There are times when you go to hike Hanging Lake. Hanging Lake was a big lake when a big old seismic shift happened, and half the lake dropped down a bunch, leaving the top half hanging. During the summer, this lake gushes down to the lower half, but in the winter, it's frozen over in intense prettiness.
I first hiked up there about eight years ago, in two feet of snow, cursing and sliding the entire way to the top to see the massive beauty. Today, with much less snow on the ground, I decided to hike it again. It's a mile hike, mostly straight up. Things were fine until the ice appeared about halfway up. I continued on, stepping carefully. And then, I slipped. I fell and landed on my wrist. And, on top of that, my pants ripped. I now had half a pair of daisy dukes and a half mile of upwardness to go. Sigh.
I tied my sweater around my waist, noticed my wrist was getting cranky, and continued on upwards. I hoisted up on local trees, carefully stepped on rocks, and continued on for another quarter mile. Until. I was faced with a hill of ice. My first step up involved a slip, a fall onto my other wrist, and sliding back down. I looked for alternatives, but all were slippy. After a few minutes, it was time to give up and I started back down the trail.
At points, I and my semi-daisy dukes did the little kid scoot action down especially slidy spots, where you sit down and let gravity pull you down the hill. By the time I reached the bottom, I had rocks in my shoes, two cranky wrists, and a very damp bottom. I headed straight to the big, big hot springs, soaked my various bits for several hours, and then had dinner with a well-deserved beer.
Although I didn't reach the top of the trail, I now have half a sexy pair of shorts and I can feel my knees and leg muscles gearing up for a big old scream session tomorrow in spite of hours in hot springs. And that's how I spent my New Years' vacation: bottom scooting down a mountain. Colorado!
An Erinku:
rocking out
my old flannel
again
woo-hoo 90's revival!
No comments:
Post a Comment