A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion! I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together. David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories.
David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S. and Canada. He was thinking of moving to Thailand for the winter.
We exchanged contact information and then I decided to hike the Peekaboo hike today in honor of my new friend David. Described as "a roller coaster ride of a hike", the Peekaboo trail was actually a pathway of rock cairns along a high slick rock ledge. You have to trust the stickiness of your shoes as you passed slanted turns, exposed passes, and short but steep scrambles. I love slick rock hiking and the scarier the better for me so it wasn't exactly a roller coaster to me, it was easy hiking. You eventually come to a window in a rock ledge which gives the trail its name. The pic shows an exposed section of trail through this window.
The highlight of the trail was the petroglyphs at the end. The white shielded figures are from 700 to 1100 AD but the faded red figures are from 1000 to 4000 BC. Imagining two Indian peoples drawing on this same wall thousands of years apart was fascinating.
After enjoying my ancient ponderings, I climbed back up to the Peekaboo trail (up a twenty foot steel ladder section) and retraced my steps to the Lost Canyon. A totally different experience, hiking Lost Canyon was like hiking through a pleasant meadow, mostly flat, with greenery and spring water all around, with birds chirping and bunnies passing and with the sun shining for the first time today. I hiked up the canyon end for a great view below and then back down Squaw Canyon to the van. A fun and pretty 15 miles hike (thanks David).
With many hours left in the day and still set on arriving in the fine State of Colorado on Day 51, I drove out of the land of canyons toward Mesa Verde. I stopped in Cortez, Colorado and camped at a Walmart parking lot filled with RVs.
Scarier the better. Overstatement, I hope
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