It didn't help that, although the walk was reported as 3.5 miles in length, the trek to the trail head was 1.5 miles uphill. I resisted the urge to stuff down all my emergency rations before the real bit of the walk began, pulled up my guaranteed blister free socks (thank you, Mother-in-Law), and strode on.
Boulder has hundreds of miles of excellent, highly-maintained trails. I passed locals bounding up mountains with their dogs, organised parties with the latest designer rucksacks, and family groups of wandering toddlers and carried babies. Nonetheless, the place is so huge that I had thirty minutes on a mountaintop on my own before anyone else turned up (a school party - I left quickly).
Despite the many posters warning me about bears and mountain lions, I again failed to see anything more dangerous than a squirrel. A pretty threatening squirrel, mind you, as photo evidence below shows.
There are mountains everywhere around here. There's another one!
"This is where it starts to get difficult" the guide says. Hah!
Me on a scree slope.
There are so many wild animals out here that they all managed to hide from me.
Looking back down at Boulder.
My lunch spot.
Royal Arch. Why didn't I buy a camera with a wider-angle lens?
If someone moved all these trees I could get a better shot.
Here's the squirrel. Didn't I say? Sorry if the above picture scares you.
