Hiking and Hitchhiking

This weekend, I went hiking (and hitchhiking) with Tosha-the-Brave. 

Here we are looking chipper, the two-ish miles of steep uphill accomplished and all that gorgeous colour and all those towering mountains around us for the next six-ish miles.

The day began sunny and hazy from wildfire smoke. . . But as we climbed, the sky grew dark and foreboding. Not truly foreboding—Tosha and I just both love that word. But the clouds did roll in for a good portion of our hike, making it the perfect temperature.

We met some nice folks at the trailhead who offered to give us a ride back to our car, as "Lost Man Loop" is a bit of a misnomer. It is really Lost Man Horseshoe, with a four mile stretch of winding Independence Pass road (with no shoulder) between trailheads. . . or is that trail tails? Either way, we were thankful for the offer. It ended up some other folks let us ride in the bed of their pickup, which was great fun (albeit, a little breezy).

Here we are post-hike and post hitchhike, on the home-side of Independence Pass. We saw a road that was parked up and down and was full of golden Aspens. So, of course we turned around and explored it!

I'm always grateful for Tosha's encouragement (and patience) while hiking. We had a lovely day together in God's glorious autumn colours! And we were both thankful that He provided kind people to hike with and ride with, as well. 

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay

—Robert Frost

*All photos taken by Tosha-the-Brave