“I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.”
This was exact phrase that kept running though my head as I climbed a mile and half through a rocky river bed, over ice and through snow. Starting in 80 degree weather and ending in 40….but when I got to the top, the view was more than worth it.
Am I the kind of girl to jump in the car and drive 5 hours on a crazy ass winding interstate through the snow covered mountains just to hike a hike that has been in my head for 8 years. Hell yeah. I do. And I drag my kid along for the ride.
…………………………………………………
The first time I passed through Glenwood Springs, was the last day of a dinosaur adventure I had taken my little guy on. We swam in the giant hot pool and then we went to sleep. That’s all I remember about my time there. Except the signs for the Hanging Lake hike. He was too little to hike very far at that time, so I filed it away and swore I would be back.
And so we went back.
The drive up I-70 isn’t for the faint of heart drivers. It’s winding and sometimes hairy with the trucks weaving in and out. It takes you over Vail Pass (which still had at least 6 feet of snow on the ground) and down into a beautiful valley surrounded by red rocks and canyons with raging rivers. It’s littered with ski towns all along the way, with over priced coffee. That I gladly purchase.
Glenwood Springs itself, is full of quaint restaurants, chill tourists and an enormous mineral pool. It also has 16 smaller ones right up the hill from it (those are the ones we went to after our hike)
We had lunch in town and then headed to the parking lot for Hanging lake, which you have to sit in a line of cars and wait for other people to get done hiking just so you can park (they are starting a shuttle system on May 1 and you will also have to purchase a permit to hike) We waited about 20 minutes before parking and then grabbed our water to head up the hill. I didn’t drink much of mine because I’m always afraid we’ll run out and I want him to have enough. (It happened once, and I have felt bad over it for almost a decade….it’s a mom thing)
The hike is nearly straight up. And pretty challenging. But there are plenty people along the way. Most will give you encouragement. And we try to as well. My little guy fell on ice on the way down and I started falling right behind him, I was caught by a lovely women who had seen three people fall right in front of us. That’s the great thing about people in the outdoors, most everyone out there will help you in any way they can. We climbed the “hill of hell” (the last steps up to the lake, which were steep enough that a handrail hand to be installed to keep you from tumbling over the edge and down the ravine) and stepped onto the walkway. It was incredible and literally breath taking. The color. The smell. The fish swimming. And as usual, the 30 pounds of camera gear I carry…… didn’t do it any justice. And just as we were making our way back down, my son said “hey mom, you know that line in elf where he goes through the candy cane forrest……that’s what I’ve been thinking of the whole time”
He’s definitely mine.
We came back to town. Soaked. Ate (kinda) and slept. (We stayed at the Hotel Colorado, which is a lot like the hotel in the Shining. Really old and really big and you expect to see twins around every corner) It was an exhausting day.
And totally worth it.
Easter breakfast was bagels. Church was at the hotel and felt more like a rock concert than church. But it was good to go. Then we made our way back down the highway, back to the plains.
