wow

Since I have quite a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to make Shawn a good ole fashioned Happy Birthday banner. He's holding up his membership card for the Denver Parks and Recreation Center I got him so he can get back into boxing. He has to go get his picture taken for it but for now I drew him a fantastic likeness.

Shawn's new job was kind enough to let him off Saturday for his birthday so we took advantage of the absolutely perfect weather and went up to the mountains. A nice 80 degree cloudless day for a hike. We packed some sandwiches and a bit of trail mix and set off for Rocky Mountain National Park. We were headed for the Emerald Lake trail which was pretty far in to the park. On the way up the slow winding roads we spotted some wildlife. Actually not sure what these are... elk?

We also spotted some patches of snow along the road and I secretly plotted a snowball ambush once we got out of the car. Oh how naive the little Floridians are. Upon reaching the trailhead, we realized we were the only ones in shorts and tank tops. Everyone else was wearing boots, pants, jackets, etc. But there were no clouds in the sky! The sun was warm! We put on some long sleeves that were hanging around in the car and decided to go for it.

As we cautiously walked to the beginning of the trail, trying to avoid the massive slush puddle that had formed there, we noticed some other wary hikers talking to the ranger. He was assuring them that they should still be able to hike, but to be careful because some spots would be slippery. At that moment a couple emerged from the trail wearing snow shoes and carrying ski poles. Ruh roh.

During the first attempt at taking that picture, Shawn yelled for me to watch out and I had to dodge out of the way of some downhill skiers who were swooping through. That's normal. Notice how deep into the snow the sign is buried..

It was only 1.8 miles to the lake and by about mile .2 I was DYING. Trudging through the snow was like running on the beach, only worse since you're using every muscle in your legs to stabilize you and keep from slipping. Then we'll just throw in the part where we're almost 10,000 ft about sea level. Wow. The snow is so deep in some spots that you sink up to your knee. I was having flashbacks to all those episodes of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" that I recently watched with my dad.

Meanwhile up ahead, Sherpa Shawn was bounding along, popping up to lookouts to get some amazing views.

He was of course also offering words of encouragement, "We're almost there!" "It's just around this turn!" Blah blah blah. All of a sudden, I shriek as my foot sinks in and literally my entire right leg is buried in the snow. I am doing a vertical split into the mountain. Not comfortable. After doing some very graceful writhing around I finally manage to twist myself up and out. By then, Shawn is by my side and looks down into the hole my body has formed in the snow. "Um, I think you actually fell into a tree." Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is so much snow that I managed to walk myself right into a tree top.

After a brief rest and a good laugh about the absurdity of this whole situation, we continue on to the Emerald City Lake. We eventually reach a huge clearing that seems to in fact be a frozen lake (the lake?) but some passing hikers (outfitted in snowshoes) inform us that Emerald Lake is just a bit farther along. Trudging trudging trudging through the snow and slush. Our feet were soaked through. There miiiight have been a few episodes of me falling over into the snow and stating/whining/potentially crying that I simply could not go on. Slightly dramatic I'll admit.

I wish I could say that we finally made it to the lake and it was so glorious and beautiful that is was totally worth trudging through the frozen tundra. However we reached a point at the bottom of a basin which seemed to be a dead end. There didn't appear to be any other path from the basin except straight up where some guys had just snowboarded down. Needless to say, that wasn't happening. There were some giant boulders around that were not covered in snow and thus a perfect place to finally rest. So after some bananas and Clif bars we called it a day and trudged back. (Did I mention we got a box of Clif bars for 50 cents at an estate sale a few weeks back? Along with a can of soup and a box of cereal?) I will say the return trip was much more enjoyable since it was mostly downhill. This allowed us to practice our foot skiing which eventually turned into sledding downhill on our freezing bums. Quite fun if not a bit uncomfortable on the way home.

On the way out of the park we stopped to enjoy a little mountain stream and then headed for a pint and a snack.

All in all, a successful day. Shawn did point out that his birthdays with me so far have gotten us into some pretty interesting situations. Last year we went camping at a spring in central Florida and ended up on a day long canoe trip with about 300 of our closest spider friends. Wonder what I can cook up for next year..

We survived!