Wow, I never realized how much I missed outdoorsy stuff. Last week I decided last minute to take a couple days and head off into the mountains alone. Thursday night I opened the big closet that is filled with all of my hiking gear - untouched for over two years. I started going through each tub and getting more and more excited as I pulled things out, often exclaiming, "Oh yeah! I forgot that I need that in the mountains!".
Friday, following a company picnic, I headed out to the Elk Range mountains in Northwest Colorado (this was after much map-looking and debate with myself at the REI in Denver). After a long drive, I finally hit Aspen and headed up Castle Creek Road - a beautiful road lined with tall aspens, flowering meadows, and a beautiful stream. The entire drive up was incredible, bringing back memories and thrilling my heart to the point of estatic tears and a humongous smile of extreem happiness. What an amazing world God created! Each sight, sound, and smell reminded me of His majesty, His creativity, His awesomness.
Driving Castle Creek Road is a breeze, about 11 miles up you get to the main parking lot and only 4-wheel-drive vehicles can continue...yup, that's ME!!! My little Subaru, affectionately named Toji, started up on it's very first 4WD run. The road wasn't bad at first, but gradually became more rough with bigger rocks and steeper inclines. The more rough the road got the more excited I became, and rough it did get!! Large watermelon-sized rocks, deep pits and crazy angles to be manuvuered around. I passed some hikers walking up the rough road, their mouths gaping at the little girl driving a Subaru - and there would be many more gaping faces that weekend. I finally arrived at the first really rough spot - a steep short pass down into a river, across and steeply up the other side - with a few huge boulders to add a little difficulty. I got out of my car to check out the route and how I was going to navigate through it when behind me came a huge Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 12'' lift. I ran back to my car, put her in gear and plowed through river but just as I was going up the opposite bank my tires lost traction and the left frame hit a big rock. DRATS! The guys from the Jeep came running up and cheered my little Subi on. I backed down then cut to the right and made it up the steep bank with style - the guys yelling and cheering behind me! The Jeep and Toji crawled up the road for another 2 miles, with quite a few rough spots to navigate. Then I encountered a "bridge out" sign and had to pull over, dissapointed to have my 4-wheeling escapade stopped. My, it was grand! I have forgotten how much I missed 4-wheeling!
After making sure Toji wasn’t going to roll down the road, I hiked up a ways and set up camp on the flattest ground I could find which was still at a pretty big slant – oh well, I was up for an adventure! Besides, my tent-site was surrounded by beautiful purple wildflowers and there was a clear sky above with bright stars winking at me and the sound of rushing water lulling me to sleep on that crooked hill.
The morning dawned brightly and I barely caught the tail-end of the sunrise on the clouds. Oh, I knew the day ahead of me would be a bright and exciting day! Thank you, God, for allowing me the priviledge of living in Colorado and the opportunity to enjoy Your creation!
The morning dawned brightly and I barely caught the tail-end of the sunrise on the clouds. Oh, I knew the day ahead of me would be a bright and exciting day! Thank you, God, for allowing me the priviledge of living in Colorado and the opportunity to enjoy Your creation!
Soli Deo Gloria!!
