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.