When is the last time you were the recipient of a totally unexpected good deed from a stranger? Ours happened yesterday, and the story is worth re-telling.
We set our for a hike in the mountains, and, never having tried the area around Ward, Colorado (elev. 9000+ feet) we decided to try that area. One of our guidebooks had suggested the Brainard Lake area as especially promising. We drove into Ward, one of the hardscrabble Colorado towns not frequented by tourists. If you ever wonder where the 1960s counterculture went, just take a trip through towns like Ward. I stopped at the general store (advice from locals is always welcome) and found a friendly attendant who suggested if I did not want to purchase a map, I could take a look at the store copy. As I said, the old counterculture is alive and well. She suggested the Sourdough Trail because it is a loop (hikers end up where they began) and she also suggested that the entrance fee for cars to Brainard State Park is $9.00, but we could probably park just outside the park entrance for free. I love insiders' advice!
So we headed up, up, up to Brainard State Park, and left the car outside the entrance. Cost savings: one map and one parking fee. The hike to the Sourdough Trail was an easy two miles; the trail was well marked; and, best of all, we were the ONLY ones on the trail. We stopped several times just to listen to the silence. The Sourdough Trail was wonderful, proceeding through aspen groves, pine forests not yet ravaged by the pernicious beetle that has hit the Western Slope so badly, and came out into a huge meadow full of wildflowers just about lunchtime. After lunch in our paradise, we decided it was time for a little yoga in the wild. Perfect!
We faithfully followed Sourdough trail signs and cam out at Camp Dick campgrounds, which did not look at all like we remembered. We hiked on down the road, assuming we would arrive at the entrance and our car and found that the trail had not been a loop at all! When we found a campground host, he got out his map and we found that we were over 9 miles from where we had entered. After a 9 mile hike, we had 9 miles to go? Major panic.
Then this friendly stranger from Yuma, AZ, working here in the summer, asked if we would like for him to drive us to our car. Would we like it! We were overjoyed. After we returned to our car, we went back to the store in Ward, and this time we purchased a map. It turns out that there is a loop, but it involves switching to the Wapiti ski trail halfway around the loop. If we had only known....
It was an adventure. And we lived to tell about it and to hike another day.
