περιπλάνηση: Chicago Lakes Hike 9.12.10

(Excuse the filthy lens)
Yesterday Stephanie and Deana arrived bright and early to set out on a long hike up to Chicago Lakes near Mt. Evans. They are just shy of Summit Lake that you drive by on the way to the top of the 14er.
We got to Echo Lake before 9:00 and set out from the trailhead.

Within minutes the vistas open up across the range. You can already see small pockets of aspens turning gold on the mountainsides.

The hike is ranked as difficult for a number of reasons. Primarily it is about the terrain and incline of descent/ascent. This trail is notorious because after hours of hiking, you will have to make a monumental climb UP. However, at the start, you're going down happily. Unless you're Stephanie who has a thing about the steep drop-offs. In which case you're better off going down staring directly in front of you.

After a while, the steep drop offs turn into tight switchbacks. This is when the twinge in my knee starts fussing more often.

After a mile's descent you hit a little slice of paradise at the creek, with its cold running water and that luscious sound of peace and tranquility.

After that respite, the ugliest part of the hike is upon you, which explains why there are no pictures. You hike a mile up a dirt road at a really steep incline and wish you were back down at the creek. However, at the top is the reservoir where the cold winds come off the water and you can catch your breath. This is a little less than halfway to Chicago Lakes. It is about here that I start to worry about how my knee will hold up. What started as a bit of a twinge and got louder at some of the descending turns, is getting worse. But I'm not bailing out now.

Small falls over rocks join the reservoir in places. It's about 10:30 and we've been going about an hour and a half at this point.

At the far end of the reservoir is this wonderful little cabin.

Beyond that is wide open spaces. And rocks. Lots and lots of rocks that all seem to go UP.

The sky stayed heavily cloudy most of the day, so it was perfectly comfortable the whole afternoon.

At the signage for the trek to Chicago Lakes.

Pictures import too small on blogger (the photo issue is the number one drawback on this site) to see the text, but if you see a light blue blob at the top right, that was Echo Lake. The red rectangle towards the center says "You are Here" and way further down the map are the blue blobs that are Chicago Lakes. The last lake on the map is Summit which is apparently directly OVER the second Chicago as the climb is straight up.

Here's the topographical view of the ascent to the lakes:

From here to the Summit Lake is 6.3 more miles with a rise of over 4000 feet.

So let's get started!

The higher we go, the more golden the aspen stands along the trail. Fall is upon us.

A long portion of the climb is through a massive burn area. This emptiness still makes me a little sad, even though I know the cleansing is necessary in the long run.

The colors of the ground cover springs up from the ash-rich soil are dazzling.

And, incredibly, while we are taking a break, Stephanie cell phone rings! The service is spotty, but I'm still impressed.

More aspens along the way:

And lots more hiking. Note I am taking pictures on the levelest spots. When we hit the steep parts and the heart rate goes skyrocketing, there is no interest in photography.

Heading into another stand of golden aspens.

One of the creeks fed by the lakes travelling down to the reservoir.

Crossing another stream along the way.

Note how our following the leader is resulting in shots of me farther and farther behind. The knee is not happy. But the rest of me is :)

We finally reach the lower lake around 1:45 and stop to take a break.

I try to head up to the second lake with Stephanie and Deana only to realize the knee is starting to swell and the ascent is going to be too steep and technical for me to make. So I lounge like a lizard on a warm rock near the lower lake and psych myself up for what is going to be a long, slow hike back. I also wrap the knee, which turns out to make it much, much more painful.

So let's skip the majority of the way back experience, which would just be me slowing everyone else down, Deana taking my pack, Stephanie taking my camera, and me, thanking God and Stephanie for the hiking pole that made it possible for me to naviagate the rocky descent on a knee that now refuses to bend. From 2:30 until 5:00 I drag it along like Frankenstein's monster. Plus every other muscle in both legs, especially the hips, are starting to scream because I did the stair climb yesterday in addition to this 8 hour hike. Not my wisest planning, to be sure. And the odd way I have to walk also rubs blisters all over my right foot on the "good leg." When I take my socks off later they bear a remarkable resemblance to these:

Back through the burn area, down and down and down.

Favoring the right leg and clinging to that pole for life:

Just past the reservoir again, Deana finds a heart shaped rock. We're taking that as a sign.

However, we're not too sure what to make of this sign. Anyone lose their XL boxer shorts along the hike?

When Courtney and I did just the portion down to the reservoir and back, we had to stop 4 or 5 times to get our heart rates down before continuing. Here's a mark of how slow I had to go: didn't stop once. Here's Stephanie NOT looking down. She'd been looking back at me the whole way until this point.

A little mouse watched me shuffle by from his perch in the rocks.

A last look across the sky as the sun gets lower. It's just now 5:00.

See the smile below? That's cause I'm not going to have to spend the night in pitch dark in the cold on this trail!

The orange moss on the rock side of the trail.

And the aspens up above

This blue bird shadowed us the whole day, even over to the lodge when we were eating dinner.

Thanks to the constantly opening door of the lodge and the wonderful food, they have a fly problem. I guess this is one way to combat it, but it doesn't make looking up very appetizing.