It had been a long day of hiking through the rugged Rocky Mountains. We had traveled just over 6 miles at altitudes up to 11,000 feet. One last hill remained, this was the hill which our campsite was atop. After hiking ¾ of the rocky hill I began to see our campsite. A small rocky campsite just big enough for two tents. My aunt, Tricia, sat at the top of the hill on a large rock. I made to the top and was amazed by the view, Capitol peak towered over our campsite at 14,000 feet. Below us was Capitol lake, which sat at the bottom of a straight cliff up to Capitol Peak. A few minutes later my sister, Maddy and her roommate, Claire showed up and we started to take out all of the food and snacks we divided up before the hike started. Each of us developing a small pile we took out all of the stuff we needed for preparing dinner. Maddy pulled out the chicken, tricia pulled out the stove, and suddenly we realized we are missing one huge piece of equipment. The propane… The plane came into the short runway rounded at the end of the runway and drove back to the terminal where we started unloading onto the tarmac. I walked into the Aspen terminal and immediately saw my aunt Tricia waiting for me. “Hi!!, How was your trip?” Tricia asked. “Hey, it was great. The mountains are really amazing when you’re flying over them.” I replied. After grabbing my backpack off of the small conveyor belt, we walked out of the terminal and toward the Walked Down the sidewalk next to Interstate 82, the Major highway that goes through Aspen. After walking down the sidewalk for 500 feet we came up to a tunnel that traveled under the road and connected Aspen Airport to Aspen Airport Business Center, where Tricia’s apartment was. When we got back to the Apartment it was almost 12 o’clock. After unpacking all of my stuff, I decided to recover from the long day of traveling by watching Tv. I went right to the normal channels I check, first Discovery and found the tv show Alone playing. In the show several people try to spend as long as they could in the rainy forests of Victoria Island in British Columbia. While watching, we decided to also plan out our week. “So, What do you want to do this week?” She asked. “Lot’s of hiking” I replied quickly but then thought about the answer “We’ll be going on our big hike to Capitol Lake on Saturday with your sister and her roommate. And the rest of the week is open for planning.” “We should go on a short hike tomorrow so I can get used to the altitude, but besides that we should just go with it and plan as we go” I added. When I woke up the next day I found out that Tricia had to work from 11 to 12 so I set off for bike ride on Aspen’s endless bike paths. I first biked around the airport, then to next to the golf course and before I knew it I was almost to the top of a steep switchback trail up the side of a cliff and looking out over the small town and Airport and Buttermilk mountain where the Xgames are held every year since they moved from Mount snow in 2002. And not to mention the amazing mountains that surrounded the small community. Before long I realized that it was time to head down the hill (and hopefully not fly off one of the steep and sharp corners while i’m at it). I started going down using the iffy brakes that were either fully stopped or not stopped at all. As I approached the first turn I slammed on the brakes so hard I nearly flipped over the
Handlebars. Slowly (with my foot down) I rounded the blind corner hoping no one was approaching me up the hill. On my bike I began to pick up speed and before long the next corner was right in front of me. I slammed my inside foot down and made it around the corner. For the following corners I did the same, and I finally made it to the bottom and was thankful to be there (I’m sure the brakes were too). I arrived back at the apartment and immediately needed to get ready for our hike on the Hunter creek trail right inside town. “Are you ready?!” Tricia asked with excitement “Yeah” I said as I finished tying my boots. We arrived at the trailhead and started hiking right away. The first ¼ mile was flat and easy but before long it started going up and the altitude really was slowing me down compared to how fast I hiked at sea level. After an hour we made it to the top where the trail ended and turned into a road. After a little while on the we came up to a lookout high above downtown Aspen. Across from the mountain we stood atop now was Aspen mountain, with its ski slopes carved into the side of the mountain. Now the slopes not covered with skiers and snowboarders but with mountain bikers and dirtbikers challenging its steep slopes. The rest of the hike was downhill on a road. It started out mild but after a couple of minutes it turn steep. I was soon surprised so many cars had made the trip to the campsite atop the mountain. We were about half of the way down the hill when The first Dirtbiker started coming up the hill. Then another. Then another. Apparently this was a popular spot for dirt bikers. It was now Saturday morning and the big hike was later in the day. We had to go shopping and get ready for the trip, so early that morning we collected all of our gear put it in a pile so we could split it up later in the day. Now it was time to go shopping, “down valley”. “Down valley” is down the valley that interstate 82 runs through. Things are cheaper and bigger when you travel down valley because more people live there rather than the expensive town of Aspen. When we stepped in the store with a list of things we should get and it started with a stick of meat that was big enough for 4 people and two days. I was of course dragged to the biggest choice, a two foot beast. After that we headed over to get energy bars and chicken and we seemed to be done. When we arrived back at the apartment we decided to cook the chicken to make dinner quicker and easier. After packing the tent, and the stove all we needed to do is split up the food. I took the meat stick sipped up my bag and was ready to go. “Hey!” I all of a sudden heard. I soon realized it was my sister, Maddy and her roommate, Claire. “Hi” Tricia and I responded at the same time. “Are we almost ready to go?” Maddy asked “Yeah” I responded, “Let me grab my pack and put it in the car” I said as I walked into the other room. After grabbing my pack I walked out the back door and toward the Jeep Cherokee we would be riding in. Soon after I returned Tricia carried her pack out to the car and we were ready to go.
We all jumped in the car and we were off to the trailhead. The driving part of the trip would be mostly on paved roads but in the end there is 4 miles of a steep dirt road riddled with potholes. This should be fun. After the boring half of the journey(the paved part) we were about to spend the same amount of time of a quarter of the milage. The pavement quickly departed as we started going uphill on the bouncy road. It was good we traded out Tricia’s Baby blue Toyota Prius for a REAL car that could handle more than a parking lot speed bump without bottoming out. After a half an hour we finally made it to the top and we were ready to start hiking. It was already 2:30 and we and we had to make it to the campsite, which was 6 miles away, before nightfall. We quickly unloaded our packs out of the car and started our descent down switchbacks into the valley below. After making it to the valley we had a half mile of flat before it started to gain elevation. at this time it seemed soo peaceful. Just flat walking through meadows. No uphill switchbacks(or downhill). The excitement quickly disappeared as the steady uphill began and we started to slow down. And I started to wonder if we would make it to the campsite before dark. After hiking 3 miles we came to a fence with a gate where cattle were kept. A small sign said, “Please close gate after yourself!! Our cattle like roam into the trail”. We knew that this meant that were 3 miles from the campsite. Halfway there. Before long the sun loomed dangerously close to passing the mountains and making it. “How far are we from the campsite” I asked between breaths “Should be just another ½ mile” Tricia responded fast then got back to hiking, obviously worrying about being too late also. It started to look more like the high country now. We were appearing from the Aspen trees and into more rocky terrain littered with pine trees and low lying plants. All of a sudden I saw something move in the rock slides next to the trail. I looked closer and saw a marmot looking right back at me. I looked for Tricia and began to say,”Look at th…” and as I look back it is gone. We got back to hiking and finally we came to a split in the trail with a sign that said, Campsites with an around pointing to the right. When I look to the right all I see is a big hill and this one doesn’t have any switchbacks. I was about to figure out if Switchbacks were better or worse. I began the hiking up the hill a quickly learned that without switchbacks it can be a little more slippery but you get to where you are going a lot quicker. After hiking ¾ of the way to the top of the hill I began to see our campsite. The small, rocky campsite was just big enough for two tents. After Getting to the top I soon Realized why we picked this campsite, the view of Capitol Peak and Capitol Lake was amazing. Capitol Lake contained the clearest water I have ever seen. From our campsite you could see the bottom of the center of the Lake. “Quite the view, Huh” I exclaimed ‘Yeah, It’s Amazing” Tricia responded. “why don’t you get all of the food out of your pack and put it in a pile so we can get all of the items for dinner” “Yeah, sure” “Hey” said Maddy as she and claire stumbled into the campsite. “Pretty amazing view, Huh” I responded. “Yeah” Claire and Maddy said at the same time. “Get all of the food out of your backpack so we could cook dinner”
After we all dumped our food and cooking equipment in a pile we soon realized we were missing something very important. The Propane… “Everyone check your bags again and see if you have it” Tricia said worryingly. We all checked but no one found anything. “Looks like we’re having cold chicken, aren’t we” I replied with laughter. “Yep” Claire answers back. The next morning, when we woke up, we had our cold and watery oatmeal and set off for our hike back to the cars. The second day of hiking is always hard, Especially if you had cold oatmeal for breakfast. We hiked over the hills and through the meadows filled with cattle and back to the car. After making it back to the car I immediately took off my boots and sat in the back of the car and took in the view while the others did the same. Before long we were traveling down the same pothole filled road we came up. The road looking a lot more friendly when you’re going down it, not up. When we got back I only had one thing one my mind. Finding that Propane tank. I ran into the apartment searched in my bedroom, around the kitchen, the livingroom and one place remained, Under the couch I got on the ground looked under and there it was, nestled under the back corner.
I find it so so cool how far and high you traveled, and I really enjoyed reading your piece! Great job!