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The Boulderfield, 2nd Day (pg. 3)... |
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The photo below is a shot of Storm Peak taken just as the sun was peeping over the horizon early on the 17th. Photos of the wild flowers taken at Granite Pass may be added here one of these days.
After reaching Goblin's Forest, I set up camp and retrieved the duffle bag stashed here two days earlier. Although not waterproof, the bag was dry and so were its contents. But not for long... A ranger passed through the camp shortly afterward and announced that a severe thunderstorm alert had been issued for the area. "Unless you are prepared for heavy rain, lightning and high winds," he said, "you would be well advised to seek shelter at a lower elevation." My initial reaction was "So what?" I had already been through a bad rainstorm. It couldn't get much worse than that. At about that time, a chorus of squeaky little voices piped up from somewhere deep in his psyche, uttering a covey of contrary opinions. Suddenly I realized it could get worse than that. Maybe a lot worse. And all I had was a bivvy sack... The nays had it... That was all I needed to spur me on to get out of Dodge. Once my mind was made up, I was all elbows and buttocks, grabbing gear, stuffing the backpack, hanging what wouldn't go inside on the outer loops. Then I pointed my bod in the direction of the ranger station and hooked it. The rainstorm hit a few minutes later. And it was a doozy, a true gully-washin' frog strangler. A couple hours later, I arrived at the ranger station, soaked to the bone, just before the ranger closed up shop for the night. What luck! Another couple of minutes, and I would have been stranded. As it was, the ranger kindly called around to local motels and found me a room in Estes Park for the night. A young couple, who was camped down the trail from me at Goblin's, had taken note of my frantic reaction to the ranger's announcement. Thinking that a bad omen, they quickly followed suit, leaving the mountain right behind me, following all the way to the ranger station. The ranger found them a good place to stay, too, then packed everybody into his pickup truck and hauled them to their motels. I cannot say enough good things about the Longs Peak rangers. I figure I owe this particular ranger a steak dinner at the best restaurant in Estes Park... But I cannot remember the fellow's name. Remember the wool hat I wore to the summit? It got the funk. Two rainstorms was all it could take. It smelled like a wild dog with a bad case of mange, so I pitched it in the garbage before getting into the ranger's pickup... At the motel, the nearest restaurant was five miles away and I didn't have transportation (a limousine was scheduled to pick me up the next morning to take me to the Denver airport). So I called around, found a pizza place and had a big one with The Works, and two large bottles of Dr. Pepper, delivered to my cottage. Thank goodness for pizza! I couldn't even look at dehydrated food... Well, folks, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed mentally hiking this little journey with me. If you are thinking about going to the summit of Longs Peak one day, I wish you well and hope this narrative will add to your enjoyment and make your trip a little safer. If you find that this material helpful, good. But if you notice any errors or omissions, please let me know at once so I can make the necessary corrections. In any case, I wish you nothing but Happy Trails, and a safe and enjoyable hike, wherever your boots may move you to go... Jerry Cates, Round Rock, Texas Longs Peak Menu ... Bugsinthenews ... Books About Longs Peak ... Contact Jerry |
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