Summiting Mt. Crested Butte

Today, Charlotte and I had breakfast with the kids as they had decided to skip Adventure Camp today.  But afterwards, we packed up and got dressed for today's hike.  Carole was taking the kids to paint pottery and Johnnie was taking us up the mountain. We dropped our car off at the base of the mountain and took the ski lift from the base to about the top of the mountain. Having never skied, this was a little nerve racking for me.  I mean, I love roller coasters and I love adventures, but you still can feel your stomach flip when you look down and realize how far above the ground you are with nothing holding you in but a slim piece of metal! 

After the initial trepidation, I relaxed and enjoyed the views.  Johnnie rode up to the top with us and gave us a little history of the resort and pointed out landmarks of interest.  At the top, he pointed out the overlook and the trail we should take.  Then, he rode back down the mountain and later went to pick up  his daughter Jody who would be joining us in our awesome adventures for the rest of the week. 

Columbine - Colorado's state flower

Charlotte and I headed up the mountain and having gained about 2000 feet in elevation from the house to the mountain, quickly discovered that this might be a challenging hike.  We took our time and stopped to enjoy the plentiful views of the beautiful mountains.  I was taking it all in.  As I mentioned, I am not a skier, so I was very interested in all the different types of lifts and ski slope signs and just observing the mountain as it might be with snow on it and people attempting to get down it via skis.  It truly scares me. Skiing is not a sport for me!

It's a mile and a half to the top!

We got to a part of the mountain where the trail goes from being a dirt path to more of a boulder field.  Down near the lift some signs had been posted of different wildlife we might see on the mountain.  At this transition from dirt to rock we saw our first Pika.  A little mouse-like creature with really big ears that makes a sound like someone screeching the word "fee."  So cute.  We continued up the mountain and came to trail junction and a great place to sit and have a snack. 

A not-so aggressive chipmunk.

The chipmunks just jumped into our laps even though we weren't feeding them!

Obviously, the alpine chipmunks have figured out that this is a great place for humans to snack as well and are quite brazen in their attempts to yogi food away from the hikers.  Practicing Leave No Trace principles, I do not feed the creatures, but this did not stop them from climbing into my lap and trying to get my trail mix!  It was quite cute. 

We had to hike down before we could climb up, but when we started it up, it was a serious rock scramble.  We were seriously hand over foot, grabbing onto the rocks trying to keep our balance as some of the rocks were a bit wobbly.  It was also quite congested with other hikers at this time in the day and we had to share the trail with hikers of all experience levels.  Going slow was not a problem for Charlotte.  She took her time.  I made it to the top first and sent encouraging words her way.  When she arrived, I congratulated her.  You see, Charlotte has a fear of heights!  What an achievement! 

We enjoyed our lunch at the summit and then began our descent.  We noticed that the trail was quite empty of hikers, in fact it seemed as though we had the mountain to ourselves.  We wondered if we smelled that bad! It was actually quite nice and made scrambling over the rocks less treacherous.  It also provided us with the opportunity to witness wildlife we might have missed had there been swarms of folks around.  We were able to see two marmots up close, as well as that elusive but noisy Pika. 

Marmot

Pika

We also saw about 6 crows descend on the area and we made up cartoon like stories about the interactions between the marmots, pikas and crows.  It was quite a National Geographic moment.  

As we headed back down the summit trail to the "Yellow Brick Road," the road-like trail that would take us to the base, we realized why we had the mountain to ourselves now.  The ski lift runs until 2 pm and all the other hikers we had passed earlier in the day were racing to finish their summit hike in time to take that lift back to the base.  Our decision to hike to the base was worth it given the solitude and wildlife experiences we were exposed to.

The hike down was an easy but long hike.  It was a little tiresome as four plus miles at the same grade downhill does eventually wear on the knees and feet.  But again, we had great conversations and great views. Along one of the switchbacks we saw a beautiful doe running across the adjacent meadow. She stopped and smiled at us.  Further down the trail, we witnessed a hawk soaring above us greeting us with that iconic scream.  It was amazing to watch it glide on the thermals.

We finally got close enough to see our parked car and I decided to check in with Carole and Johnnie.  I called them and when Carole answered I asked her when we would be making it to Emerald City as we had been traveling the Yellow Brick Road forever.  

Yellow Brick Road

It took her a few minutes to get my Wizard of Oz humor - she was trying to actually picture an Emerald City here in Crested Butte, but when she did she laughed heartedly. 

Not much further and we were finished hiking for the day and headed back toward the house. When we arrived, Jody was there with the rest of the family.  We greeted them with our hiking tales and then proceeded to the hot tub for our post hike soak.  

Carole again provided an excellent meal of grilled ribs, corn on the cobb and salad.  This was the first night that the children ate with us (before they had been eating separately before us).  It was a treat to have everyone sharing a meal together. 

We had just a brief post dinner discussion about tomorrow's hike, before all of us headed off for bed.  What a great day!

HIking Snodgrass Mountain

Today, we woke up and had eggs for breakfast, prepared our lunches and packed our camelbaks. Carole and Johnnie helped us shuttle a car to Washington Gulch and then dropped us off at the trailhead for the Snodgrass Trail.  It was breezy and sunny - perfect for hiking.  The altitude has taken it's affect on us and hiking uphill was a bit challenging. Especially for Charlotte who is about a day behind me in getting adjusted.  We were okay with taking it slow and I took lots of pictures of wildflowers which were abundantly in bloom. 

We got to the trail junction between the over-the-mountain trail and the summit trail.  We decided to go for the summit which would take our hike from easy to moderate.  

We got to about the second or third switchback and it started to sprinkle.  Not uncommon to have a little mountain shower. We pulled out our rain ponchos and proceeded to continue to climb only to also proceed to get hot as the sprinkles subsided and the sun continued to shine.  At the next switchback, we removed our ponchos and also made note of the side trail we would take upon returning from the summit.  

It was slow going up to the top.  Charlotte was really having a hard time getting used to altitude and climbing mountains (not many hills in the flatlands of Louisiana!)  I would hike ahead at my pace and then stop and wait for her to catch up.  We both finally made it to the top and had a wonderful view of Gothic Mountain and 

White Mountain (which really looks pink and green due to the minerals in the rock.)  We ate our lunches and rested and then headed down the mountain.  I took a spill on the scree and now have a nice shiner on my right butt cheek.  It took us all of about a tenth of the time to get down the mountain as it did to get up it!  Go figure!  We did stop off at several points and look for the mountain homes.  At one point I suggested we call Johnnie and Carole and ask them if they could see us on the mountain waving down at them.  

We connected with the around-the-mountain trail that would take us to our car in Washington Gulch and Charlotte exclaimed that this was the type of trail she was expecting for the day - flat!  It was nice to have an easy walk after that uphill.  We had beautiful views of Aspen tree groups which are actually all one organism.  It's amazing that hundreds of trees growing in an area are all really one organism sharing a common root system.  We also saw pine trees which reminded us of Christmas with their fragrant needles. We said hello to a few hummingbirds and also to a few bicyclists as this trail is a shared hiking/mountain biking trail.  We had great conversations and were happy to break out of the woods into a meadow with a few of our parked car.  It was a good 7-8 mile hike and we were feeling very accomplished.  We took a detour into town to pick up a few sundries and then headed home for happy hour in the hot tub.

We felt like movie stars as we soaked our tired muscles in the tub while consuming a few adult beverages.  Valerie joined us in the tub and Johnnie and Carole came down to the tub platform and listened to our tales from the day.  Johnnie kept taking our pictures and we truly felt like movie stars given the photo ops and our location in a tub outside overlooking the Rocky Mountains!

Carole cooked cornish hens and rice and peas for dinner. She is truly a wonderful cook and both Charlotte and I don't know how we will ever be able to thank her enough for her wonderful hospitality.  After dinner we planned our hiking plans for the next day.  We checked out a beautiful almost full moon rising above Mt. Crested Butte before saying our good-nights to each other and heading off to bed.

Traveling to Crested Butte

Mountain views from the road.

Charlotte and I awoke refreshed on Sunday morning.  BP and I made an egg frittata with toast and mango for breakfast.  Perfect nourishment for traveling. BP's roommate, David, joined us and we shared quite a few laughs.  Nice fella! 

We packed up and said our goodbyes and set out for Crested Butte.  It was about a 5 hour drive from Boulder to Crested Butte and we only made one wrong turn. We had beautiful weather which made for great observation of the beautiful mountains that we passed. Our biggest trek was crossing Monarch Pass, a giant mountain.  Going up wasn't as bad as going down.  Really needed to pay attention here!  We also came across the Colorado Trail.  Someday, I will thru-hike this trail!

We arrived at the mountain home and were immediately greeted by my uncle Johnnie and Carole and Carole's grandchildren, Valerie and Jackson. Happy hour began.  We also discussed proposed hikes for the week and other plans including my cousin Jody's arrival and Carole's birthday. It was truly relaxing to sit out on the deck with a glass of wine looking out over the mountains.  Carole treated us to a wonderful steak dinner. What a wonderful way to end a long day of traveling!

View of the moon rising above Mt. Crested Butte, taken from the couch in the cabin.

Traveling

For a few years now, my uncle Johnnie has been after me to hike with him in Crested Butte, CO.  The first summer he asked, I was hiking the remaining sections of the Appalachian Trail.  The second summer he asked, I moved to Gainesville, changed jobs, and timing and money just didn't work out.  This year, my friend Charlotte and I decided to make it happen.  We talked to Johnnie and Carole about dates, booked our tickets, and packed our bags.  Excitement and anticipation has ruled our thoughts for the past week.

Then the travels began.  Mom drove me down to the Atlanta airport and we had traffic that seemed to have no cause.  I made it there on time only to be told that there was some miscommunication between AirTran and Expedia regarding the payment of my ticket change fee. (I've now double-paid it, so I will be dealing with Expedia when I return).  I rushed to my gate and found out that due to weather in Jacksonville, two flight attendants for my flight were delayed 2 hours.  The waiting begins.  

The flight, once in air, was uneventful and I made it to Denver safely at about 2 am.  I arranged for a hotel room and shuttle and proceeded to fall asleep fairly quickly.

Charlotte called around 6 and said that she was on her way.  Oh what little we knew so early in the morning. She made it to Dallas and was told that her connecting flight would be first an hour and a half late and then told it would be canceled altogether.  She found another flight to bring her to Denver but would mean waiting 4 hours.  4 hours later, she boards the plane only to be told that the plane needs to be serviced.  More waiting for another flight that will take her to Omaha, Nebraska.  Turns out someone had flushed a diaper down the plane toilet which exploded and blew out the electrical system of the plane.  $500,000 and hours more of waiting. Finally, she makes it to Omaha only to have to wait longer.  

In the meantime, I have arranged a ride to Hertz to pick up our rental car.  Good fortune happens here when I am told that I am getting an up-grade of an up-grade of an up-grade.  Don't rightly know what all that means, but I have a brand new Kia Forte equip with Sirius satellite radio.  I drive up to Boulder and spend the day with my Appalachian Trail hiking buddy, BP.  He have lunch and hang around his house as he has three new roommates moving into the house that he needs to be able to assist if needed. 

BP sitting outside on the patio having lunch.

View from BP's house

We finally get a call from Charlotte that she is on her way and we head out to the airport.  At last, we are all connected and headed back to BP's to spend the night. We swing by a local pub and pick up a couple of pints of Raspberry Wheat beer to celebrate the official beginning of our trip.  It's not long though before we are all wiped out and turn in.

Wow!  What a day!