Long Day’s Hike Into Night
08/07/04

From our very windy, spectacular sleeping spot we headed out with 27 miles of unknown terrain before us. Our goal: a room reservation in Macks Inn, a town that seems to be the name of the primary business.

Early morning light filled our path on the sometimes-narrow Divide for our first few miles. Although we were walking through what seemed to be middle of the Rockies, the Centennials appeared to be their own range with distant other ranges to the right and left. I don't remember hearing about or reading about the Centenials. They are great. Maybe that's because it's not raining.

The theme of the day would be descent. We made our way through non-descript trail, then gravel road, then good gravel road, then pavement.

But there was lots to see before I hit pavement.

We were all low on water. Our last few sources had been elusive. On the trail, I descended along the Divide to a saddle with a road to it. This saddle is where the next water was supposed to be. We were deep in the Experimental Sheep Station, and it looked like something was going on.

Sure enough, the saddle had a camp. As I got closer, I saw big blue water jugs at the camp. Even if they drove their water in, I was going to be taking some of that water if I couldn't find any natural source.

I wandered around a bit, heading to various greeen clumps in the grassy landscape, but water eluded me. Before too long, I saw Spur and Apple Pie hiking toward me.

With more people, we should have no problem finding the water. As they arrived, I also saw what I assumed to be a shepherd riding toward camp. (This shepherd looked just like a cowboy.) I asked him about the location of the spring. He said that he didn't speak English. I said, "Agua?" and pointed to the one place I hadn't yet been. He said, "Si."

I drank lots as I filled my bladders with yummy, clear water.

The next section of trail was a maze. It think it was well-traveled. I found myself overlooking Blair Lake, a refreshing bit of water after the dryness of the last few days. I stopped to take a photo of myself, then, as I turned a bend, which followed a bend in the lake, I saw a larger bull moose grazing underwater.

The moose was slow to react to my presence, so I got some good photos of it. Only as I continued on the trail did the near-black antlered beast begin a retreat, which was swift once it started. It's amazing how wildlife can vanish once it's in the forest. The forest is a cloak of invisibility, even for a large lumbering moose.

I pushed on to Lillian Lake for lunch, where I saw a snake in the water nosing the edge of submerged logs for food.

The next section looked interesting on the map: Hell Roaring Creek. The first few miles were OK, but as we headed upstream, the route became cross-country. I first thought an in-the-creekbed route would be fastest, but dense growth, deep mud, and endless meandering slowed my pace to a crawl. Mack's Inn was waiting. If I'd been on a day hike, I would have loved to poke around this creekbed all day. So, I left the creekbed behind and headed to the more open areas of hillside, which was at times close to level and at others moderately steep. Most of the time, the hillside was molestingly thick with wildflowers. At first, it was great: I felt poetic and blissfull moving through tall wildflowers. Then it grew dull, then tiresome. Hell Roaring Creek seemed to be endless with wildflowers slowing our progress.

I eventually emerged at the pass above the headwaters. The map indicated the trail to the left, but I didn't cut to the left enough and found myself in a maze of small, loose and steep-sided canyons. Spur and Apple Pie had caught up and were following me. At the point I, goat-like, made my way up an near-vertical bit, they decided to set their own route. We hiked paralled for a good bit, then, from across a deep chasm, they spotted the trail above me. I scrambled up to it and waited for them as they arrived on the trail they'd discovered on the other side.

We still had some miles to go to a hotel whose check-in desk probably had limited hours, so I set out in front, trying to make the miles. The material underfoot got more improved as I approached town.

The long out took me into the evening hours and through an awful, ugly suburban development with lots of 'logs' and fake window lights. Soon the Subway shop landmark was in sight. Just a few more miles.

Night fell as I made my way down the highway. If the office closed at ten, I'd make it on time.

Trucks and cars roared past in both directions. Some young guys stopped and offered me a ride. I declined, since the highway was part of my continuous walk. About 5 minutes later, I heard another vehicle pulling up behind me.

It stopped behind me, and I looked around, over my shoulder. Excessive lights were what I saw, and the outline of a roof mounted light bar. It was the police in a huge vehicle.

I stood there, annoyed and facing away from the lights, waiting. And waiting. Finally, I yelled out, "WHAT?" with an exaggerated irritated gesture.

The cop came out of his vehicle and asked me what I was doing. I asked him if it was illegal to be walking along the highway. He said no. He wanted to see my ID, which meant I had to take off my pack. Ugh.

I told him each thing I was going to do before I did it:
"I'm going to reach to my waist to release my hip belt."
"My wallet is in the top pouch of my pack in a small zippered compartment. I'm going to reach in there to get it."

He warmed up with my little CDT capsule, but I didn't. I was extremely tired and not interested in being hassled, no matter how cute he was. He advised me to walk against traffic, so I did, arriving at Mack's Inn with minutes to spare. I got the keys to the room and used a maid's wheel barrel-type cart to haul the many boxes from the three of us across the highway to the tiny phoneless room.

I began attacking the million details as best I could given my state, keeping an eye out for Apple Pie and Spur. They showed up before too long, then the room was really crowded. While winding down, I enjoyed a box of sugarless goodies that Happy 'JO' and Jen had sent from England. I like getting goodies.
I got to sleep quickly.
- posted by JustSit @ 1:19 PM