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My wife and I live
in Old Snowmass
where there are more
animals and open
areas than people,
just the way we like
it. Behind
where we live is a
rather large ridge
that borders our
house, and beyond it
lies the monastery
and several
fourteeners.
So, like any curious
cats, we snatched
our neighbor, Gina,
and off we went to
see what was on the
other side. |
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The omens were
right; as soon as we
left, two majestic
red tail hawks rode
the thermals above
us climbing to the
heavens. |
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The hike was not as
simple as one might
suspect. There
was no real trail,
so we pretty much
used creativity to
make spontaneous
decisions on how to
get through
obstacles. |
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Without any trail to
speak of, we
trekked through
head-high brush
which at times
required us to
travel on hands on
knees for the right
of passage. |
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Half way up, the
views become
breath-taking...(or
was that just
because I'm
completely out of
shape?) Gina
is shown here
calling in Mountain
Rescue, but realized
she forgot to renew
her hiker's
insurance at the Ute
Mountaineer.
Guess we are on our
own. It's at
this point where we
came across a coyote
about 10 yards from
us. She let
out a cackle to let
us know where she
was; certain it was
a hyena, I rolled up
into a ball and
played dead.
The girls assured me
it was a coyote and
we moved on.
Just in case it
wasn't a coyote, I
stayed in front. |
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More animals grace
us by showing their
white bottoms, more
good omens. |
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From about 2/3 of
the way up, I used
the zoom to get a
good shot of our
house. We feel
very fortunate to be
able to live here. |
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The pictures above
are a 360 degree
view from the top.
It was an incredible
hike with insane
views: Snowmass,
Sopris, Independence
Pass, and a few
fourteeners.
Obviously concerned
about the weather,
we decided it was
time to get off the
lightning rod. |
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Going down proved a
much more
complicated process
than we could ever
possibly have
conceived. |
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With one more glance
at the weather we
all knew what had to
be done...We decided
to surf/slide down
the shale area.
There was no thicket
in the way, and
surfing would get us
down quickly. |
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This is where the
girls excelled in
shale surfing and I
ate it, earning a
nice big strawberry
on me arse.
The shale trail
really opened up,
and we all held
hands and descended
200 feet in the
middle of a shale
avalanche, on our
bums. At the
end we were so dusty
even our souls had
dirt in them. |
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Here is the chute we
slid down. |
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Mission
accomplished, back
home we go. |
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Here we are looking
back on our first
major hike of the
year, the perfect
ending to a perfect
hike. As always,
please remember to
leave nature cleaner
than you found it.
Many mahalos for
spending your time
reading my
adventure.
Namaste. |
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