I’m stopping with the “incline” puns, but I do have some alternate titles/subtitles:
- This week in Place You Could Fall Off of and Die
- Next in Places to Not Be During a Thunderstorm
- Mount Manitou Attempt Two
First off, I got new hiking boots this weekend:
Not only were my old boots mostly worn through the tread, but the souls aren’t glued on at the arch of the foot any more (the toe/heel are attached well enough it’s not an issue, but it’s definitely a sign they should be replaced). The new boots could use some breaking in to make them more comfortable, but they did well enough on their first hike and I didn’t come away with any blisters so breaking them in shouldn’t be a problem.
Starting out today I hadn’t really decided if I was going to try to find a way up Mount Manitou again or if I’d go elsewhere. The weather forecast said it was supposed to rain (and it was certainly humid enough for it) so I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to the top of anything in case of thunderstorm. Also, driving into Manitou Springs I got a flash flood warning on my phone and the path to Mount Manitou is alongside a creek.
Since I wasn’t keen on hiking by the creek I decided to take the opportunity to explore the fork to the right of this picture:
I’d noticed it before, including that there’s a signpost without a sign (does it still qualify as a signpost?). The arrow/label scratched in the dirt was new, but there was still no indication of where the fork went. It’s obviously not a well-traveled trail (there’s a tree fallen across it currently) but there were older logs that were cut where they fell across the path so it’s clearly somewhat maintained.
At the top of Rocky Mountain (at least the rocky peak that lives up to the name) it is in fact quite rocky (also, the other side of those rocks is a sheer drop):
There are even stairs to help you get to the top. Unfortunately they’re laying on the ground, probably because so many steps are missing they didn’t help much:
Mount Manitou (the taller one in the center, the bump just left of it is where I ended up last time):
You can also see the experimental forest station (the clearing in the center):
On the way down I made a quick detour over to the experimental forest (there was echoing thunder by this point, but it was from the downhill direction and it wasn’t raining) to get a picture from there looking up at the rocks I was taking pictures from:
It’s shots like this that make me wish I had a real camera (with zoom). Also, zoom would have gotten me pictures of several types of birds (one of which made squeaking noises) and a rabbit.
I did get rained on a little bit on the lower part of Barr trail (thankfully after I was well away from the creek). There was lighting (and lots more rain) over Colorado Springs on the drive home, but my time on the mountain was mostly overcast with some sun and a little bit of drizzle.