7-15-06
Start: Idaho Springs, CO
Destination: Silver Plume, CO
Elevation: 9314 ft.
Miles: 20.2
Weather: Nice!
We got up this morning and climbed to 11,000 feet. My guide said we'd hit 10,996 ft., so mom and I decided we'd climb 4 feet up a tree until our GPS read an even 11,000 - that sort of thing just gets to us... but we got up there, and it read over 11,000. So we didn't have to climb any trees, and that's good - we don't want to take any chances.
We got up and the views were spectacular. How many times can I say that? Snow-spotted mountaintops, tall, skinny scraggly pines, rough cliff sides, slopes covered in trees, blue sky, poofy clouds... just so much.
We ran into some VERY nice dirt bikers, and then some folks on 4-wheelers pulled up, too. We talked with them all for quite a while. The dirt bikers recognized us from the news. Then on our way down they came by again and wished us the best.
We got to a point where we could see all the way down into Georgetown, and the massive switchbacks we had to take to get there. I wanted to slide down on my butt, but I wouldn't have had one left if I'd have attempted it... hmmm... maybe that's not a bad idea! Anyway, we started our 5-plus miles down, which turned out to be 1.8 air miles. Whew!
Then - we came around a corner, and there stood a male hiker. Backpack, hat, trekking poles - the whole works. We stopped, he stopped, I said, "Hello there!" And when he said hello back I yelled, "HICKORY!" Hickory found the trail and hiked up to find us! How cool. He'll be our hiking buddy until Redstone. I think that's about 2 weeks.
We got messed up on directions right away after he joined us. I've been using my GPS a lot, and it's been wonderful. But today it confused me. I was first confused by the directions to turn to climb out of Silver Plume, so I tried to rely on my "go to," but it messed me up and we ended up on the wrong side of I-70. Hickory was on an excitement high and hiked way ahead of us, so we turned around and asked a motorcyclist to tell him what was going on. He did, and we finally got back together and got our bearings.
We did get back on track and set up camp. Hickory shared his dinner and made us hot cocoa with a touch of blackberry brandy - what a treat! I think we'll like him hiking with us! :)
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