We clawed, we chained. . .
We jumped. . .
I never hit so hard. . .
I just walked away. . .
came in like a wrecking ball.
Miley Cyrus
Today felt a whole lot like a road trip way in some ways. Primarilly because we did our first hike of the summer! Our destination for the day was the San Juan National Forest. For all the time we’ve spent here in the Tri-City area we’ve barely scratched the surface on ways to hike, bike, and otherwise recreate. Maybe someday we’ll have done it all, but for now we’ll just keep picking off the trails one at a time.
We started from the Transfer Campground and our first task was to tackle the Big Al Trail. The trail was billed as being “barrier-free” which I interpreted as meaning there would be steep drop offs with no guard rails and I warned everyone to be extra careful. It quickly became apparent that I had completely misinterpreted “barrier-free”. Rather than steep ledges we found a packed gravel trail with comfortably spaced benches and plenty of informative signs. One of those signs explaned how the trail was named for a wildfire fighter named Al who had been injured by a falling tree while working near Yellowstone. In his honor this trail, accessable to all people (barrier-free as in the are no barriers to anyone wanting to hike it). Nicely done, Forest Service.
From there we completed a loop of the Rim, Box Canyon, West Mancos, and Transfer Trails. The five miles we travelled while ascending 800ish feet was the perfect introductory hike for the summer, especially considering that it topped out at about 9,000 feet and the girls still aren’t totally aclimated to the elevation. The most notable hike for me (other than the beautiful scenery) was the constant need to dodge the tree branches and shrubbery that were constantly being whipped at me. It seemed like every branch that could caught on the person in front of me, getting stretched forward as far as it could until. . .WHAM. . . they whipped back in my direction. I did eventually learn my lesson and started walking further back.
This afternoon was a pretty big departure from what our typical road trip is in a very good way. Rather than sitting around some run down hotel pool, we got to come home! Everyone gravitated toward their own activities for awhile. For me that meant a bit of crochet, then a nap, then completing the framing of the top bunk in Zoe’s room. We had a delicious dinner of BLTs and curly fries at home and now I’m sitting on the desk with a whiskey by my side as I write up my report on the day.
