First non-run weekend in a few.  Alarm set, 5am buzz, shower, backpack ready – HIKE day!  Hour-half to Georgetown, pup peering o’er the console.  Rocky Mountain altitude.

destination: Guanella Pass.  13 miles from town center; trailhead start for Bierstadt.

9-mile Jeep trek ‘til snow towered 15 FEET high.  ROAD CLOSED.  Two weeks from Memorial Day, don’t expect the Pass ready before mid-June.  Mountains still socked-in, whole lotta snow.  Maybe a rafting trip this summer (water should be FAST) 😊

Parked.  Pup tethered to my belt.  2 ½ miles followed a path created by hikers past.  Quiet.  No people, wildlife still hibernating.  Untethered Ro past tree-line.  Less threat of mountain lion on exposed sheets of high snow.  Bear season too – though none yet spotted per the online Ranger report.  Mule deer & Bighorn, only tracks seen all day.

Broke trail last mile-half.  Just me & Ro, only heartbeats this high this week.  Amateur navigated (not great with a compass).  Used tops of road signs & later, roof of a trailhead outhouse.  Stovepipe & triangle apex pushing outta the snow.

Gosh.  Good to be HIGH.  Thin air.  Blowing skies.  Nowhere better.  PERMA smile.

Soaked in peaks while Ro wildlife-explored.  Marmot chirp.  Never sunshine-showed (stayed burrowed), just teasing Pup.

Dig hiking high.  Only 2 marathons calendar’d Independence Day to Labor Day.  No cell signal, weekends in-between.  Craggy rock &  snow-melt rivers.  14er summits, Ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce.  “The mountains are calling & I must go.”

First HIKE of 2019!  LOVE LOVE my Colorado life ❤️

Guanella Pass 11,670ft