Hello, hello! Did you know that unpaid summer internships can lead you to opportunities outside of work you never would have found otherwise? That's just the case with how I ended up on a 9 mile hike rated as difficult/strenuous on Friday. A group of volunteers had come to Ekar in June, and very few of them actually knew each other. They told me about a handy website, meetup.com. Meetup is a social network where users join groups based on their interests and then can sign up to host or participate in various events. Since I don't know many people in Boulder, I decided I'd give the meetup thing a go.
I was on meetup for a full month before my work schedule allowed me to attend one of the many proposed events I'd hoped to join. The description for the Sky Pond hike was welcoming: a group of "funtastic females" in their 20's and 30's were going to RMNP with plenty of water and snacks to enjoy the views along a trail ranked as one of the best hikes in Colorado. The host admitted that the trail was ranked as strenuous, but claimed she didn't remember it being all that bad. I debated whether I could handle such a hike. After careful consideration, I decided the only thing to do was let someone else choose. You see, as I was evaluating my ability to compete the Sky Pond hike, I was chatting with a girl I'd met on an app called Patook (and more commonly known as "Tinder for friendship"). She and I had gone to the movies once before and had more recently decided we'd both like to go hiking. I knew we both happened to have Wednesday off, so I asked her whether she'd prefer to do Sky Pond with 8 other ladies or an easier, closer hike on our own. She selected Sky Pond, so off we went!
I was pretty sure we were off to a good start when what seemed to me like an actual Jurassic Park Jeep was parked outside our meetup location. Kevin later pointed out that the Jeep was the wrong color to be a Jurassic Park Jeep. So beware, readers: sci-fi dorks can be (charming a) buzzkills.
It was a little over an hour long drive into the mountains, and I lost cell service about 50 minutes into the drive. I was actually pretty happy about this development because I love to be disconnected from the fast pace of the rest of the world when I'm enjoying nature and/or a day off work. We reached the trailhead parking lot around 9:00, but it was already packed! If you're interested in hiking to Sky Pond or any other path that begins at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, I'd suggest either arriving super early or planning on taking the free park-and-ride shuttle to the trailhead, which is what we ended up doing. Those shuttle drivers take their job seriously. We were packed in there so tightly that holding onto a pole to keep your balance was basically optional.
Equally serious about their jobs are the park volunteers, such as the grandma-aged woman who dutifully reported to us the condition of the trail and the possibility of snow towards the top before snapping this lovely photo of our not-yet-sweaty group.
Sky Pond is a very popular route because there are a number of beautiful sights along the way. The first is Alberta Falls, a roaring 30-foot waterfall that has a crowd around it at virtually all hours. I was the youngest in our hiking group, which I think the others found painfully obvious when I snapped a selfie at these falls. You can tell it was early in the hike because I don't look like I've already panted enough to match the annual CO2 output of a small village.
The steep switchbacks following Alberta Falls are survivable because hikers are too dazed by the view of the adjacent gorge to recognize the full magnitude of their struggle. Once again, I got a real nice picture. I was lookin' fly that day, what can I say?
This is about the place we stopped for a snack, water, and shoelace re-tying. I stuffed a Clif Bar in my mouth and curled up next to a little baby pine tree that I told myself symbolized strength and endurance and a bunch of other stuff I was going to need that day. I decided we had to be about halfway to Sky Pond. I was wrong.
We trekked on until we reached our next view, the Loch. The Loch is a crystal clear subalpine lake that is apparently within one of the most studied watersheds in the world. This Loch was the actual halfway point. Thank goodness I didn't know that at the time because I was just starting to recover from running the switchbacks to catchup when my shoes needed to be adjusted. From the Loch, we could see Taylor Peak and Taylor Glacier, which stand tall over Sky Pond at the trail's end.
The host of the meetup, who was serving as our informal guide, tried to point out Timberline Falls from the Loch. "That's the waterfall we get to scramble up!" she announced gleefully. I couldn't see the waterfall, so I determined it would be no biggie. I was wrong again, friends. I wouldn't realize my mistake, however, until we were approaching Timberline Falls.
The approach itself just about took me out. That's when the mosquitos came out in full force and when we faced a sharp incline tackled by climbing a long, vertical flight of stairs. My extremely fit companions carried on. I stopped to admire the view (read: use my inhaler and pray I made it up).
When I say these stairs were steep, by the way, I'm not joking. As evidence, I've included a graph below that shows the elevation profile of the hike. You can see that I've labeled Timberland Falls, a sheer surface that must be scaled to reach Sky Pond, and the stairs leading up to the falls. They are at a very similar, gasping-for-air-can't-breathe-Lord-save-me-why-asthma-why angle.
I finally managed to stagger up the stairs and found my hiking partners not-at-all-winded. I think it's just because they had plenty of recovery time while I was huffing and puffing my way up like I was trying to blow down the homes of three little pigs. We all marveled at the view from the waterfall and its height. Then, the scrambling began. You could not make it up this waterfall without using all four limbs and getting your socks wet, but there are worse fates.
Once we'd clambered up the 100-foot waterfall, with everyone gulping in air, the seven of us who hadn't hiked this trail before admired the lake we immediately stumbled upon. Women cheered, "We made it!" Highfives were distributed. Our guide smiled and said, "Yep, you did the waterfall! Great work! This is Lake of Glass. Just another half-mile to Sky Pond."
As we picked our way across the rocky and craggy path to Sky Pond, I pondered our experience on the waterfall. "Christina?" I requested our guide's attention, "We go down that waterfall, don't we?" She chirped an affirmation as if I had been confirming that a helicopter would be right up to give us a ride down. I nodded calmly and accepted death.
Death didn't seem too bad of an end once I'd gotten to take in Sky Pond, though. It was brisk in the alpine breeze and the water was so cold that I wondered how it managed to remain unfrozen. I shoveled in an apple and trail mix, and sat back in awe. I was amazed by the view, yes, but also by what I'd managed to do to get there. I was chilly, hungry, sore, and proud.
We relaxed at Sky Pond for a half-hour before heading back. Together, we scrambled in reverse back over the waterfall, half-ran down the mountain, and were shocked by how badly our hands swelled up. Turns out, your blood is redirected to where it's most needed during your hiking and so your hands will swell from decreased blood flow. I ended up looking and feeling a lot like Raven of That's So Raven when she ate mushrooms.
Swelling aside, I had a fun, tiring day that involved a lot of physical work with a crowd of strong ladies. I came away feeling strong, proud, and much more relaxed than when I went into it. And that's what we should all strive for.
Until next time!