Day 2: June 2nd 2014. A Day of Compromise, Speeding Tickets and a Close Encounter of the Elk Kind.

The idea was to climb a mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, have a burrito and then drive from Estes Park, CO to Jackson WY.  I thought the risky part was going to be the 8.5 hour long drive to Jackson after climbing a mountain.  It turned out that every part of my plan was risky.

I should note that I wasn't actually going to climb a real mountain.  The plan was to do a moderately strenuous 9 mile open loop.  A shuttle would drop me off at the head of the trail.  A shuttle would pick me up at the end of the trail.  Our nation's seasonal patterns had different plans.

When I got to the gate, I was told that it was too early in the season for shuttle service.  Not to be discouraged, I told myself I would hike to a lake which was about the mid-point of the hike and then turn around and come back.

When I got to the trailhead, I spoke with a ranger about my plan.  Now, I'm not good at reading facial expressions but the face the ranger had made me to take pause.  She probably didn't think it was a good plan.  Either that or she was in the middle of solving a complex mathematical theorem previously thought unsolvable.

However, I didn't want to take a chance that she was a mathematician/forest ranger, so I asked her what the problem was.  It turned out that so far only 1 group had attempted to take my planned hike.  They had to turn back because they lost the trail.  I didn't necessarily need to go to the lake.  I decided to just hike to the high point of the trail 3 miles in.  The ranger still seemed a little wary to my new plan. Either that or she was struggling to decide if she should file her taxes with above or below the line deductions.

I decided that I would hike as far as I could but I wouldn't overdue it or take any unnecessary risks.

Luckily for me the snow was packed well and I had brought my hiking polls with me.  During the entire hike I encountered 4 people.  The first person was a woman who had the same idea I had. However, she made it just past the tree line but couldn't go any further.  She took some great pictures and then turned back.  At that point I decided to just keep going until I got past the tree-line, take some pictures and then hike down.  And this is what I did.

At some point towards the end of the ascent I lost the trail but kept going.   Eventually I made it to a slope of snow on the side of the mountain.  It looked perfect for skiing.  And it was fairly close to a peak of some sort.  I took some pics and climbed down, ate a burrito and then started driving.

Thats all I have for now.   Stay tuned for my next entry - The Curious Incident of the Elk at Midnight. And the prequel entry – The Fortuitous Ticket from the Police at 11:40 pm.

BTW – if anyone happens to find a Fitbit on the side of a mountain in Rocky Hill National Park - it's mine.