SATURDAY, 8/4

SAT, 8/4:   

      Woke up to a very cool morning – probably in the 40’s!  Put on sweats while preparing breakfast, and by the time we ate it outside, the temp felt perfect.  Knew we wanted to take a hike, but weren’t sure which one . . . sought advice from a couple of rangers; ultimately, we think it was the Lord’s hand which guided us to the one we took:  the Ute trail, which connects Milner Pass with Fall River Pass.  One of our guidebooks described it as being one of the most beautiful trails in the Park, with only moderate exertion, but very lightly traveled because of logistical issues – it’s 4 miles with an elevation change of over 1,000 feet – so few people can do a round trip in a day, and therefore need a shuttle at both ends.  We had no illusions of doing that, but thought we could do maybe half of it and turn around.  When we arrived at the Milner Pass parking lot, it was totally full, and the 1^st overflow area we came to was, as well.  We drove on some 500 yards longer, discouraged & intending to turn around & do an alternate hike, when we saw yet another turnout which had parking room.  So we decided to go for it.  Are we ever glad we did!  It was one of the BEST hikes either one of us had ever done.

      Started out pretty steep, past some stunning colored huge rocks, then went into sub-alpine woods on both sides of the trail. Fairly steep & crooked for about ½ mile.  Challenged Bill, even with his walking sticks.  Actually, it wasn’t his so much his legs as it was his breathing – we were at nearly 10,800 feet.  But he thought that if he got rid of most of the weight of his backpack, the “Camel backpack” which holds a lot of water,  and the tripod he was also carrying in it, that would help him.  So I took the Camel backpack, and he affixed the tripod to his belt, and it made a big difference.   And after a while, the trail evened out to a gentle ascent.  It was a sublimely beautiful alpine trail.  Every so often, I’d get a fresh breath-ful of the overwhelming fragrant fir & pine & spruce.  Smelt heavenly. We’d just stand there and breathe it in deeply, looking at the absolutely flawless deep blue sky above, the varying shades of green around us, and the scattered boulders.  Then, after a mile or so, the enclosed forest opened up into lovely meadows and overlooks among the trees

      After a couple of miles or more, it really opened up, and near our turn-around point, opened up into one of the most beautiful vistas we’ve seen.  Called “Forest Canyon Pass,” it was another 360 degree awesome panorama. This was at 11,320 feet – a gain of about 560 feet.  We just stayed there and appreciated the view and took pictures for a while. We could see above us the Alpine Visitor Center, and the Mushroom Rocks where we had been a couple of days earlier.  We were both feeling pretty good, and briefly considered hiking the remainder of the way to the Alpine Visitor Center, which we figured was another 2 miles or so. But decided against it, as it had taken us 3 hours to get this far, and even when we took into account that it was a more gradual ascent now, and the several stops we had made during the 1^st mile or so, our  (primarily Bill’s) reason told us that we’d better not bite off more  than we could chew.  As Bill said, “I don’t want to turn a fantastic experience into one that I couldn’t wait to end!”  So we began our descent.

      It turned out that was the absolutely right decision.  Bill’s knees started to bother him as we got into the bottom ½ mile, and we were both getting fatigued.  And we stopped at the Visitor Center near home and asked if we missed much by not going all the way up, and if they’d recommend us returning the next day and starting at the other end, and covering the part we missed today.  The Ranger said we’d actually gone all but 1-1/2 miles from the top, and said that if we’d seen Forest Canyon Pass, we’d seen most of the spectacular views.

    When we realized that we’d gone more than half-way, we felt pretty proud of ourselves, especially considering that we did it averaging about 1 mile/hr, which another Ranger told us the next day was what he allowed for his group walks. 

    We agreed that it was one of the best hikes either of us experienced – beauty of varying kinds – enclosed woods, and wide open expanses; very few people (the parking lot full of cars must have belonged to folks doing the shuttle, and were far ahead of us); and an absolutely gorgeous day all day long -  not even a hint of a raincloud today!  We felt as if the entire day was God’s special gift to us.  

Got home around 7 or so and ate leftover ribs.Still tasted good!Then I went up to the rec room to post some previous entries and watched the Olympics in the background.