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S2000 out of its natural habitat
We had an extra day to use up in the Moab area before heading back east. Luke and Sophie wanted to try their hand at local mountain bike riding. Jenn was more partial to some more hiking, and so we decided to split up. Jenn and I would do a nice long hike in the needles section of Canyonlands National Park, and Luke and Sophie would rent some bikes and do some of the infamous slickrock trail.
courtesy Luke
 Treacherous conditions
Well, guess what happened the next day! Yup, you guessed it - rain! again! That put the kibosh on any local activities, and so in disgust we packed up and headed east that day. Soon we were on Interstate-70, heading east into Colorado. Now, where Interstate 70 crosses the eastern front of the Rockies is a particularly high area, and, as we approached the high point (Independance Pass), the damp and rainy day turned to sleet and then snow. Here we were, on slick, snow-packed roads in the mountains, with almost-bald summer tires. I slowed to a crawl and gingerly made my way over the pass. Going down the other side was even scarier, but fortunately the drop in altitude from the pass soon meant we were back in the rain zone. Scare-y!
You know you are in low-budget land when...
We rolled into Golden, Colorado, having run the gauntlet and lived, and found lodging at a super-run-down little motel that warned against working on your car in the parking lot (what does that tell you about this motel!). We cooked up some food in the room and then hit a movie theatre to see 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'.
nearing Rocky Mountain National Park
We'd had enough with this rain and were prepared at this point to just head straight back to Ottawa. The next day, however, turns out to be sunnier than expected. Not wanting to leave the mountains just quite yet, I propose that we see what things are like up at Rocky Mountain National Park, just northwest of our location. We decide to go have a look and find that the day is mostly sunny, with beautiful views of recently snow-dusted peaks (the recent snows that caused us much grief on the highway the day before).


Wednesday, September 22

Seeing as the forecast for the next few days was looking pretty good, we decided to camp at Rocky Mountain National Park, and try to do some sort of hike the next day. I was feeling the itch to actually summit a peak on this trip, so I picked a high but relatively easy peak on the continental divide : Flat top mountain. Luke and Sophie were up for something a little less challenging, so we agreed to split up the next day, with they heading back for Ottawa the next morning, and Jenn and I heading back later in the day after our longer hike.
Rocky Mountain scenery
Our campsite at RMNP
Early climbing start
We got up nice and early to catch the first shuttle bus to the trailhead. The pre-dawn night was quite crisp; fortunately, I could see stars amidst the puffs of clouds drifting by. We started off at 9500 feet at the Bear Lake trailhead. A dusting of snow lay everywhere. We started up the trail; the snow become ever deeper as we gained altitude; it started to look like an Adirondack winter hike. Wow! There was a lot snow up here. As we ascended, it actually got cloudier and windier, and the sun could only be glimpsed here and there through thin clouds and lightly blowing snow.
Hmm... a little more snow than expected
Jenn amidst september snowiness
A taste of Ottawa in winter, Jenn?
Above treeline, however, things were a bit more dramatic. The wind was howling and it was snowing almost horizontally. In places, the snow was 4 feet deep, and in others scoured bare by the wind. It took some doing to keep to the trail in the near whiteout. After one particularly strong gust of wind, I stopped and turned around to see how Jenn was doing, and saw her get clean knocked on her butt by the gust.
Fully exposed
Turn around time
Return to warmth
It wasn't too long after this that I realized that it wasn't going to clear up (damn weather forecast), and in fact was probably going to get worse, especially since the strong west winds would only get stronger as we reached the crest of the continental divide. Plus it was really hard to see without full ski goggles, which I did not bring. So, relu ctantly, at 11,600 feet (700 vertical feet shy of the summit), we turned around, denied yet another summit. Soon we were back in the trees, where the wind was far less strong, and, by the time we got back to the trailhead, it was sunny and pleasant. We told our tale of winter conditions to the ranger, who was pleased we'd decided to turn back.

Well, that was that. It was time to head home. Back at the car, we stripped down into summer clothes again. And, two hours later, down on the plains, it was over 25 degrees C. What an amazing range of climates! Wearing full winter clothing in a blizzard at 10:30am, and sitting around in shorts and a t-shirt in 25C weather at 1:30pm!
Warm and dry parking lot
Just two hours later
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