Hike Until You Drop

Two hikes in one day can really do a body in. The first was longish and uphill, but almost relaxing. The other was short, all uphill, and all strenuous. Both left me with a hankering to return to Glenwood Springs to explore more of what this Colorado River area has to offer.

A six-mile, round-trip hike along Grizzly Creek is a study in contrasts to Utah. Rocky gray cliffs, rushing water, granite boulders and jutting stone, evergreens everywhere, aspen, willow, shrubs, berries, flowers. Flickers, jays, robins, tits, wrens. The temp this morning is a brisk 55 degrees, with deep shadows still at 9am. Except for all the aspens and exposed rock, I could be on a trail at Mount Rainier back home.

It’s a solitary wander this early in the morning, although traffic picks up around 10:30 on my return trip—two women running with a Newfoundland and Labrador, three men with abbreviated fishing poles, an older British gentleman with a walking stick, a brawny fellow with a timid Yorkie and a bold Chihuahua.

Grizzly Creek, foreground, feeding into the Colorado. The following images are from the trail.

Getting back to my truck, I consider whether to drive the next few miles for a second hike to a place called Hanging Lake. It’s almost noon. I’m tired. I’m hungry. The day is getting hotter. The next trail is rated “difficult.” And the woman at Glenwood’s excellent visitor center had said Hanging Lake was an extremely popular and busy destination.

But sometimes popularity leads to true beauty, so I drive to the trailhead, cinch up my boot laces, and head onto the most exhausting mile-long stair-step hike I’ve done in a long time. Rocks and tree roots. An almost unrelenting climb. Happily, the trail is also under much shade, criss-crosses the river several times, and offers lots of scenic excuses to stop and catch my breath, which a lot of us are doing often. Almost at the mile mark (it’s 1.2 miles all told), a middle-aged couple coming down the trail meets me panting my way up. I step aside to yield the right of way in this narrow spot.

“You’re almost there,” she offers encouragingly. “It’s really, really worth it. Be sure to go to Spouting Rock. It’s another bit of a climb at the beginning, but gets easier after the rocky part. You’ll love it.”

I gulp more water and press on to what becomes the even harder last tenth of a mile on the main trail: actual stone steps, shin- to knee-high, twisting over and around each other. The way is so winding and tight that the trail builders have installed a pipe grab-rail and a couple of small turnouts for rest stops, viewpoints, and traffic control as people walk in opposing directions.

Muscles protesting as I reach the top, I decide to push the final bit to Spouting Rock first, which turns out to be a good choice. Twin waterfalls pounding down with icy water. Lots of it to enjoy in spray and photos. A chance to walk behind them, just like in the adventure movies. Then I backtrack to Hanging Lake itself, which actually surprises me with the suddenness of its appearance just around the corner.

This lake is one of the many wonders that was specifically saved when the engineers built I-70 through Glenwood Canyon. It’s easy to understand why. Clear as glass, aqua blue, and fed by the overflow of Spouting Rock above and behind it, the lake is held in place by a lip of slowly growing minerals, the same kind that create travertine marble. It spills down the hillside through natural and smooth falls that leave the lip undisturbed.

A woman next to me tells her 10-year-old son that the felled tree that spans to the center of the lake was there when she was a little girl. People like to walk out on it to get photos, and no swimming is allowed.

Going down the trail is a lot faster than going up. Somewhere around the 3/4-mile marker, a woman in her fifties is catching her breath on a series of hard switchbacks. Her face looks pained. “Is it worth it?” she begs of me.

“Definitely,” I say. “You’re almost there. And be sure to go to Spouting Rock. It’s another bit of a climb at the beginning, but gets easier after the rocky part. You’ll love it.”

The trail gets off to a rocky start...

...and pretty much stays that way most of the trip.

Hanging Lake at last.

A peek from above, care of another trip to Spouting Rock.

Returning to the land of level ground, an open gorge, and a slow Colorado River.