Square Top Mountain

 I don't think it was too ambitious... it's just that picking a fight with the weather Goddess is silly. It's a fight you can't win and when things appear to be taking a turn in the mountains, it doesn't pay to put your head in the sand and hope it will just resolve, it pays to run. And run we did!

Let's go back to the beginning:

At 6:30 am we had consolidated into just my 4-runner and were headed up to Georgetown, the turn-off to Guanella Pass. The sky was a gorgous clear blue, the traffic was minimal and I honestly felt full of beans this morning; itching to hike and excited to have my "real" camera with me. 

Square Top Mountain round-trip is about 7 miles and 2400' gain. It starts off downhill, and so you can only imagine the pain that follows in order to get 2400' out of about the next 2.5 miles. Or can you? I didn't!

Stunning as it was - and I do have a lot of pictures to prove it - it's hard to capture the way the earth bears up in front of you. A dusty gravelly trail that wants to send you backsliding at every opportunity, flanked with an abundance of wildflowers (giant distraction) and annoyingly lacks the common switchback design to ease the grade!

We soldiered on for hours and at the false summit, with thunder in the not-so-distance, paused to picnic with a diligent pika who really was making hay while the sun shone. 

This was the decision point. To go on up another hour or so to the top or to make tracks downhill before lightning scorched our britches.

Live to fight another day seemed most sensible and we were not the only ones high-tailing down the mountain...on a trail that at starts near 12,000' is in no way below treeline. 

The last mile, which consists of a little downhill, a couple of creeky crossings and then an ascent to the parking lot was timed just as the heavens began to roar. Thunder surrounded us and lightning was coming. We tried appeasing the weather Goddess with banter, bargaining and sweet words of gratitude. Alas, things had already been set in motion as we pushed ourselves at a ridiculous pace up those final steps, pelted by what looked like a white bird poop, but in fact was some hail-snow merger raining down. By the time we dove into the car, it was a torrential downpour and we were just a tad wet.

I know what you are thinking... "thank goodness you called it a day when you did". Yes, but shockingly there were still people setting out from the parking lot into the thunder as we were coming in! I really don't get it. 

The day ended with moose and big horn sheep sightings.

Photo Courtesy of Sue Ossmann

And then a 2 hour parking lot event on I70. Just the reminder we needed to NEVER EVER try our hand at Sunday afternoon commutes on I70 again. We planned to hike again next Saturday

Chicago Lakes Hike

 Twisty dead wood, vistas to take your breath away, bright shiny new leaves and a moose!

This hike had it all. Leaving from somewhere out back of Idaho Springs, it stepped down a mile or so before crossing a river and working up...up...up to the lakes. At 5 miles each way, it seemed perfectly doable for us and with nothing but blue sky and a perfect temperature to hike, off we went.

No doubt we got good training in; made some great pictures; enjoyed a picnic at the lakes.

Echo Lake (start point)

I'd say this was a harder one for me though. My pack felt heavy and my legs heavier.  Some days are just better than others. :-)

Here comes the surprise (not really, but a reminder of) lesson learned:

At one point, stepping over slippery rocks installed somewhat strategically among black mud puddles, I lost my footing and fell. "I'm down" I called to Sue ahead of me, as I felt the wetness go through to my right hip and left calf. 

She replied immediately with "I'm coming for you!" and 10 seconds later reached out for my muddy paw and pulled me up and out again. 

And that's it. Sue is simply the right person, the best person to be on this journey with. Smart, organized, motivated, positive and genuinely great friendship material! I have 100% confidence that no matter what happens, if we make it to the top of Kili or we have to amend the plan, it's going to be amazing. 

Who got lucky enough to run into this lady on a boat to Antarctica in 2022? I did!

Custer County is WOW-worthy!

 This was my view from "bed" this morning. Pre-sunrise colors flooded into the car as birds sang and cows moo'd outside. I had slept like the dead and woke feeling refreshed and full of joy. Gosh it was peaceful!!! But making it last was not in the cards. I had places to be... I was a lady on mission this morning.

Here's the situation with Wind Cave National Park. It's free to enter! BUT it's not free to see the cave itself and it's also Ranger guided only, which means you need to get a ticket and they are limited, understandably. Tickets can be purchased online - in theory. In practice, at this time of year the supply online was long since gone and I was left with Option #2: buy a ticket in person the day of. (About half of the ticket sales are reserved for same day purchase, but it's a first come, first served thing.)

Yesterday, rocking up to the Visitor Center and inquiring, I was told that all tickets for that day were gone but if I came back at opening time (8 AM) tomorrow, I could line up to buy any available tour ticket.  As I left that building, I noticed "line starts here" signs poked into the ground leading 100 yards away from the entrance... Hmm... all signs pointed to me being not alone in my quest!

So, after a quick coffee stop in Hot Springs at 6:30 AM, I headed straight into Wind Cave NP. Arriving at 6:46 AM, I expected to wait in my car until closer to 8 AM then line up. WRONG! The line was already started and I was patron #15 after high-tailing it from my vehicle, coffee and wallet in hand!

For the next hour I chatted with 3 delightful young ladies about life and travel. Inspirational and motivational. Time well spent. Here I also learned that while 50% of the tickets are sold online and 50% in person, its not 50% of each tour per se; it could be that all the morning tours sold on line and I had to wait til 3:30 PM today to see the cave... time would tell. Oh... and each person in line could be buying tickets for a group of people, meaning that just being #15 in line didn't guarantee that 150 tickets hadn't already been sold before I got to the ticket counter!

Success - well for me anyway. I was a single person hoping for the earliest possible Fairgrounds tour. And that's what I was lucky enough to score for the very reasonable price of $16.

Our Ranger/Guide was Casey. She graduated with a degree in history just 3 weeks ago, started her job with the Park Service 2 days later and last week, added Cave Guide to her list of accomplishments!

We (20 of us) loved Casey. She was funny and informative, great with the kids and prioritized conservation of the cave as well as our safety. Good job, well done!!!

Wind Cave is an extensive network for tunnels and caverns running in every direction and it is still being mapped. I believe something like 120 miles are so far discovered but it's ongoing. Nobody has conclusively ruled out this cave at some point intersecting with Jewel Cave, also in the area. 

(Jewel Cave post from 2012)

It is dimly lit and we walked on mostly concreted path and copious quantities of stairs in our particular tour which went as deep as the public is allowed to go. Entry and exit was actually by elevator! There are other tours, less strenuous and a bit shorter, to choose from too.

Essentially one sets a path to Wind Cave in order to see 3 types of cave formation:

Box Work: Flat sheets/lines of calcite that once filled the cracks in limestone rock, then the limestone eroded and left just the calcite box work.

Popcorn: Little nubbies of calcite that form from condensation in the cave. The cave is 97% humidity and 57 degrees cool. It is considered a "dry cave" though, as no water seeps in or runs through or pools in it.

Frost Work: Looks like crystal formation. It literally sparkles like frost. Also calcite... it's always calcite!

I drove the Needles Highway through Custer State Park this morning. It abuts the north side of Wind Cave NP and before you know it you've driven from one into the other. Custer SP is lush and gorgeous and shared by many! It's one of my fav's and I'd consider coming back here to explore it more in the off-season. Kudos to South Dakota.

Leaving the Black Hills of South Dakota, now one of my favorite places, the place is alive with birds and flowers and there are a thousand people on vacation pulling large RV's with even larger families, it appears.

Listening to Enya's The Return to Innocence, which seems just perfect for the energy in this area and the history of Native Americans, the legends and the vibes. It's always good to reconnect with what really floats my boat and remember how little I need in the way of gadgets and accessories, to be happy. My car is coated in bugs and dust and there is no less dust between my toes and under my fingernails. My hair needs a wash and I think that's a cactus thorn inside the tip of one of my most used fingers! But feral me feels liberated by this little roadtrip. 

... and grateful to be coming home to Colorado too... despite the return to thunderstormy skies!