Day 2: Go on a hike

Right before I left for Peace Corps, I had a summer job on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in the mountains.  It was the best job I ever had.  I spent my days cooking pulled pork and beans in the kitchen, serving beers on the outdoor patio overlooking a crisp, cold mountain lake, or sitting on a dock at the boathouse, pushing canoes into the water.

After the ranch closed at 6pm every day, I'd eat a leisurely fireside dinner with my coworkers, down a few beers, and take off into the woods for an evening hike or pack a cooler and race canoes out on the lake to watch the sun set over the mountains.  We listened through the darkness to moose wading along the shore, and we gazed up at the brightest stars I've ever seen.

After an evening of camping debauchery yesterday, Grant and I decided to take a drive through the mountains to check out the fall colors of the Aspen trees.  We drove about 40 miles west to Vail, then about 12 miles up that long, familiar dirt road to Piney Lake.  

The Aspen trees were glowing.  Bright, florescent yellows and fiery oranges and reds.  They lit up the mountains like sunshine.  Even the trees without leaves were a beautiful, stark monochrome contrast to the bright blue sky.  We stopped to snap a few pictures, but the camera didn't do any justice to what our eyes could see.

We turned a quick corner along the bumpy, dusty dirt road and were greeted by a car creeping slowly toward us.  The driver reached out his arm and pointed across the road into the brush - a telltale sign in the mountains that wildlife is present.  Sure enough, there he was: a huge bull moose casually lumbering alongside a creek.  The first moose Grant has ever seen!  He dropped down on his front knees for a sip of water, stumbled back up, and walked right across the road in front of our car.  You can't really imagine how large a moose is until you see one up close: his legs extended past the roof of our Mini Cooper.

We finally arrived at Piney and I was immediately flooded with nostalgia.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the lodge, slugged down a few beers, and took off into the woods for a hike.  We walked through a massive meadow extending along the tree line into the wilderness (literally, the sign going into the hike says "Wilderness").  We stopped a few times to sit and listen to the wind blow.  We watched an eagle soar magnificently above the lake, searching for prey (Grant was convinced that it would snatch up Ollie if it got close enough).

Once we were well into the woods, we heard what sounded exactly like bear grunts.  We stopped abruptly to listen, trying to figure out if it was a bear or a moose (!), and what our best viewing spot/escape route would be.  Another couple walked past and Grant even warned them that we were certain bears were near.  It was only about ten minutes later until we realized that we were listening to a tree groaning from the wind.