Rocky Mountain High...smoke but not that kind!

allyphelps7
Mar 11, 2021
5 min read

March madness. Could be something to do with basketball....could be something to do with the weather. It shouldn't be a surprise that the days will often warm up to a toasty fifty-something maybe even sixty-something degrees, and within a few hours can plummet to freezing cold again. It can be crazy-making for those of us that get cold in August, and wear coats even while indoors (maybe that's just me). I've always told my children "If we can make it to March guys, then we've beat winter!" So here we are. It's March. And the forecast shows snow for tomorrow. My youngest grins because he's a snow-boarder and he lives for fresh powder on the mountains. I walk around the yard and look for green things to sprout up from the dry, crunchy brown leaves of iris and other early-spring perennials, check on the compost pile, look for nests in the trees since I saw several birds gathering twigs and grass last Saturday, then wrap my coat tighter around my shoulders and go back inside and start fantasizing about our next warm weather hike. Maybe Capitol Reef in southern Utah. It's not too far a drive and it'll be a great chance to try out my new hiking shoes.

Dave and I both needed new shoes. I also desperately needed inserts for my shoes. Plantar Fasciitis. It's a beast. We went to the Salt Lake Running Company https://saltlakerunning.com/ and were given most excellent customer service. The employees were incredibly helpful and patient to get both of us fit for the perfect shoes and inserts specific to our individual needs. While trying on several pairs of shoes, we struck up a conversation about different hikes around the area. I was reminded of our hike last summer to the Colorado Blue Lake Trail. Incredibly beautiful. But I'm not so certain I could do that hike again with my foot feeling the way it does right now. Doctor's orders, "Put your shoes on even if you have to get up to use the bathroom in the night." Well....that's a bit extreme. I purchased some socks that are specific to my problem and I haven't wanted to take them off hardly to even shower. So. Much. Relief.

On the way home from the shoe store, I pulled out my phone and searched through my gallery of photos from that hike in Colorado. Okay fine. I'd do that hike again tomorrow. Only because now I don't feel like a nail is poking into my heel with each step of my right foot.

Above the timber-line

We took the hike in late August of last year. We had been told that if we'd gotten there just a couple of weeks earlier, the flowers would have been breathtaking. Darn. The drive to the trail-head was several miles of dirt-road. Often with slow-moving cattle walking across it. We know now that we should have gotten there at first light. It's a long, rigorous hike and we had very little time at the lake before needing to head back. The path was mostly well-groomed with very few large rocks to navigate around. Probably our biggest hurdle was the amount of smoke in the air from a control-burn being done by the Forest Service several miles away. The smoke made for beautiful pictures, but also a burning feeling in our lungs if we moved too quickly.

Beautiful! And. Oh. So. Very. STEEP!

The altitude change was rapid. Every now and then we'd ask hikers passing us going the other direction, "How much further?", and the answer always, "Keep going! It's worth it, you don't have that much more to go!" Finally, we could see the hint of blue water up ahead through the pine trees. A few hikers had already set up small tents and were staying the night by the lake. Dave and I agreed we'd best hustle back down as quickly as possible. It was going to be a different sort of difficult going back and now we were racking against losing daylight.

Finally made it to the lake! The freezing cold lake

A few lupines still blooming. And that smoky haze....

About half-way down, we met a couple who were young and moving quite quickly. We walked with them a little ways and they told us they really needed to hurry since their phones were nearly out of battery power. Dave offered them our cordless battery charger, and told them to just leave it on the hood of our car when they got back to the parking lot. A couple miles further, we ran into a young man hiking alone. He was playing music on his phone which at first I found a bit annoying. "I'm here to disconnect from the world..." I thought. He struck up a conversation with us. He was from Missouri, had graduated college and had taken a couple of years to travel Europe by himself, and was now looking to settle somewhere. He had an awesome camera and showed me some of the pictures he took of the lake. He admitted that he was playing music on his phone because the day before he'd spotted a baby bear. He stayed with us the entire rest of the hike.

The sun had gone down by the time we made it back to the parking lot. A quick visit to the out-house and then straight to the van to change shoes and put on some warmer clothes. (We should have packed some extra layers). And yes. There on the hood of the van was the phone charger. People are good. We started up the van and turned on the heater (cuz I'm that delicate one that gets cold easily lest we forget), and headed to Ridgeway to get some dinner. I was famished!

I hope someone else would have done the same for one of our children!

Not too many options for open restaurants by the time we got into the little town, but boy am I so glad that "True Grit Cafe" was! https://truegritcafe.com/ Was it that we had hiked such a long, difficult hike? Was it the atmosphere of the cozy warm wood walls and furnishings and photo gallery and the incredible friendly waitress? Who knows. Who cares?! She brought out our food quickly. And it was just soooooo delicious. While we waited for our dessert, we checked the weather report. High winds, and an early and heavy snow storm was expected in Denver where we were planning to go visit our daughter. She messaged us that with the amount of snow coming their way, we'd better not make the trip. The same storm was headed to Utah as well. Not wanting to get caught driving on slick roads we got dessert to go, skipped the hotel stay, and headed home on a full tank and adrenaline.

True Grit Cafe! Delicious food and delightful service!

The best slice of mud-pie I've ever had

Highlights of our 2020 Colorado trip were driving the "Million Dollar Highway". Google it. It's breath-taking. The little town of Ouray (locals say the correct pronunciation is "your-ray") I'd like to stay a week in that town just walking up and down the side-walks and checking out the little shops. And the architecture! But mostly, my favorite thing always, is the people. To be out of my own small world and explore the larger world around me, and to re-discover over and over again how important human connections are. Sometimes we need solitude, and to get in touch with nature. More often we need to connect with each other. I just don't want to connect with the mother of that baby bear.