El Dorado Springs Project

--- This is really green for Colorado. Normally it's like a desert up here.

This weekend I had to get out of the city, so I rented a car and went up to El Dorado Springs to go hiking. Usually I go to Chautaqua, our Boulder Canyon to go hiking.

But D mentioned rock climbing up there, and I decided to check it out.

I must say, it's beautiful. It's also amazing how being so close to the city, it gets really steep really quick.

The Fowler Trail is pretty easy. But it was creepy how the trail is on the edge of some really steep cliffs. If you were to lose balance and fall, your fate would be questionable.

So I get to the end of the Fowler Trail, but my stupid arse decides I want to continue on to the Open Space trails.

It was about another 30 minute trek, when I realized I hadn't seen anyone else for almost an hour. I was out in the middle of nowhere.

Still, I trudged on. Then I noticed I kept hearing more and more rattlesnakes. The all of a sudden I hear this thunderous roar coming from behind me. It sounded like a car, but louder and further away.

I finally stop and look back, and I see this freight train about 2000 feet above me, on the side of the mountain. It almost didn't look real. It made me also wonder what a bitch it must have been to build those rails all the way up there.

I then noticed that some clouds were starting to gather, so I figured I should start heading back.

This is when I noticed I made a horrible error; I hadn't been paying attention for landmarks.

D'oh!

This was a new trail to me, and I should have known better than to not seek out landmarks on my way.

---It's the same rock!

So I start back, and notice that there are multiple trails heading off the trail I was on, that I didn't notice on my way down. I remembered the trail I came in on was pretty wide, so I looked for that.

No dice.

Maybe I hadn't walked far enough.

So I went further up the mountain.

It was then that I actually had a quick panic attack. My cell wasn't getting coverage, and I hadn't seen anyone in ages. If something were to happen, say get bit by a rattlesnake, or twist an ankle, I was kind of screwed.

I was on the opposite side of the mountain where the State Park trails were.

I couldn't hear any of the rock climbers, or the creek.

So I decided to try the next trail I could find to see if it was that one.

Well, this one was narrow and had a bunch of tall grass. I began down it, but I noticed it was way more difficult than the one I came in on. I stopped, and noticed something was moving around in the grasses.

I got my arse out of there!

So I'm back on the trail I was just on, and had no idea what I was going to do. I didn't want to trudge further up the mountain, because that would tire me out, then I would be really screwed.

Maybe I had gone too far up?

So I began walking down the mountain again. Note: by this time, I had gone up and down the mountain twice.

About 15 minutes pass, and I stumble across the path I came in on.

Yay!

By now I had drank all my water, and was drenched with sweat all the way through. I must have lost at least 5 pounds of water weight.

Finally I get back in to the State Park area, and make my way back to the car. Just in time, too, as it started to rain as I got in the car. That woulda sucked if it had been raining when I was lost.

--I am pretty sure this climber posed for me

So what should have been a 30 to 45 minute hike, turned in to a 3 hour ordeal.

But it all worked out, as the rain was perfect to cool me down on the way back to Boulder.

I took my small camera which doesn't have a memory stick, so I didn't get lots of photos. All of these were on my way in on the Fowler Trail.