Winging It
We woke up tired. So very tired. We are only day hikers with desk jobs, after all. We made it through our long hike and horseback riding yesterday, but now we found ourselves needing a break. Time to throw away the itinerary! We were going to wing it.l!
Featured photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TQRcpgNVzgtntsRV7
June 19th, 2023- Rocky Mountain Day 4
Our sore legs needed a warmup, we decided. First thing on the new itinerary: a walk! We decided on a brief hike on the nearby Adams Falls trail. Simple, short, nothing too extraordinary. The Adams Falls tumble into a rocky creek from atop a small hill. A rainbow spurted up from the water’s surface, glimmering in the early morning sun. As we descended the trail, we declared it a nice stretch of the legs. Sometimes the ordinary trails are lovely in their own right, we said. How true that turned out to be! Our casual stroll was suddenly interrupted by a young bull moose only about 20 yards off the trail! His juvenile antlers rose nobbily out of his head. He swung his massive head around to gawk at us, then wrapped his tongue around the branches of an unfortunate sapling. The leaves disappeared as if vacuumed. I envied his lack of self-consciousness. He moseyed and chomped, entirely ignoring the growing crowd. We stood, fascinated, until he ambled too close for comfort. Time to skedaddle. That guy was a moose on a mission, and we weren’t about to get in the way of his breakfast!
By the time we returned to the car, we had decided that the best way to spend our restructured day was by driving 3-4 hours south to Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park. It wasn’t the wisest decision we’ve ever made. We had a timed entry reservation for Pike’s Peak later that afternoon, so we wouldn’t have much time to enjoy the dunes. Still, the sightseeing was fun! We picked up some McDonald’s caramel frappes on our way out of town. Yes, we are aware how many calories are in our roadtrip staple drink. But come on, have you seen the caramel and whipped cream on those things? My sweet tooth can't resist! We slurped our heavenly drinks, pressed play on our favorite podcast, and drove.
And drove.
And drove.
It’s a widely-accepted fact that Great Sand Dunes National Park is in the middle of nowhere. To get to it from any direction, you should expect hours of flat plains with occasional mountains. Being accustomed to Ohio hills, it boggled my mind that any terrain could be so flat. Its like someone smashed down the hills with a frying pan! It is so flat, in fact, that when we were still 60 miles away from the park, I pointed to the horizon and said, “Surely those aren’t the sand dunes?” Surely they were. Situated at the base of a mountain range, the dunes softly curve into yellow mounds before the earth pancakes into desert plains. It’s a fascinating layer cake of blue mountains, white snow, and soft sand. It almost looks unreal.
The traffic jams were also unreal. Turns out there’s something special about the dunes. When there’s enough spring rainfall, a stream bed is filled at the base of the dunes. Joyfully, the gurgling water transforms the sandy area into a “beach.” Hence the traffic jam. Everyone wanted to have a beach day in Colorado! And a beach day they were having. Everyone was so happy at the dunes! It was a magical atmosphere. Children splashed in the water, dogs barked, sand castles were built, the dunes were sledded. Everyone was rolling up their pants and enjoying the experience. How I wished we could stay longer! But with our timed entry fast approaching, we snapped a few photos of the dunes and clambered back into the car. Then we drove.
And drove.
And drove.
We stopped for another McDonald’s snack in the afternoon. This was the strangest McDonald’s I’ve ever been in! A guy wearing pink, heart-shaped sunglasses stood in line in front of us. He cradled a small bongo in his arms, tapping it as he shifted from foot to foot. I couldn’t figure out if he was going to band practice, or if he just liked his drum!
In the parking lot, we watched a jittery man wearing a white tank top mount a tiny motorcycle. And when I say tiny, I mean this bike was tiny! A pit bike might be a better description. His knees were jacked up to the handlebars, and he couldn’t have been sitting more than a few feet off the ground. Despite the diminutive bike, you could tell that this guy was feeling macho. He man revved the tiny engine and peeled out of the parking lot. As he flew down the street, he popped a wheelie to jump the curb. He wanted a shortcut to the Taco Bell, we guessed. However, when the minuscule bike came down, the front wheel bounced off the curb. Too small to absorb the shock, the bike flipped!
As Tyler and I stood with our mouths agape, the macho man soared into the air. I swear he was moving in slow motion. His legs flew up over his head. The tiny motorcycle fell over. With a perfect somersault, the man landed in a heap in the grassy embankment next to the road. Swiftly, he picked up his tiny bike and walked it up the grassy hill to the Taco Bell. It was obvious he’d been humbled. No more stunts for that guy!
Our strange Colorado adventures weren’t done yet! We just made barely made it in time to meet our 4:00 timed entry for Pikes Peak. We wound up the curving roads, anxious to hit the visitor center before it closed. It takes 45 minutes to get to the top of Pikes Peak, so it was a tight squeeze! But we made it! Triumphantly, we parked and emerged from our car. The experience was spectacular. The top of Pikes Peak has a dizzying effect, literally. The air is so thin on top of the mountain that it gives you pretty intense vertigo. And, it was freezing! Snow was piled in drifts taller than us. The wind was brisk and cutting. Shivering, we made a quick escape into the visitor center.
Just as the heavy doors closed behind us, we noticed the alarm. The fire alarm was going off in the visitor center. Accordion doors were closing around the exhibits to keep people out. Strangely, nobody was leaving. Everyone just milled about, ignoring the fire alarm. I watched one woman squeeze between the accordion doors to get into a gift shop. She nearly got squished! Since everyone else was ignoring the fire alarm, we decided to follow suit. Reluctant to return to the snow and wind, we shrugged and joined the milling crowds.
We treated ourself to a donut from a famous shop in the visitor center, then sat by a window to take in the view. The fire alarm blared in the background. There wasn’t any smoke or fire, so I bought myself a keepsake, and we looked around. Still, the fire alarm blared. Finally, a harassed-looking park employee started herding us out. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “We can’t get the alarm off, so we have to get everyone out. You have to go, I’m sorry.”
Back out into the cold we went. We walked the sidewalks and overlooks, getting our touristy pictures. We noticed the parking lot quickly emptying, but as we didn’t see any signs of a real fire, we continued looking around. A friendly woman took our picture for us and gave us the scoop. “I heard some lady apologizing to everyone for the fire alarm,” she said conspiratorially. “Turns out her daughter pulled it and nobody could get it to shut off.”
We all chuckled about it, and then were surprised by a park employee approaching us. “Hey guys, you need to head out! We have to send everyone out.”
Just because a kid pulled a fire alarm? It seemed a little strange to us, but we complied. Sort of. It was sunset, and the scenery coming down the mountain was beautiful. We drove nice and slow, stopping at the pretty spots to ooh and ahh. At one such overlook, I looked down to the winding road beneath us. “Look, Tyler, there’s a park ranger wayyyyy down there. Oh, and they forgot their blinky lights on!” Sure enough, a tiny car wound its way down the mountain, police lights blinking away. We thought no more of it until a few moments later when we were back on the road. We were innocently driving when suddenly, that same ranger rounded a corner and headed right towards us! Uh oh! She turned on the siren and waved us over. Panic gripped my stomach. Were we about to get arrested? What crime had we committed? I’m sure I looked totally freaked out.
The ranger’s voice was terse. “You have to go, now. You have to get off the mountain.”
Tyler, bless him, was calm as ever. “Oh, we are! We’re just stopping for some pictures-”
The ranger cut in. “No, no more pictures. It’ll take you an hour to get down and the front gate is locks at 5. You need to leave now.”
“An hour? It took us 45 minutes to come up earlier?” Tyler questioned.
The ranger was firm. “You need to get off the mountain. There’s a missing hiker and we’re clearing everyone out. Please go.”
Tails tucked under, we retreated. The atmosphere in our car had shifted. The sunset was threatening now, dwindling daylight in which the rangers had to use to find that hiker. Where was the hiker? Were they hurt? Would they be found? We were quiet as we left the park. I wished there was something we could do to help, but all we could do was leave. Better not to get in the way of their search, I supposed.
I was fortunate enough to track down the news story the next day. Turns out there was a hiker who had attempted to summit Pike’s Peak, but had gotten stuck in the head-high snowdrifts. They were stuck there for a few hours, but the rangers ultimately had found them that night. To top it all off, they even helped the hiker finish their summit! A happy ending all around.
Sometimes impulsive days lead to the best memories. This day was certainly a great example of it!
Hiking trails: Adams Falls Trail
Our favorite roadtrip podcast: National Park After Dark
The news article about the poor hiker: https://www.kktv.com/2023/06/20/officials-warn-wintry-conditions-pikes-peak-after-hiker-gets-stuck-waist-deep-snow-near-summit/
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