Final Pictures from Silverton

It's possible Cassie sees the squirrel in the tree.

Tina in front of a waterfall

Missy looking down into the abyss

Missy looking up at me

Spotting her line through the wood

Looking for dropped keys.  Just kidding!

Pictures from Ice Lake Hike

Ice Lake Basin Trail

June 17-19, 2012

Sunday –

Missy decided to go hike the Ice Lake Basin Trail today.  This trailhead is right by the pay campground at the end of our forest road.   It seemed like it was a popular hike, because each time we rode our bike to the campground that parking lot was always full.   We had a brochure that showed the trail on a map, but it didn’t give any information about how long the trail was.    Since I was feeling lazy, Missy went pioneering by herself (well, not completely by herself because Cassie went along).

While Missy was away hiking, I was getting busted by the fuzz.  Kinda.   Today was the end of our allowed 14 days, and at 3 pm the ranger came by.   I explained our issue with the tire and how it won’t be here until Wednesday.  He seemed like he wasn’t too excited, but in the end he said he understood that emergencies happen.   I chatted him up a bit and we parted on good terms.   When I told him how we’d been looking for the rapid from our book, he was shocked that Lime Creek road was listed as a run in printed literature.   He knows it, of course, because it’s part of his beat (there are free campground sites on that road).   I guess he’s never seen kayakers there and I showed him the pages describing the run so he’d know what we’d been looking for.    Strange.   The book did mention that getting on this run is tricky.   You need perfect luck to find the sweet spot whereby there’s adequate snow run-off, but yet not too much snow that the road is unpassable.   Stupid Lime Creek Road.

Missy came back limping and busted up at dinner time.    She had a minor accident on the way back to the car, within sight of the car.   Tee-hee.   Is it mean to laugh?   She said she looked up from the trail for a second and then stepped on a rock, which twisted her weak-as-newborn-kitten’s ankle and caused her to skid in the gravel.   She has a nice road rash on her shin.  She also had tales of an amazing trail. 

We looked this up later, but we found that this trail is described as having the best views in Colorado.    That’s really saying something.   Missy said the hike was amazeballs.   You get to start out in the forest, and make your way up and into clearings with 360 degree views.   Then you go back into the forest for peekaboo views of cliffs and waterfalls.   The climb is just as high as our epic mountain climb from earlier.   So it’s tough and slow going on the way up.   Missy mentioned the weird behavior of mosquitos on the upper forest trail.   She said when she stopped for breaks, they would swarm her and she’d be covered.   But as soon as she started climbing again, they disappeared.    Missy had to turn around before she made it to the end of the trail because we had dinner plans.    But since this hike sounded so incredible, I was determined to hike to Ice Lake the next day.

Monday-

For some reason, we got up super early today.   Since it’s cold in the mornings, we passed some time playing scrabble.   I wanted to wait until it got to at least 50 degrees before heading out for my turn on ILBT.  I finally got underway at 9.    The weather was perfect, and the trail was mostly empty.   (On Missy’s hike, she passed lots of people).      This hike…is incredible.   What an awesome display of nature, just there for the taking! 

-Such a surreal experience…the trail in spots was so narrow and was perched next to a sheer drop-off that you literally could not take your eyes off the trail.   I once foolishly tried to look up and around at the mountains, and I almost went down the drop-off.   Strange to have to actually stop if you wanted to take in the scenery.

-It was amusing to see that Missy described the mosquitos correctly.  I’ve never seen anything like it.   On that super steep section, I’d be sucking wind after 10-15 feet.   But like Missy said, if you stopped moving, the squitos came out.    But when I got moving again, I was sooooooo slow.   There’s no way a MN mosquitos wouldn’t have gotten me while I was moving.   I wonder why they didn’t attack when I was moving?  It turned out to be a great motivator to get your butt in gear again quickly!

-After 1hour50minutes, I finally made it to the huge basin clearing and ice lake.  Or so I thought.   At that point, there wasn’t any one around.   I knew there were 2 teenage girls ahead of me, but I didn’t see them anywhere.   I finally decided they must have made it to the tent that was across the meadow.   I sat down to enjoy the day, and then I spotted 2 ants moving up the mountain across the way.   It was the hikers…the trail continued on!     I was bummed that I wasn’t at the end of the trail, but I wasn’t at all tempted to go on.    The proportions in Colorado can be mindbending.   While the meadow and the opposing cliff seemed small and intimate, the meadow must have been a mile across.  (Basing this on several other pairs of hikers who came along and how long it took them to cross).    As we read later, the trail makes a dramatic and somewhat dangerous turn up at that point.  You gain a ridiculous amount of elevation in a short period, and have to manage it on a scree-type surface.   I sat in the basin for almost an hour, and those girl hikers never came back along down.   So it’s got to be a long way to the end of the trail.   Later, I googled the hike (to see the trail map and deets on distance and elevation).  It sounds like I missed out on even more amazing stuff, with cascading waterfalls and fields of wildflowers.  Drat.  (Here’s the link, if you are inspired to learn more:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/497596 )

-I have to say, not having a snowpack this year is a mixed blessing.   While it sucks to not be able to kayak…without this dry patch we would not be able to enjoy these fantastic hikes.  As the ranger pointed out to me…usually at this time of the year, this campground and the trails are still snow covered.   So we’ll take the pain of no flowage in exchange for enjoying Colorado on dry land!

Tuesday-

Our last day at Sultan camp.   Sniff.   It will be tough to leave this amazing site.   To commemorate our last day, we drove to the end of the road and parked to walk up the creek.  This is the same hike that Missy did way back at the beginning of our stay.  It was hot today, so a waterfalls hike is just the refreshing activity called for.   I had seen the pictures from Missy’s hike, but like I’ve been saying all along, pictures just don’t do justice.   I was delighted with the hike, each level up offering a new waterfall and a new vista to the ones we’d just visited.   We spent a couple of hours enjoying the views and hiking up and down the couple hundred yard stretch.  I really started to get sad as I looked around at the views for the last time.   I worry that no place we visit in the future will compare with our time in with our time in Colorado.   Are we spoiled for the rest of the country?  I did posit that perhaps we wouldn’t care so much about surroundings if we found a place with whitewater.  :-)   I would have been happy to spend the rest of the day staring at the water, but Missy got whiny about the mosquitos and biting flies.  So we headed back for camp.   

Tomorrow morning we will pack up and move to a private campground in town.   We will dump our tanks, possibly fill up on water (depending on if our next destination has water or not), do laundry and take long hot showers.   We will research and make a final decision on where to head next.  We will also get our new tire installed.   Thanks to the National Forest Service for sponsoring these 17 days in paradise!

The T.A.H.N.G.V.B.D.

June 15-16

Friday Sucked Ass:

We had an innocent enough objective: drive out to take a look at the Lime Creek run.    It was described in our book as a steep and exciting class 5 run.    Now, we were sure there wasn’t going to be much water, but we still thought it would be a nice hike to look at Adrenaline Rapid.  There was not a hint, a whiff, an inkling of the terrible road conditions on Lime Creek Road.   Sigh.  

We saw the sign that said “Rough Road: 12 miles”.     But we’ve seen those signs before and they’ve just been to advise bigger potholes or the hated washboard striping.   Those can be annoying, but survivable.    This road…this road was hell on earth.   It was like driving on shards of glass with soccer sized rocks placed strategically for maximum pain.  We could only go about 1 mile per hour.   We were having a tough time negotiating all the big rocks because of those stupid low-hanging sway bars.   After an hour or so, we came to a seemingly impassible spot around the halfway mark.   Newly fallen boulders created a narrow slot that made you come within centimeters of the cliff edge.    Clearly other vehicles had been passing by, but our truck was just too big.  We lined up and barely got the front tires between the rocks, and then we had no room to move to clear the back tires.   Missy had clearly had enough, saying “I can’t go back”.  (At that point, we were still holding out hope that the road got better “just ahead”, which is why we never turned around).   The passenger rear tire had to come up and over a sharp wedge point.   I held my breath…and it turned out okay!   I got some pictures, but I don’t think you can appreciate the horrible sharp rock, nor how close we came to the edge.

At this point, we were both mentally drained from the tense ride.   We agreed we were giving up on seeing the run: we just wanted to get out of that minefield.    As we were slowly making our way up the road, we heard it.  POP…HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.   I can’t even summon the energy right now to describe how totally and completely horrifying the feeling was that we were going to have to deal with yet another ruined tire.   We limped forward to a rare shoulder area and started to deal with the flat.   Missy was pretty chill with the whole ordeal.  I was on the edge of tears, so if she hadn’t have held it together so competently, I’m sure we would have Thelma and Louise’d it right then.  I mean, COME ON!   A brand new set of 4 tires purchased when we got this used truck.   And this newly ruined tire represents the 4th and final ruined tire of the set.   I can’t even imagine what it’s like to have a tire last its normal lifespan.   It must be magical.

Changing the tire was painful.   We didn’t know where to put the jack.  I had no reception, so I couldn’t call for help.   We had 2 jacks, and we must have tried 6 or 7  placements.  We just couldn’t get the truck high enough to clear the tire.   Finally we got a big rock, and jerry-rigged a set up to raise the jack.   I’m sure it wasn’t at all safe.   We’d been there about an hour and hadn’t seen a soul.   Just as we got the jack working properly, then 2 sets of hikers and 2 jeeps passed by.   Why couldn’t they have shown up at the beginning?    Anyway, we got the flat tire off.  Then we tried to put the spare on.   Sigh.   Those of you who’ve changed your own tires before probably already knew this, but you need MORE clearance to get an inflated tire on then you need to get the deflated tire off.    Lesson learned the hard way.    We were at the end of the jack…it would not go up more.    I tried getting a big rock and digging a hole, but the dirt was hard packed and it wasn’t working.   So…we lowered the jack again and inserted something else beneath it.  Finally got the needed 2 extra inches and got the spare tire on.    We were dirty and tired and depressed…and we still had 5 more miles of this horrid road to go.    It was even worse agony from this point on, because we were sure that each rock that was unavoidable was going to puncture another tire.   But we made it out at last.

We drove straight to the repair shop (the one that did our rotors/brakes…which work AWESOME!) and went in to buy our 4^th tire of this trip.   Big surprise, they didn’t have our tire in stock.   Worse, their warehouse didn’t have any in stock either.    We went outside to look at our atlas to see about going to a bigger city while the technician made a call to see how expensive it would be to UPS our tire.    Finally, a bit of luck…there was an established freight run between Denver and SLC, so to drop off a tire would just be $3.50.    We went ahead and ordered the tire.   The issue is, it won’t be here until Wednesday.   We only get 14 days in the National Forest campground area, and that time is up on Sunday.    We figure we’ll ask the ranger for an exception to stay until Wed.   There’s such light traffic on Mon/Tues/Wed that we hope he’ll agree.   If not, we’ll have to move to one of the private pay campgrounds in the city.

Saturday –

Today was a recovery day for us.   We went for bike rides in the morning.  After lunch, we went to town to go to the library.   We stayed at the library until closing time, and then headed back to camp.    I wanted to have a campfire, because it was a calm night and the upcoming days are supposed to be windy.   But, since our across-the-creek neighbors were blaring their radio, Missy didn’t want to.   So I went ahead and had a campfire for one.   It was annoying to hear the radio, but otherwise it was a relaxing and peaceful way to recover from the previous day’s stresses.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I got you some pictures from our trip to Ouray!

How scary is this road?  That's a shear dropoff there, with a blind curve for added enjoyment!

Pointing in case you can't see the rapids

I love how the colors turned out in this one!  Green trees, brown mountain, blue skies and white clouds.

Snow culvert!

Missy upstream of the snow culvert

After the culvert calved

Scenic Overlook

Skinny waterfall in the background

HUGE Waterfall.  Doubt you get the idea from this inadequate picture

I love this shot. It seems unreal, like looking at a 3D poster

This is another Picture Post!

Missy uses artistc license to frame the Moose all the way to the left

Moose!

This is the mountain we climbed.  See the lower left quadrant for the waterfall and switchbacks

A great shot from our hike to the rapids

Missy's feet

See Tina in the red?

Who wants to run this with us?

Ouray is Da Bomb Diggity

June 13-14, 2012

Wednesday –

The plan for today was to travel up 550 through Ouray, check out some campgrounds, and then continue on to Montrose for some WallyWorld shopping.   But first, we got in our bike rides.   It was a race to see who could ride to the end of our forest road and back first.   I think it was pretty much a tie.   On my ride, I was feeling all proud and accomplished by how noticeably my fitness had improved.    I decided to ride up the toughest hill without taking a break to prove my incredible fitness.   But then, the GSM said “in your face”, literally.  And forthwith came a strong and unending gust of wind.  I was humbled and had to stop partway up.    At least there’s a great waterfall there to look at while one tries to catch one’s breath.

We headed out on the road after lunch.   We did a little research into possible campgrounds in Ouray.  I didn’t actually find anyone who mentioned any boondocking sites.   However, there were a couple of forest service campgrounds (pay spots).   Up until now, it’s been our experience that where there is mention of the pay campgrounds, there are lots of free sites on the same forest roads.   So we were hoping we’d find something like that in Ouray.    The drive itself was an adventure.   This stretch of road is mentioned as particularly hairy and scary.  With narrow lanes, bendy roads and steep drop-offs, it was sure to be something to write home about.  I was nervous enough as it was, since this was my first time trying to be diligent about using engine braking and not brake-braking.   The roads were very windy, but I think much of it has been improved since the posts we read.   It was a fun ride more than a scary ride.

The arrival into Ouray….holy mackerel.   It was sub-par.*  The mountain ridges staked one in front of the other, created this really strange effect of some kind of super-sight.    I told Missy it was like we were viewing it with 3D glasses.    I tried to get some pictures, but I don’t think I captured the essence of what these mountains look like.    Just when you think you’ve seen the best of Colorado, there’s even more around the corner!    One funny story from the drive: we came upon some road work.  They were doing some “rock work”, which involved having a large crane set up in one of the lanes.  This means they were doing the one-lane at a time using flag-men.   I was stopped first in line at the stop person.   We were on the down-hill side of the mountain.  As we got the go-ahead, I proceed slowly.   I had been going only the posted speed limit the whole way up till this point, to the apparent disgust of the driver behind me who probably wanted to go twice as fast.   Anyway, at the point where the crane was, they had another woman holding the slow/stop sign.   I think she was there in case some rocks dislodged and suddenly blocked the road.   So I go by, in D1 at probably 15 mph, and she mouthed a big “Thank You” and gave us a thumbs-up.   As we got near, she said “thank you, finally, for someone going slow!”.    It made us laugh.  Probably not the guy behind us, though.

As we drove into Ouray, we saw the sign for the forest campgrounds.   At first we shied away from exploring it because more roadwork was going on, and we didn’t think it would have been possible to get the rig through the construction.   But then, we figured as long as we were there, and the mountains were so gorgeous, and since we had working 4WD, then we should go exploring.   So up we went.  It was a bumpy and exciting ride.  Here were the scary windy blind turns with steep drop-offs that get the heart going.   We passed the 2 forest service campgrounds, and both were tent only.   There were no free sites on that road.   I was MAJORLY bummed.  This area is so pretty that I would have loved to spend a couple of weeks here.    We continued up, craning our necks and absorbing our surroundings.   We stopped at one spot that overlooked some rapids.**   (There are probably 50 places that rent jeeps in Ouray, so there was a steady stream of traffic up this 4WD dirt track.   Of all the people, I think Missy and I were the only ones evaluating lines).    This waterfall was interesting because it was headed by a huge snow culvert.  There was a small cut out in the middle (kinda like a tunnel of love thing) and all the water flowed through that small opening and then down through the rapids.  We got some pictures and a video.   After we’d been there a couple of minutes, one side of the snow culvert calved right in front of us!   It was pretty neat.  So I took an after picture too.    The newly loosened snow hunks showed us what the line would be: river center into an immediate pin on the wood.  :-)

We drove up again for a couple of minutes. I wanted to go all the way to Yankee Boy Basin, which is supposed to be a lovely spot filled with wildflowers.   But Missy started to get carsick from the jostling, so we turned around and headed back.    Driving through Ouray, it’s another example of a quaint mountain town geared for tourists.   (Ouray is the Switzerland of America).  It was another 30 minutes to Walmart, where we completed our shopping and headed back home.   The drive back was as scenic as the drive in.   Maybe more so…we pulled over at a scenic overlook and were surprised to see a ginormous waterfall!   It was not at all evident when we had driven over it the other way.    There was a platform built out over the mountain side to facilitate viewing of the waterfall.  It was made of grates.   I was terrified, but I edged my way out onto it so I could enjoy the view.    All in all, this was a great outing, and if you get the chance to drive through Ouray, I’d highly recommend it!

*Happy, Josh?   See his comments from my “It’s Acceptable” post if you are confused. 

**Ask me in person sometime about the funny story of how I scared the crap out of Missy here.

Thursday, –

Today was a designated lazy day.   The weather cooperated, and we had a lovely warm breeze most of the day.   (Yesterday we got the weather on the radio on our drive.   Found out that nearby areas are into 90s in the daytime and 60s for the overnights.   Made us grateful for our nice high spot where the dogs are comfortable and we don’t have to worry about running A/C.   Oh, and we heard about the wildfire in the Fort Collins area.   I guess this is a massive fire raging in the Cache le Poudre area.   We kayaked that last year and loved it.   We had been considering trying to fit it in again this year on the way home, but I guess now that’s out.    I hope the destruction is kept to a minimum).  Around 11ish, I decided to take the dogs for a walk across the creek.   Up until this morning (when tent campers were gone before 7:30!!), it has been occupied by campers.    So I wanted to give the dogs a new spot to sniff out chippies.   For some reason, this turned out to be the exact time that half of Colorado decided to scout campsites.    We had to watch out for many cars.  And some even went and parked on our side of the creek and walked back.    I assumed this meant it would be busy all day (my guess being that more people would tent camp with lows finally out of the freezing range).   But nope.  People only were looking when I wanted to walk the dogs.    That’s about all to report from today.