Emma Lou is ready for our trip. That dog has SO much energy!
The dunes...
Filling up before going into "the woods."
The boys collecting firewood.
The stream running through our campsite.
Starting our hike. The adventure begins!
Celebrating after coming off the peak.
Back at the trail head. We made it!
This weekend Andy and I went with our friends Brad and Mandy to camp, sight see, and hike. On Saturday we drove down south to The Great Sand Dune National Park http://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm where we got to see the largest sand dunes in the U.S. It was incredible! Not only because the dunes were so big, but because they seem very out of place amongst the mountains and the almost dessert like surroundings of the area. We walked onto the dunes but didn't venture too far. The sand was HOT and it was hard to walk in! We just looked in awe at people who had climbed to the top of the highest dunes and were sledding down them. Maybe we'll be so adventurous the next time we go=)
After visiting the dunes we took a "backroad" to find a campsite. The map and the guides at the park WERE NOT KIDDING when they said "backroad." The road we went on took us on an adventure!! We deflated the tires on Brad's Suburban before bouncing up and down through lots of sand, bumping over huge rocks, and generally off-roading for miles. It was the craziest/funniest/scariest ride I have ever been on! We were laughing the whole time while we got thrown around the car, but we also holding our breathe and praying that the car would make it! Ha! The ride was crazy, but the terrain was GORGEOUS. I felt like we were on an African safari in the middle of Colorado!
After our crazy ride, we happened upon a campsite that was AWESOME. It was tucked back off the road and removed from the sounds and sites of civilization. There was a creek meandering right by our site, so we had the luxury of listening to running water the whole time we were there. Twice in the night, Andy and I got out of our tent and stood gazing at the thousands of stars dotting the sky. It was breathtaking! Andy even watched as a shooting star stretched across the whole expanse of the sky. Pretty amazing! I wish I had seen it=)
On Sunday, we got up early, packed up our campsite, and headed for our hiking destination. We were headed for Mount Lindsey, one of the "fourteeners" as they call it out here. It is a mountain peak that stretches to an impressive 14,000 feet in the air! Check out http://www.14ers.com/. Anyway, we got started on the trail at 8:30 a.m. The trail is relatively short, only a little over 8 miles round trip, but the difficult part is how much altitude you gain in such a short time. Andy knows the specific calculations of how high we were when we started the hike and how much altitude we gained going up, all I know is that is was STEEP and when we were at the top, we were REALLY high!
The hike was great. Tough, but beautiful and pretty surreal. When we got to the top, we had to put our poles up and "scramble" in hiking terms (i.e. climb with our hands and feet). It was difficult because there were many rocks that were loose, so we had to carefully test each rock before climbing further. When we were maybe 100 feet or some from the top peak, we had a scare. I was crossing a really tricky area and had to pause in a certain spot. I reached to grab a decent sized rock (bigger than a microwave- I don't know what else to compare it to!=)) and the rock gave way. It came down on my fingers and a rock that was behind it also fell and hit me on the back of my head. Needless to say, it was a pretty terrifying moment, so after making sure I was ok and pausing to get my nerves back again, we all decided it was time to turn around. We still had quite a bit more scrambling to do before getting to the top, and nobody felt comfortable going any further. We turned around, had lunch below the peak, and headed back to our car.
So although we can't say that we summitted Mount Lindsey, we can say that we got VERY close, and close enough for all of us to feel happy about our accomplishment. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Mandy brought her dog along for the hike. A teeny dog named Emma Lou who impressed us all with her energy and endurance.
What an adventure we had!
AHH I LOVE IT!!!
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