Reid's Peak, Uinta Mountains, UT

What a great adventure we had today!  When last we hiked with Bryce to the Notch, he pointed out Reid's Peak, a huge pile of rocks that has no trail to it, and it looked so fun that we went out to try it today.  Here's what it looks like in the morning sun....

We had to find our way, and that was really fun.  There's a saddle to the right of the peak that's just out of the picture, and that was our first goal.  Soon, however, we discovered we were not alone!  A family of mountain goats were watching our progress and seemed a bit nervous about us, even though I wouldn't even THINK of going where they were.

The going got pretty steep pretty quick, and the dwarf spruce trees were both a blessing (hand holds) and a problem (hard to push your way through them).

We made the saddle without much trouble (aside from some uncharacteristic trepidation from one of the crew, who will remain anonymous), ((but her initials are Sue)).  I was having a great time, and even taking a moment to smell the roses (ok, take pictures of the Indian Paintbrush).

We followed the path that the mountain goats had made (that should have been a clue!)...

...which dumped us out onto the shoulder of the peak (not the top), which consisted of nothing but an enormous rock field that was mostly loose and unstable, and at more than a 45 degree angle!

(I promise...this is WAY steeper than it looks!)  Finding no way to safely ascend this talus slope, and seeing that a misstep would end back in that meadow where I took the first picture of the day, we opted to live to hike another day and headed back down.  We were tantalizingly close to the summit (we thought, but later learned we weren't so close after all) but it simply was not worth the risk.  We had a lovely trip back through meadows of flowers and ROCKS (I like rocks, can you tell?), and I was fortunate to snap these last two pictures of two kinds of beauty...my bright, shiny, happy, adventurous daughter Kate, (with my beautiful wife Sue in the background, taking pictures as usual),

and a lovely stand of Monk's Hood among the Skunk Cabbage.

Wow.  I feel so very blessed to be able to spend time with these two ladies that I love so very much in a place that makes my heart glad.  I am, of all men, most fortunate.

Notch Mountain, Uinta Mountains, UT

Between naps and eating, we're getting into the glorious high mountains pretty regularly.  This trip was with my brother Bryce, with Stephen, Sue, and Kate.  It is wonderful to be hiking with Bryce again.  When I first moved to UT in 1982 he was, and ever has been, a mountaineering mentor to me. After several years of ill health he is finally back to hiking and is unstoppable.  This was a lovely point to point trail that was advertised as 8 miles but turned out to be 10...Bonus!  More time in the hills!  The weather was one of those perfect days with blue mountain skies, white puffy clouds (that didn't rain or lightning on us), a cool breeze right when we needed it, wildflowers, lakes, rocks.....I need to slow down, I think my heart is racing and my blood pressure is going up!  If God had come to me and asked for suggestions on how to make the day better, I would have had none!  The trail starts in the woods...

...and follows this lovely stream pretty much the whole way.  Eventually the trail climbs to The Notch, a saddle that splits Notch Mountain in half.   We stopped at this lake just before the pass to admire the scenery, eat, and enjoy the breeze.

Even the Boy Scouts we encountered weren't loud and obnoxious!  It was an exquisite day and we all slept well that night.  I'm happy to report that my lungs are doing very well and my legs are getting stronger with every hike.  As I said to Stephen the other day, "this kind of thing could make a man not want to get a job!"

Bald Mountain, Uinta Mountains, UT

We've been at our cabin in the mountains for several weeks now, and have have some great adventures.  Zack and Leah came to visit from Portland, and we had to take them on our traditional Bald Mountain hike.  I once carried 10 year old April up Baldy because of a broken foot, but that's a different story ("April, sing me a song while I carry you"....Ok Daddy......."Here comes the ox cart, oh how slow, its pulled by an ox of course you know".....I was NOT inspired.).  Baldy isn't a long hike, but it has a lot of bank for the buck!

We had to hurry off of the peak because of an arriving thunder storm, but we were safely off of the high ground before the hail and rain started, and almost to the car before the lightning and thunder!  It was a great hike and even Biscuit the dog survived the drenching.  She probably travelled the human equivalent of about 400 miles in that 4 hour period!

Another fun thing we got to do was buy two new mattress sets for the cabin (long overdue, says my aching back!).  When you buy mattresses in Evanston, WY, and your house is 30 miles away in the mountains, you don't even ask about delivery....that's a self-help endeavor.  So, we strapped all four pieces onto our Big Blue Magic Carpet and headed on down the road!

The problem is, it is WINDY in WY!  Every couple of miles I had to stop, get out, shove the whole load back to the other side of the van where it belonged (crosswind) and then amble along at about 4O mph.  But we got them there and my back is much more at ease.

Also, thanks to my brother Todd, I have a new hobby, Whittling!  My first project was a bit challenging, but I got it done and had a blast doing it.  Its called a ball in a cage, and its carved from one solid piece of wood (my grandson, Stephen, was not impressed).  Next time I'll try to whittle a nuclear reactor to power the TV and maybe he'll give me a little more respect!

That's what's happening with us.  Sue is in Heaven here in the Rockies (as am I) and we don't want to ever leave again.  AND WE DON'T HAVE TO!!!!!

Holy Cross Wilderness, CO

Finally, we got to go backpacking!  Oh how long we have waited to be all dirty and sweaty and eat freeze dried food and wear bug repellant and sleep in a cocoon inside a flimsy nylon house!  Oh, and what's better, we got to carry everything we had on our backs!  It was awesome.  We hiked the Missouri Pass/Fancy Pass trail in the Holy Cross Wilderness.  Day one was a fairly steep trail to Missouri Lakes, the trail following the lovely Missouri Creek the whole way.  

The vegetation was absolutely lush for the high Rockies because its been a good rain year in the high country.  We saw Indian Paintbrush that was the most lovely magenta color…a shade I've never seen.  There were also abundant Bluebells and Harebells, and rocks and trees, and almost no humidity!  I love the West!  Kate, Sue and I were joined by our son in law Stephen, and it was a great group to travel with.  It rained a little after we had the tents up, but cleared quickly and gave us a beautiful sunset that lit up the surrounding mountains.  That's right, we were SURROUNDED by mountains!!!  That made us all really happy, and I could feel the scales and burdens falling away as we gained altitude and my eyes feasted on the high country. This place gives me renewed life, and I was absolutely loving it.

Day two had us climbing to Missouri Pass, the last part of which had me kick-stepping in snow for Sue and Kate to follow.  It was a  good climb, but the rewards at the top were clearly worth it!

Stephen took a dip in the lake at the bottom of this pass which gave him "manly" bragging rights for the rest of the day.  We then set our sights on climbing Fancy Pass on the way to our destination at Fancy Lake.  Unlike many trails in UT that are designed for horse travel, these trails were not, so they were steep.  Coloradans seem to believe in the adage that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and they don't worry about how steep or rocky that straight line is!  The far side of Fancy Pass presented us with a snowfield descent.  Normally, glissading down a snowfield would be a welcome thing to do, but with a fairly heavy backpack, that becomes pretty treacherous.  But, we took our time and made it down safely.

Fancy Lake was a great place to stop for the night, and I trekked across the lake to take a shower in the waterfall on the far side (see below).  Stephen said it did not equal his manly lake dip, but I was ok with that.

Day three took us on a side trip to an abandoned mining town, Holy Cross City.  We met two old-timers there who agreed to let us take their picture.

 

The walk out was every bit as beautiful as the walk in, and I found myself going slower and slower, looking around and enjoying every sight, flower, cascade and the smell of fir trees.  I simply did not want to leave!  When we came to the last bridge crossing, I looked at Sue and asked, "Do we have to go?"  Surprisingly to me, I had tears in my eyes as I asked that question.  I really didn't want to leave!  It had been such a blessed trip, with wonderful weather, wonderful companions, a wonderful absence of back pain, and a really wonderful loop trail.  At one point I told Stephen, "this kind of stuff is enough to make a man never want to get a job again!"  Here's to many, many more nights spent sleeping outside above 10,000 feet!

Eagle Peak

So, after a visit to my new doctor, and a great little white pill that calms my lungs down, I've found the air and am breathing normally again.  In celebration, we went to one of our favorite Academy hikes, Eagle Peak.  The Eagle Peak trail is steep.  The it gets steeper.  Then it comes to a beautiful meadow ringed with Aspen trees.  Then it gets steeper again!  It follows a small stream most of the way up, so we were serenaded by water for a lot of the climb.  The view from the top was wonderful!  360 degrees of mountains, mountains, and Kansas.  Pikes Peak was out in its glory, and the Cadet Tow Planes hummed overhead (we call them Lawn Mowers in the Sky, and they are a constant drone all summer long as the Cadets learn to fly gliders).  One gave us a wing wave as he passed over the peak.  The fat chipmunk on the peak wanted a handout, but we didn't oblige.  The weather was perfect and it was great to be back on a rocky peak in the mountains that we love.  This was a great re-introduction to hiking, and now that I can breathe it will be a lot more satisfying!

First Adventure

Ok, it was a little adventure, but it was nice.  We went to the AF Academy today and hiked a long time family favorite, Stanley Canyon.  The problem is that this trail starts at about 8,000 feet and goes just about straight up for 2 miles.  I didn't make it that far.  My legs were willing but my lungs just couldn't find where they had hidden the air!  I soldiered on to the waterfall, which was covered in mountain bluebells, and soaked my head and tried really hard to breathe.  We decided that that was enough for today, and started back down, because a heart attack is an adventure I do not want to have.  The great news is that I've finally found some hiking boots that my feet really like!  Keens are shaped like feet!  It was a lovely hike in a beautiful place that we love.  We spent the rest of the day with Sarah in her new apartment, building a bookshelf and a TV stand and taking her shopping. Kate and I have gotten really good at building things together, so we'll hire out for cheap if anyone needs help.  Sarah's doing great and is very happy to be back in CO.  On the way home to Denver, we watched a HUGE storm over the greater Denver area, from the Front Range way out into Kansas, with tons of lightning all over the place.  I love Rocky Mountain thunder storms...lightning spidering across the sky is a marvel!  Tomorrow I'm off to the medical supply store to buy a backpack sized oxygen tank!  I love the mountain air, but I guess I need to get the collective goo from too many years at sea level out of my system before things get to running smoothly.  And don't go thinking this has something to do with age....like my dad used to say when he played tennis at 72 years old and couldn't get to the ball like he used to, "I just need to do it more".  That's my plan!!

 The Garneys are now in Denver, CO.  We had a completely uneventful trip across the great plains (man, I don't envy Daniel Boone; the forests of Kentucky looked completely impassible, so thick it would be hard to walk in) and Kansas was beautiful and green AND YOU COULD SEE FOREVER!  I love the openness of the west.  I saw the first antelope!  The Best Western in Frankfort, KY was great, but I don't recommend the Abilene, KS Super 8….smelly!  The people were nice, though.  We got here in great shape (I think the rear wheel bearings on the Ford are shot, but it made it) and were welcomed by our kids and grandkids.  Its great to be in their home.  On thursday night we went to the Independence Eve Celebration in downtown Denver, and they had the most rapid-fire fireworks I've ever seen, launched from the top of the City Hall!  I almost bailed out during the pre-fireworks festivities when two bands entertained the CROWD (Oh my Gosh).  One was out of its league in such a big, open venue and the other was way too loud (for me, the old guy).  Anyway we met up with the Fernelious family who left the Springfield ward 6 months ago and had a nice time.  So, no real adventures yet, thank goodness, but we're adapting the the loving arms of high altitude air and cool evenings.  The mountains are beautiful and are still holding snow, and the wildflowers are gorgeous!  We're planning our first backpacking trip for next week…the only problem being where to go?!