View from Ute Trail - Click for a larger version

This post is especially for my friend, Mike Little, who lives in Virginia but dreams of Colorado and the mountains.  I thought of him all day on our hike, especially when we ran into another Mike along the way.  To both of the Mikes, next time we’ll hike down the hill, Peter can hike up and we’ll swap keys half way!

It was cold at the trail head.

Last Friday I took a real day off with my husband and we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to go for a hike.  We chose a trail that started above timberline, about 12,000 feet above sea level.  For those of you who haven’t hiked at altitude, the air is very thin and it’s pretty darn cold.  Imagine walking up two flights of stairs in early spring while breathing through a straw and you’ll have an idea of what it feels like.

The trail rolled up and down over some little hills through the alpine tundra giving us some great views of Longs Peak to the south and the Mummy Range to the North. About 3 miles in we came to a steep drop off, at least a thousand feet.  Half-way down this hill we ran into Mike, a visitor from Phoenix, AZ.  He was carrying a well-stocked pack, and was obviously prepared for his day, but he wasn’t quite sure where he was.  When Peter pointed it out to him on a map, he decided he was pretty sure he wasn’t in shape for hiking back up the mountain, but he could keep on going downhill to another, lower-elevation trail head.  We helped him out by taking his car keys and hiking back out the way we came so we could shuttle his car down for him.

It was a great day and reminded my why I do what I do.  I love helping people, I love the outdoors, and I love doing things that will help keep our planet a beautiful place.