This past weekend we were joined by my friend Kat from Aloha and four of her friends from Denver for a camping extravanga. We headed back up to Clark for another hike in the Zirkel wilderness- to Gilpin Lake. It was my favorite hike that I did when I worked at Vista Verde. We knew that there was a chance of storms, but the clouds didn't look too daunting driving up. We hiked for several miles before claps of thunder urged us to turn around. Within moments we heard a "whoosh" sound roll over the mountain and hail that was bigger than quarters began pelting us! I have never felt or seen anything like it in my life. We ran back down the trail to a giant boulder and huddled under its small shelter. I put my backpack over my head and could hear the hail plunking my nalgenes! My left hip was somewhat exposed and I now have at least five round bruises from the hail. Kat had a perfect bruise on her hand as well. The storm lasted at least three minutes, and then stopped entirely. The trail was covered by two or three inches of solid hail, and we weren't sure what would come next, so we high-tailed it back down the trail until the sun came out. We stopped for a trail lunch (yum) and assessed the situation before deciding to continue up to Gilpin Lake. We speed-hiked up, took a pee and some pictures before another storm rolled in and we all raced back down the trail. We ended the trail with 44 degree temps, drizzling rain and very chilly hands. Luckily everyone was in good spirits and had plenty of warm dry layers left, so we still camped off of Seedhouse Rd. The sky cleared off completely and the stars were incredible, although extremely chilly. I firmly believe in bluegrass music for camping or driving in the mountains, and I'm pleased to report we enjoyed Yonder Mtn String Band and Sam Bush for our background music for toasting s'mores and hot dogs.
with sky like this, we should have known...
moments after the hail subsided.
two to three inches covered the trail!
it was giant. and painful. i have bruises exactly this size on my head, shoulder and hip.
pinecones and twigs also got knocked down
we walked about ten minutes back down the trail, stopped for lunch,
and along came the blue sky!
hiking back up, we passed our savior rock.
kat and i at gilpin lake, before the next storm rolled in
the whole gang
sunday morning, much better weather
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