Brown Canyon Loop

I knew ahead of time that I was off work by noon on Thursday and scheduled a five-mile loop. I hadn't hiked this pretty canyon in a while and starting a five-mile loop hike at 3pm would give us plenty of time to finish in daylight.

We started promptly at 3pm. Seven people showed up: SteveA and SteveT, Nina, HollyW, Claire, Pat and SusanM (hadn't seen her in months!). We met at the trail head off Ramsey Road and walked this loop in our usual counter-clockwise direction. Weather was mild with a slight overcast. I wore my red Marmot rain coat as a jacket. Minnie was my canine companion for the day.

We quickly broke into two groups. SteveA stayed with Nina and Claire in the rear and the rest of us trekked in front. Despite the recent snow, we had no visible accumulation of water in the canyon. The trail in part was wet from melting snow and showed heavy tire grooves, but no additional water for Minnie. We didn't have any traffic going the other way to worry about, except for onie cyclist coming down Brown Canyon Road as we rested at the horse trough.

We didn't have snow until we hit the shaded parts of the trail. Some of the north-facing slopes showed some snow on the ground. There was a thick layer of ice around the trough, which radiated cold. Here is where the thin rain jacket failed me. Despite an undershirt over my blouse, the cold quickly swept through my body. My hands got cold and so did my torso. The cold was here to stay and I had to move on to warm up again.

The north side of this road was the iciest on the trail. How do the mountain bikes manage? There were frozen grooves here and we had to watch our footing. I didn't want anyone falling and hurting themselves on my watch. We were moving slowly, like an expedition across the Arctic Circle. The only one who didn't mind was Minnie, who seemed to still find sticks and stumps under layers of frozen snow.

It was 4:30pm as we reached the high point on this section and the shadows of fading sunlight were creeping over us. It seemed darker than it should be, with at least an hour left of sunlight and perhaps no more than 1.5 mile to go. We were not breaking any personal records today, but that also wasn't our intention. Our goal was to make it safely across to the southern part of Brown Canyon road where there would be no ice or snow.

SteveA showed us the off-road trail that would take us directly to the parking area, bypassing Ramsey Canyon Road. We didn't take the shortcut due to the waning sunlight. "It's too snarly" said SteveA about the bushwhack. But someday I'll explore that route.

I never could warm up again. My hands were in my jeans pocket as we closed in on the end. I had underdressed for this hike, leaving my red fleece pullover back at the house because it was too warm on me at 3pm. Big mistake! My backpack didn't leak water this time, so at least all the moisture against my back was sweat and not a leaking blister bag, but at 5:30pm, standing in the trail head parking area, I was cold! A large cup of hot tea would have suited me best, but instead I was coaxed to join Nina, Claire, SteveT and Holly for a post-hike meal at Native Wings where I had two cold Dos Equis with my chicken strips. Robert joined us later. We were at our table for over an hour, chatting and discussing other hikes. I didn't come home till after 8pm. How quickly time flies when among friends.