Part 1 here.
I’ve been a hiker and backpacker, on and off, since my Boy Scout (no endorsement intended) days. Internal frame backpacks did not exist in those days. Trek poles did not exist in those days. Feather-light backpacking cook stoves did not exist in those days. Down-filled mummy bags did exist in those days, yes, but who could afford one of those? My, how times and equipment have changed, especially the invention of trek poles.
Now that I’m retired I’m getting back into backpacking. I’ve now got all new equipment: an Osprey 70-liter backpack, North Face over-sized sleeping bag, Primus cook stove, Kelty two-person tent (I go solo, but consider the extra room well worth the negligible additional space/weight load), and above all else my MSR Swift 2 “Surelock” trek poles. (Note: brand names for reference; no product endorsement intended.)
Until just this past Memorial Day weekend I had never used trek poles. I knew about them, of course, but never realized how fantastically wonderful they are while not only hiking but also right in camp. With trek poles, my tent gets a front porch:
By affixing my foam sleeping pad around the trek poles I form a wind break for my camp stove. I sit down just in front of the tent door and put the stove in front of me. I only use the stove to boil water in a small kettle; my meals are freeze-dried food pouches, eat right out of the pouch. Water takes less than three minutes to boil.
Wrap a couple of yards of heavy-duty duct tape around the trek poles and you’ve always got emergency repair material ready to hand. Trek poles+duct tape=splint for broken leg (hope to never have to use).
But the main advantage to trek poles is on the trail, whether day-hiking or with full pack. Trek poles lend general walking stability, ease stress from shoulder strap weight, give your hands something to do, and are just the shiznit when it comes to crossing streams, negotiating large/tall steps in the trail, and walking across snow patches. Like this first one (of dozens yet to come) on Boulder Brook Trail:
My boots were not good snow boots. Without trek poles this relatively benign snow patch would have been difficult for me to walk across. With the poles it was a cinch. Note to self: get better boots.
I’ve kind of jumped ahead of myself in the story. If you’ve read Part 1, you know I’ve now been in the park for four days and Boulder Brook Trail is my third day hike. While planning my hikes on a very good National Geographic map of RMNP some two weeks prior to the trip I had not considered Boulder Brook very much. It turned out to be the best hike of all. There aren’t many people who take this trail because it’s pretty steep at the bottom, going from 8,818 ft. at the trailhead to 9,750 ft. over the first mile. That’s nearly one thousand feet gained for the mile, and doing the math using actual numbers (rise divided by run=percent slope) I come up with an average 17% slope. Modern trains struggle on anything greater than 2%, big-rig trucks are restricted to 35 mph or lower while going down any gradient 6% or higher. 17% slope converts to 9.65 degrees, which doesn’t sound very steep considering the average staircase slope is 32 degrees. Ah, yes. Consider thirty-eight pounds on your back and then schlepping it up a mile of those stairs. You are talking about what it takes to climb Mt. Everest! But to un-digress, and get a peeve off, this:
My first hike in the park, on Day 2, was a full 6.2 miles over gradual terrain. Glacier Basin campground to East Portal to Wind River Trail to Sprague Lake/Glacier Basin trail and return to camp.
Horse shit.
Horse shit all the way.
Gouged trail surface by steel horseshoes. Trail torn to hell by horse traffic.
Step off the trail (required by trail etiquette) and let the horses go by, and their riders, and mentally prepare for FRESH HORSE SHIT AHEAD! Lots of fresh horse shit ahead, to walk through around, to smell, to enjoy the flies. Yeah buddy, nothing brings to mind the enjoyment of the great wilderness outdoors than fresh horse shit. And the thing was these people riding these horses were not horse people. They weren’t horse owners who brought their horses into the park to do an expedition. They were just regular park visitors who, for whatever reason, didn’t want to have to walk. Maybe they’d never ridden a horse before, maybe they just didn’t like walking or couldn’t walk. Forgive my prejudice but I think they’re just lazy. Most of ‘em, anyway.
OK, now that I’ve vented, thank whoever it was for the foresight to PROHIBIT horses from some trails in RMNP.
Where is that confounded bridge?
Yo, Forrest. Where’s the wildlife? With all this environment there should be wildlife like a zoo. Enough of the scenic photos already.
Actually, wildlife was all around me, constantly, but remaining for the most part hidden. Or small.
Well, and then these guys did wander into my camp:
Birds. Ever on my mind was photographing birds. Readers here at Daily Kos like birds. Gotta get me some birds. Not so damn easy as placid bull elk I’ll tell you what. However…
And just to prove that yes indeed there are hummingbirds in Rocky Mountain National Park:
So, if you’ve read Part 1 you know I packed along my git-fiddle. Thirteen pounds. These folks invited me to their camp to play for them.
I gave them a good five songs and then my big E-string broke. How embarrassing. Just as a couple more folks showed up to catch the show. They even offered to drive me into town to find a new guitar string.
I respectfully declined.
There was a lot more wildlife that I observed but was not able to photograph. That’s the way it goes.
On Wednesday the 14th I packed up and headed back down the mountain. Back to Denver and a motel stay to make my train connection back to Reno.
Here’s some parting shots in no particular order:
All in all one helluva trip.