Medic! Medic!

4 Sep 2010--Went on what we thought was going to be a moderate hike yesterday, a hike that turned out to be exhausting. They rate the hikes on signs at each trailhead, and the one we went on the day before was rated "Moderate", but somehow I missed the fact that the one we were about to embark on was rated "Strenuous". Their definition of Strenuous is "steep grades with MULTIPLE elevation changes". They put MULTIPLE in caps, not me.

And they weren't exaggerating! We didn't do the whole 5.5 miles they had mapped out...I wouldn't be talking to you today if we had! haha We cut it short to 3.7 miles, going on to another trail for the ascent back to the top. Nonetheless, the descent into the valley was a drop of 1555 ft in elevation over the course of a mile, which took us about 35 minutes to complete and confirmed in our minds that whatever happened, we were absolutely NOT going to return to the top by way of this road...we were tired just going down it! haha

Here are a couple stitch pics as we start the descent to the valley below.



Off we go, and look at what we see!

The 1st "named" spot we hit was called the "Wall of Windows" section. The colors are beautiful.

I am looking at most of these of pictures as I am typing and it seems like they are all from the top...I can assure you we were deep in this valley for at least 2 hours...so I look "fresh" in these, but by the end I certainly wasn't.

At the point I took this video we were about 1/2 way thru the hike, and I am already faltering...haha. What I should explain here is that because this is a "Strenuous" hike, with MULTIPLE elevation changes, we are continuously going up and down hills even though we are on the "floor" of the valley. The hike the previous day was pretty much level once you got to the bottom, but not here.

This might help explain the experience at the bottom: while we descended 1555 ft, when we got to the end of the hike we "only" had to ascend 580 ft to the top. So along the way on the floor of the canyon, we were climbing up, up and down, up, up and down...for a gain of about 1000 ft! And remember that we are about 8000 ft above see level to begin with, so the air is thinner than I would like. haha

Here are some beautiful "hoodoos" we saw along the way.

And another "Named" area, this one called "The Cathedral" area, one of the most spectacular in the park. Incredibly beautiful!

Remember the other day I said that if you look long enough you can see almost anything in the rocks? Is that E.T. on top of the rock Cathy is leaning on, or am I beginning to hallucinate?

Here we have cut off the initial trail to "short cut" our way out of here...I can barely breath and my thighs are screaming!!! I am strongly considering a medivac situation.

We finally reach the ascent area...only 580 ft (straight up!) left to go. Don't I look lonely here?

These switchbacks are brutal, much worse than the switchbacks at the Wall St area the day before. Much longer, and much, much steeper.

Cathy is ahead of me the whole way, enjoying my misery!

And at the top again...I am using the zoom lens because I have not caught up yet. haha

The final stitch pics from Bryce...

And the final video...it looks like I am going to live, so this was definately worth it!!!