Time away

It had been over a year and a half since Mandy and I had a weekend alone together without the kids.  We love the little buggers, but it sure is nice to have an entire conversation, or even speak an entire sentence without being interrupted.  So we arranged a babysitter, booked flights to Colorado and went.

We landed at DIA at 7:30, hopped into the rental car and met our friends who lived about 30 minutes away.  We shared some fun conversation amidst a few beers and slices of pizza, and managed to keep their four-year old up way too late.  We left and headed to Boulder, checked into our hotel and fell asleep fast, two hours past our normal bedtime.

Short hike around Boulder

The next morning, we went to a great Creole cafe (Lucille's) for breakfast, followed by a short hike on Flagstaff Mountain, just west of the UC campus, in order to help get acclimated.  We wandered Pearl Street after our hike, and had lunch at Pasta Jay's.  We had no particular agenda, and it was nice to just relax without having to rush back to kids.  After our late lunch, we drove to Estes Park.

We arrived at our little cabin - a mother-in-law's quarters, really - around four.  We unpacked, went into town to get some food for our hike the next day, and capped off the night at the Rock Inn, a local hangout that has been one of our favorites since our snowshoeing trip out here.

The next morning, we left early to do a hike up to Black Lake, a nice little lake nestled high in Glacier Gorge.  The drive into the park was pretty, with low-lying fog highlighting the alpenglow of the mountains in the background.  It was cold at the start, around 35-40 degrees, but it was a beautiful day with little wind and bright sunshine when we weren't in the shade of the trees.

Looking off into Moraine Park

 We cruised past the ever-popular Alberta Falls, on up to Mills Lake.   The lake looked much different than the last time we were here, in February 2011, when it was frozen solid.  It was also blowing about 40-60 miles per hour, and at one point we were hurled across the ice.  We stopped and took a quick snack break, but it was too cold to stay put for long, so we continued on.

Looking off into Glacier Gorge

Mills Lake - that large rock in the lake on the right was what we tried to take shelter behind when we were up here in the winter. 

Another strong wind event in November 2011, with gusts up to 90 miles per hour, blew down a mile or so of trees from Mills Lake to  Black Lake and making the trail impassable for some time. The scale of this was hard to imagine, almost as though a tornado had touched down and heaved these massive trees everywhere. In some places, it was almost like walking through a canyon, with rock walls on one side, and massive tree roots on the other.

We passed Ribbon Falls just before we finally arrived at our destination.  We were starving, so we found a rock at the edge of the lake and devoured our Subway sandwiches.  After lunch, we agreed to go on to Blue Lake even though we were pretty tired by then.  There is a steep uphill along the falls for about three-quarters of a mile when we finally called it a day and turned around.  We were in the right spot, and I was certain the map showed the lake to be "just over that hill", but I saw no trail and we were too tired by then to do any bushwhacking, so we turned around and headed down.

Ribbon Falls

Above Black Lake

It always seems to take longer to go down than go up, especially if you're covering the same ground.  We were both dog-tired, and stopped to rest at Mills Lake again.  After a few minutes, we heard blood-curdling screams towards the end of the lake.  Thinking someone was seriously hurt, we practically ran in that direction.  We eventually caught up to a couple with two kids in backpacks on their backs, including a two-year old who had fallen in the water, and who was pissed when her mom made her ride in the backpack rather than walk in her wet shoes.

We finally made it back to the car, made it back to the cabin and quickly showered.  We "face-timed" with the boys, who both seemed to be having a great time with the babysitter, headed out to do laundry and then, gratefully made to Ed's Cantina for mexican food and margaritas.

The next morning, we almost decided to go to Starbucks instead of hiking.  We were both tired, a little sore and I thought we had gotten up too late to do the hike we had discussed the night before.  Mandy convinced me we had time, so we packed our backpacks and set off for Twin Sisters.

Twin Sisters from our cabin

Not having been there when he did it, Mandy really wanted to see what Noah climbed the last time we were here.  Twin Sisters is actually a couple of peaks, both over 11,400 feet, that overlook the city of Estes Park, and several other peaks in the area, with awesome views of Longs Peak.  It's a 7.2-mile round trip, mostly forested, but with the last .7 miles above tree line over rugged ground.  We were tired from the day before, but actually feeling better - a little more acclimated, and feeling a little stronger overall.

It was another beautiful day, with cool temps and almost no wind.  Toward the top, Mandy was moving a little slower than Noah was on our last trip, but we eventually made it to the top.  The views are excellent from here, and we ended up spending nearly an hour on top, taking pictures, eating a snack and enjoying the views.  We hoofed it down in about an hour and a half, and finished the entire 7.2-mile hike in about 5.5 hours, only an hour shorter than it took Noah and I to do it in July.  Mandy was impressed that he was able to do it at all.

Singing at the top

After the hike, we hit Ed's Cantina again for a bite to eat, then grabbed a shower at the local laundromat before heading to Denver to see our friend Paul, who married us both at Chasm Lake eight years ago.  That remains, to my knowledge, the only wedding ceremony the good Reverend has performed.  We enjoyed great grilled pork chops over a few beers as we got to know his wife and kids.  Afterwards, we  headed to the airport, dropped off the rental car and hung out until our flight back to KC.

Best post-hike snack

It was late when we got home, so we checked on the sleeping kids. They handled the weekend just fine without us, according to the babysitter, and we enjoyed the time away alone.

Efficient government?

When we were in Rocky Mountain National Park a few weeks ago, we forgot our annual park pass.  They couldn't look it up, like practically every other company in the world can, because they don't have a computerized system.  So I bought a week-long pass, and the nice park ranger told me how to get a refund by sending my receipt, a copy of my park pass and a self-addressed stamped envelope within ten days to a certain address.

I forgot about it until about a month later when I ran across the receipt.  I decided to give it a shot, copied my pass and mailed it in, thinking I'd never see that $20 again.  I was very surprised to open an envelope less than a week later with a $20 bill in it, and a mild (and deserved) scolding to remember my pass next time.  I'm sure it was all they could do to avoid typing "dumbass." at the end of that sentence.   Mandy left it unsaid too, when I got the scolding from her.  Everyone was nice that week.

I was simultaneously shocked at the efficient customer service, and a little concerned that there was someone sitting on a pile of cash, waiting to mail it out to people like me who couldn't remember a simple thing like their entrance ticket.  I can't remember ever seeing a cash refund, but in the end I decided it was probably more efficient for both of us.  No need to print checks and keep track of them, and no need for me to go cash one.  I'll give them this one.

Chasm Lake

We decided to hike to Chasm Lake again this year.  Although we've hiked it a few times in the last few years, together and separate, this was the first time in 5 years we've hiked it alone together.

This hike is well-known to us, but it's always different.  This year, the weather was much warmer than usual, and instead of being frosty at the start, we were fine in just t-shirts.  The trail, the first part of which also shares the route to the top of Longs Peak, was unusually free of other hikers, providing much more solitude than we sometimes find.  And the mountains held much more snow than we've ever seen at this time of year, creating a unique hike and a very cool environment at the lake.

When we planned it, I wasn't so sure about doing it.  For a number of reasons, I'm in a lot worse shape to do this thing than I've been in in years past.  The biggest physical issue is the torn meniscus in my knee, and the ensuing layoff from running has apparently shrunk my lungs, especially at this altitude.

But I like having the chance to spend a few hours alone with my wife, talking about whatever we come up with, so I'm willing to give it a try.  However disappointing it would be to me to turn around, I know she'll understand.  I'm generally pretty quiet, but she's one of those people who can draw me out, and make me want to talk, so we have a lot of fun doing it.

We talk about a lot of things, including our history of coming to this place since she discovered it in 2003. It's a nice day, no one around, and as hard as it is, it's feeling kind of easy.  We get to Chasm Junction, where you can either go to Longs Peak or to Chasm, and we keep going without stopping.  This is the part it should get briefly easy - a slightly downhill (but exposed) trail to Chasm Meadows, before you climb the boulder wall to get to the lake.  This year we encounter a snowfield, a remnant of all the snow that fell this year, and something new to us.

There are steps chopped into parts of the snow, but if you fall, it's going to be a pretty rough ending.  We didn't bring spikes or crampons, so we plan to take care, but it's our first time across.  There has been a tremendous amount of snowfall in the West this year, so there are more of these stories going around, and we have no desire to become one of them.  Mandy, although nervous, listened to her inner voice and decided she could do it.

We take our time to get across, but enjoy the rush of doing so, and head to the lake.  Once we arrive, we find ourselves completely alone.  The lake is high with snowmelt, and has a few large floating icebergs in it.  The first or second year we were here, a local cross country team ran up here and jumped into the lake.  It was freezing cold then, but there was no ice in it.

We find the rock we were engaged and married on, and due to questionable clouds above, spend only a few minutes having lunch and reminiscing.  After we got back, we headed to Ed's Cantina for a well-earned margarita and some Mexican food.  Despite being out of shape, we got up and down quicker than we ever have.