Saturday 9-3 Hiking the Old Logging Road & Rain

Get a buddy and let's go hiking

We woke up to a beautiful day with the temperature in the 40s. It's a great temperature for a morning hike.

I crawled out of bed at 7:15. I made frozen pancakes for breakfast. While the oven was heating up I got dressed. When the elevation is high our oven takes longer to heat up. It was close to temperature when I put the pancakes in, today I had them on a cookie sheet. They came out better but they still weren't like the pancakes made from pancake mix. But their very convenient and fast to prepare, 2.5 minutes in the oven.   

After breakfast we went on a 7 mile hike for three and a half hours. Before going on the hike Larry put out the solar panels. We started from the site and hiked .5 mile to the old logging road gate. Then we hiked the road for 2.5 miles. The road gradually went up in elevation, by the time we hiked to turn around we had gained 900 ft., which was 10100 ft. We didn’t wear any jackets because we knew once we got started it would warm up. But we both had long sleeve shirts. It started out a little cool but by the end it was warm.

We hiked the road previously so we knew where we were going, how far we wanted to go and where to turn around. The hike was challenging at times. But the road was consistent, we didn’t have to climb over boulders, go between them nor were there any muddy areas. We stopped occasionally to catch our breath and rest or enjoy the hike. During our hike we saw some grouse. They flew into the trees. They camouflage themselves in the tree and they were hard to see. On the way back we saw them walking around and doing their thing. We watched them for a long time. We didn’t want to disturb them and it gave us time to rest. We found a downed tree and sat on it until they went into the trees. The hike wasn’t as strenuous as yesterday so it didn’t take as long. The road has trees on both sides of it. As we got higher there were places where you can see and hear the highway. We had another wonderful hike. We were by ourselves so it was peaceful. 

A view of Big Meadow Lake from the old logging road

 

A grouse hiding in the trees

 

The old logging road we hiked

 

A grouse sunning on a log

On the way to our site we stopped by and visited with the hosts. They told us that a gentleman came by yesterday and told them that he was a volunteer for the National Forrest and helps them clear trees off some of the trails. He was going to be in the area for the next three weeks working on the Archuleta Trail, where the downed trees are. They told him that there was about 30 trees but he said it was closer to 100. This would be great for hikers who want to go the full 6.5 miles one way.

When we got back to the Minnie we rested and then I made sandwiches for lunch. About 1:45 a small front came through with rain and hail. It only lasted about 15 minutes. There were a lot of people on and at the lake, we saw them run to their cars. They just waited out the front. It was nice because it cooled things off. Then I climbed above the cab and took a nap. Today it was about an hour.

While I was napping Larry read.

The rain came back around 6:00 and stayed around 20 minutes. It didn’t stay long but it was hard. I didn’t get to walk around the campground but I did do 27,000 steps for the day.