It was definitely a fun one, and much easier than the first. 11.5 miles start to finish, and 1981 ft in gain (compared to the 2338 ft of the first segment...trust me, 400 ft is noticeable) The hardest part was having zero water along the entire segment. You start at the South Platte River, and continue up through the burn zone of the Hammond fire from 1996.
We started hiking at about 10AM, a bit later than we'd hoped, but it was plenty of time. We made it in about 6.8 miles to our camp site, and we were there very early. It was a great site, however, with lots of wood in close range for a fire, and plenty of flat area for our tents and cook area.
That day was just as hazy as it looks - it seemed as if we were in a cloud the entire evening. It started to drizzle a bit, and we quickly set our tents up and then the tarp. After that we started gathering firewood and preparing for dinner.
I woke up during the night to the sound of light rain falling on my tent, it's definitely a different sound from anything in the city. I for one, am glad of that.
We started the day with a big breakfast of eggs (Mike carried them all the way up there and didn't crack a single one) bacon, and cheese. Even though he claims otherwise, Mike's quite the cook.
After breakfast, we broke camp and cleaned up our fire pit, we headed out on the trail again. It was almost 10AM when we headed off from camp to finish the last 5 miles of the trail.
The area is almost desolate - very little in the way of trees that survived the fire, but the scorched and burnt trunks and branches of the trees remain.
At the same time, there's life blooming back. Small things, Yuca, cactus, grasses, small wildflowers and bushes are spreading.
And that's the end of the trail! It was tiring, yet fun. Hopefully I'll be able to get down what works and doesn't for my two week trip..coming up in two weeks.
4 comments:
Great post, Trent! I know avid blogging seems to come in seasons and go with seasons as well, but for the time being, it is sure fun to be able to watch you guys on your hikes through the SPOT checker link and then see the pix to follow! Settin' up camp must have been what you were doing when we saw you going round and round in circles on SPOT! The big breakfast of eggs and bacon and cheese sounded amazing! Food like that always tastes better in circumstances like that! Great pix once again! I like the flowers.
This is a great writeup, Trent! I like the details you include, like the light rain falling on your tent. I can almost imagine that sound in the very still city-less night...
The deer skull you guys stuck on the sign post really kind of symbolizes all the death in the background. The beauty of the flowers coming out of all that devastation is just amazing.
Awesome! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun! I am so jealous :)
Even though I was there, it is fun to read your comments. You have a good eye for photography - keep it up! It's fun to see the hike through your eyes. I'm looking forward to logging a bunch more miles with you in a few weeks!
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