Hiking

Lately I've been doing a bit of hiking on Thumb Butte, trying to get in shape to hike more adventurous locations and I think back to the various hikes I've accomplished, or attempted to accomplish on trips I've taken. One stands out in memory though, a hike in Colorado to Four Mile Falls.

Going back quite a few years ago,  I was on vacation in Pagosa Springs, Colorado with my mom and dad. I was maybe 17 or 18 at the time and still living at home. Dad opted out of the hike so mom and I set out. We'd sprayed ourselves with a little off, packed our day-packs with lunch, extra bug spray, a rain poncho and lots of water and off we went. This hike was a marvelous combination of beauty, adventure, and disaster. We started out enjoying the beauty, marred by the occasional black fly that buzzed around us. The further we walked, the thicker the flies became and before long, stopping wasn't an option, the flies were too thick and would land as soon as we stopped moving. We tried more spray but it was useless. So powering on, we determined to move just fast enough we could enjoy the view while staying ahead of the flies. We crossed a meadow or too with a view beautiful enough to inspire a desire to sing the song from Sound of Music. As we neared the falls, the flies lessened, thank goodness, and they were almost gone when we reached the base. Sitting on a rock near the water, we enjoyed a flyless lunch and admired the view. I enjoyed the light breeze that had begun to blow and loved the view of the big clouds that were beginning to come into view. Mom took off to go a little up the trail to the top of the fall and I stayed where I was, just enjoying the view. Slowly the clouds began to build, getting bigger and closer. Mom returned and we decided we should get moving if we wanted to stay ahead of the storm that was obviously now rolling in. We heard little rumbles of thunder and picked up the pace. The wind kicked up, on the plus side, the flies were gone, they knew the storm was coming. The storm clouds rolled in quickly, rumbles became louder and louder. We knew we wouldn't make it back to the car before the storm hit. When the clouds blotted out the sun, we stopped and pulled out our ponchos. We hit the first field just as the storm broke. Rain poured, and lightning was flashing like crazy. Standing at the edge of the meadow, we debated which action to take. We knew standing under a tree was a bad idea, but so was going across the meadow making us the tallest object in the area. Finally, with a loud crack of thunder we made a run for it. Ducked low, we ran, poncho over backpack and all we looked like turtles on high speed. We never moved so fast, we ran through forest, past the second meadow, and kept going. Finally, the rain began to let up just as we spotted the car in the parking area. We were never so happy to make it back from the hike. Certainly one I won't forget anytime soon. I can't remember the falls or what they look like but I will never forget the storm or the flies. To this day, with all we experienced, I still refer to that hike as the fly trail hike. What an experience!