Taking a break from work on our Littleton, Colorado, farm, we headed up to Vail this morning for a bit of hiking, lunch and window shopping. Once there, we elected to take the Lion's Head Gondola to Eagle's Nest, eat lunch atop that scenic ridge and then hike back down to Vail.
From Eagle's Nest, 2200 feet above the famed resort, one enjoys a broad view of the Gore Creek Valley, backed by the high spine of the Gore Range, and, to the west, the majestic peaks of the Holy Cross Wilderness. Heading down, we first crossed open meadows adorned with an abundance of subalpine wildflowers and home to both mountain and western bluebirds. The trail then snaked down through pine-spruce forest, now heavily damaged by the pine beetle blight but still alive with the sights and sounds of subalpine wildlife; most conspicuous were mountain chickadees, gray jays, hairy woodpeckers, gray-headed juncos and red squirrels. Half way down, we entered beautiful aspen groves, their white trunks gleaming beneath the green forest canopy. After four miles of ankle-wrenching descent, we had returned to the resort where violet-green swallows cruised past the upscale shops and broad-tailed hummingbirds zipped among the numerous flower displays.
While our visit to Vail Mountain was highly enjoyable on this mild, sunny day, I was concerned about the welfare of the many overweight, de-conditioned, middle aged men whom we passed on the trail, chugging and puffing their way to the summit. Many of those vacation athletes, intent on proving their stamina, had arrived from homes at low elevation and were in no condition to be climbing through mountain forest. Too often, they are egged on by fit spouses or younger family members, a challenge that can have deadly consequences.
