The anticipation of what lay ahead on “Travel Day”, when we leave one campsite for another, is a very cool vibe. There’s the obvious thoughts about adventures to come, but there are also the concerns in the back of your mind about traveling itself in a behemoth motor home. Surely, there are motor homes larger than ours, but still , it’s big enough to get your attention. Will the brakes hold? How are those tires? How much gas do I need? Travel Day is a pretty exciting time...equal parts anticipatory joy, apprehension, and sometimes a little regret on leaving a great camp site you’ve come to love. It’s all part of the American gypsy life. That was definitely the case for us when we left the Steamboat Springs area.
To get to our next camp site, Lowery Campground above Dillon, Colorado, we needed to cross Rabbit Ears Pass. This is a beautiful drive with a long uphill approach from the West and a very long descent on the East onto a wide open river valley that you follow all the way to Dillon. It’s wide open “big sky” country for sure. While we were traveling through Elk archery season had just opened up and the seemingly ghost towns we passed through were crowded with every manor of dusty camper and pick up truck. The local cafe we stopped in for breakfast featured camo-themed ensembles for both men and women. “Stack your bows and arrows at the front door, please.”
That long descent on the eastern side of Rabbit Ears Pass was a twist and turn, tight roadway. We had to use the lower gears most of the way and you cannot take your attention away from the road for a second lest your momentum ( at least in a 38’ motor home) take you flying off the road, As you travel south along the two-lane road towards Dillon the mountains begin to rise up dramatically as you near highway I-70. These are the eastern Rockies, the most impressive and formidable mountains we’ve seen since leaving the San Juans. Dillon, Frisco, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, and Keystone are all tucked into steep valleys amongst the towering peaks. Each one of these towns are unique and appealing as so many small towns in Colorado are.
The “sameness” that so many towns in the rest of the country exhibit just aren’t evident in Colorado. Our new camp, Lowery, lies above Dillon at somewhere around 9000’ altitude. It is an adequate US Forest Service campground with electric ( 30 amp) and water spigots at a few spots, but there is no dump station. The campground itself is on the side of a good size foothill. Most of the mature trees have been devoured by the same pine beetles that have devastated large tracts of mountain forest throughout Colorado. However, new growth pines and Douglas firs are growing in abundance and will reforest the area in 10-15 years. All in all it’s a fine campground with great views in all directions. In the evenings we see storms literally roll over the mountains to the northeast or sometimes from the west. Sunrises and sunsets are inspirational. Coyotes roam the area at night and call longingly to each other creating echoes of lonesome. The camp host, Norma, has the campground in order...no foolishness here under her watch.
We had good rain here for a couple of days so we took advantage of the down time, so to speak, and got a lot of errands accomplished and crossed off our list. A big one was new tires for the Quicksilver, our jeep. Finally, the rain quit for a day and we headed out to explore. No map, no real plan, except to explore and find a cool place to hike. We brought along Heidi and some peanut butter sandwiches, water, and our walking sticks. About 10 or 12 miles south of Breckenridge we came over Hoosier Pass and stopped at the top of the range at a pull off. With a name like Hoosier Pass, a St Louisian HAS to pause and check it out. It’s in the blood. Sure enough, here was out hiking opportunity...at the top of the world.
We didn’t know how long this trail would be but we just loved being on top of the world and so we struck out with Heidi pulling us down the trail like a miniature sled dog. Her excitement can be accurately measured by the wags of her tail per minute. Her “wag quotient” was off the charts. This particular trail must have a name but we couldn’t find it. No matter. It is jaw-dropping! You wind through alpine forest for a quarter mile until it opens up to endless vistas above the tree line. For 360 degrees you have massive mountain views. Sweeping vistas of deep, forested valleys. Peaks of 12000+ feet rising like cathedrals. Piles of cumulus clouds ramming into each other from every direction sometimes sparking lightening and thunder, which echoes through the valleys and across each independent peak. Very few folks were on this trail that day, which added greatly to the introspective inspirational aspect of the climb. Our excitement and delight with what we had discovered was punctuated by long periods of quiet as we took in the Creator’s diorama.
As Diane said, the temperature was perfect for hiking. This was a strenuous hike and the dry atmosphere coupled with temperatures in the high 50’s, along with intermittent strong breezes of 20 mph or so, made for absolute idyllic conditions. Around every bend on the path new inspiration arose from the literally breath-taking scenery. This hike climbs some 2000’ to a climaxing height of 12400’ in altitude. Breathing is not a given up here. I would estimate the round trip to the summit and back at 5 miles or so. When we finally reached the summit, after a lot of rest stops, we were openly ecstatic and gave each other several high fives and congratulations.
In my years of hiking I have experienced some awesome days amid gorgeous environs. This hike ranks as the most dramatic and awe-inspiring I have yet been on. I am so proud of how Diane gutted it out and made it the whole way. For that matter, I’m happy with myself as well. Death-defying it was not. General news-worthy it was not. A unique accomplishment among 66 year olds it was not... but to us it was our own personal Everest.