A difficult farewell

We lost a long time friend this morning after a whirlwind battle with cancer.  April was a close friend of over 35 years and a neighbor of ours in New Hampshire for 20 years.  But that doesn't even come close to explaining it.  We were friends that shared our lives, from building our own houses, to raising our children together.  She helped us when Jan's water broke with our first child in the woods between our houses and we helped her struggle with the loss of her first husband in an auto accident.  We tried to help as she put her life on track as a single mom and went back to school to complete her nurse's training, so she could survive and raise her daughter, Cassie.  We watched her success and employment as a nurse that specialized in neonatal care, and admired her strength as she dealt with tiny babies that needed extraordinary care.  It was through her work in the hospital that she met Ray, a superb OB-GYN doctor, who she ended up falling in love with and marrying, and someone we now call one of our closest friends.

And what times we had, sailboat trips in the Caribbean, cocktail hours where we discussed every subject known to man, gourmet dinners that we would create at each other's houses, hikes and bike rides, sightseeing all over this country as we traveled together for years, us in our motorhome and they in theirs, holiday celebrations, birthdays for us and our kids, we included them in most of our family gatherings and they included us in theirs, in fact, we were way more than friends we were family.  When my mother was ill with cancer, we could always count on April and Ray to help us with questions, concerns, and give us support when things got really bad.

She was an avid athlete, always exercising, hiking, biking, kayaking, participating in yoga and pilates, and absolutely loved the outdoors.  She also loved people and participated in many activities, clubs, and of course her church.  

After her successful initial cancer treatment, she was able to enjoy a wonderful summer back up in New England that she loved so much.  She was able to spend several weeks with her daughter and her grandchildren on the beach, see and visit with her mom.  We were so happy that we were able to spend a fantastic long 4th of July weekend with her and Ray, and part of their family, Mark and Ginger.  She was able to get up to Vermont to see other members of her family, and even participate in a Dragon Boat Race in the fight against cancer. 

So this morning she lost her battle, and Jan and I wanted to get away for a bit, do something she would have loved, to quietly remember and cherish the time we spent together, so up in the mountains we went to a quiet gorgeous lake high in the Rockies.  We hiked in in cloudy skies, which opened into sunshine as we reached the lake.  Jan and I sat, mostly lost in our own thoughts and memories, but laughed together as we remembered good and funny times together, a couple of bad times, and mostly felt thankful to have known and loved April over all the years.  Farewell.

Hiking Fools!

We're counting off the days now, down to only 6 before we leave this wonderful, beautiful place.  We are also checking off several more to-do's on our list including two more hikes, combined with a couple picnics, even got a small motorhome maintenance item done.  We swapped out the air filter on the motorhome.  It was badly needed, I was kind of remiss in not replacing it sooner, especially after our incredibly dusty and dirty trip to Alaska.  

Fall is here, and the aspens are glowing their yellows and oranges against the green of the pines, and the mottled shrubbery.  It is stunning and it seems to have happened almost overnight.  We went up to Molas Pass, the highest point between Durango and Silverton at 10,910' to check out the colors, and we weren't disappointed.

Molas Pass

It was then just a short drive down to Andrews Lake, a very scenic small high altitude lake, which is also the trailhead for the Crater Lake Trail.  Now that whole hike is 5.5 miles one way with a 870' elevation gain, so we did not intend to do the whole thing, but we had heard really great things about the hike and wanted to at least go part way.  

Beautiful Andrews Lake

We worked around the lake and picked up the trail which wound through the woods and relentlessly climbed for the first mile, although it was manageable even for me:) 

The beginning of the trail

It was a gradual climb switchbacking back and forth across the mountain as we steadily worked our way up.  It was absolutely worth it as the views were sensational.

Super!

The uphill finally gave up as we leveled off and popped out overlooking a high meadow with an incredible backdrop of Snowdon Peak, 13,077'.

Snowdon Peak across the meadow

Looking north

The happy couple

We turned around at about the 1.75 mile point and vowed to come back and go farther, and have a picnic up in the highlands, that will be later this week.  After looking around for awhile, we headed back down and had our own picnic right beside Andrews Lake.

Our picnic view

We had an interesting discussion with some folks that live year round in Silverton, brrrrrrr.  Lots of snow and cold, cold, cold!

Jan was able to get a few shots of the brilliant aspens on the way back down the mountain.

I have to admit another one of our to-do items is eat several more times at Rice Monkeys here in Durango.  I have mentioned this restaurant before, it is excellent fresh asian fusion, part sushi and sashimi, but also has Vietnamese Bun and Pho, along with many other unique and tasty items.  It is a tiny, tiny place, but we also like to get take out and either go to the top of the mountain overlook

Overlook

Animas River

 or down along the Animas River to have our little picnic.  

Jan had been talking with a few of the work campers here at the campground and one mentioned that someone had made a little hand drawn map of a very enjoyable hike accessible directly from the campground.  We figured why not?

"The Hike"

You cut out the back gate of the campground and go about 1/2 mile up the road and then cut up the hill on a well marked path.  Now for this hike the operative word is UP!  Up and up and up and is this ever going to end?  Now we are pretty used to the altitude and hiking, but for both of us this was nuts.  But we persevered.

The way UP

Look closely, I'm back there struggling along:)

Finally following the map and realizing nothing is to scale, we leveled out, entered a meadow, crossed 2 little bridges, and broke out into an enormous open meadow surrounded by mountains, maybe it was worth it??

We break out

Beautiful fall colors in the dry lake

So we walk and walk really enjoying ourselves, get passed by several mountain bikers, and what goes up must come down and down we go.  We come to understand quite quickly why the map is marked with one way indicators, if we had gone up where we came down, neither one of us would have done it, to say it was steep was an understatement.  Some of the rock was very interesting, we couldn't really tell if it had eroded that way or was formed that way.

Almost looks like stamped concrete

But finally we broke out and saw the end!

Yehaw!

It was enjoyable and scenic and ended up being 4 miles, and we both decided we would not be doing this trail again:)

Less than two weeks already!

Unreal, we have less than two weeks left in Durango, and we are trying to make the best of it.  We even made a list to be sure we do all the things we absolutely want to do before we leave.  That list includes several hikes, two of which we have done the last few days, both were on the famous Colorado Trail, and very different I might add.  I mentioned when we went up to Kennebec Pass, there was another longer hike to Taylor Lake that we wanted to do, but the fact we had just finished a 1/1/2 mile hike and the fact we were at 11,700', we decided to do that 2.8 mile hike another time.  We also wanted to try a portion of the trail near the town of Durango up Junction Creek.  These are actually two hikes on the same portion of the trail that goes from Durango, up over Kennebec Pass, and then on to Taylor Lake, a full 22+ miles and the highest elevation gain on the whole Colorado Trail, somewhere about 5000'.

The first day we went up the Junction Creek part of the trail.  It was nice and easy along the crystal clear creek.  It was pleasant, in and out of the trees with the constant sounds of moving water.  It was fairly level for the first mile, then it began to steadily climb as you went higher and higher above the water.

Jan starting out

A real nice wooded trail

The crystal clear water

Interesting erosion on the rocks

We climbed higher and higher and decided to turn around at about the 1 1/2 mile point and come back later to a different spot on the trail and do it again.  A nice easy hike.

Then we went back up La Plata Canyon to do the Taylor Lake hike.  We did this on Sunday and were a little apprehensive as we expected lots of people around.  Actually we lucked out, we passed only two couples hiking and 4 really serious mountain bikers fly by us!  We climbed the mountain and only met a few jeeps, then set out on our hike after a bit of uncertainty about which trail was correct.  It was a gorgeous day and the temp was perfect about 60 degrees.

The beginning of the trail

Our views were pretty awesome!

Looking across to Columbus Basin

It was about 1.4 miles to Taylor Lake, and the path was super, and mostly level with a few ups and downs to make it interesting, as if the views weren't enough.  We have hiked quite a bit over the years, and this hike was superb, it was if you were on the top of the world!  I am enclosing a short video that might make more clear what we were experiencing.             

We worked our way around the slope and out popped Taylor Lake!

I tried to do a panorama to show the magnificence of the place.

After poking around there for awhile we headed back for our picnic lunch, and what a spot sitting there on the back of the pickup munching away:)

Our lunch view

Since it was now afternoon on a beautiful clear Sunday, the people started to arrive, in Jeeps, trucks, 4-wheelers, RZRs, dirt bikes, you get the idea, so it was clear to us it was time to go....  So down the mountain we went, and on the way we decided to detour up into Columbus Basin, one of the pictures above.  Well, that road got seriously rough very quickly, but we pushed on a couple miles until we broke out in the middle of that incredible bowl or basin.

Mine remnants

Looking back across to the Colorado Trail

Quite a spot

And another experiment with a panorama to give you an idea of the "bowl".

While we were there, we heard an engine sound getting closer and closer, and although the pictures don't show it very well, it is so steep, it is difficult to see up and down the road.  It got closer and closer and this popped out.

Interesting rig

So after our incredible day we headed back down the mountain and back to the campground with two more items checked off our list.

Jan's Awesome Horseback Ride

After a bit of confusion about the schedule, and all to the good, especially with the weather, Jan went on an awesome horseback ride to Engineer Mountain with just her and a guide/cowgirl.  The day we originally thought it was turned out to be rainy and thunderstormy, but the next day that she went was fantastic.

She was led by the owner of Rapp Corral, Anne Rapp, and was lucky enough to be the only rider on her whole day ride.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Starting out at the corral

Up through the aspens

Breaking out in the open

Super views

Jan having fun on Magnum

Jan and Lily

Beautiful!

Engineer Mountain

Anne leading the way

Do I need to say anything?