May hike to the top of the world

The bad part about having a blog is when you get busy, you don’t post, but in that busyness there is a lot to post about.

So sometime in May – let’s call it early May – yes i think that’s right, we hiked to what felt like the top of the world. It totally wasn’t, but it was the highest we’ve been (altitude, not pot). We have met a couple here and done some stuff together, so one weekend, the weather was turning nice and we decided to do a group hike. They have been here longer so we let them choose the trail, which was nice because we hadn’t been anywhere near the one they chose. We met at the park-n-ride in town and followed them up. And up it was. We drove up Caribou Rd for like 15-20 minutes. We had no idea how far we had to go, but the views were fun and it was kind of a neat road because it was gravy, narrow and no guardrails. Finally we got to a parking area/trailhead. Unfortunately, there was way more snow than they expected. We weren’t really dressed for so much snow, but we went anyway. The beginning part was hilly and forested. Then we climbed up to what could be a meadow, but there was so much snow it was just a big open white area. The interesting part was it felt like I could just reach up and grab the clouds – they seemed so low. From there, we headed up. And it was tough, especially with three or more feet of snow and the occasional step sunk way down. It was like treading on uneven ground, being careful to step in the footprint of the person in front of you, nervous about sinking deep and at the same time trying to look around and enjoy the views.

The day was warm(ish) and the sun was hot, but there was  so much snow it was almost strange. 

Finally, we reached the final steep descent and climbed to the top, wearily. It was beautiful – the continental divide was just right there. The blue skies, clouds, sun – amazing. Here is a 360 video of the top. 

Dude and Yoda, the other couples’ dog, enjoyed frolicking up on the top of the hill.

We rested for a bit and then headed down. The problem with inclines like this is the downhill hike sucks just as much as the uphill – just different kinds of suckiness. We made it down to the car and were just exhausted.

We got home and Dude was so tired, he didn’t even make it in the house before he crashed.

This was the hike that told us we weren’t quite in hiking shape yet. We napped and rested all afternoon, we were just beat! Erik got a bit of a sunburn and burnt his eyeballs, so note to self, always bring sunglasses especially when it’s snowy and sunny!

Ok, I’ll do my best to get more updates up in the coming days! Hope you all are doing well.