Day 8 6/26

continued our trek toward Fort Collins today, sadly leaving the Rockies in place of the Wyoming plains/desert. Holy cow is it desolate out there. We drove for nearly 100 miles on us 191 before we hit a town over 300 people and it was rock springs at that. Then once on the freeway, we drove another 100ish miles before starting to see mountains again (the medicine bow range). Kate’s foot is a little dinged up right now, so I hemmed and hawed about whether the detour was worth it, and in fact it nearly always is, so we exited again bound for Saratoga, wy (not much to that one either) and the medicine bow mountains. Another grand mountain pass road where you weave up and up into alpine meadows and conifers. Even though we’re quite a bit south now, there was still snow at the pass (10,000 feet and change). The hike up to the peak isn’t long or particularly strenuous, but I hesitated again the point in having Kate hang and hiking it solo. Again, the answer to that question is usually to go for it, especially with an attitude of getting as far as I could, conditions permitting, then simply turning around. There are precious few times in our lives as midwesterners that we actually get to leave the tree line behind; you have to take them.

It’s only 2.7 to the summit and while there were periodic snow piles, nothing worse as to what we had done previously. I made good time and clipped to the tree line (2 miles in) in 45 min or so. Began the now drastically steeper hill and was getting close, but hit another snow field to cross, this one at a much steeper pitch down and a heck of a lot farther to slide if things became unsettled. It’s not awesome stopping before the top, but figured I had pushed my luck enough and left it maybe 100 vertical feet from the top 12,000 perhaps. Soaked in the view of colorado stretching before me and headed down,

Only a couple hours later, we we in Fort Collins eating dinner with Jenni, one of Kate’s collage friends that’s made the move out here. She lives a cool life. Got to meet her fiancé who seemed awesome as well. Made it for a drink downtown after dinner and even beat Ben and Jerry’s closing to a begrudged employee that just wanted the day to end. Another fine day on the road though. Hard to complain.