An Alpine Hike Ruined by Hunters

Today we attempted to hike to the top of a mountain (or at least to the saddle of two mountains) above the treeline to 12,150 feet in elevation, along the Black Powder Pass, but when we arrived at the trail head, we were greeted by a man wearing blaze orange from head to toe.  He was obviously a hunter, and as we stepped out of the van and gathered our gear, I tried to ignore the fact that the man was possibly hunting the area that we were about to hike in.

The road that leads to the hike is very narrow and a bit scary in areas.
This camper wasn't too worried, he was right on the edge.

The overlooks from the road were pretty impressive.

 

The road was actually an old railroad line.  I couldn't imagine driving a train along that twisty, narrow road!

At one time, when the rail line was active, a population of 150 people lived up in this remote area.

As it turned out, he came up to the top of the pass to find cell service, so he wasn't actually "hunting" right where we were hiking, but he was hunting with some buddies on the side of the mountain, and advised us to put on some bright orange so that we could be spotted and "stay out of the trees" since there were quite a few hunters in the area and he thought they could purchase tags for either side of the mountain to hunt elk.  He also asked if we brought our oxygen, as he glanced at our Iowa plates, and cautioned us how thin the air was that high up.  Also, while we were packing the backpack, we were advised by another couple that the weather can change quickly up there (it was a nice and sunny day and the storm was way off in the distance) and to "take cover if you start to see lightening".  Thanks folks.  

With all that encouragement for a great hike, you can imagine Derrick's interest level when I said I still wanted to go.  "Everett is wearing orange, I have a mustard yellow hat, Ethan is wearing bright red, and Elliot's fleece is orange, and these kids are so loud I don't think we will have any problems with someone thinking we are elk." was my reply to Derrick's "Don't you think we should not hike this trail?"  

So we headed out on our hike.  

Our destination is on the right side of the ridge.  From there we can overlook the valley below.

As we got closer to our destination (the ridge beyond that treeline ahead) there was more snow.

The boys loved hiking in the snow and stopped long enough for me to grab a photo.

The snow had started to melt, so things were a bit more muddy than I expected, but we tried to move around the messy parts and stick to the frozen spots, moving forward.  Everett is not the best at keeping his disapproval of the hiking conditions to himself, so right away he started to complain about the snow, the mud, the hard rocks, the wind, his itchy hat... and everything else about the hike.  I was for sure, with all the whining, anyone hunting in the area could hear us, but as we approached the last line of trees, Derrick started to express his concern again about being "hunted" and how it wasn't worth our safety to get to the top of this mountain today, about that time I stepped off the trail into a marshy area and got my foot wet, so I agreed that this hike wasn't going to happen today.

So we snapped a few photos, sat down in the clearing to enjoy a few snacks (which was the biggest thing Everett was whining about... he was hungry) and then headed back down the trail to our van.  It was still a beautiful hike, even though we didn't get to the summit, but I will be adding this on my list of hikes to do next time (when it's not hunting season!). 

The snow was hard and easy to walk over without sinking in too deep.

Derrick and the kids, heading back down the mountain, out of the trees for safety from the hunters.

  

While we sat and snacked, Derrick attempted to get a cell signal for his Clash of the Clans game he is obsessed with.

 

  

As we hiked down the mountain, a lot of clouds started to roll in, dropping the temps quite a bit when they covered the sun.