We did do some work, but we also had fun. One excursion involved an extremely exciting drive up what could laughingly be called a road, followed by a nice summery hike in the woods.
Which turned out to be not quite as summery as we expected, although it certainly was nice.
In my next post I'll show you some of the scenery on offer during the hike, but today let me just tell you about the adventurous part.
This picture of our road was taken soon after we began our drive, on the section we later called the "freeway." The narrowness you see here persisted as the road climbed, augmented by hellacious boulders and ruts. Our conveyance was the magnificent Beast, which I've written about before. We sincerely don't think we'd have made it as far up the road as we did in any other vehicle.
Our goal was to drive [or lumber] to Boss Lake, and then hike from there up to the next lake. The higher lake is Hunt Lake, a lovely area where we've backpacked/camped often in years past.
However, the road was just too much. (Probably not too much for the Beast, but too much for Henry!) So we stopped at one of the very few turnout spots and got ready to hike.
Just in time for a rather impressive snow/sleet/hail event. There was even thunder! Perhaps at that point we should have reconsidered our plan...as it looks like Henry is doing here:
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| note snow/hail starting to pile up on the wiper blades...it got higher! |
It wasn't really too cold, although we had to keep looking up at the cloudy skies rather apprehensively, wondering if another storm might be in our future.
When we got close to Boss Lake, the trail occasionally started looking like this:
Our first thoughts about this: Alright! Snow! People back home would be so jealous!
Past the lake, not surprisingly, there was more and more and more snow! When you gain elevation, this is what happens. Which we knew, but we really wanted to get to Hunt Lake...
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| this was a particularly bad section |
Needless to say, our initial glee at seeing so much snow ebbed pretty quickly. So how do you hike in these conditions? How do you even follow the trail?
Well, fortunately, another intrepid adventurer had blazed a trail for us. We met him on his way down while we were parking the Beast. So there were footprints...not only useful as trail markers but also as places to step. Very precisely. To avoid, as much as possible, snow entering the boots.
It was a pretty little glade and I amused myself while there taking snaps of photogenic rocks and trees in the snow...
We trusted these footprints, since we figured that only a local would be up here by himself in the morning, hiking. So he probably knew where he was going.
However, unfortunately the prints eventually gave out. Our intrepid benefactor must not have been as keen to get to Hunt Lake as we were.
Or, should I say, as Henry was. Because finally I decided, after seeing the snow getting deeper and deeper, and not seeing any more of our friend's prints, to let discretion be the better part of valor and call my hike to a halt.
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| here's where I stopped |
...as well as also spending some time finding the best living tree to shelter under when we had yet another snow/sleet event. Fortunately, not as lengthy as the one while we were in the car.
Eventually the sun even came out, which was quite welcome. I had almost come to the point of taking my last layer out of my pack to put on. But it's always best to leave that last layer until the bitter end of an outdoor excursion in the Rockies, just in case it gets really cold. And I was happy that I didn't ever get to that point.
Not too long before I was going to give up on him and start back on my own, Henry made his appearance:
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| notice the sunlight! |
Whew! What a workout! But it was really fun, we weren't ever really in any danger of getting lost or frostbitten, and the scenery was wonderful.
Here's a preview of the scenic shots I'll show you next time:
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