Day 59 - Red Rocks to Hanging Lake

I don't linger around a place much. My plan today was to drive to Red Rocks Amplitheatre in Denver then to Telluride then to Vail then to Hanging Lake then to Aspen for dinner with a friend.

Red Rocks is used for athletic training when there isn't a concert. The famous outdoor theatre, set among red-colored high rocks, similar to those from Garden of the Gods, was filled with army rotc candidates running the rows up and down and climbing the outer walls. See pic. I wanted to see a concert here but the last few days were rainy and I didn't care for the performers.

Next was Telluride. The ski resort town was quaint and the surrounding moutains still snow clad, but without the ski slopes open, this wasn't much of an attraction. Vail was even more empty. Then came Hanging Lake. Wow. The stretch of highway through the Glenwood Canyon was the prettiest stretch of highway I've driven on-- the roads engineered in such a way that they melted seamlessly into the canyon. The final piece of environmental mastery demonstrated by this interstate road construction was the fact that the road went through a tunnel instead of curving an easier-stretch that would've ruined the special hanging lake.

Now, Hanging Lake is one of the most popular hikes in Colorado! After a 1000 foot elevation gain rocky one mile hike up, I came to the beautiful lake-- with a large waterfall and crystal teal-blue waters, all set high up on the side of the canyon, hanging. I hiked under the falls and spent some joyful time on a log near their fall, before having my picture taken facing the falls. A quick hike up further revealed a second higher but less scenic falls but one with a special feature: water thrusting from the middle of the cliff, having tunneled there from above. Cool.

Once back on the highway I received a text from my friend; he wasn't feeling well and the weather in Aspen was terrible. He suggested I divert to Black Canyon of the Gunnison instead, so I did. I arrived at Black Canyon Park's remote north rim just before sunset, having spent the last twenty minutes driving along dirt roads to the park. Ohh the views. The mountains nearby perfect in symmetry. The black canyon a terrifying-haunting beauty.

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Day 168 - JMT Pinchot Pass

The mountains appeared like sand dunes in the soft early light. We drank our coffee, packed up our gear and set off up the hill toward Pinchot Pass. Not a mile up the trail, we encountered another sensational High Sierra lake, Lake Marjorie, and the peaceful reflections off the lake's surface. Mountains of white and red and grey and black surrounded us-- all surfaces seemingly from another planet, but welcoming us this morning on Earth. Jeff and Steve and a lady named Tara joined us at the picturesque summit of Pinchot Pass. We remained there for a complete hour, enjoying stories of hiking triumph and Jeff's difficult but rewarding experiences as a search and rescue captain. Reluctant to leave the 12,000 foot pass, but begged forward by the slowly descending trail, we hiked on. The wonderful landscape in the background, with layers of blues, and browns and whites, appeared like an Ansel Adams masterpiece, and the trail a magical doorway to its frame. The sce

Day 171 - JMT Guitar Lake

Wow, was it cold this morning. After waking up and eating breakfast, we packed up quickly and found this scenic sunspot to warm our bones. We had a short eight mile hike to Guitar Lake today, the last viable campsite before the five mile hike to the 14,505 foot-high Mount Whitney summit. We stopped at this lovely meadow and looked for bears. We only saw deer but were able to enjoy the incredible peace of the far mountain range. Steady hiker traffic, the most of the entire trip, including one group of twelve elder hikers, passed us as we rested, and jumped! Views of Mount Whitney finally came into view at Timberline Lake, a quaint lake where camping was unfortunately forbidden. We passed a group of twenty Taiwanese hikers. The summit of Mount Whitney looked heavily defended when viewed from below. We were going to wake up tomorrow at 230am and hike up to the summit for sunrise-on-the-top-of-the-world*. The thought of this dark task was a bit foreboding. We made it to Guitar Lake by

Day 150 - Big Sur Hearst Castle

Big Sur coastline continues in its beauty. Elephant seals practice sparring. They make a snore-like belly belch sound while sparring and then after ten seconds later lie back down to snooze on the sand. The Hearst Castle is an incredibly luxurious complex on top of a high hill overlooking the ocean and coastal mountains. The feel was Mediterranean, royal and magical. The outdoor pool had a Roman feel-- on a hill, in California. Strangely awesome. But the indoor pool was the tops-- like a Turkish kings dream moment come to life. I found a beautiful campground close to the castle and stopped for the night.

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