For our 14th anniversary we went to Ouray, CO. We hadn't done a get away trip since Maddy was born. (We did have Tam or Cindy and Brad watch kid/kid's a time or two for a one night/less than 24 hour dinner, night alone kind of thing but no actual going out of town, multi-day trips.) Nanna and Grandad braved the job of watching the kids while we played and relaxed.
We stayed in an VBRO place between Ridgeway and Ouray. This cabin was great. It had a little creek running through the 38 acre property. It belonged to the grandmother of the lady who's father (I think) gave to property for the pool and park in Ouray. Anyway, really cool cabin and if you want to stay in Ouray I highly recommend renting from her.
So anyway, we started our trip Thursday afternoon. We'd planned to leave earlier but a cow got out and we had to chase it back in so didn't leave til mid to late afternoon. We stopped in Gunnison at High Alpine Brewery for dinner and enjoyed some amazing pizza and unique brews. Got to our cabin about 9. We are incredibly poor planners so we didn't talk about what we wanted to do until we were on the road. I said that I would love to go hiking because with the girls we usually don't make it more that 1/2 mile to mile. So then all of the sudden, Aaron was like, "We should do Mount Sneffels!!!" Which is a fourteener. So after looking it up and seeing words like "class 3 maneuver required to summit" etc. and thinking how I had only packed my old crap tennis shoes and shorts for hiking, I reluctantly agreed that we could go check it out on Friday. So Friday morning we ate breakfast and packed some water and snacks and headed to Yankee Boy Basin.
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| It must be love. |
Since we had the truck we were able to drive to lower Yankee Boy and park by the restroom area. We then began walking up the jeep trail. We didn't know at the time but the area had received waaaaayyyy higher than normal snow fall over the winter so all the 4 wheeler/jeep trails were blocked by snow fields. This was good in that it kept all motorized vehicles out of the area we were hiking. We were able to skirt around a big snow field and then had clear hiking up to the Sneffels trail head.
We stopped at the trail head and ate leftover pizza for lunch and met and talked to several other groups who were trying to hike Sneffels that day.
We then began our accent. The accent to Sneffels is crazy. The elevation gain is identical to the incline in Manitou but without the steps and trail improvement. It is basically a boulder field and scree field that you have to scramble up. I was fine at first, but then at some point Aaron stopped in front of me and once we stopped in the middle of this boulder/scree field I suddenly had an anxiety attack like I have never had before. I felt that I knew the mind of Nebuchadnezzar when God turned his mind into the mind of an animal. All I felt was sheer terror that I was trapped in the middle of this steep accent and had to do steep up or steep down. I climbed like a crazed animal wanting off of that place. I really think I could have rivaled expert climbers for speed of ascending that boulder field. Truly running on adrenaline and fear. At rapid speed we reached what they call the lavender col which is the summit before actually summitting Snefflels. We were confused about where to continue to the top but then some other hikers arrived and pointed out the summit: a snow packed, steep boulder field about 450 feet more to the top. At this point I said, not doing it but I will wait for you. Aaron didn't want to do it by himself although I think he could have summitted. I would have not made it. Later we read that you really need crampons and walking sticks to get to the summit when the boulder field is snow packed.
(Aaron says crampons or a few more balls but yeah no balls. Not me. Nope. I told him to go with his crazy friend. Mentioned a specific person I will not mention. And they can both die. Was a little stressed out by then obviously.) So we decided to hang out, enjoy the view and then begin our decent. I was super nervous about the steep decent but actually felt less anxiety and did better with that though I spent a good deal of time on all fours and my butt on the way down. The other group tried to go up. They had walking stick but no crampons and missed the summit by 100 feet or so. They said it got really scary. That made us feel better I think. We ended up giving one of those groups a ride back to their car because they hadn't been able to drive all the way into the lower trail head.)
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| snow packed boulder field to Sneffels summit. |
After we descended we decided to hike to Wright's lake. It was a beautiful blue, pristine lake that we think might have been glacier fed but can't find any info to confirm. It was definitely in a cirque that was glacier carved. So cool hiking through that but we lost the trail part way and had to hike over Alpine Tundra so I started calling us the tundra destroyers. They don't like you walking on tundra because it is very fragile. Every time we had to go across a boulder field or snow field I felt panic come back again but we made it to the lake. After that it was an easy hike back to the 4-wheel drive trail.
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| Falls at lower trail head. Aaron thinks these are the falls feature on the Coors beer can. |
Oh and I totally felt like I was in The Sound of Music. Really just looked like the opening scene of the movie when Maria is belting out the theme song.
After the hike we gave the other hikers a ride to their car and went back to our cabin and cleaned up and went to dinner at Brickhouse 737. Really nice restaurant and ate on patio with beautiful view. Then we went to the hot springs to soak our sore muscles and then went home to bed to get ready for the next day's adventure.
Friday we had brunch at some local breakfast place and then drove to Telluride. We hike up the jeep trail to bridal veil falls which is the longest free falling water fall in CO. It was beautiful and a much easier/more relaxed hike than the day before.
After we did that hike, Aaron got us a couple's massage at a spa in Telluride and then we had some yummy burger and craft beer at a place in Ouray. Then we went back to the hot springs for another soak.
We returned to our cabin. The next morning we headed home. A lady who taught my bible study in the fall was having her 60th bday and I wanted to get back for her party so we left pretty early. We went to her party and then hit up Lovell Gulch Trail in Woodland Park and then made spaghetti and spent the night at home.
We got the girls back Monday. It was just an amazing weekend and I am very, very grateful for the experience, the time to connect and all of the beauty that I saw that weekend. Truly blessed to be in God's creation and marvel at what he's made and how small we are compare to his greatness.
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brittany