For our trip to Glenwood Springs, Scotty wanted to hike to Hanging Lake. We were able to snag some permits for 8:00 a.m. We froze (38 degrees) for about an hour, but after that, it was really nice weather. I prefer hiking on the cooler side, so I’ll take that over summer heat any day. I would have died in anything hotter than 55 (let it be known that I will refer to near death many times in this post because this hike about killed me).
The hike was pretty much 1.25 miles of stairs ascending 1,200 feet (and then 1.25 miles going back down - which is also rough), and for those who don’t know, I am overweight, out of shape, and have neuropathy. I planned on dying on the trail and even told two of my best friends some of my last wishes before I left town (including a charge to delete all of the voice memos I’ve sent them - they die with me!)
We knew this hike would be a beast with our girls, so we took it nice and slow with lots of breaks and tried to keep it peaceful. I was alright until halfway up, and then I started to suffer a bit. My feet hurt terribly, and have I mentioned that I’m overweight and out of shape? My hips were getting really sore (I didn’t anticipate this) I also wanted to drink a ton of water but didn’t want to have to pee on the trail, and that’s always a rough battle.
Fortunately we took two sets of trekking poles to share because I would have died without them. After going up and down all of those stairs I have no doubt that if I’d done it without the poles, I’d be on my path to knee surgery now.
The final stretch of the hike was the steepest portion, and when I saw it, contemplated how I could have a helicopter come get me without attracting unwanted attention.
I hadn’t looked at any photos of the lake, so I had no idea what we were heading to, and then I saw it…
It was beautiful and worth it!
The lake and the waterfall renewed my energy, and I was so happy to be there.
But then we had to come back down, and it was the same pattern. I was okay for the first half of the descent, and then I just needed to get the heck off that trail. Everything hurt, and it was time to pee.
In the end, I’m glad I did it, but now that I know what it’s like, no one’s getting me up there again in this lifetime unless I lose a hundred pounds and find a cure for my neuropathy. Also, I will take a sandwich to eat at the top, but it will probably be a stupid sandwich wrapped in lettuce due to my immense weight loss.
After the hike we had lunch at a place called Fatbelly’s. We went wild with the sides - we had fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, and fried okra. We thought we ordered too much food, but we were starving, and we managed just fine!
Then Scotty, Daisy, and Zoe hiked to Doc Holliday’s grave. Eva didn’t want to go, and my legs were jello, so I was happy to stay at the trail head with her.
That evening we also went to a fish hatchery and fed the fish.
The following day we went to the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort and soaked in the hot pools all day, which our sore muscles appreciated.
(Eva is going through a years'-long phase of sabotaging all of our photos).
We enjoyed the hot springs, but if I ever go again, I will remember to take robes (didn't even cross my mind, but with the cool weather, robes were genius, and everyone there had them) and lots of water (no outside food or drink is allowed, but people had water bottles, and you dry out quickly in that hot mineral water).
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