The Book said this was an easy Trail. Ya right!

This is an easy trail?

Now you tell me, does this look like an easy trail to you?  Who is this easy for, a trained climber with lots of experience?  Yes, I am sure it is but for this mature lady, my 3 year old grand daughter and the puppy I think not.  The kids were fine with it.  But getting the dog and my grand daughter safely up and down this mountain was a chore all in itself.

We headed out for a leisurely walk knowing that I am recovering from all that blood loss.  We checked the book : 'The Best Fort Collins Hikes'.  The trail we picked is called 'Black Powder Trail'.  I know why it is called that.  The ground is covered in black, loose sand or powdery dirt.  It is slippery and the trail is narrow with steep sides.  A roll down the mountain at certain points would probably mean the end, at the very least one would be all tore up.

The book describes the trail this way (of course my daughter picked the trail and I only read the info when I returned home):

"The expression 'all over the board' springs to mind as efforts are made to assess the difficulty of the Black Powder Trail.  The consensus of a CMC focus group was 'easy' because it is a short distance and 'moderate' because of the elevation gaining switchbacks.  The city's website lists the trail as 'moderate to difficult''.  So, if you've been looking for an 'easy-moderate-difficult' hike, you've arrived.  Lace up you tennies and start chugging along."

The view as I walked or puffed up was beautiful

 

 

 

 

The switchbacks were narrow and stoney.  We all had to keep our wits about ourselves.  It isn't real long, about 1.5 miles up but it was steep.  Being my first hike in Colorado I was a huffin and a puffin.  Definately a good work out.  I am very glad I did it.

After quite a long haul and lots of stops I saw the top - yea

I stepped up over the top, or so I thought and look there is more.

Just when I thought I was done I discovered their was a lot more to do, albeit not as difficult.  If you look close the kids are off in the distance.  I turned around and got this great shot.

Looking back from about half way up the mountain.  What a view.

I headed across the fruited plains (isn't that the words to a song?) and finally climbed the last part of the hill.
We all made it safe and sound, but there was still the trip back down.

The family 

 

Here is a shot of the view at the top on the back side of the mountain:

I have a bit of a height thing and this picture was difficult for me to get as my body was stiffening up and my fear factor was live and screaming.  I can feel it now just looking at the picture.  Whoooo is me, a mountain climber I will never be.  But hills are just fine, as long as I stay away from the edge.  I must have been a sacrifice in a past life.

Refreshments came next - my granddaughter Ceanna age 3

Then the eventual trip back down.  We had some discussion about getting Ceanna and the dog back down safely as the trail is steep, slippery and narrow with cliff like sides.  Over you go and you won't stop for a long way.  We set up a safe way to flow down and off we went, teaching Ceanna about going down slippery hills.  It was a long trip to the bottom but here we are.

Safe and sound at the bottom and Ceanna is all tired out.

We all headed for the river to cool our feet.  I had my first experience of walking down a very steep hill.  My toes kept trying to come right through my shoes.  I kept splaying them to keep them from hurting so much.  Luckily I wore my toe socks and this helped to keep blisters at bay.

AWWWW  Mema this is great come on in.

Nothing like a cold river to revitalize the feet after a tough climb.  I think I will pick the trail next time.

All in all it was a good day and a good work out.  Even with all the things going on I have lost another 5 lbs since I have been here.  I have been out walking around town and in the neighborhood trying to get back all the strength I had before the blood letting.  This week end we are going to bike the Poudre River.  It is a 9 mile long trail, one way, so 18 miles for this Saturday.  I will put the chariot behind my bike.  Ceanna will ride her trike until she gets tired and then she can get into the chariot.  Mom, Dad and Mema will ride along.

One last thing.  I do want to be honest here.  It has been tough and I have lots of aches and pains but it is all worth it.  After, I always feel better and I love the new body I am creating.  We went to a movie this week and I loved how comfortable it was to sit there.  I also love how loose my clothes are getting and the size changes.  So even though it is difficult it is worth it.

Buen Camino
b

My First Hike in Colorado - The Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area

Recovery has been a while but out I am gently allowing my body to regain some of it's strength and endurance.  I can tell you one thing, loosing a lot of blood really affects one.  Muscles don't work so well when you are short on blood.  There was a lot of resting, eating good foods and moving slowly.  I am amazed at how much I lost in my conditioning I have been doing over the last 8 months.  I decided to head out for a short 5 mile prairie walk, thinking it would be fairly flat and fairly easy.  Well, that is not what happened.

First let me tell you a bit about this place I picked for my first walk.  Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area, known as a jewel of the high plains, is an excellent and rare example of how the Colorado Front Range looked before it was settled. The rolling terrain, wetlands, and grasslands support a variety of plants and animals. The shortgrass prairie landscape, consisting of prairie dog colonies that attract a healthy raptor population – golden eagles, ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks, and Swainson's hawks – also supports a variety of other wildlife. Horned lizards, ground-nesting songbirds, butterflies, rabbits, coyotes and rattlesnakes can also commonly be seen.

As I entered the park their were many warning signs and directions on safe travel through the prairie.  The signs primarily focused on rattlesnakes.  Now, I don't know about you but for me rattlesnakes mean run, run as fast as you can in any direction they are not facing and don't stop until you are in the next county.  As I contemplated the intelligence of walking among rattlesnakes I saw the second sign.  "If your are bit please follow these directions. 1. Lay down, don't move.  2. call 911."  I stopped right there.  My mind shouted, 'If I am bit please lay down!  Not on your life, that dude may want to finish me off if I just lay there and hand myself over to him.'  Anxiety grew about the intelligence of this decision to walk in a prairie full of rattlesnakes after losing so much blood.

I calmed myself by reading about the prairie and it's history.  It was telling me that this land had not been plowed or changed in anyway since before the area was settled.  It has been preserved.  The thought of walking on ancient land that had not been altered by man since the beginning of time excited me.  I don't know what I thought I would see but the feel of the ancient land sounded beautiful to me.  I imagined the swaying grasslands, an occasional flower, made all the more special by it's scarcity, sun beating on me as it did when the settlers walked west and the mountains, The Rockies.  They reached for the sky leaving me as a dot in the middle of this big open grassland.  The pull of being in the midst of such untouched beauty dragged me onto the trail.  I settled for the middle of the trail hoping for more room to jump if I saw a rattlesnake.  The kind thing the city did for all of us hikers, and I want to inform you here that most of the other people were on bikes - maybe they knew something I didn't, was to pave the trail and mow, very short, the grass on the sides.  It helped.

I cautiously walked out into the fields, eyes surveying every inch, at the ready.  Soon the majesty of the area took over and I no longer paid any attention to the possibility of snakes.  The trail wove up, down and around and the sun grew hotter and hotter.   Turning back towards a settlement the trail wove up.

 Then back toward the valley with the mountains framing the future.

The trail is only about 5 miles but with such an extreme blood loss I found my legs having a hard time and my body was affected in new ways by the heat.  Tired, I decided to head back, after only about 2 miles, and conker the full trail another day.  It is almost as if I am starting all over again.  ugh.  I imagine after my operation I will have to do this even again.  But for now we will continue building this body and maybe, just maybe it won't be so bad later.

Thanks for staying around and sharing my life experiences and my prep for this great 500 mile walk next year.

Buen Camino
b

I have arrived in Colorado and will meet Martin Sheen tonight

I have so many words for this move to Colorado.  It was the biggest challenge in my life.  I found myself in many unusual situations.  The stress factor was through the roof as I was constantly having to make decisions about things I did not know anything about.  Kind of like Russian roulette.  Each time I pulled the trigger I hit an empty chamber, thank God. 

I arrived Tuesday morning at 11am.  Started unpacking, preparing to leave again on Friday to visit friends in Santa Fe, NM.  But I guess the Universe had other ideas.  Ended up in the hospital emergency room Wednesday evening bleeding uncontrollably.  Released and at the Drs office today for tests. 

In the between time I discovered I had an invitation to the private showing of "The Way".  The movie Martin Sheen and Emilo Estevez did of the Camino.  So tonight I am going to meet Martin and Emilo and who knows who else.  Life never seems to stop surprising me.

Next week we find out the results of the tests but for now I am going to enjoy this wonderful gift of the private showing and meeting famous people. 

I hope to be climbing in the mountains next week. 

Buen Camino
b

PS:  I started learning Spanish on my way across the country.  I have  down several words after the first 2 lessons.  Soon I will be bilingual, finally.  Only took 63 years.  Smile!  Better late than never.