2022 Fall Trip - Day 12/37 - 9/05/2022

NOTE: All this hiking out here has gotten it out of my system, at least as far as this trip is concerned. I also miss home a bit more than I anticipated, so I'm cutting out the 5 days of hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park - another adventure for another time. That brings this trip down to 37 days (from 42).

Also, as you can tell, the timing of these blogs has slipped a bit. I'm jealous of those writers who encapsulate their adventures THAT EVENING! - I generally just want to crash and veg out, and do my writing/posting early the next morning. That also gives me a chance to distance myself from the intensity of a particular day's activity (ha - I like using a geo-word, but applying it to "mental state" versus "physical geography").

This "distancing" is important for today's blog. So I'm just going to say it - Today's hike was the best hike I have ever done.

(Of course that should be ALL CAPS, but I'm an understated-kind-of-guy).

But before we get there, let's start with "the regular stuff":

Monday, Sept. 5, 2022 - Hike "Devil's Causeway Loop Trail", drive down to Carbondale, Colorado:

The view out my hotel room in Yampa, Colorado:

Mailed my postcards, and just had to take a picture of the Main Street:

I headed up the road to Stillwater Reservoir (I imagine that's Flattop Mountain in the distance):

It turns out that I'm going up The Bear River Corridor:

The first body-of-water I hit is Yamcolo Reservoir:

You drive around it, and keep heading up Forest Road 900:

Hey, asphalt is expensive out here!

A nice view of Bear Lake on my way to the trailhead:

At the trailhead at 11:15

Let's get the overall basics out of the way - 10.7 miles in 5 hours 21 minutes, clockwise loop:

It's great hiking along the north side of Stillwater Reservoir:

I took the left-trail (the right one will be coming down):

Say goodbye to Stillwater Reservoir:

and enter the Flat Tops Wilderness:

Up close and personal through meadow, forest, lake and river:

Now it is time to gain elevation. 3.4 miles in (1 hour 40 minutes), this rock is where I at lunch:

Um, and this is my lunchtime view:

After lunch, I kept going up:

and looking back

Today's hike was researched last winter. I knew I would be going southwest on level-land, west up the mountainside, then north/northeast along the mountain ridge.

Parts 1 and 2 were appropriate, and no surprises, just beauty to see.

Part 3 today kicked it up to a whole 'nother level. I approached the ridge-level:

Instead of a ridge, I saw a Huge Meadow area, with the trail only marked by poles/cairns:

It is a magical, mystical place (dare i use the word Holy?) - grassland as far as you can see, up on the top of the world. These next 4 photos cover an hour (basically 2-and-1/2 miles):

When I went to look at a view, a trail-runner went by behind me:

He is silhouetted against the white cloud in the middle.

The sign points me forward - I'm almost there:

Oh, you really think so?

20 minutes later you actually encounter vegetation:

I want to see if a "USA Topo" visualization helps the story:

As the geography narrows, the view down-to-the-left (Bunker Basin and Causeway Lake) IS AWESOME:

And, when you turn around, the view back down into the Stillwater Reservoir area is PRETTY COOL also:

These last two pictures were taken at 3:18. In the next 5 minutes I crossed Devil's Causeway on hands-and-feet. I did not take a picture before I crossed because my wife would never let me go hiking again. After crossing The Causeway, here is the view back, at 3:23

and here is the view forward, after crossing The Causeway:

It was the most sublime experience I have ever had.

From natureofwriting.com,

Edmund Burke argued that the sublime is the most powerful aesthetic experience. It is a mixture of fear and excitement, terror and and awe. It’s that spine-tingling feeling you get when you stand at the edge of a cliff.

5 minutes later I have crossed the remaining trail-on-the-ridge, and am ready to come down (the trail-intersection is circled):

5 minutes, take a right at the intersection:

One last GREAT BIG VIEW. If you can see the people on the trail, I caught up to then when we entered the trees::

I love going downhill!

A last look back:

It is fun looking down on the lake I hiked past on the way up:

These forest-lands are leased out for sheep grazing, so on my final stretch I ran into a "sheep jam":

RTLHUM waiting patiently:

I'm definitely going to get a car wash one of these days.

Heading South on CO-131:

I was on I-70 West at 6:20 PM. That means the cliffs are getting hit by the setting sun:

I-70 follows the Colorado River down through Glenwood Canyon, and is a phenomenal drive!

I turned south off I-70, and got down to Carbondale, Colorado at 7:15, with the moon rising above Mount Sopris:

I checked into the Days Inn in Carbondale at 7:30 PM. Thank You GOD - I will never forget this Day!

Music for today:

Trinitarian Congregational Church, Concord - Jazz Service:

Mark and Betsy gave me this cd years ago. Very good, and I'll have to replace the image when I get back home.

Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin, 2009:

Yeah, I don't like the title either. I've had this album on my iPod for well over a decade, and never listened to it. I heard it today, and that's enough - I don't need to keep it.

Then, because I am in Colorado - Bob Weir - Ace, 1972 first solo album:

It sounded so great, I listened to it twice. To quote Wikipedia: "It is essentially a Grateful Dead album, as almost all of the members of The Grateful Dead at the time played on it."