My mom asked me an excellent question yesterday evening. "Why did your phone go in the water??"
I was too tired to write down my longwinded story yesterday, but fortunately for ya'll (sarcasm), I'm feeling pretty darned good today... so here it goes:
Trail Log (You know I just had to): Finch Lake, from the Allenspark Trailhead, 8 miles round trip. That link sends you to somebody else's Trail Log, since there really isn't much on the internet about that specific route (you can also get there from the Finch Lake TH or the Wild Basin TH... those ways are longer but more traveled). This is how I spent my day on Sunday. I was so sick of the swarms of people, I wanted to hike a trail that I hoped would be relatively quiet - and I was right! The trailhead itself is a little tougher to find because it's not labeled on the road and is a 20 minute (? don't even know for sure) drive south of Estes Park, and there are only a small number of parking sites once you get there.
The trail was pretty rocky and was moderately uphill for most of the way, until you get close to the lake - then it's blissful downhill trot... until you remember that you will have to go UP on your way back! Mostly forested, with a section that goes through the site of the 1978 Allenspark fire. The pine, aspen, golden banner and indian paintbrush have all grown back pretty vigorously, and it's a neat contrast to see 4-8 ft. pines next to towering charred remains. It's not animals or cliffs or any other thing that worries me on hikes - it's dead snags creaking and swaying in the wind! Since I do the whole hazard tree thing, I'm always painfully aware of the fact that a dead tree could just decide to fall on me. Sound stupid? I've been told that's the #1 killer of wildland firefighters on the fire line. I'm going to keep looking up, even if I'm paranoid. :)
The lake itself was... well, a little lake, surrounded by pine and rock. I would have continued the other 2 miles to Pear Lake if I had brought lunch, but I was hungry and honestly, Finch Lake was pretty unremarkable so I didn't feel like taking a gamble that Pear Lake would be any better. Hey, I'm just being honest! I won't take anybody on that hike. It was a great work-out and as quiet as I could probably find on a summer Sunday in Rocky Mt., but it was a pretty boring lake. I forgot my camera but I will post the couple pictures I actually did take eventually.
...But my phone seemed to really like the lake! To answer my mom's question, I had taken the phone out to check the time and I set it down next to me, on a rock next to the lake. I gathered my stuff to leave and noticed my shirt was falling out of the bungees on my pack... then had this thought that I don't remember putting my phone back... Started looking around, I mean I hadn't gone 5 feet but WHERE WAS THE PHONE?! I didn't go very far so I was at a loss. I glanced into Finch Lake with a sinking feeling, didn't see it... did a double take...!#$%^&*%!#, my phone!!!! I'm not sure if my Camelback pack hit it, or if it just rolled, or if some evil chipmunk pushed it... I didn't even hear it go in.
BUT there is a good ending to this tragic story of cell phone near-death! Later I plugged in just the phone part to my car adapter, and it LIVED! I think the battery is toast and am hoping that a new one will work in the phone. So, in the meantime my cell is on life-support and only works while plugged in. :)
Here's my plan for coming home: I am driving with my parents back from visiting me on the 6th and we're gonna drive straight thru. Pack up my stuff the 7th?? See some people and have a good time that night, then if I'm super ambitious head back to CO on the 8th. If anybody does come out with me, I will obviously drive you to the airport, and you are free to stay as long as you want! I do have to work but we'll work something out. Perhaps the lucky volunteer can come and be my slave at Rocky for the day and help drag slash or something. J'k, we'd go easy on you.
I'm in a fantastic mood today, I went to the west side and got to goof off with my friends over there a little bit. Ron is in the military and has to go back to his base in August, and he has a 3 year old yellow lab thathe needs to find a home for. I wasn't planning on getting a lab, yet alone one that old... but I'm gonna meet his pup and see how compatible we are. He said he's well trained and a great hiker, so maybe Tara's puppy will have an uncle! ;) Ron also said he would ride me back to MI on his touring motorcycle so I could pick mine up, and we'd cruise the backroads back to CO... to which I said, I've only been riding for about a year, I haven't ridden since last fall, AND the longest trip I've driven myself was 3 hours! On an old '87 Honda I bought off eBay! So don't worry Mom, I'm not going to do it!
Speaking of which, she heard about some Michigan lady that fell off a cliff in Yellowstone, and some Chicago girl that went missing on a hike at Mt. Rainier and yelled at me over email for hiking alone. Hey guess what! I don't think "It can't happen to me" - It CAN happen to me, but I just have to trust in what I've learned over the years and hope that my training, experience, stubborn will to live and a little bit of good luck will help me through it all. I mean, it's a bigger risk to drive a car than for me to go hiking! Living a full exciting life is worth the risk and I'd rather die hiking than in a car or on the couch or something boring!
On top of that, one thing my sister Linda and I have learned, for better or worse, is to be self sufficient and never have to rely on anybody else. I'm not going to stop hiking just because I am alone. It might be even better that way - I'm not being pushed to do something harder than my ability, or being aggrivated by having to go too slow or stop! I pay very careful attention to everything around me BECAUSE I am alone. You can't get careless or lazy when you go it alone! My mom raised independent confident women, and look what she got - stress and worry! Let that be a lesson to the rest of you, ha ha!
Anyway I'm obviously doing much better today, things are just too good for me out here to linger on the bad stuff! It helped seeing Travis, Ron and Doug today, and getting emails from Maria and Jon... oh and getting my tree climbing gear!
So... what should I write my novel about? I'd already be done if all these entries were worth publishing! ;) All I can say is I'm glad so many of you are bored at work, otherwise I don't think anybody would read all this!
