After our first successful backpacking experience in the Rockies, we determined that a 'merit badge' of sorts was in order. We agreed on purchasing awesome new 'buffs' - like the kind used on Survivor! We sported these magical little pieces of cloth for the entire 3 days of our next backbacking adventure. The buffs come complete with 14 different styles to wear on your head, as well as many other fabulous functions including a 'black-out' eye mask while sleeping in tent, and ear-warmer in cold, windy conditions. We hiked up, up, up and up some more on the King Lake trail outside the Eldora ski area. We ended up camping at a smaller lake just below King Lake - it was a spot of absolute beauty. The glacial snows were still intact with little 'mini' icebergs floating in the lake. We spent most of day 2 hiking along the Continental Divide Trail to Devil's Thumb. Well...we hiked the trail that was supposed to lead to Devil's Thumb, but when the trail disappeared under a glacier and off the side of a mountain, that is the spot that we declared to be Devil's Thumb! The magic of hiking through fields of wildflowers above treeline led us each to hum various tunes from 'The Sound of Music'. Chris said that the stars in the night sky were a sight to behold - so close and bright that you could almost reach out and touch them. I had my black-out buff over my eyes and Paul wasn't about to leave the warmth of his sleeping bag, so we just have to take his word on this! No moose.
The morning of day 2 we discovered that our campsite had been invaded by critters sometime during the dark of night. Being the smart campers that we are, the food had been secured high in the trees, however, our sporks had been stolen! It was a sad moment to realize that the spork-stealing-squirrels had ruined our breakfast of lumpy cream of wheat that we had been anticipating throughout the freezing night! Whatever would we do with our freeze-dried stroganoff plans for dinner? Sticks? Lucky for us a couple of local artists showed up and they just happen to spend their spare time doubling as 'spork-spotters'. They launched a spork search & rescue, and our sporks were spared when spotted near a boulder in our campsite! It was a proud moment for all! Again, no moose.
During Chris' visit, we managed to squeeze in a trip to Colorado Springs, toured Garden of the Gods, rode the cog railway up Pike's Peak (in all my years living here I had never been up Pike's Peak before!), toured my hometown of Castle Rock and found the restaurant in Colorado City where Paul & I had our first date - Meadow Muffins! We visited family, went to City Park, discovered a few terrific brew pubs, and found a fabulous neighborhood coffee shop, Stella's. Chris learned to ride our 'scooter-cycles' ("Harley" and "Schwinn") and is now hooked! All in all it was a great visit!
1 comment:
Hi Odie!! Montana Monty again. Sorry I haven't kept up with your adventures but I see you are really getting to see some neat stuff. You're a lucky dog - I have to carry my own bed, food and some water in my backpack (cuz I'm not short). But I don't have to stay on a leash tho'! I have to share my folding kennel with my man (Greg) also (he keeps me awake practicing his bear imitations while he sleeps). Mama don't do backpacking so it's just the two of us. We get to hike on the CDT a lot also since we live only 5 miles from it. We fish some too but my man doesn't like when I try to bring his little toy on the end of the string back out of the lake.
I'll try to be better about keeping in touch Odie! See ya and be cool!!
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