September 8, 2013.
As I mentioned the other day, yesterday Scott and I joined a friend to hike up “A” Mountain… otherwise known as Tortugas Mountain… that’s Tortoise Mountain. The mountain itself rises about 600 feet from the land around it. But it starts at 4300 feet, and peaks at about 4928 feet.
We set off from the Monte Vista trailhead/picnic area at 8:15. All three of us were “Tortugas Virgins”. We didn’t know the trail system, so we figured what the heck, let’s just DO IT!.
Well, it turns out that it appears we set off on the most difficult route possible, up the north-east slope on an “unmaintained trail”. It very soon became clear that this unmaintained trail probably should have been marked “non-existent trail”. At about 1/2 way up we realized we were going to have a very hard time making it to the top. But worse, there was no going back down!
We did, eventually, make it to the top of the trail. This was about midway through the saddle between the northern point and the actual top of Tortugas Mountain. I was done, however, so I made everyone turn around. We walked down the trail on the northwest slope of the mountain, then along the trail that circumnavigates the mountain back to Monte Vista.
After we completed, another friend had this to say of the hike up this mountain:
Nobody talks about hiking A Mountain and for good reason. Nobody really hikes there! The elevation is consistently at a very high pitch, the trails suck compared to the other recreation areas and yes, you are so on your own if you choose to hike it. There is an alternate route that [we] follow. It sucks too, but it sucks less. Maybe you guys will join us for that in the fall.
I think we will definitely take him up on that!
Prayer Intention
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.(Ps 145:18 NRSV)
I continue to pray for Direction, and specifically this week for Direction in my personal life.
On The Road II 