Are Things Improving? Not Yet

** If Not Interested in Hike Report, Skip This **
We got up to the “Ditch” on July 6 and the trip was challenging in a few ways. (The Ditch is an open water ditch 1000 feet above the Kawuneeche Valley that has a service road and serves as an access to the hiking in the Neversummer Mountains.) The first challenge was not great, it just required that we took off our shoes to cross a flooded area along the Colorado River near the start of the Red Mountain Trail. The water was cold but not too deep. Proceeding up the trail, we encountered a lot of blow down higher up. Due to the heavy snow fall, the trail crews are weeks behind in getting up to many of the higher trails. We met one other hiker coming down who informed us that he turned back at a bridge that was treacherous. We eventually got to the bridge and saw that it had collapsed to a V shape. This was in an area called Hell’s Hip Pocket and Porcupine Creek was raging below it, falling in would be real bad. I went first (Kathy let me) and made it across somehow. She followed and then we were both safe on the other side. We were not sure we wanted to go back over it again on the way back though. A few days later, our friends Lee and Sally went over the bridge both ways and proved it could be done.

After making it up to the ditch, we walked looking for an access point to Mt Cumulus as we had heard that a couple had climbed it a few days earlier. We found a foot bridge going across the ditch and went over to find a thick area of trees and underbrush. We knew there would be no trail. Hmm, this would require going through lots of rough terrain to get above tree line. We weren’t planning to do this anyway but were somewhat taken aback to see how tough the journey was for anyone venturing up Cumulus. There are no trails going up any of the peaks in the Neversummers.

After a little more than a mile, we came across a boulder field that would lead us back to the Red Mountain trail below. This would be a “shortcut” and allow us to skip the treacherous bridge crossing. But it took us more than an hour to go down about ½ mile to where we would find the trail. And we almost missed the trail as it turned out to be hard to spot in the boulder field. We would have had a second chance to hit it further down, but we were glad we found it when we did.

The rest of the hike out was pleasant enough other than the afternoon thunderstorm that developed. It’s been stormy many days but the last few days have been pretty nice, maybe the weather is going to get better. But that may just be wishful thinking.

** Resume Reading Here **

Our friends Larry and Jennifer visited us for a few days. They had been in Colorado for several days and successfully climbed Pikes Peak on July 3. Larry and I tried some fly fishing for two days. We first tested the Colorado River right near where we are staying but the water was around 48 degrees, too cold for the fish to bite. I tried working on my fly casting nevertheless and was pretty pathetic. Kathy and Jen went up the Colorado River Trail to Lulu City. The trail had high water in spots and a bridge further up has washed out which closed the trail up there. The next day we all went to Devil’s Thumb Ranch and after eating a sumptuous lunch, found a mountain stream where the fish were biting. At least Larry got some catches, I didn’t get any. But I only lost 2 flies over the course of the 2 days, so that was a pretty good accomplishment. Larry thinks the fishing should be pretty good in the park in a couple of weeks when the current slows down.

We also went up towards Mt Ida with Larry and Jen. It was a tough day as we had to use snow shoes starting at Milner Pass. The trail was hard to follow but we eventually found it higher up and then when we were totally out of the snow the trail was well defined. But it was very windy and there was some cloud formation that was a cause for concern. We got within a mile of the peak when we ventured up to the ridge and stopped for lunch in a pleasant spot, sheltered from the wind. We headed back after that and came out in a totally different area, but near where the car was parked. Jen said it was a harder hike than Pikes Peak due to the conditions.

News & Notes

With the heavy snow melt, the closure of the Holzwarth site where our cabin is, the high rivers and streams, inaccessible trails, etc we were hoping that things would get better. But things seem to be getting worse! More trail closures, bridge failures, and the river only started going down in the last day or two. Hiking, fishing and camping have not been as good as normal. At least the animals have been thriving with all the vegetation that is growing in abundance.

The strangest thing we have heard that happened in the park so far this summer was about a group of horse riders who fell off their horses. There were fifteen of them, and upon being spooked by hikers, fourteen of them fell and a few were injured seriously enough that they needed to be taken for emergency treatment. We’re not sure what the hikers could have done to spook the horses so badly. Kathy surmises they must have jumped out on them and yelled BOO! But who knows. Another young girl fell from a horse on July 9 and had to be carried out after having hip pain. Then there was a four year old who broke an arm falling off a horse. I have no idea why a four year old was on a horse, that doesn’t sound safe. There have been too many injuries falling off horses!

There was a bad accident on July 16 when a car wandered over the center line and hit a vehicle coming the other way. I talked with some people who were at the scene moments after it happened, and they said the one car was on its side, there was lots of broken glass and some people were bleeding badly. The protection rangers were at the scene very quickly and an ambulance was called from Grand Lake. The driver of the vehicle that wandered into the path of the other may have been too busy looking for wildlife and not paying attention to the road. We have seen that a lot with other drivers who seem to forget that they’re sharing the road.

Occasionally a BOLO (Be On Look Out) is issued in the park. On July 9, one was issued for a 1983 blue VW Rabbit that was involved with a murder east of the park. I didn’t hear whether the vehicle was spotted in the park but I wondered why anyone would try to drive through the park when there is only one main road heading east to west. It seems that would make it hard to escape. One of the park employees I know who was a former protection officer told me that a lot of people think there are no ‘real’ enforcement police in the park, but they would be wrong. Our protection force can enforce the law just like anywhere.

When talking with visitors, we try to let them direct the conversation to suit their needs. But sometimes they can go on about things that have nothing to do with the park. It could be about other places or their personal lives and we try to steer them to matters within the park. The interpretive role is to help people feel connected to the park, and they can’t do that if their thoughts are elsewhere. It also strikes me that some people are “living somewhere else” rather than where they are at the present. Living in the moment is a simple thing that we can easily lose sight of.

The Last Week of June, Still Winter?

*** IF NOT INTERESTED IN A HIKE REPORT, SKIP THIS SECTION ***
We got through the t-storm on our way up to Timber Lake, it was early afternoon. We had to put on snow shoes about 3.5 miles up the trail and trudged up. The shoes felt heavy and the mix of blow down and bare ground made them awkward to use. We got up a steep area with lots of switchbacks but blow down forced us off the trail. We encountered other foot prints from time to time but they were hard to follow and we finally got up to an open area high up. We came across a sign for campsites a couple of times so we knew we were pretty much on the trail. Timber Creek was flowing with a vengeance and several “undersnow” streams seemed to be feeding it. We had to be careful as we crossed what seemed to be a hard packed snow field of several feet in some areas, knowing it could give way below if we stepped in the wrong place. I recognized the high cliffs that loom over Timber Lake, which sits at over 11,000 feet, and we veered to the right to get up to where we figured the lake would be.
We got to the lake by 4:00 but were well on the other side of it, if we had stayed on the normal course of the trail, we would have hit the beginning of the lake. We had beautiful sunshine and calm winds, taking the pleasant opportunity to eat and deal with our footwear. Then dark clouds started forming again and we knew we had to start scrambling back. Kathy lunged to get down off the rock she was sitting on and let out a squeal as her snow shoe got stuck in a crack and she landed headlong in the snow below. I had to free the snow shoe from the crack, and remarked to her how that would be a really bad place and time to break an ankle, which could have been the result. No one else was around and we wouldn’t see anyone on our return trip, so it would have been a long cold night huddled in front of whatever fire I could build to wait for a rescue. That didn’t happen so we made our way back down heading to what should have been the route the trail took, but quickly hit some difficult slopes. I was almost right on top of it before I heard the roar of rushing water almost below me. Yikes, not a good place to be at all, so we veered back up to where the snow seemed to be packed more firmly. While hurrying to beat the ever darkening storm, we eventually got down into trees, which was safer than being in the open and up higher.
Then the hail started. This wasn’t predicted! Even though we were in the trees, I didn’t feel protected enough from the stinging hail. Fortunately they weren’t real big hail balls, but we temporarily sought refuge under a tree, hoping the storm would pass over. It wasn’t to be, after a few minutes we started up again, taking the brunt of the hail from time to time. I only had my emergency poncho, which didn’t offer the best protection from this kind of storm, but as long as we kept moving we could avoid hypothermia.
It was impossible to follow any tracks, the hail obliterated them. We soon knew we were off course, as it turns out we missed a switchback in an area of blow down. We had to backtrack and search around a bit before we discovered a piece of the trail. It seemed to come to an abrupt end and after failing to follow it, we figured the best way to continue would be to start heading straight down toward the stream, which we could hear below. We eventually found the trail much further down and would continue to get off course from time to time. After getting to the end of snow pack, we were glad to be able to just follow a defined trail again. But we had to wring out our socks and put on gloves before continuing.
By the time we got back to the car, we were soaked and we saw that the hail had hit there as well. The storm was widespread, doing major damage more to the south in Granby and Grand Lake. The winds had been stronger to the south, and we were fortunate that the wind wasn’t worse for us. Although several campers evacuated the Timber Creek Campground that night as the storm made a wet and uncomfortable tenting situation. Thus ended our biggest adventure yet, one where route finding and dealing with the elements turned a fairly easy hike into a much tougher one.

*** HIKE REPORT OVER, RESUME HERE ***
June 24 was the only day we have been able to lead tours back in the Holzwarth Historic Site, and I was looking forward to an easy end of the day as I walked back from Fleshutt’s Cabin to join the others and close up the place. I approached the bridge and saw this young man of maybe about 20 in a wet suit sitting on the edge holding a paddle and smiling. I asked him if he was trying to cool down, as it was a warm day. He said no, that he was trying to warm up and then pointed out his raft that was lodged in the bridge on the upstream side. I peered over and saw a homemade raft built out of pine logs and lashed together under the water and being pushed against the bridge by the strong current. He said he didn’t realize “there was a dam there”. “This is a bridge,” I said “and there are many others downstream”. He kept smiling and said at least he had a good ride while it lasted. How he managed to bail out and escape serious injury I never did find out. The current by all rights should have pushed him into the bridge unless he jumped off onto land, which would have been a remarkable athletic achievement. He said he “lived in the park” but I never got that full story either. I offered him a ride but after finding out where he was he said he would be fine. When I joined the others, Kathy suggested I notify Protection so I got them on the radio and they came over to look at the raft, but it had somehow been swept though one of the culverts of the bridge and was now downstream a bit. They later found the kid at the campground and got more of his story. He had bought the lashing material at the local hardware store from Steve, husband of one of our seasonal rangers. Steve apparently advised him against trying to build the raft after he sought his advice. This Huck Finn was not going to be dissuaded though, but I bet her won’t try this again on the Colorado River up here. As of a few days ago there have been four river deaths in Colorado just in June, it’s a dangerous sport when the water is flowing with ferocity.

Our friends Dick and Jill visited us for 3 days and although we were still in our one bedroom apartment, we managed to squeeze in together just fine. Although fishing didn’t work out, they were treated to some outstanding wildlife viewing. We saw a Mama moose and her baby trot across the field just across the river from us the first night. We watched them for almost fifteen minutes. There also were two magnificent bull moose grazing along the North Inlet. Dick thought it would be a good fishing spot also as it was not flowing real fast and the water was clear. Without waders though we would lose a lot of flies in the trees, so didn’t try it. There were several elk, many bulls with huge racks that impressed Dick. When we hiked up the Colorado River we ran into a herd of Bighorn sheep, five adult ewes and four lambs. They were very close to the trail but did not seem too nervous by our presence. We also watched them for about fifteen minutes. I explained that ewes got their names because when the rams (males) are around they say “Hey, you” to the females. We all went over to Sulphur Hot Springs one evening, one of the things we never got around to last year. Soaking in the many different baths there was soothing and relaxing. Jill’s silver jewelry turned green from the minerals and she was dismayed at first but they provided her with silver polish that restored them; this happens a lot there. The baths would have been even better without the mosquitoes but Dick discovered that going totally under water eliminated that problem for him, Kathy and I found out that the pools under some kind of cover didn’t attract mosquitoes. From their stay with us with, Dick and Jill learned a lot about our side of the park, maybe even more from us than reading the park newspaper!

News and Notes from the last week of June:
- We are still unable to get into our cabin as the Colorado River continues to rise here due to snow melt. They now say it will peak sometime next week, I will believe it when I see it. The bridge is holding but the road has been washed out in many spots, Kathy refers to one area that’s cut very deep as the “Grand Canyon of the Kawuneeche”.
- Berthoud Pass, the route between here and Denver, was closed early Monday morning, June 27, with a reported 16 ton boulder among the debris. I had just gone through the pass about 9:30 the night before, having attended a friend’s wedding in Denver. When the pass gets closed, which happens occasionally, it’s a long way around to detour. I was glad I didn’t have to add 2.5 hours to my trip as it was a little after 11:00 that night when I got back and I was tired from just the normal drive.
- Kathy did a century (100 mile) ride on her bike the Sunday I went to Denver. She didn’t plan on it but felt good and just kept going. When she got back to our apartment she needed an additional 1.5 miles to make it a century, so she added that. It seems she does these amazing feats whenever I am gone on a trip, and I am not there to impede her, haha. I have yet to do a century ride in my whole sorry life, but maybe soon.
- Of the news caught over the radio, a man was DWI the other day and was stopped on the upper stretches of Trail Ridge Road. A woman passenger with him freaked out and was reported missing for a while. She was reported wearing red shorts and a a low cut top, good clothing for the alpine zone. They eventually found her and helped her, and took the man to the “Grand County Hilton”, otherwise known as the county jail. I can’t imagine trying to driver those crazy curves up there when drunk, it’s hairy enough when sober. Also a woman bike rider suffered from possible altitude sickness up there and had to be driven back down by our protection folks. I’m not sure she ever needed medical treatment, as getting to lower altitude sometimes is enough of a cure. I still feel a certain “light headedness” when I go up over 12,000 feet on Trail Ridge Road, and can attest it definitely feels better to get down to 9,000 feet or less.
- Kathy talked to an American visitor about Utah, he was wondering how far it was to go there. She didn’t know for sure and suggested he stop in the Visitor Center on the way out and look at a map. He then asked her if it was “outside the park.” She simply replied that it was. We’re not sure if he either doesn’t know how big the park is or doesn’t know what Utah is, go figure.