Colorado Backcountry Hiker

"Day 5. Hike the Colorado Trail to Timberline Lake and Uncle Bud's Hut"
-- from The World Outdoors' hike description

"Today we lace up our boots for a day of hiking along a portion of the 490-mile long Colorado Trail, which stretches from Denver to Durango in the southwest corner of the state. Our first destination is the shores of sun splashed Timberline Lake, set at the base of the Continental Divide. Permanent snowfields cling to the high, unnamed peaks surrounding this beautiful alpine lake."
-- from The World Outdoors' hike description
They warned us about today. And we knew it was coming: 5 miles to Timberline Lake, 815' of elevation gain. That's pie. Then: the Lake to Uncle Bud's Hut via Bear Lake Trail - 4 more miles, with 1280' feet of elevation gain and 500' loss. It doesn't sound like much. But most of the gain was done all at once. And according to my notes, "Today kicked my ass."

The first part wasn't so bad -- we took the Colorado Trail to Timberline Lake, and it was tough in places but despite my frequent puffing for air, I didn't stop nearly as often. We crossed a few streams of wobbly, slippery stones. That's Angela up there, braving the creek despite her injured leg. (By this point just about everyone had some form of injury or health issue going on; my main problem was a big old tumor that wouldn't stop yapping the whole time, situated at the front of the pack, so basically I was doing all right.)

Aha, here I am, ass not yet kicked. I'm not doing a whole lot of smiling in these photos, I have to admit, but I was having a really good time. I think I'm just thinking about the ass kicking to come. So ignore me and look at just how pristine and lovely that lake really is. Probably not clear enough to drink, but beautiful. Several of us napped, while (if I recall correctly) Nancy went on a jog around the lake (a jog!) and the rest of us did a little wading in the water. Nearby a fisherman's dog retrieved items from the lake, his barks booming through the canyon. Another small group of hikers with dogs (wearing carrying packs!) came trooping through at one point.

Note fisherman on lower left.

The clouds started coming in as we sat there, and I began to hope that it would teem down and we'd get back to the trailhead for lunch and have to take the van all the way to the hut. I hate being a wuss, but it did look like it was going to rain and, well ... that day off was quite nice. But basically I knew I wasn't getting out of this, and since there is to be no complaining I just sucked it up and decided this was going to happen so I might as well be on board with the plan. We had a brief lunch at the trailhead (which I never quite understood; they would feed us just before sending us on a big portion of the hike, and I usually just wanted a nap after that), thunder rolled in, it turned cooler and we donned rain jackets. Well, most of us did. I kept it off. The last time I had to hike in the rain I remembered quite clearly how hot it could get while wearing the North Face jacket I had, even if it did have a hood with a little brim. I decided the wet would feel good if it came, and I could put my jacket on later.

"After lunch, we climb through cool pine forests over a high mountain saddle before descending through a verdant valley peppered with colorful wildflowers Bear Lakes [sic] to an open meadow and Uncle Bud's Hut."
-- from The World Outdoors' hike description

So, from my notes: This second part was "evil." I just disappeared in my head for much of it, impervious to commentary or pep talks or anything. It was just pretty much constant up, up, up, and I fell into a thousand-yard stare pretty quickly. I just didn't think of anything besides song lyrics, pushing hard. And, of course, it rained. What a surprise there are absolutely no pictures from this part of the hike; I think I'd forgotten I even had a camera.

Finally, with one last push up a hill (I seem to have forgotten any sense of "descent" during this part of things), we came to Uncle Bud's Hut.

The view from upstairs, out that bay window:

And the room Jackie and I shared:

The interior of the hut:

A sign outside:

And the pristine big sky view from the front of Uncle Bud's:

We all were quiet that evening, just kicking back with brie and crackers and grapes and cocoa. I even had cell service and checked messages for the first time in a week. Then I curled up and did some crosswords and napped and felt very, very settled.