting to take the scales out of the closet, who knows?!
A quick trip up north to Breckinridge is on tap for the weekend, so look for some pictures of another part of this great state in a few days.
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