We secured new reservations, ordered a new hiking book with hidden hikes in RMNP hit the road July 15 at 2:50 am. Arrived and parked at Wally Park and then joined the shuttle off to the airport. On the shuttle bus we had a delightful conversation with two young kids who were headed on a vacation with their great grandparents. A cruise to the Bahamas. I asked them if they had to get up early, they smiled and talked about how they woke right up and jumped into their clothes. I asked them if they had their swimsuits sunglasses, shorts, suntan lotion… an enthusiastic YES to it all. They saw our backpacks and wanted to know if we were going hiking. They wanted to know if we were going to sleep in a tent and hike with bears… Well, no to both I am hoping. All together best time I have ever spent on a shuttle bus.
Arrived at the Denver airport at 7:30pm and off to our yearly car rental party to see what sort of mishaps we can wrangle up. This year we head to National Emerald Isle to find a few Jeep compass, one Ford Escape, and one shimmering Jeep Cherokee. The Cherokee was obviously the car to choose! We did not get to the cherokee before a man and lady claimed it. DRATS. As we were looking over the Compass and Escape we had a wandering eye over on the shimmering cherokee… No worries, the Man had his wandering eye one a different shimmering vehicle in his mind. The man was having Jeep Wrangler envy… Yes, he wanted to drive around in a Jeep Wrangler. So, off the couple went to upgrade to the Jeep Wrangle while we zipped over and laid claim to the Cherokee. Smoother ride, leather seats, electric everything...NICE. We loaded up and headed out. So very excited to land a great AWD car! As we were driving out of the parking spots to head to the exit gate Kathi touched the brakes, I about went through the windshield. She says oh sorry, the brakes are kind of touchy. For the next half hour Kathi was learning how to brake gently. Good thing for great seat belts!
We made good time driving out of Denver and located a McDonalds at a convenient exit so we could get some breakfast. We both needed coffee as we did not have time to have any yet. Think caffeine headache or drastic increase in altitude headache, either way we decided coffee could only help. We parked the shimmering cherokee and started to walk into McDonalds. As we walked away from the car Kathi hit the clicker to lock the car doors. The car started. What??? Walked back to car, looked at it, shut it off, locked the doors again and the car started again. At this point I think we need to head back to the airport and get a different car. We look at the remote a tad closer and find this is an option the Jeep offers on their cars. Well, isn’t that so nice!
Picked up some breakfast and headed to the car. Pulled out into traffic, Kathi’s foot had forgotten all of those sensitive brake lessons she had learned earlier. As a passenger, I was finding it difficult to figure out when to drink my coffee and when not too. Remember McDonalds has HOT Coffee!
We made it to Boulder and stopped in a grocery to buy some water and a sandwich for lunch. Back to the car for a few more brake sessions as we headed to the Eldorado River Canyon Park. We were interested in hiking the Walker Ranch Loop which is 7.6 miles around. The drive up to the the trailhead was pretty full with bikiers headed to the top to ride down and a a few zipping down. We happened onto a female biker who was laying in the road. She had just recently had a bike accident and three people were stopped and provide\ing her aide. We were waved past. I can only hope that she is going to be ok. I’m sure she has lots of road rash as well as broken bones. Ooowieeee.
Walkers ranch loop trail takes you up and down and up and down and up and down. The hike really goes from 7400 feet to 6400 several times. Today was pretty hot on the trail as the sun was beating down on us. This hike was a good first day hike. There was enough elevation to help the acclimation and enough mileage to get our feet going. We hiked around the7.6 mile loop in 3 hours and 56 mins.
Walker Ranch History:
History: The historic Walker Ranch was one of the largest cattle ranches in this region of Colorado. In 1869, James Walker was told by his doctor in Missouri that he had a life-threatening disease and he should move to the mountains since nothing was working. He traveled from Missouri to Boulder and his health dramatically improved in Colorado’s high, dry climate. In 1882, he and his wife Phoebe filed a homestead claim to 160 acres in an open meadow with a flowing year-round spring.
After first building a large barn and blacksmith shop to care for his livestock, James moved his wife and young son William into the family’s new ranch house by 1883. Designed for a self-sufficient lifestyle, the homestead was completed with a root cellar, granary, smokehouse, springhouse, chicken and turkey houses, a wagon barn, corn storage and pig barn, and various corrals and fenced pastures.
Through ingenious trades, contracts, and sales maneuvers the family expanded the ranch. When the Walker family finally sold the property in 1959, it was over 6,000 acres. Walker Ranch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a cultural landscape due to the integrity of its preserved fields, forests, and historic structures.
Climbed into the car at the end of our hike and started the twisty windy road back down to Boulder. On the way down, Kathi, who who usually does all of our vacation driving, got a muscle cramp in her calf. Now imagine driving on a really curvy road, down the mountain and feeling a cramp coming on… Kathi managed to pull over and got out to stretch her leg out. As an exciting alternative, Penny took over the driving as Kathi’s shin was still crampy. Guess what, Penny had to develop a learning for how much brake was necessary… Learning this while heading down a curvy twisty road is a real challenge! I just about put Kathi through the windshield a few times. LOL Ok, more than a few times!
Ahh yes, it is good to be back in vacation mode.
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