Redcloud Peak

One of the reasons I started this blog a year and a half ago was so I'd have a place to republish my online trip reports when Geocities shut down. Then I found Wordless Wednesdays. I became a snowflake addict. I shared recipes. I shared photos. I shared stories. I did photo tutorials. And I never finished reposting my now dissolved trip reports. There weren't enough days in the week!

Now work and other commitments are preventing me from being as creative as I'd like. About 30 posts written in skeleton form, but I've had no time to polish them. I have about that many finished posts, but no time to shoot the photos to illustrate them.

Good thing I have all those old trip reports!

5-6 October 2005

If you don’t want to hear me whine, skip over this day.

We spent the night in a motel in Ouray. We wanted to stay in a specific campground, but it's closed for the season. We thought this place would be cheaper than a name brand hotel in Montrose. We thought we'd be able to shower, which is what we really wanted.

So, for half the price of a nice room in Montrose, we have no soap, no shampoo and no water pressure. I have a huge blister on the back of my heel. October 5 marks the 11-month anniversary of my surgery, and I had planned to walk on Sunshine. Literally. (Sunshine Peak)

I didn’t make it even halfway up Redcloud, the peak you have to climb to get to Sunshine. My back is so sore. It was extra sensitive to my pack and even the label inside my tights today. I do feel I am walking much better, but as far as nerve damage, there is no change since we climbed San Luis in July. The pain is the same.

It may not heal. I may be stuck with this. And I hate it.

The Lizard has been so good to me today. He wanted to climb a peak. He waited for me, knowing I would prevent either of us from getting any summit because I’m so darned slow and because I just can’t go downhill anymore. He held me when I cried. He apologized for what wasn’t his fault when I gave up. He took me wonderful places to get wonderful photos.

He took me to a place where he thought we’d be able to see the sunrise on Sunshine, but the morning fog obscured any light. We made up for it this evening with a memory card full of wonderful evening light shots, including a sliver silver moon.

I went looking for soap and/or shampoo in town. Nothing open but bars. So I asked the teenager running the hotel, who had shut the place up for the night. He gave us maybe three squirts of what looks like watered down Mountain Dew with a couple of suds on top in a used water bottle. We didn’t use it.

Where do people in this town buy groceries???

We slept in because the alarm clock at the motel didn’t work. But that’s okay because neither of us slept well. So much for our bargain price.

The Lizard wanted to do Courthouse Mountain on Day 2. My back was so sore, I was hesitant. He said we’ll wait for me to heal.

We took pictures along Owl Creek, got lunch and gas in Gunnison, then The Lizard did exactly what I hoped he might. He asked if I’d like to take Cottonwood Pass home instead of Monarch Pass. RTR revisited!

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