Day 24 Avalanche trailhead to Dry creek

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Mileage: 9 little meandering miles

Duration: 5 hours, we started late in the day..,

As previously described , there are two different trail books that one can take along on the trail. One is the heavier version and quite descriptive. The other is a very lightweight version with to the point information. We chose the lighter version and The book that our "Bookie" friend Matt had, was the larger version. 

The larger version describes an up coming camp site like this; ..,at 9,900 feet  you will see a meadow, just beyond at mile 9.7 there is a bridge that crosses a frolicking stream. Look north and you will find several good camp sites available just for you... Our little mini version book will have something like this;  campsite near the stream . We actually just look for a level spot and set up camp.  It's always a treat to find a camp site that is not in our book:)

Our afternoon and night in Buena Vista was a restorative one. Well-needed rest from the past three days of power hiking big miles. We also needed to replenish our carbo-load, which we happily did with homemade cornmeal pancakes with all the Colorado fixins'. They were as big as a deflated basketball! We ate it all...and it wasn't forced either. 

Before our thumbs went to work for a ride, Zippy being her chatty self , sparked up a conversation with the woman sitting in a 1974 jeep. She informed the woman that she grew up riding in a jeep just like this one , only the color was green. It was fun to see a jeep like this again.

We Had a wonderful sleep on a comfy bed... Ahh and the hot shower was glorious to say the least. We slumbered out of bed and walked over to the natural food store and loaded up on protein bars , tortilla wraps , and yes..cough-cough.. More Beans!

Packed up up packs and off to thumb a ride back to the trail head. We stood across from a church hoping that some wholesome good hearted person would pick us up..  And five cars later, that someone did! Nice guy. He took us 2 miles from the trail so we needed to hoof it along the scary narrow winding road ... Up hill of course.

We kept saying to each other , "where is the trail?"...it sort of jaunts off to the left a bit. We eventually found it.

This is the view walking towards the trail head... No dark clouds yet... But it changed very quickly.

Thunder and sheets of lightening abound...we had to take cover.

A little rain, but at least it was not hailing on us like last time. The aspen groves are  always so peaceful to walk through.

Here the trees disappear as we climb higher. Pippy is pointing the way towards the next hill climb.

Skies were opening up and thankfully the thunder rolled away.

The smell of pine is so fragrant after a rain..

Our accomplishment at the top with these views.. The clouds are forever changing. So very cool.

After trudging along the trail in the misty rain, we cross over several streams to our camp for the night.

Final bridge crossing .. Hurrah!

We found a purrrfect campsite right next to the stream and went about our roles to set up camp. Zippy does the tent and Pippy gets the water boiling and ready for dinner.

 Lastly, we hang the bear bags. Usually, Zippy does this task. But tonight, Pippy decided to give it a try. Well, after a dozen attempts of trying to swing it far enough over the branch and tippy toeing on the tree to reach it, she was unsuccessful. Zippy needed to come to the rescue! 

If only Pippy was an inch taller....maybe she'd be able to reach it. Good thing Zippy's here.