Last weekend, Sarah was feeling better than usual so we decided to try and get in a short hike. Since we enjoyed the Indian Peaks Wilderness so much earlier in the year, we decided to head back to a trail head that I've hiked from before. The first time that I tried to do this hike, I didn't realize that the road closed in the winter which adds about 12 miles to the round trip length. Needless to say, that first day, I did not make it to the pass.
When we left the house in Denver, it was a little chilly, but not too bad. Once we got to the trail head, we realized that winter was in full swing up in the mountains. After bundling up at the car, we set off on the trail.
The trail itself was beautiful and I can't wait to come back here in the summer. The views are great and you're surrounded by peaks that are just begging to be bagged. On this particular day though, we were being much more conservative. Once because it was our first hike in quite a while, so we were out of shape, but also because there was some nasty winter weather blowing in through the valley.
While we were below tree line it wasn't too bad. Once above though, the wind was howling through and the snow was flying. After about and hour and a half we made it the three miles up to Arapaho pass and soaked in the view.
On the way down we saw off the the north the abandoned mine that the trail is named after. All that's left is a large rusted boiler and some large cast iron wheels.
Hopefully this will just be the first of many hikes this winter. Gotta get out and get some use out of our snow shoes...
