Slept deep. Thought it was later when I got up—only 7:30. That is getting repetitive. David fixed eggs mixed with last night’s chicken. Got up and ready to go and out the door around 8:30. Heading for Kenosha Pass area and beyond. The place is out of Jefferson, on the road to Georgia Pass.
Not much snow here in Park County. Last year I remember hearing news reports that residents were locked in because of the snow and ice—even snow plows could not get through. But this year, the plain is brown with dead grass—not green yet. The road we went down, David had taken snowmobile out for training with his search and rescue group. But now we are driving in as far as the base of the mountains.
Its seven and half miles to the pass from where we left the car. This body will not make it that far. The snow on the road is bumpy from the snowmobiles. But I manage it. We start at about 10,100’—the same as yesterday. Right out of the chute, I hit my fastest speed of the day on an initial downhill—11mph. The bumps provide some adventure for me—I don’t think it rattled David at all. I kept control—but several times I came out of a bump wrong.
It is then uphill. We go uphill for a ways and then hit large patches of dirt. Off comes the skis and we walk. David carries both of our sets of skis on his pack. We go for about three-quarters of a mile this way, walking across a lot snow, a lot of dirt.
We get to a gate off to a minor road. We put on the ski’s then and head off along this road. David breaks the trail, I follow. David really does work hard as the snow is crusty. He sometimes is able to glide over the snow, but about that time, he breaks through the crust and has to put a lot of effort into breaking the trail. We travel for about a third of a mile, realizing that there is a lot of work without much reward. So we circle around, heading back to the main road. We hit the road about a hundred feet above where we left it. Hitting the road is pretty accurate, at least on my part. But I got up, in one piece.
We go about some more until we have reached the 3 mile mark and noon time. We had lunch—knocked over a bottle of water. After lounging around for half an hour, David and I talk off, going further up the road. My muscles stiff from the rest. At the four mile mark, I tell David I need to turn around.
It is easier coming down. But as David says, we have to work at it. The snow is slow. The snow has melted enough we cannot see our tracks from a couple of hours ago. Even though there was longer downhills, I could not get any speed up without poling.
Got back to the car and headed back to Lakewood. Sometimes it is not very conducive to your body to have someone mention food. Yesterday, a couple mentioned stopping at Arby’s. So I started craving a bacon double cheeseburger. Today we pass by a hot dog stand called Coney Island. Afterwards, David and I talk about hot dogs. My dear brother starts talking about how good chili-dogs are. Aghh! But I survive. David bar-be-que’s me a steak that evening. Talking about repetitive—it is pretty good and satisfying.
But before the steak, I lie down in the hammock and read. Then we go to the reservoir and walk around it. This time, we drive there. My legs would not have taken it. We finish off the evening by watching the third Pirates of the Caribbean. We hit the bed a little before 10.
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