Yesterday was my first hiking trip of the summer. My old pal Josh Dorr picked me up at 7:30 AM and we drove about half an hour to the Cheyenne Mountain area (specifically Cheyenne Canyon). We've hiked in that area a few times together since last summer, although we've almost exhausted all of the good trails. As usual, we had trouble finding Cheyenne Canyon. We've been there numerous times, yet we can never remember which streets to turn on. Eventually, we found the canyon and a good parking place. We hiked two trails:

Columbine Trail
Over Christmas break, Josh, Yvette, and I hiked in this area, but we didn't follow the trail (don't tell any park rangers). We saw some impressive cliffs, and we decided to check them out (a detour that took most of the day and nearly cost me a nice pair or gloves). This time, however, Josh and I vowed to stay on the trail. At first it was extremely easy, but after awhile we reached a series of switchbacks that had both of us gasping for air. During the hike, we talked about school, what we want to do after school, and girls (or the lack of them in our lives at the moment). Soon we reached Helen Hunt Falls, a huge waterfall, and a major tourist attraction. I am awed every time I see the falls, but Josh does a lot of backpacking in Yellowstone, so he wasn't as thrilled (understandably). Literally no one was around, however, which was nice. The falls were very strong due to the snow melt. We stopped and ate lunch by the water, then we headed back down the trail. Once we got back to the trailhead, Josh pulled out his water filter and filled up his bottle with 35 degree mountain spring water. It . . . was . . . wonderful. The round trip on that trail was a little over 8 miles.

Captain Jack's Trail
We drove a few miles to another trail we've been wanting to check out. Captain Jack's is a trail on High Drive close to Sentinel Rock (we trail-blazed up to Sentinel Rock last summer in search of quartz crystals and nearly died from the almost 45 degree gravel/pine needle-covered slope we had to ascend). Captain Jack's is definitely my favorite trail in Cheyenne Canyon that I have hiked so far. At one point, we found a cave a few feet off the trail. Josh tossed a few rocks inside to make sure that no bears or mountain lions were hiding in the shadows (I'm not really sure if that was the wisest thing to do). When we didn't hear any growls or see anything jump out at us, we decided to explore inside. The air was thick with gnats and the ceiling dripped water all over us. The cave went about 50 or 60 feet into the cliffside, which surprised me, because most of the caves I've seen around here could barely hold two people. Josh had to head back early to go to dinner with his mom and some friends, so we did not finish the trail. It's 12 miles round trip, and we did about 6 miles. Someday we plan to return and complete the entire trail. On the way back, we peeled off our socks (literally) and dropped our feet into a stream. I waded out to the middle, but I soon noticed that the water was a little colder than I had expected. My feet began to hurt, and soon they became completely numb. Josh could barely stand to keep his feet in for ten seconds. We decided that the water had to be just above freezing. There was actually some snow on one side of the bank. The only people we met on the trail were a few guys riding dirt bikes.

So, we hiked about 14 miles yesterday, which is pretty good for the first hike of the summer. I was so exhausted when I came back home that all I wanted to do was sleep. Surprisingly, I'm not very sore today!