Day 5: Shrine Mountain Hiking / Rodeo

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July 23rd 2010

Published: July 23rd 2010

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DTR

Bareback Riding

Finally today we got to tackle Shrine Mountain Trail, accessible from near the summit of Vail Pass. We had heard it was not only the pinnacle of wildflower growth (which was true) but also would offer us great vistas of about 6 mountain ranges. The overcast skies meant the picture taking of flowers was great, the views of other mountain ranges not so much. We started by driving up some dirt roads until we got to about 10,500 feet. Then another 2 miles of precarious driving which Dan white-knuckled the entire way. The width was good for a car and a half. The dropoff from the road was one you'd rather not look down. And no guard rail. That took us to an elevation of 11,200 feet which is where our hike started. It was anything but the "easy to moderate" we were told, but worth every minute we took. After about two hours, we had climbed to the top, an elevation of about 12,000 feet and we were needing to take frequent breaks. The flowers were absolutely stunning. At the summit we saw a natural rock formation that we are sure was used for Native spiritual rituals. Because of the

Bucking Bronco

overcast conditions we couldn't see as much of the surrounding areas as we had hoped. Upcoming thunder shooed us down a little more quickly than we might have gone down.

From there we drove to our new favorite town in this area, Frisco. We had another amazing lunch - and yet another Colorado restaurant with great creativity in their menu and an ordinary sounding name - this time it was Vinny's.

We got back just in time to catch the Beaver Creek Rodeo. At least after this Paula and I can now honestly say "This ain't my first rodeo" because tonight was. We were very entertained throughout the evening. The quality of even the "sign-up" events was great, and the kids - some appeared to be as young as 4 was amazing. We saw one barrel racer who commanded control of her horse, but we are sure she couldn't have been more than 4. The weather was great - at the time of the rodeo, the temperature was 64 with a 12-mph breeze.

Tomorrow: more hiking. We decided to do more of the USDA trails instead of the Beaver Valley Trails. A little more scenic, more natural