That was a good idea!

We're way behind in getting travel posts published because we were having way too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 11, 2023

We were up early this morning, with a face-time call from our five-year-old granddaughter. This was her first day of kindergarten and she was eating breakfast and wanted to share her exciting morning with us. We thought that was a good idea! We were blessed to get an important face-time call even when we were a couple states away from our children and grandchildren!

We had planned to play pickleball this morning. Buena Vista has six very nice new courts, and they have organized games on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. But it was cold and a little windy at 8:00 for outdoor pickleball, so we opted for Plan B. That was a good idea! Several days ago we had started the Narrow Gauge Trail, but we recognized that this would be a good bike trail. So we decided to save it for another day. Today is the "another day." The only problem with this trail was that it gained around 500 feet in elevation when leaving from the east trailhead. So we hatched a plan. We drove to the west trailhead and left our bikes there. Mark chained them to a tree just above the highway.

Then we drove the pickup to the east trailhead and we started the hike.

This was the old railbed of the Denver-Southpark Railroad. This train moved mining supplies and people up this route from 1880 through 1926. The rail bed was cut onto a shelf of Mount Antero and started at an elevation of 8,560 feet. 

We had some amazing mountain scenery as we looked down over the valley cut by Chalk Creek. While we were on the side of Mount Antero, we could look to the north to see Mount Princeton.

The steady elevation gain is easy to hike up, but Denisa was certainly glad that she didn't have to pedal her bike up that incline.

About one mile into the hike, we came to the first biking obstacle. While it was easy to hike over this rocky terrain, we knew we would have to carry our bikes over that section on the way back.

While we were hiking on the side of a 14,275-foot mountain, we had better views of 14,196-foot Mount Princeton. That's Chalk Lake below us. If you look very closely, you can see Agnes Vaille Falls pouring out of Mount Princeton. That's one of the hikes we took last week.

We started with blue skies, but the white puffy clouds were forming interesting shapes on our horizon.

The Narrow Gauge hike was a 4.2-mile out-and-back trail. So we were hiking the 2.1 miles out. We knew we were getting close to the two-mile mark when we began hearing the roar of the cascades along Chalk Creek. We could peek through the trees to see the water cascading down the rocks below us.

We finished our hike to the west end of the trail, and it was time to unlock our bikes and carry them to the trail head.

The beginning was a little rough, and we had to roll the bikes over some of the big rocks on this end of the trail. Then it was time to start the easy bike ride back to the pickup. We could see the highway below us as we started the downhill ride.

The good news was that it was down-hill all the way back on our bikes! While the railroad bed was a little narrow at times, we always had enough width to ride our bikes through.

It was good to be able to preview the trail while we were hiking up. We knew that we would have five different bridges and rocky places that we had to get off our bikes and roll them beside us.

Of course, we knew about the biggest rock obstacle at the half-way point where we had to carry our bikes.

Wait! Wasn't that Denisa's bike that Mark was carrying? After carrying his own, he went back to carry Denisa's bike as well. What a gentleman!

While the biking took less time than hiking, we had more stops on that part of the trail. Several people recognized us as the hikers they had seen walking in the opposite direction. So we had to explain our tactic of dropping off the bikes first so that we could roll back. They liked our idea!

So did we! We never had to pedal the entire two miles back to the pickup. While the trail was a little rocky at times, and a little sandy at other times, even non-technical bikers like us had no problem. The trail was wide enough for ATVs, but it had barricades on both ends that prevented any motorized vehicles from starting the trail. So hikers and bikers can enjoy the trail in peace.

After we loaded up our bikes, we headed back towards Buena Vista. With yesterday's long day, we planned a half-day of activities for today. But we didn't realize how interesting the next stop would be. The Gem and Mineral show started yesterday, and we could see vendor tents in four rows spread for almost a quarter-mile at the fairgrounds. Minerals and gems of every shape and color and size were for sale. Since we live in a motor home, we couldn't buy too many heavy rocks. But we were certainly tempted.

Yesterday's windy weather wreaked havoc on this outdoor show. Mark talked to several vendors, and found out that 22 different tents were destroyed by the wind the day before. Some of those people opted to head home, while a few stayed without the shade of a tent above their tables for the rest of the show. By the looks of the clouds, it looked like we were about to get another storm. But stopping at the gem and mineral show was certainly a good idea!

We had a couple more shopping stops in town, so we didn't get back to the motor home until after 4:00. We fixed dinner and got a report that our granddaughter had a good first day of school. As she recounted the day's activities her best quote was "My first day was a big record!" It felt like we all had a big record day filled with lots of good ideas!