So Close, Yet So Far

The goal was to get outside. The new shoes that had just arrived in the mail were extra motivation. I loved the first pair of Wildfire GTX’s I had, but after years of abuse I needed a fresh pair. Time to break them in! I grab a small pack, granola bars, layers, a lighter, a head lamp, first-aid, and a water filter. Everything to thrive in the wilderness for a few hours, or survive for days if need be. My fiancé and I decide to leave the Subaru behind, and set out from home on foot. We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to live in East Vail, Colorado, mainly because the nearest trailhead is a ten minute walk from our front door.

After hiking up the Bighorn trail for thirty minutes the noise from the highway disappears, and we start to escape the real world. Going up thirty more minutes, we fill up our water bottles from a trail side stream. The water is cold and pure and lacks any of the chemical taste you get from the tap. Our conversation flows as we get into the meditation of moving our bodies through nature. Another thirty minutes uphill and we are in a huge basin, scoping potential ski lines for the coming winter. “Yep, you can ski that and that and that…” Thirty more minutes and we arrive at a small backcountry cabin on a private mining claim. We fantasize about living in it forever. This is the logical place to end a day hike, but I’d like to test the new kicks on the mountains above us.

Another thirty minutes up we gain a ridge, and are amongst the rock and tundra of the high alpine. Its not a summit. The view is awesome. The rock ridges of the Gore Range still above us are jagged and inspiring, but will be visited another day. To our south and east are immense valleys leading to the distant Sawatch and Ten Mile mountain ranges. To the west the sun heads toward the vast desert horizon. A chilly western wind is blowing scattered, cumulus clouds across the enormous sky. The light is getting better every minute. We linger for a while, snacking and taking photos, before we start our journey home. We know the sun will set long before we get there.