Day 3 (Taking a Hike)

Our day began with a barbaric yawn over this particular rooftop (that's the view from our campsite!)






And continued a mile or so away at the nearest Ranger Station, where a variety of hikes were explained to us. The moment those three little words — "much more difficult" — escaped the Ranger's lips, I knew which hike was right for me. Unfortunately, neither Washington nor the Ranger agreed (something about "altitude sickness" and "being above treeline when storm activity is likely").


So we went on an 8-mile jaunt with an 800-foot elevation gain (we were already 8,500 feet above sea level). Nothing too strenuous, but definitely a shock to a system more accustomed to hiking gentle Midwestern plains.



Though the bottoms were damaged by rocks at the day's end, I was happy to be wearing these nifty little contraptions, which kept my feet nice and comfy for most of the hike.



I brought the walking stick mostly in case of mountain lions, though we didn't really see any of our natural predators... aside from this little baby rattlesnake. Note the stub, which will eventually become a rattle.


[There was bear dung at our campsite, by the way... but I'll spare you that photo.]





We also saw several "Ptarmigan," (what's the plural?), which apparently think you can't see them if they stand really, really still...






I tried to make the hike a tad more challenging by climbing on the occasional rock formation...













I did this until Washington informed me there were Forest Rangers walking behind us, and that climbing on undesignated formations was "prohibited"... I found out later that both pieces of information were outrageous lies designed to hurry along our hike. I'll get him back later for that one.

The hike was over some four hours after it began. By this point the bottoms of my feet were starting to ache, but I was otherwise fine. I even had some water left in my Camelbak!





























But when I sat down in the passenger seat, exhaustion hit. We were both ready for a nap, but wanted to make the most of the remaining daylight.

So we drove further up until we were about 12,000 feet above sea level. This was fun for me as a passenger, as the trip was rather scenic. But the roads were also quite narrow... not to mention, they twist, turn, and offer VERY few guardrails.

Washington, as pilot, did not enjoy this drive. If I could figure out how to post video, you'd get to hear just what, exactly, he thought about it (suffice it to say, the video would get an "R" rating, for language alone).

But the view was great at overlooks, and we got to see several of these little critters... all of which seem to have benefitted from tourists unable to read the ubiquitous "PLEASE DON'T FEED" signs.

[Post backdated according to actual date of travel.]