7-17-06
Start: Montezuma, CO
Destination: 2,000 feet below the Divide
Elevation: 11,064 ft.
Miles: 10.5
Weather: Cloudy and a Storm
We climbed up to the continental divide again after climbing down yesterday, but the climbs are so worth it. We really got the views. There's this peak called Red Cone that looks very smooth, and the colors in it are very vibrant. It's streaked with red, brown, yellow, orange... and the mountains that sit beside it are green, so the color contrast against the sky was great. We hiked right on the divide. I mean, if you look on a map that shows a dotted line that says "Continental Divide," that was our path for a few miles today. Some of the path was not defined at all so I navigated with "Waldo," my GPS. I've really gotten attached to it, so I had to give it a name. Waldo just seemed appropriate. So it was a very cool hike today.
Then when we got to one of our peaks, we sat for a bit to rest, and it was about 11:00. Looking up in the sky, we noticed two dark clouds on either side of us. And they were quickly getting bigger. We decided to hike for a little bit more and see if anything would develop. About 10 minutes later the sky on the whole east side of the divide was dark and it was backing towards us. We've been told over and over and over again by so many people, that if you see a storm moving in when you're above treeline, get down immediately. Lightning is a huge threat to a hiker up there. It's just a known thing to do to get down no matter what. The storms usually roll in between 2 and 5 pm, but this one came early. We finally decided to head down. We got to a jeep trail that slowly meandered downward, but when the lightning started to flash and the wind picked up, we hit a steep downgrade into the valley. We were able to get down to 11,000 feet or so, and found a nice campsite in amongst some pine trees. We did get a little rain by us, and I was frustrated thinking, "We probably could've kept hiking." But some folks on ATVs came by and said it got just plain nasty up there - lightning, pouring rain... Whew! I guess we made the right decision.
So we had to get off the trail early, but I took advantage and washed up in the freezing cold stream. It was cold, but worth it. Mom also took advantage and took a nap - I joined in on the nap idea, too. Hickory said he relaxed by the creek, looked for a morning potty-spot, walked around, and readjusted his tarp. When we were all done doing our thing, we made dinner, chatted, and now it's almost time for bed. We have to climb back up to the divide tomorrow, so that'll be cool. Tonight's camp was very relaxing. And now we will fall asleep to the sound of a rushing creek.
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