Overambitious, much?? Yep, that's me. The plan for yesterday was to do up to 3 hikes...yeah, we only did one. It's alright though - at least we were still getting in some major calorie burning.
So, this morning we were out the door by about 7:45am. We got to the trailhead for Pitkin Creek by 8:15am, and after some minor confusion due to some signs that said "Path Closed," we exploded out of the gate to tackle about a 600 foot elevation gain in .4 miles. By the time we were a mile in, it was becoming quite evident that this 4.5 mile trail (to Pitkin Lake) would be a bit more than we could handle. The trailhead's starting point was above 8,000 feet, so we were already amongst some very thin air.
We reassessed our goals. About 2.5 miles in, there was a good stopping point with a view of Pitkin Falls (much more attainable). We continued our moderate climb through aspen and spruce forests, wide mountain valleys and occasional encounters with Pitkin Creek. The last .10 mile was a big push and about a 300 foot elevation gain to get to the viewing point of the towering Pitkin Falls in the distance. There were also sprawling views of the peaks to the south from the direction we had been hiking. In total, we had conquered a 1,500 foot elevation gain.
After shooting some pictures and resting for about 10 minutes, we decided to head back. Our food rations were sparse, and we were getting hungry for lunch!
As always, the descent was significantly quicker. We still made several brief stops to snap pictures and take in the views. The wildlife on this hike was unfortunately minimal. We saw a group of marmots bouncing around on what looked to be a former rock slide. Other than that, I'm guessing many of the animals were scared off because there was a family camping near the trail - and the kids were doing lots of running around and screaming. Oh, well.
Also on the way back down, we ran into a group of locals with a beautiful Burmese Mountain dog. They gave us some tips about where to go to see some black bears and full-grown moose. So, we may try to hit those areas over the next few days.
By the time we got back to the car, it was just after 12:30pm. So, that entire hike took about 4 hours. We quickly made up some PB&J sandwiches and had some chips. Then, we decided to do something a little less taxing - some scenic driving.
First, we headed to Shrine Pass Road. This road was mostly dirt and was very marked with many pot holes, but it really took us into the heart of some of the major peaks in the area: Mount of the Holy Cross, the Gore Range and Ptarmigan Pass. From Shrine Pass, we briefly tried to get on another 4WD road called Wearyman Road. Bad idea!! This road was one lane and made out of pure rock - not little gravelly rocks, but big rocks. Once we got to a big ledge in the road that dropped down into a creek, we decided we needed to turn around. It took about a 7-point turn to do so, but we got the heck out of there and saved potentially doing some major damage to our rental car.
We continued on Shrine Pass the rest of the way into a small town called Red Cliff. Then we headed south on Hwy. 24 to do one more scenic drive called Resolution Road (and this was described as Easy). It took a good 30 minutes to get to the end point - where it actually joined up with the other side of Wearyman Rd. The view point that we stopped at was known as Ptarmigan Pass and offered panaromic view of mountains in all directions. It was quite awe-inspiring.
Finally, with our morning-hike exhaustion stil lingering, we decided to go back to the resort to rest up before dinner. We napped, showered and drove into Vail Village for our 8pm reservation at Restaurant Kelly Liken.
They had a prix fixe menu to go along with a weekly event they have called Sunday Summer Harvest. Apparently, Vail has the largest Farmer's Market in Colorado that runs from 9am - 3pm every Sunday. The chef and her staff use the produce and other ingredients that they pick up from the Market to develop the evening's dinner menu.
Justin and I started out with a cocktail - a glass of Viognier for me and a tomato consumme martini for him. Our first course consisted of a salad of field greens, thin red onion, grape tomatoes, radishes and a ginger vinaigrette. It reminded me of a house salad you might have at a sushi restaurant, but way more balanced and refined. For our main course, Justin had pork cheeks with a sweet corn puree and sauteed swiss chard. My dinner was a seared and pan fried black bass on a bed of julienned beans (they were green, but they weren't green beans) with yellow squash and a red beet hash. I finished my plate - that's all that needs to be said. With dinner, Justin had a glass of Cab Franc and I had a Syrah. Finally, a peach tart with a cannelle of fresh vanilla bean cream was served for dessert. We splurged a little and had a glass of ice wine to accompany our dessert - Delish!
We got back to our room by about 10:30pm, and I was ready to call it a night. Justin spent some time editing photos and joined me a few hours later. Another early start for tomorrow as we plan to travel down to swanky Aspen.
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