Whole lotta high-altitude running first half of June – past 3 weekends, nothing under 8000ft.  Body feeling banged up after a busy Marathon Start to 2018.  Right heel in particular.  Bouncing back slower, plantar fasciitis not better/struggling.

Day or 2 or 3 needed to refresh, mentally spent.  Lotta effort push/push/pushing, focused on a single goal.  Bighorn now the past, leaves ya spinning/no direction, in-between goals.  Same thing after finishing my 50 States in 2016.  Like opening holiday gifts.  So much planning/purchasing for family/loved ones, decorating home/hearth, cooking Christmas dinner…blink, it’s December 26^th.   Not quite ready to talk New Year’s.

Hike high, get small, quiet-wonder intervention.  Peaks covered in last season’s winter.  Lakes & streams overflowing with snowmelt; impromptu waterfalls borne for the summer.  Just what the doctor ordered 😊

4am Sunday start, trailhead parking fills by 6.  Backpack outta the front closet.  Pup couldn’t have been any more excited.  Followed me room to room, back of my heels.  No Pup left behind, not today.  LOL>

Hwy 119 thru Boulder Canyon, across Ned center, first right toward Eldora, Hessie Trailhead.  Other waiting hikers all layered UP, chilly 34 degree Start.  FAAAANNNTASTIC!  More perfect?  20 minute delay – for MOOSE (Momma/calves).  Expecting rain mid-afternoon, just a quick up-n-back peak peek today.

Power-hiked to Lost Lake.  Less than a mile in, nothing strenuous.  GREAT place for a picnic.  4 miles more to Jasper, day’s second alpine lake.  Bit more secluded, distance blessed.  Ticking off trail signs, careful not to miss a poorly marked left & inadvertently bushwhack to Diamond (been there, done that).

Early hiker chatter now gone, replaced with the whoosh of rushing water.  Alpine flowers, green mountain meadow, tall lodgepole Pine.   Good to feel small again.  Surrounded by peaks, tall evergreen & remnants of last season’s snow.  Just me, my dog & whatever food/water I’m carrying on me back.   Negativity flush.

Pup off-leash leading the way, trekking over large drifts of white.  Twice was not be able to find the path (left/right/up & over/or valley descent below) but luckily Ro can always tell.  Great nose.  & Always back to check on Papa.  Treat reward, good Pup 😊

Mile-half to Devils Thumb Lake.  Drifts dissipated, pushed thru stretches of scratchy willow [Moose candy].  trail below hidden/obscured, slopped thru mud – but not Bighorn mud.  Perspective, never lost a shoe.  Wind blew cold.  AWESOME feeling in June.

Devils Thumb Lake on my right, three sides capsuled by peaks.  Planted myself on a long flat rock.  Pup disappeared, chasing marmots.  Alpine groundhog chirps sharp/short/shrill bouncing off canyon walls.  Smell of burrito/Pup raced back, marmots no longer of interest.

Called it b4 the Pass, clouds racing in.  Good to feel small again.  Just a dot on the immense nature-scape backdrop.

One/two/THREE alpine lakes, FIRST HIKE of Colorado summer.  Bring it on! ❤

Indian Peaks Wilderness