Hiking Scarp Ridge West Trail

Sept 5th, 2014

Today we spent the day recovering from our last hike.   : )    We did a few chores in the morning, refilled the propane tank, restocked and repacked our day packs, and wrote on my blog. Around noon, we drove into Gunnison for a bite of Mexican food, then spent some time just strolling around and shopping / browsing. Gunnison is a cute little town. It doesn’t have quite the appeal of Crested Butte, but it is nice (and close by our campground).

Sept 6th, 2014

This morning, we went to the Farmer’s Market in Gunnison. I just LOVE Farmer’s Markets where they sell fresh baked goods as well as veggies……We bought a loaf of Rosemary-Olive French bread, a cinnamon roll for tomorrow morning, a couple of pieces of fresh peach pie for dessert tonight, and fresh peaches and fresh tomatoes and a cucumber……We are going to eat well!

After stopping by the camper to put up all our ‘goodies’, we headed towards Crested Butte and the Scarp Ridge West Trailhead.

The Scarp Ridge Trail was an out-and-back trail (meaning, we were NOT getting lost this time!) and it followed an old, rutted 4x4 road. There were several turn-around points mentioned in the guide book and we felt that we would hike about 2.1 miles up to a scenic overlook, and then on to the point where the road ended (the trail continued up to Scarp Ridge, but we were not going that far).

Total mileage round trip should be about 4.2 miles. The starting elevation was at 10,500 feet and we would gain about 1,000 feet over the 2 miles, finishing at 11,500 feet. Our guide book described this hike as ‘moderate’ and does a good job of rating each section of trail based on the number of feet of elevation gained, on average, per mile. This section fell into the 400-600 feet / mile elevation gain.

As promised, the trail just followed a VERY rutted gravel and dirt road. I was glad that we were not trying to drive up this road!  There were a few signs of civilization at the start….a few cabins and a few snowmobiles parked until Winter. But shortly there was nothing but wide open spaces with not another soul in sight…….

The scenery was breathtaking! Wildflower meadows…..

Rocky hillsides…….

Streams and waterfalls…….

And a lovely view of Lake Irwin whenever we stopped to catch our breath (which was often!)

The road continued up…..and up…..Not steep. It was truly a ‘moderate’ grade. But, this altitude! It is a humbling experience to find ourselves out of breath with such a modest effort. We walked slowly, stopping often (actually, every bend in the road), making steady, if slow, progress.

The good thing about going slow and stopping often is that you get to really appreciate the beauty of the day. The air was cool when the breeze blew, warm in the sunshine. The sky was blue with just enough clouds to look pretty. The company was good (it always is when Fred and I are together.)

And before long we were at the overlook…..It was beautiful…….and exhilarating……

And, yes, a bit dizzying!

It was the perfect place to have lunch…….

With our lunch break finished, we got ready to hike the last tenth or so of a mile to our turn-around.

That is Scarp Ridge in the background. The trail would continue around and up a slope (noted as only moderate) to the Ridge, then across the Ridge to the summit. One could continue on to make this a loop trail. But, not today……

The road ended at a lovely alpine meadow.

The end of the road……..but who would have guessed that we would see a truck there!

After savoring our time here, we turned and headed back down hill. It was downhill all the way….and pretty easy walking. Much easier on our lungs! Before we knew it, we were back to our truck……

Total hiking time (including breaks) about 3.5 hours.  A wonderful hike and an afternoon well spent…….       : )

Hiking West Maroon to Hasley Pass Loop

Sept 4th, 2014

Our hike for today was a bit more ambitious than yesterday. We were hiking the West Maroon to Hasley Pass Loop – listed in our guide book as a 5.51 mile loop, starting at 10,417 feet and gaining 1,816 feet in elevation to top out at 12,121 feet at Hasley pass Summit. The trail description said that this was easy and moderate with one steep section up and one steep section down. Average hiking  time was about 3.5 hours.

Note- the West Maroon trail is a very popular tail, about 11 miles in length, that continues over West Maroon Pass to Aspen.  We would be hiking just the first section of this trail, before turning up to get to Hasley Pass, and looping back around.

But first, we had to get to the trail head, located 14 miles and 45 minutes (that says something about the speed on this road) down Gothic Road, from the visitors center in Crested Butte. Gothic Road is just the continuation of CR 317, the main road that goes through Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

As you run out of paved road, the road becomes an unpaved, narrow road that……

Snakes its way right along the edge of the cliff side, with barely enough room for one car (or truck). I held my breath the whole way! And, fortunately, we did not encounter any on-coming traffic!

Though we did stop on the road to hop out to get this picture…..the scenery was spectacular!

Continuing on Gothic Road, you drive through the little town of Gothic, which seems to exist only to house the Rocky Mt. Biological Laboratory. This would have been very interesting to visit when open. Gothic road continues  over Schofield Pass to the West Maroon Trailhead.

We had left our camper about 8:30 am, and set out on the trail about 9:50am. The trail started in beautiful forest……

Quickly opening up to meadow. This is the remnants of an old cabin, with the trail winding right around it. What a beautiful (if remote) location for a cabin!

Some wildflowers were still blooming –

The purple spikes looked like Fireweed, the blue, Lupines?

Crested Butte is known as the “Wildflower Capital” and this trail would be glorious in early Summer, with flowers blooming waist high…….

The trail followed along a stream (though higher up the hillside) with beautiful waterfalls and the sound of rushing water. We kept stopping to just soak up this beautiful countryside! The weather was lovely -  cool, warming with the effort of hiking. A bit cloudy in the distance, with a chance of afternoon showers.

We hiked along this first section of trail, noticing the effect of the increased elevation (starting at 10,400 feet). The higher elevation makes your heart beat faster and you find yourself a bit ‘breathless’. On level trail, or with just a gentle incline, we were managing pretty well. Once we turned up for the assent to Hasley Pass……Oooh boy! This was the section of ‘steeper trail’ and the elevation was kicking our butts! But we just took it slow…..stopping to catch our breaths, much more often than seemed reasonable, but we kept making steady upwards progress.

By just after 12 noon, and before the final push upwards, we knew that we needed a break, so we stopped on this nice rock outcropping to have lunch.

With a bit more effort - actually, the worst of the uphill was behind us……..

We made it to the summit!

The pictures can not do justice to the amazing views!

After a bit of time at the summit, we were ready to head back. Now this is where it gets a bit tricky……The guide book had us backtracking just a bit, then it said “ No junction or trail here. Go right, cross country from here for the return route”. So we set off cross country, without a trail to follow. We did have our trail GPS with our return point marked.

We followed what seemed like a trail of some sort for a ways, before we knew that we needed to drop down off this ‘bench’ to a lower level.

This seemed like the most accessible route down. If you look closely in the middle of this picture you can see a rocky ‘drainage’. We scrambled down this (me on my bottom for some of the ways)! I made Fred take a picture once we were down!

We continued cross country, picking back up on a horse trail, following our progress on the GPS, and noting our relative position to where we wanted to be. At some point, it looked like we had gone too far, and had missed the point where we should have started down to meet up with the main trail. The guide book was a bit vague about this landmark, noting “It is easy to miss your turn south. There is no sign . The visible trail continues west….A shallow gully heading south is your clue”. We either missed it, or we did not go far enough…..We still don’t know! We decided to turn back and see where we could head down.

A note here – it was now about 2:30 pm, the cloudy sky had turned into a sprinkle, and  the wind was chilly. We stopped to put on our fleeces and our rain jackets and pants. 

Our GPS did give us an orientation to the trail that we were looking for, and we knew that it was right below us. We backtracked and never did see where one could reasonably assume the guide book had meant for us to go. Looking for a ‘shallow gully’……We saw half a dozen of them!

We were standing on the hillside, looking in the direction of the trail, when we noticed some people (in the way distance down the hill) on the trail that we needed to be on. We set out, with this as our destination……

Hiking down …..through knee to waist deep vegetation, slippery from the rain…..side stepping down the hill. Me holding tight to Fred’s hand, following his footsteps. Fred is good at this sort of thing. He kept giving us a landmark….”See that tall spikey thing? We will walk down to that. “ Then on to the next tall spikey thing….Aiming for the path that we had glimpsed.

This picture is taken looking back up the hill that we had come down. We started, not at the top ridge, but at the clump of fir trees just below the peak, sort of in the top, center of the picture. Just guessing….it was about 1/2 mile and 600 feet down.

When we finally made it back to the marked trail…….the relief was overwhelming! Enough to make us both want to cry! I was so glad for Fred’s hand, always there to help me all the way down hill!

We sat down……I was pretty shaky……and ate a granola bar. it was about 8 tenths of a mile back to the truck, but good even trail, and downhill!

All done, our GPS indicated that we had hiked 6.9 miles, in 6 hr 25 minutes. Temperature at the truck – 43 degrees with a steady patter of rain. We were tired, chilled, but so glad to be back!

Reflecting on the hike…… The hike, itself, was spectacular! We had seldom seen such beautiful scenery. Most of the trail was pretty easy….the difficulty came on the steeper sections due to the elevation. In hindsight, we should have just backtracked on the marked trail, rather than head off cross country. But we were feeling up for an adventure.and we thought that the trail intersections would be easier to spot.

There are so many emotions……..Relief! and confidence in our ability to keep calm and find our way using the GPS. Lack of confidence in unmarked trails and guide book descriptions. In my mind…..the host of “What ifs”, creating a real sense of anxiety. But, confidence in our physical capabilities…..after all, we did complete almost 7 miles of hiking, some over very uneven ground, with an elevation gain of over 1,800 feet, and all starting at an elevation that left us breathless!

Mostly, I had a strong desire for a hot shower and a warm dinner and an evening spent curled up in a cozy camper wrapped in a blanket!    : )

Gunnison, CO

Sept 2, 2014

We had a nice slow morning and left the Santa Fe area about 9 am. We had about 270 miles to drive to our destination, Gunnison, CO. The drive was beautiful, especially  Hwy 114 heading into Gunnison as it snaked its way through the mountains.

We arrived at the Tall Texan RV Park, just past Gunnison and about 25 minutes from Crested Butte. Our campsite is  nice, with a quiet view of a meadow from our windows. After settling in, we strolled around the campground to ‘get our bearings’, then fixed a pizza for dinner.

Sept 3rd, 2014 (Fred’s Birthday!)

We had picked out a nice hike for this morning. Being aware of the altitude – our campground is at 7700 feet, but most of the hikes in the area start about 9000 feet – we chose a hike that was not too ambitious. The Brush Creek hike starts at 8947 feet and gains only 413 feet on an out and back course. Round trip, this hike is only 4.26 miles and is listed in our guide as an easy hike that should take about 2 hours.

The trail follows an old road bed…….

And hugs the edge of a hillside overlooking this lush valley ……

With a beautiful meandering stream running through it.

The hillside would have been covered with wildflowers……now just the remnants of flowers remain, along with the brush which is just putting on its fall colors. Beautiful Aspens dot the woods, their leaves rustling and shimmering in the breeze.

The trail opened out to a wide meadow with a majestic view of the mountains……

We walked on for about an hour…..until we came to the end of the trail, here at this wide stream. A good place to stop for a granola bar and a bit of a rest, before heading back.

I am going to have to confess……starting out, we felt like bumbling novices. We fumbled getting our day packs out of the car, making sure that we had not forgotten anything. And starting down the trail, my thought was “What are we doing?!”  Some of this is the effect of elevation….that slightly breathless, anxious feeling….. and some is just getting reacquainted with our gear and the activity.

By the time we were on our way back up the trail, we were feeling pretty good. We had our ‘hiking legs’ under us, and felt confident. This was a good way to start out…… just a stroll along a hillside enjoying a beautiful day!

On The Road Again …….. And another one for the Bucket List

August 29-Sept 1st, 2014

I know that I just finished posting my blogs from our last trip - though we had been home for the past 10 weeks or so. Time flies, and we are off on another trip! This time our trip is focused around a rafting trip down the Colorado River through the length of the Grand Canyon…….. another ‘Bucket List’ kind of trip.

We had talked about doing this trip for the past couple of years. The Grand Canyon is one of our favorite places, and, after having hiked from the South Rim to the river (twice), and to Plateau Point (mid-way down) several times, we felt that a raft trip would be the ultimate way to experience the canyon. Our friend, Becky, has always wanted to raft the Grand Canyon, also, and, with her encouragement, we all signed up for the ‘trip of a life time’. We invited which ever of our kids could take off and join us, and Sarah and Jason (who live in the Phoenix area) will be joining us for the lower half of the canyon trip.

We started making our plans with a reservation about a year ago. We will be rafting with Outdoors Unlimited, an outfitter that had been recommended by one of our guides on a previous trip.

The time has finally gotten here!  And we are now on the road, again………

I guess that I have a way of turning a short trip into a road trip……..so we packed up the camper and decided to escape the heat and head to Colorado for a little hiking and cooler weather before our rafting trip, with plans to visit Laura and Dave in California, afterwards. But first, we decided to pass through Midland, TX - I know, not really ‘on the way’ -  to visit some good friends, Jim and Juanice.

Jim had been Fred’s college roommate, and we have known Juanice almost as long. We have tried to visit each time we have driven out west in the last years. It is really great to keep in touch with such long term friends.

We enjoyed their hospitality for the weekend, and today (Labor Day) are driving north to Colorado. Our stop for tonight is Hyde Memorial State Park, just north of Santa Fe.

Our campsite at Hyde SP – nothing fancy, and no hook-ups (we were supposed to have electric, but their service was down) – but quite comfortable. Our camper is set up to ‘dry dock’…..it is completely self contained, and we carry a generator to keep the batteries charged.

We got out for a short walk. It really is lovely…….and the temp is mid 70’s. Elevation is 8700 feet. The elevation always is a concern, as it takes a couple of days for us ‘lowlanders’ to acclimate. Staying at this elevation before we get to Colorado, tomorrow, will be perfect.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

June 17th, 2014 – early AM

Our morning in Cappadocia started early ……..VERY early….. with a scheduled pick-up at the Cappadocia Estates Hotel at 4 am! No time for even a cup of coffee at the cute little table on our patio. We were off for a hot air balloon ride!

When we were researching the Cappadocia area, every source said that a balloon ride was a ‘must’. We had been on one other balloon ride before and loved it….so I thought, “Why not?”

Balloon flights are generally scheduled around dawn to take advantage of the wind currents. We arrived at the Butterfly Balloons location at around 4:45am and had a quick bite of sweet roll and juice. Then, all the gathered customers loaded into vans and drove to our take off point.

The crew was already on the ground getting the balloons ready and inflated.

And, with a quick climb over the side of the basket, we were ready to go! This was a large basket that held 16 passengers and the pilot.

 

We were not the only balloon flying. Butterfly Balloons had at least 4 balloons, and there were other companies taking off.

We later learned that there was a total of 70 balloons in the air that morning!

The sunrise really highlighted this unique landscape.

I keep trying to figure out the art of the ‘selfie’.  I think that the problem is that my arms are too short! Probably ought to let Fred hold the camera.   ; )

These formations, caused by the erosion of different volcanic rock layers, are called Fairy Chimneys,

Flying over gave us a unique view of the homes that had been carved in the rock.

And how towns just built up around these rock houses……..

Our balloon would dip down into these valleys and just drift along the length of the valley, getting so close to the sides as we ‘popped out’ that we could almost touch the rocks.

Our balloon ride lasted over an hour, and, when we landed, the pilot put us down right onto the back of the trailer! The crew was waiting for us on the ground (they followed our balloon with the help of radio directions from the pilot). Then, the traditional champagne toast to a safe ride!

The balloon is quickly collapsed and all the ‘big strong men’ got to help fold it up.

And a ‘tradition’ that I had never heard of…..these really strong crew members picked each of us (by couples) and carried us over their shoulder, and then dumped us down onto the folded balloon to get our picture taken!

The whole balloon ride experience was one that I would not have missed! And though I have written these blogs a little out of order….I wanted to end with this awesome experience!

After this early morning excitement, we were shuttled back to our hotel where we met Sinem, our guide, for our second day of sightseeing in Cappadocia. Then, we were dropped off at the airport and flew back to Istanbul (it is just a short flight). We spent that night at the airport hotel, and caught our plane home in the morning.

This was quite a trip! And a perfect one to check off of our ‘bucket list’.