Our July 4th festivities started early with Ben's sister, Debbie, arriving at home to stay for a couple of days. It's always so great to have family come! Debbie came in the height of our smoke-filled skies, yet, ironically, we headed to the fire (Ouray) and got out of the smoke! But before that, we took Debbie (and our 3 dogs) on a tour of our neighborhood/downtown area. It was fun to show her our little area. We then headed to Ouray and just walked around Main St., visiting a few of the stores and purchasing a few things (we had to do our part to support Ouray as it had lost some revenue from the fire!). I think that evening we ate dinner at the restaurant where Lucy works and that was yummy and fun - and a first for all of us! I don't know exactly what we did later that night . . . ??
Early Saturday morning (July 4th), Debbie was up and getting ready to head out to Utah and Ben and I were up early to head out to our hike. I had wanted to hike Columbine Lake for a long time, but knew it would be hard. My hiking (and running, cycling, etc.) has plummeted in its speed and I knew Ben would be patient with me, so it was perfect for us to go and do together. We got to the trailhead (parking was insane - no actual lot, just finding a space on a very narrow, 4WD road . . . ) and started hiking by 8.
The first 2 miles are a gain of 2,000 - and it just about killed me! The first mile was tough, but the switchbacks helped. The second mile, and 1,000 feet, were pretty straight up the mountainside. I was stopping like every 2 minutes (maybe even every minute!). Ben was amazed (and not in a good way) at my diminished hiking abilities. I wanted to cry - and not from the pain of the hike but the sadness that I just had such a hard time. Woe was me. But we finally made it to the level spot and continued on for a couple more miles - more rolling miles and that was actually quite pleasant.
We made it to the lake and It. Was. Stunning. I loved it! Ben was impressed! We walked around to a nice spot on the lake and ate our lunch. We talked about jumping in - it was only slightly tempting to me and maybe strongly tempting to Ben. But the cool breeze settled those temptations . . . but not for some European couple that came over near us and asked if it would be okay if they skinny-dipped. Of course, we said. They were probably in their mid-60s and just stripped off everything unabashedly and enjoyed a minute or so in the beautiful, yet very cold, lake.
The hike down those last 2 miles were pretty painful as well. My quads were quaking. But it was all worth it - even the 5 days of soreness I endured afterwards, ha! Ben and I drove the 10 or so minutes into Silverton and had fun walking around the town and getting an ice cream cone. When we got home we basically just chilled the rest of the night. Lucy went to the local July 4th festivities in town with Ruby and Aubrey and Emmy went and hung out with Aidan.
