Little Bluff deck cam August 24 - oh my, look what I saw when I stepped out from working in the garage this morning - HAPPY DAY TO YOU!

Journal updated on the 21st

Our newest 2023 ARKANSAS SCENIC WALL CALENDAR is now available and shipping! CLICK HERE for more info and to order. (limited supply this year - and we won't be selling these at slide programs, or any of our books either)

08/01/22 A cool 46 degrees at dawn when I started my morning hike up the mountain. The higher I hiked the cooler it got - mostly because the wind started to blow - first time there’s been much wind this month. The rising sun lighting up the landscape encouraged me to keep going higher past my normal turn around spot, up into the sunlit hills instead of back down in the shade. I’ve not spent any time at higher elevation this trip but hope to before I leave - the higher you get the crisper the air gets, and the greater it feels filling your lungs with each step! An extra half mile up into the national forest and I was good. (total breakfast hike was four miles)

On the way back down to camp my lovely bride called to chat, and while we were talking (and I was walking) a neighbor across the road from our camp drove by and stopped - his wife is a full-blood Italian and he’s a cajun, and he said she just made a batch of her famous spaghetti and meat balls - 30 meat balls! He insisted I accept a plate full later today so I’m holding off on lunch a little while.

While I didn’t contribute much to this Journal lately, I did make long posts on the 29th and 30th if you happened to miss them (link).

Otherwise, it is AUGUST, an absolute great time to be in the mountains, and since I’ve got a months worth of things to do in the next two weeks I had better get to them - HAPPY MONDAY TO YOU!

08/02/22 We had another round of storms roll through this afternoon, with two of them getting special severe weather bulletins from the National Weather Service - including 1/2 hail and 60mph winds. Those storms mostly blew just to the east of me with nothing much but light showers here at camp.

Late afternoon found me back at Big Meadows Reservoir with a new (cheap), 9’ long kayak paddle I wanted to try out (my current too-short paddle is 8’). Although it was only 4pm the swirling clouds were quite dark and it looked more like 8pm - sure enough there were some pretty big thunder-boomers building up over the Continental Divide just a mile or two from the lake.

The water was calm and serene and quite beautiful - and not a single boat in sight! Well actually there was one boat next to me on the boat ramp - a nice young couple that was also inflating their boat headed out to catch some dinner trout. Most folks who visit these mountain lakes are fishing - I’m the odd one that’s only trying to get some exercise and enjoy the beauty.

As luck would have it as soon as I pushed off into the calm waters it began to rain - light, soothing, gentle rain. But the thunderhead over yonder was moving east and away from the lake so it seemed OK to keep on paddling, and I did.

The longer paddle made a huge difference in my ability to paddle in relative comfort and I spent the next hour roaming around the lake testing out different paddle strokes. The lake is small enough that if I was out in the middle and wanted to have a closer look at something on the shore it would only take me 5-10 minutes to paddle over to it. This happened a time or two when I spotted a deer, although I never did reach one in time to get a photo of deer reflecting in lake water.

The rain picked up and I put my jacket on, but continued to paddle since as we know, I LOVE to be out paddling (or hiking) in the rain - and it was just delightful! (still not much wind) As the sun began to break through, the lush landscape looked even better - so many shades of green with all the evergreens mixed in with aspens.

One funny thing about the fish in this lake. When I did my first boat trip here a couple of weeks ago the lake water was green with algae and there were lots of dead and dying fish along the shore. Not so now - almost no algae and absolutely no dead fish, yea!

In fact there seemed to be a healthy population of trout in the lake now and they were literally jumping for joy - and the harder it rained, the more they jumped! All around me were rising and jumping trout. It was probably the most fish I’ve ever seen like this. And they went on and on, as did I.

Then when twilight approached it actually got lighter (when the dark clouds moved on and sunshing lit up the surrounding montains), and more and more boats appeared. By the time I’d circled the lake three or four times there were at least 15-20 other boats/paddleboards in the water, about half paddlers and half motorboats (small, no wake allowed). That was my cue to head for the ramp - I’m not a big fan of lots of boats around, plus I’d gathered the data I needed to figure out how long my paddle needs to be.

The new cheap new paddle I was using was the right length, but unfortunately it was really CHEAP construction and also the blades way too small, so it will be headed back to Amazon and I’ll refine my search for the perfect paddle. The beautiful multi-wood paddle I have been lusting after has been removed from my list - I’m setting my sights a little lower - and eventually I’ll find the Goldilox paddle for me!

Back at camp I set off for a quick hike around the short loop here as a crescent moon slipped behind the ridge and an army of stars came out to shine - second night in a row we’ve had big storms blow through and clear out all the clouds so the stars could twinkle...

My baby "camp" bunny wanting to get into the shed - or for me to come out and play!

And here's a few photos from my evening float...

08/03/22 Spectaclar color at dawn! After a delightful hike to the top and back I spend a good bit of time cleaning up anad repacking my boat - it got a lot of sand and mud yesterday and I'm trying to keep it as clean as possible - you can see how small it packs don to, but at 52 pounds I ca't lift it so have to drag it around, then use a ramp to kind of roll it up into the back of the van - so far, so good!

It took most of the afternoon to make a grocery run "down river" to Alamosa - my grocery bill for the upcoming week was about $10 a day, which included some snacks I probably should NOT have prchased, but sometimes a guy just needs a treat or two up here in the mountains. I not only LOVE gelato, but the containers they come in are great for reuse since they are sturdy and have a screw on lid. (oops, don't let my girlfriend see me having gelato as a breakfast snack!).

08/05/22 ..

08/08/22 After sleeping in until after sunrise the past couple of days I’m finally back to a normal schedule and up at 4am-something today. Lots of starlight to help me find the way around the campsite, although it takes me longer than normal because I keep stopping to look UP at all the wonderful stars! Early morning at or before dawn really is the best time of the day most days. It is so peaceful and quiet, and the air is so sweet!

A couple of days ago I spent a few hours cleaning up the other boat we have at camp. It’s one we bought many moons ago and used a few times for family trips on the Buffalo - back when we were able to move it around without too much trouble. I only used it once here in Colorado, a short shakedown trip on the Rio Grande River just to see how it did. It did GREAT, but it has sat collecting dust and chipmunk nests in the years since.

After cleanup I somehow managed to get the 12’ Native boat slid up and into the back of the camper van and off we went (the boat and I). Not a soul in sight when I arrived back at Big Meadows Reservoir, which has become a favorite spot for me to paddle around. The waters were calm and sky mostly clear with no threat of thunder boomers.

This skinny boat (not sure it if is a kayak or canoe - kind of in between) was much easier to paddle than my hunky inflatable canoe, though it didn’t feel near as stable since it sits lower in the water. I was able to get the double blade paddle into a pretty good rhythm and I made a couple circles of the lake in no time.

I enjoy paddling around the outside near the shore - so much more to see rather than just doing laps down the middle. Lots of fish bubbling the surface, though not nearly the splash-fest of the last trip. While paddling along the shore you also get the feeling of motion and accomplishment since the land is moving all the time.

At one point I realized there was a duck in front of me, paddling between me and the shore. The lake was calm and he was making a nice little wake behind him. I wanted to get close to see if I could take a picture, and also figure out who he was. But a funny thing happened - the faster I paddled, the faster he did too! I tried and tried to gain on him but he just kept keeping ahead of me, just enough.

One moment I looked up and there were two of them, then three, then four ducks - the others must have been underwater. Eventually the newest three members of the flock veered off and disappeared, and it was back to just the two of us. It was then I realized I was actually on a high-mountain lake in Colorado RACING a duck! My paddling form was looking pretty good but I never did catch him. Guess we know who is the better paddler on the lake.

I did manage to dig out my camera for a snapshot or two, but no way a picture shows how graceful and beautiful the scene in front of me really was.

The race finally ended when I really got into high gear - determined to overtake this guy, but somehow I managed to slap my head with an upstroke of my paddle, and a brand new pair of sunglasses (that I’d waited four or five months to order) got knocked off my head and into the water.

Several thoughts immediately entered my mind. #1 - Oh darn I’ll never catch that duck now! #2, Oh **** I just lost my new sunglasses, but surely they will float. #3, as I spun the boat around to watch them slowly disappear beneath the surface of the water, I realized what an idiot I was - I just lost my new pair of sunglasses. Final score - duck 1, me a big fat 0!

But no problem - these glasses came with a “lost replacement” guarantee (I also had bought them during a 1/2 price sale). But really, you think they are going to send me a new pair when I tell them the glasses got knocked off into the lake while I was in the middle of racing a duck?

The rest of the paddle was just terrific and I covered about four miles. Later on when talking to my lovely bride, she questioned me as to what the heck I was doing - the realtime track of me she was watching on the computer back home showed me weaving all over the place - not just padding from one end of the lake to another. So I explained that I was racing a duck and somehow she understood completely. Hum...

We continue to have some pretty severe thunderstorms each afternoon with heavy rain and sometimes hail. But I’ve almost always been able to get an evening hike in during the golden hour as the sun drops low and lights up clouds and the wind dies down and it’s just spectacular! The edges of daylight are the BEST.

So far I’ve managed about 10 miles of hiking a day this trip - what I do in between morning and evening hikes (other than a paddle trip every few days) I have no idea - my overall to-do list remains static and my time here to get it done is growing short.

But at least the new calendar is now at the distributer and ready to order! We get these printed in Montana and then shipped direct to the big warehouse in Chicago. When you order them (or any of our books too) you are doing so through the University of Arkansas Press. (NOTE - I will not have these available for sale at slide programs, so best to pick one up at your local retail shop or buy direct from the UA Press online store here.)

This calendar contains six or eight new photos that have never appeared in print before, including several brand new waterfall finds. Also included is what I just realized is the very FIRST photo I ever took with the very LAST camera I will most likely ever buy - the end of an era that begun in 1975. My very first camera was a Minolta SRT 101 that my brother in law, Corky, brought me while he was serving in Vietnam (1974). The very next year, in the spring of 1975, I made enough money on my first professional photo shoot (individual and team photos of Little League baseball teams) to purchase my dream camera - I mean I had pictures of this camera taped to the wall of my bedroom - a Nikon F2s! (normal college boys of the day had posters of Farrah Faucett, but nope, my fantasy was about a CAMERA!)

During the nearly five decades since, I’ve owned dozens of different camera systems - some good, some GREAT! And they have all served me well (actually the most expensive system - an Alpa technical camera with 80 mega-pixel digital back, about $80 grand worth with a bag of special lenses and accessories - was a flop, but I was able to get most of my money back on it).

I sold off the last of my big cameras 2-3 years ago when I quit chasing great light and working on new picture books. But last year I decided I needed to still keep a small, light camera with a single lens around for when I really felt the urge. After much deliberation I purchased a little Fuji X-E4 mirrorless “rangefinder” type camera, but could not spring for the $800 lens that I normally would have fitted this camera with. After much internet study and soul searching I ended up with a nice, small, lightweight zoom lens - it literally is made of plastic and only costs $50 (used).

08/09/22 Up a couple hours today before the crack of dawn. I’ve been getting lazy of late and sleeping in but the past couple of days I’m turning my internal clock back (or is it forward?) - going to bed early and getting up early. Today I also wanted to test out my night vision, so I headed up the mountain at 4:30am without a flashlight. It was a cool 47 with calm winds and clear skies. BEAUTIFUL of course!

Of note was the first time I’d seen the winter constellation, Orion The Hunter, since late spring - it was rising in the east as I too rose on up the steep hillside. Easy to hike in the “dark” like this on a wide gravel road - plenty of starlight to see just ahead of my feet, and in fact there was quite a bit of starlight. Things begin to get just a tiny bit lighter with each step beginning about 90 minutes before sunrise each day. This was a test to see how I could do - tomorrow I’m planning to be on a real trail at about 4-ish and I didn’t want to bother with the weight of a headlamp. Think it will work just fine...

Yesterday morning I met up with fellow a Arkansan (who shall go nameless to protect his identity, though he looked a lot like Terry Wood, a friend of Fireman Jeff’s), who shuttled me and my big blue rubber ducky boat a few miles upstream from town so I could do a nine-mile paddle on a Headwaters section of the mighty Rio Grande River. Normally you can’t hardly even float it this time of year because it is so low, but with heavy rains lately, and a LOT of daily rain for the past several weeks, the river was not only up, but was way up and running pretty fast.

I hadn’t paddled real whitewater much since high school - 50 years ago. But hey, it was a big, wide river and I was driving my unsinkable rubber ducky so what could go wrong.

I pumped up the boat, loaded all my stuff into it, then shoved off into a really fast current. The photo below that I snapped just looking upstream before getting into the boat would be the last almost-calm water I would see for nine miles.

OOPS, I hadn’t gone 100 yards - nor even settled into my proper kneeling position in the boat when the fast current ran me into a large hidden bolder and spun me around sideways - the boat did fine but my reaction almost flipped me into the water! Good thing I had my PFD (aka life vest for us old timers) on and zipped up.

So that was a walk-up call to me that this was a real big river at high water stage and going really fast. Besides telling me there were not seats in a canoe, one other bit of wisdom my dad always told me about a canoe is that you need to always be going faster than the current in order to maintain some level of control of the boat - if you are going the same speed then you don’t have much control and the river can do pretty much whatever it wants to with you and your boat. That second part of his wisdom would echo through my brain every moment of the next nine miles (two hours) of paddling.

One item I learned on my own at the beginning of this trip was that while I was floating through some of the rugged and beautiful scenery in Colorado, I would not be able to take my focus off of the job at hand to slow down and look at any of it - the river didn’t care about such things and would sweep me away, and always directly into a big rock, hidden just an inch or two below the surface.

Yes I know that submerged rocks mark themselves with signature whitewater patters on the surface, but when the entire wide river is boiling it’s tough for a novice like me to always tell which are the dangerous rocks and which are just more of the standing waves/haystacks that marked most of the journey.

“Paddle harder man - you gotta be faster than the current!” And so I did, and was amazed how I was able to dodge hidden boulders that I didn’t see until the last minute - often by a single flip of the paddle - something I kind of had to learn on the fly as I went along - my self training how to paddle a canoe on the calm lakes these past few weeks did not prepare me for any of this.

I’ve never been a white-water thrill seeker like so many of my friends that are experts - I much prefer a wilderness lake. But fact is there aren’t really any lakes near where we live, and so if I want to be able to use this boat I’m gonna have to float rivers that have some whitewater now and then. No problem - I just need more time on the water.

A few notes from my trip yesterday. First, I only saw two people the entire trip - both lone fly fisherman in the river not too far from the banks (it’s not a deep river, but shallow and fast). Second, I never saw another boat of any kind - even though this is a major tourist rafting section of the Rio Grande. Guess they were still all asleep. Third, I was really surprised (to the point of almost capsizing in deeper water) at how beautiful a cluster of homes where that crowded along two back-to-back 90-degree bends in the swift river. They literally sprang out of the very edge of the river, almost all of them were painted red and white, and all where part of the private Masonic Park, cabins (or mini Masonic lodges) all owed by Masons. I do love cabins along a wild river, especially log cabins, and the location and buildings were just stunning!

Only problem was that due to the swift water and sharp turns (and dad’s voice in my head yelling - “paddle faster than the river to maintain control!”), I only got to see them as I whizzed by.

And a forth note - when the time came I had to struggle and do a bit of quick thinking and hard paddling to dart over to the edge of the river and make my take out point in the swift current. But I MADE IT - YIPPIE COYOTE!

I thought I was going well too paddle four miles at full speed on the lake the other day, but today it was nine miles of fuller speed paddling as hard as I could go. OK, of course I could have just let the current take me on a leisurely float down the river, but that would not have given me any upper body exercise. It was a great float. Next time I just might slow down a little bit and enjoy the scenery...

A couple other random notes before I leave the computer shed.

Two critters have been hanging around here for a while and we all seem to be enjoying each other. I’ve noted the baby bunny before, and he continues to be close by pretty much all day, and even this morning when I stepped out of the camper van at 4am- something I saw him scamper off in the darkness (he didn’t go far). My bride suggested I give him a carrot, but the only fresh produce I had was a green pepper, so I left him a sliver. It was gone the next morning. Yesterday I left him frozen carrot slice. Just a minute - let me go check... Yup, it’s gone.

The other critter is a young lady, Miss Garter Snake. Her den is just a few feet from a corner of the gazebo, and I frequently see her sunning there, or often nearby just kind of hanging out. She has always been friendly and gives me a little smile when I pass.

Interestingly, more than once I’ve seen Mr. Bunny and Miss Garter snake sitting quietly together in the afternoon sunshine near her den. I wonder what that is all about? I’ve never been able to get a photo of this unlikely romance but I’ll keep trying.

I frequently wander across the meadow and up onto our big granite rock - sometimes to have a look around at what all the neighbors are up to, sometimes just to see what I can see. Last time I went up a couple days ago I was kind of surprised at how much COLOR there was up there - many parts of the rough granite boulders and bluffs were covered with colorful lichen. And there were many bright flowers that I’d not seen anywhere else in this area. Lots of big, round pine cones too (there are several Ponderosa pines up there). I probably should leave a comfy chair up there since it’s the kind of place where a guy could idle away the hours and come up with all sorts of ideas - or take a nap, which I still have not done even once this trip.

And finally to wrap up this post, I revisited an old shelter of sorts that someone made in the aspen forest at the base of our big granite rock many years ago. I’m still not sure why or who, but thought this was an interesting view of the workmanship.

I’m headed out this afternoon for an overnight trip up north, but I’ll be sure to set out a piece of veggie for Mr. Bunny to munch on. Not sure what to leave for Miss Garter Snake - maybe she’ll dine on a mouse while I’m gone...

08/12/22 I’ve never been a peak bagger, really only climbed a handful of real mountains in my entire career. But for some reason I decided it was time for me to make it to the top of Colorado’s highest peak (while I still could do it physically?). Mt. Elbert at 14,440’ is the second highest spot in the contiguous/continental United States, with California’s Mt. Whitney being slightly higher at 14,505’. Alaska has a dozen peaks higher, with the Great One, Denali, topping out at 20,310’, highest in North America. (The high point in Arkansas is Mt. Magazine at 2,753’)

My hike began the night before, when I hauled more than a gallon of water a couple of miles UP a four-wheel drive road, then another half mile along the Continental Divide Trail trail where I stashed the water behind a log in the woods - nearly a thousand feet in elevation higher then where I would begin my hike the next morning. It was a lovely five mile hike (roundtrip) that besides stashing the water so I would not have all the added weight right at the beginning of my hike, but also to let me lay eyes on that access road - I would be hiking it in the dark without a flashlight (didn’t want to carry the weight, plus I enjoy hiking in the dark) so it was good to note the really bad spots I might fall into, haha.

There are at least three different routes to the top of Mt. Elbert - North Trail (most popular), South Trail (should be called East Trail ‘cause it is on the east side of the mountain), and Black Cloud Trail (this one should be called South ‘cause it is on the south side). All are “walkups” - meaning just trail and no technical climbing requited - and range in length from about four to five/seven+ miles. I picked the South Trail because it is much less popular, and while I could not reach the “upper” trailhead with my van (access is via a pretty rough four-wheel drive road), there was a lower trailhead on pavement where I could park and spend the night, but it was 1.8 miles - and almost a thousand feet lower in elevation. That extra 1.8 miles of road walking each way made my route the longest of all. (Fireman Jeff had hiked this trail many years ago and recommended it.)

One note about the distance of my route - if you read up on the internet and even official forest service web pages and the actual trailhead sign maps, the trail I took turned out to be 1.5 miles longer each way. There were three major trail reroutes completed in the past several years that added that much mileage (GREAT trail work by the way!) - yet the forest service has yet to update this additional mileage - their trailhead sign still reads “3.8 miles” to the summit. It is actually 5.4 miles to the summit from the upper trailhead. (plus an added 1.8 miles down to the lower trailhead where I started from, making the total roundtrip 14.3 miles, but whose counting, ey?)

Here's the view of Mt. Elbert from the trailhead where I started my hike - should be easy!

I was up at 4am-something sipping coffee and enjoying my normal breakfast smoothie when the first vehicle drove by and headed up the 4wd road towards the upper trailhead. It’s a common and wise practice to get an early start (before sunrise) if climbing the mountain, and while I had planned to wait until I could just barely see the dirt road without a flashlight, a second vehicle that headed up got my competitive juices flowing - no way I was going to beat anyone to the top, but at least I didn’t want to start behind a long stream of other hikers - SLACKER! So I hurried up and got on the trail/road and began my hike.

The first half mile was by starlight only, and oh man it was beautiful! By the second half mile I could actually the road, kind of (I fell once - while I was in the largest pothole on the mountain!), but soon I came upon a couple of hikers who had also started at the lower trailhead and moved on past them just as my watch shouted out “Exercise Ring Closed” - good grief, my eyes weren’t even open fully yet!

It was an easy hike to the upper trailhead, and then along the Continental Divide Trail (that runs 3,100 miles from Canada to Mexico - my great old friend and super legendary hiker, Carl “Wildman” Ownbey, hiked the entire trail in 1987). A half mile later I hung a left and headed up the South Trail leading to the summit (and to where I had stashed my gallon of water).

It was still kind of dusky-dark and I was a little disheartened to find a group of ten hikers (all with bright headlamps lighting up the forest) standing within a few feet of my hidden water stash! They were stopped discussing something and I just stepped into the woods and packed up my water bottles as they headed on up the trail. I would have to fall in line behind them, and stayed there for the next half mile - when their hiker at the rear finally noticed me and they let me pass. (I’m not one to charge ahead and around other hikers - they own exactly as much of the trail as I do!)

I did learn that when someone in the group says “I need to stop and take a picture of that view” it’s a code for “I have to go pee - please continue on and leave me alone.” That might get a little confusing if hiking with a group of photographers.

Once I got past the group the next mile or two of trail was through a beautiful stand of mature aspens and a glowing horizon behind me with the landscape getting lighter with the approach of dawn. The trail was all uphill (I HOPE SO!) and it was really nice hiking trail (aka very well designed and built - the old trail builder in me will never go away - I usually spend more time inspecting the trail work than I do the scenery!). They built this log fence to discourage shortcutting the switchback.

Soon I was above the aspens and into more open country and oh my gosh the VIEWS were just SPECTACULAR! The first rays of sunshine lit up distant mountain ridges and peaks, though there was no sign of Mt. Elbert yet. My hiking pace was up to my normal speed and I didn’t really notice the elevation, even though I had already climbed more than 2,000 feet, passing through the 12,000’ contour line.

Before long the trail reached treeline and the views really opened up, and the grade (steepness of the trail) increased. I tried to adjust my pace a little bit but that’s always been difficult for me - it’s usually just FULL or STOP, nothing in between. Up, UP, and away. About every 100 feet I wanted to stop and take a picture or two or three, but I knew if I got started doing that I’d never reach the top - I kept telling myself that I’d stop on the way DOWN to take that picture - but of course the amazing light would never be the same, nor would I even be looking at the same views. I think I only took three of four photos on the way up, like this one - THAT'S IT!

My pace did slow down quite a bit as the trail got really steep - not because I needed to slow down, but rather because I kept telling myself that if I didn’t slow down my heart might get beating so fast that I might just blow up! I didn’t want that to happen. But it was so hard to slow down - especially knowing that the highest point in Colorado was just right UP there, somewhere.

There were a few other hikers on the trail ahead of me when I started (five or six cars at the upper trailhead), and I passed most of them back in the trees. Several hikers passed me in the upper section of the climb, and sometimes I could see another hiker or two above me on switchbacks, and I could look back down the trail and see a hiker or two, but mostly I hiked alone.

I passed the 13,000’ contour line as the trail made several wide sweeping switchbacks across the ridge it was climbing - these were the new parts of trail that crossed very steep sections of old trail that went straight up the mountain. Sometimes that old trail was four or five (or more) individual trails next to each other (called braided trails), causing a lot of erosion. When a trail begins to erode on a steep hill like this, small rocks end up in the trail, then hikers start to avoid the trail and walk on either side in the grass - then those paths get eroded and more rocks appear and so hikers make new trails, etc. During my five years working for the forest service in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming (1990’s) our volunteer crews spent most of our time filling in and blocking off all those eroded trails and then setting up one path with water erosion devices to try and limit the damage, and the resulting braided trails.Here's a photo on the Elbert trail showing braided trail that's being restored..

The air was getting thinner no doubt, but my heart, lungs, and pace seemed good. Then there was this one guy - and older gentleman wearing a bright orange jacket - that I could see above for a long while, and eventually he stopped and sat down. It took me maybe five minutes to reach his location, but just before I got to him - 20 feet away - he looked down at me and got up and started hiking again. He was just a little bit slower than me, and that kind of messed up the rhythm of my hike.

At that point I wasn’t sure how much juice I had left in me so I didn’t want to run on past him then make a fool of myself killed over in a few minutes gasping for air. So I dropped it into low gear and just plodded along behind him for a while, staying 50-100 feet behind. I was hoping some other hiker would come down the mountain and he would have to pull over - then I could make my move. But it never happened. When I got closer and closer to him I kept telling myself to SLOW DOWN, and I’m sure that was something I really needed to do anyway.

Eventually I noted a moment of hesitation in his step and I got ready. It was an especially steep section of trail, he stopped, then took another half step, then turned away for just a moment - AH HA - that was my cue. I went on past without breaking stride, said good morning, and hoped he’d wouldn’t mind if he had to step on over me when he found me killed over on the trail at the next rise, haha! He gave me a broad smile - there was a little sparkle in his eye and I knew he’d make it to the top.

On up through the 14,000’ contour I went.

There are no “false summits” on this particular trail - those are never any fun (that’s when you think you see the summit just ahead, but after a long steep hike to the “top” you realize it’s not the top and you sill have a long way to go!). But the trail does swing back and forth across the ridge a ways below the summit and you can clearly look UP and see colored dots up there - not tiny people, but people that are still a long way up, haha.

My pace did slow down a bit as I got closer - again, not wanting to blow up my heart. The altitude still did not seem to be affecting me but I just wanted to make sure. At one point I decided to turn around and hike backwards some. A good friend doctor of mine once told me that hiking backwards up a steep incline would help my ailing back - and I in fact have been doing just that this summer each time I’ve hiked to the top of our neighborhood here in Colorado. Don’t know if it actually helps or not but it has always felt good (have to make sure there is no traffic, especially when I have ear buds in!).

I had only taken five or six steps backwards when my left foot went completely numb. What?! I almost fell over. OK, so no more walking backwards above 14,000’ for me! Took me a few minutes to realize my feet must have swelled up so much that the boots (that I had laced up pretty tight) were cutting off circulation. So I loosened the laces, then stood up and closed my eyes and I could feel blood flowing down my torso and legs and filling my poor feet - and the feeling returned almost immediately! Boy, that was a close one. I probably could have crawled the rest of the way to the top but it would not have been one of my finer moments.

I took a photo just after the last big switchback - if you look close maybe you can see some colored dots up there?

The last hundred feet elevation gain seemed like only a few steps and all of a sudden I was on top of the ridge and hung a left at the intersection with the North Trail that comes up from the most popular trailhead - I’d been seeing lots of folks hiking the ridgetop over there (and two false summits) and was glad I picked the trail I did.

Just a few steps more and I joined about 30-40 of those colored dots on the very top of Colorado. And then a funny feeling came over me. First, there was no big sign or banner or particular monument that folks were gathered around that marked the second highest spot in the lower 48. In fact it took a while for me to figure out exactly where the high spot was. It wasn’t until a young lady sitting with a small group asked if I was looking for the USGS marker. “YES” I said - she pointed a couple of feet next to her and there it was. Everyone else except this group was at the other end of the summit, or strung along in between.

Screen shot from my phone...

And secondly, while I had thought a little bit on the way up about what an epic moment it would be for this old geezer to actually make it to the top, I was not especially overwhelmed or exuberant, no shouts of joy or I MADE IT. No tears or flood of emotions.

I did call my lovely bride and sent her a photo. Otherwise I mostly just walked around the top for a few minutes enjoying the stunning views in all directions. I overheard a few stories of weary hikers who wished they had slept in and missed the early wake-up call, vowing to never “summit” anything ever again (it was after all, a pretty tough hike). But most folks where laughing and taking pictures and thankful to have made it up alive. A few others huddled inside a half-built stone shelter wondering how in the world they were going to make it back DOWN. Too many people for me so I put on my mask!

As for the weather, it was a sparkling clear day with not a cloud in the sky and zero chance of rain - which means everyone could have slept in a few more hours since the main reason to begin the hike before sunrise is to avoid the threat of daily afternoon thunderstorms.

For me, the reason to get up early and hike was because the LIGHT would be so super spectacular, and my only regret was not having started a couple of hours sooner - imagine what the top of Colorado would look like at sunrise! While I could only pick out one or two known peaks, there were dozens and dozens of major mountain peaks spread out before us - just amazing. But the light at 8:45 or so when I reached the top was not so much.

So I only spent a few minutes on top and then turned around and started back down - a trip I really regretted, and with good reason. It’s no secret I’ve always preferred to hike UPHILL vs. downhill, always and forever. Weird I know. But on this trip back down it only took about five steps before I remembered one reason why. My TOES started to ache immediately, and this would continue every step of the way back to the van. OUCH!!!

My other worry was my knees - one misstep might cause a lot of damage.

Going downhill on such a steep slope - especially when the first mile or two down the trail was mostly loose rocks - is really just a controlled fall, since gravity is trying as hard as it can to push you down to the ground, head first. And so now I finally slowed my pace, a lot, trying to keep from falling. (and it worked - I never fell again.)

Besides the pain of my toes and worries about falling, there were two notes about the descent. Close to the top I looked up and saw two folks carrying mountain bikes up the trail. WHAT? I guess that is a thing - to carry your bike to the top of mountains and then ride/coast all the way down. When I was a kid I used to do that with my body - hike up to the top of a steep hill in the woods, then turn around and run down as fast as I could, jumping over downed trees, bushes and large rocks - though I never tried it on a bike - it would have been fun I bet.

Second and the most defining moment for me, was the next person I saw coming up the trail - a young lady in her early teens who was obviously struggling physically and mentally (yet ahead of the rest of her family). She stopped and asked me if “THAT” was the top of the mountain? (pointing to the wall of rock behind me) She sounded a little desperate and looked kinda tuckered. With an encouraging and excited tone I said YES INDEED that IS the top of the mountain and you are almost there! You should have seen the look on her face - priceless. Then off she went, bouncing on up the trail to the summit. There ya go - THAT was my thrilling, exuberant moment that I climbed the mountain to experience - to see such joy from a young person on the verge of a great feat, a giant leap, an epic trip I bet she remembers all her life - way to go young lady! I just bet she will part of the future helping to save our planet. (this is why we build trails, hike and climb mountains)

The rest of the seven mile trip back down was mostly painful (my toes) and uneventful - except for the time when I heard what I thought was crunching gravel, only to look up just in time to literally jump off the trail out of the way of one of those mountain bikers I’d seen at the top - YIKES, I almost got creamed!

I saw a numbers hikers on the way up, and to each I gave a happy greeting. It was about half and half what I got back from them - cheerful or dreadful, evenly split.

Here's a view on the way down - looking at Twin Lakes, near where I started

I’d not eaten anything since the breakfast smoothie, but did consume a measured amount of magic power (aka endurance fuel) mixed with water all the way up and all the way down - 20 ounces each hour. The powdered fuel contained “everything needed” for the trip, “no extra gels, bars, or salt pills needed.” Naturally Isotonic, whatever that means. And son of a gun it WORKED! I had plenty of energy all the way and never even thought about a cheese burger or snickers bar, really.

The only odd thing was that even though I’d had a GIANT smoothie for breakfast, and drank about a half gallon of water on the way up (mixed with the powder), I never had the urge to pee even once on the way up. But as soon as I turned around and headed back down I would need to stop and pee about every 30 minutes! (drinking exactly the same amount of the liquid fuel each hour)

I probably should have had a little bit more water with me, though my back would end up taking a beating due to the weight I was carrying (there was not a single drop of water along the entire trail so I could not refill). I swallowed the last of the liquid fuel as I headed down that final mile to the camper van.

YIPPIE I MADE IT BACK ALIVE!

Just FYI, the total hike was 14.3 miles, 4,738’ altitude gain, and total time from start to finish (including any stops and my time on top) was seven hours - so that’s just a little over two miles and hour. My normal hiking pace is about 3mph, so the big hill slowed me down quite a bit!

Took me a couple hours to decompress before I headed back to the campsite. All the while wondering what was to become of my toes - I was afraid to look at them. But eventually I had to remove my socks to take a shower, and it was not good. Seven of my toes/toenails were purple.

My boots were the ones I bought just before my big bushwhack hike back in February, 2021 - never even had a blister in hundreds of miles of hiking with them. That remains true - no blisters at all. But my toenails really took a beating. Only time will tell if I loose them, but I can say that now two days later they are feeling and looking a little better - but I’m not able to walk downhill yet, not even a little bit! I can hike uphill (or on the level) with no problems. Go figure...

It’s a couple days later now and my entire body aches from head to those toes, but getting up and moving around a little always helps (as long as I don’t go downhill). In a few minutes I’ll begin the long process of packing up everything, shutting down the campsite, and heading back to Arkansas to end the summer. I’ve been here almost a month this trip and got about half the things on my to-do list done (which interestingly did not include the hike to Mt. Elbert - that was just a last minute thing to do). It’s been a great month and the trip is all downhill to home - where what I miss most will (hopefully) be waiting for me (maybe I’d better take a shower first though!) Watch out Bunkie, I’m coming home!

08/14/22 It took me 8 hours to pack up camp on Friday, then I left at 6pm for the 18-hour drive home, stopping for a few winks near Felt, Oklahoma at midnight. 12 more hours on the road Saturday and finally home. Here's my my lovely bride in her flower garden early this mornig - IT'S GREAT to be home!

08/16/22 We had THREE INCHES OF cool RAINFALL overnight and today - YIPPIE!

08/18/22 Just a quick note about my computer. A year ago my main laptop computer’s screen went blank (it was an older, MacBookPro that I bought used - would cost $850 to fix it - the screen only works about 5% of the time, and only then just parts of the screen are viewable). I continued to use it for a while with an external 30” monitor that worked OK. I sold/traded in four older laptops (and one almost new iMac) towards a brand new MacBook Pro (first new laptop I’ve bought in a long time).

Several of our programs would soon not work on the older laptop so it was time to upgrade anyway. BUT, the software that this Journal lives on would not work on any current Mac laptop, so I’ve been keeping the old (screenless) laptop alive for the past year by using the external screen - even dragging the 30” monitor to the Colorado campsite for the summer.

We are leaving on a long trip later this month and I won’t be able to bring the external screen with me. That means that most likely I won’t be able to make any posts to the Journal while we are gone. I might try a test to see if we could do it via Facebook, and if so I’ll post that link here for those of you who don’t normally follow our Facebook page (which is mostly business, not a personal page).

Also note that the older laptop could also simply die at any moment - if that happened I would not be able to update this Journal (which also includes our storefront on these pages). I’m hoping to continue for another 24 years with fingers and toes crossed - this Journal began in May 1998. (toe update - so far it looks like I may loose five toenails from the Mt. Elbert hike - two of the bad ones seem to have recovered - otherwise I’m in fine shape but I still can’t hike DOWNhill without much pain - give me HILLS!)...

08/21/22 Walking in the rain early this morning - it rained much of the night with LOUD thunderboomers and lots of lightning. So nice and cool and soothing, ya know, with raindrops dripping off the trees. The earth is soft underfoot, and moving through the forest is almost silent - until I have to turn around and hike back DOWNhill - OUCH,my black and blue toes!

Our schedule this week is kinda jumbled as we prepare to leave for a road trip. Pam has stripped the camper van down to bare bones and now we begin to organize and fill it, not wanting to take any unnessary stuff, yet wanting to make sure we have everything we need!

08/25/22 Pam's flowers have really taken off! AND SO HAVE WE! We begin a month-long road trip to Nova Scotia today - been wanting to do this for more than a decade and the time has finally come. When we get back I'll be posting some photos and thoughts - maybe spread out over more than one page though, you know how I can run on with lots of words! HAPPY SEPTEMBER TO YOU!

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Older Journal Archives

08/18/22 Just a quick note about my computer. A year ago my main laptop computer’s screen went blank (it was an older, MacBookPro that I bought used - would cost $850 to fix it). I continued to use it for a while with an external 30” monitor that worked OK. I sold/traded in four older laptops (and one almost new iMac) towards a brand new MacBook Pro (first new laptop I’ve bought in a long time).

 

Several of our programs would soon not work on the older laptop so it was time to upgrade anyway. BUT, the software that this Journal lives on would not work on any current Mac laptop, so I’ve been keeping the old (screenless) laptop alive for the past year by using the external screen - even dragging the 30” monitor to the Colorado campsite for the summer.

 

We are leaving on a long trip later this month and I won’t be able to bring the external screen with me. That means that most likely I won’t be able to make any posts to the Journal while we are gone. I might try a test to see if we could do it via Facebook, and if so I’ll post that link here for those of you who don’t normally follow our Facebook page (which is mostly business, not a personal page).

 

Also note that the older laptop could also simply die at any moment - if that happened I would not be able to update this Journal (which also includes our storefront on these pages). I’m hoping to continue for another 24 years with fingers and toes crossed (toe update - so far it looks like I may loose five toenails from the Mt. Elbert hike - two of the bad ones seem to have recovered - otherwise I’m in fine shape but I still can’t hike DOWNhill without much pain - give me HILLS!)...08/18/22 Just a quick note about my computer. A year ago my main laptop computer’s screen went blank (it was an older, MacBookPro that I bought used - would cost $850 to fix it). I continued to use it for a while with an external 30” monitor that worked OK. I sold/traded in four older laptops (and one almost new iMac) towards a brand new MacBook Pro (first new laptop I’ve bought in a long time).