Camping @ Farish ... Day 3

Woke up to a lovely morning with quickly warming temps. After a light breakfast and a few chores, we left the Cruiser to hike the Peakview Trail. We drove the car to the conference center and parked it there to save our steps for the hike. It was 9:30 when we started off on the short, ½-mile connector trail down to Lake Sapphire to get to the trailhead for Peakview. We could have driven down to Lake Sapphire and parked at the trailhead, but by doing it this way we added another mile — or more — to our hiking plans.

Peakview is a 1.9-mile loop trail through mountain meadows and a mixed forest — pine, fir, spruce, and aspen trees. It is considered an intermediate trail, with a gradual grade … and a few short, steep sections. Nothing that we couldn’t handle, though we were glad the elevation gain was a mere 176 feet since we are still getting acclimated to high-elevation hiking.

As the first part of the trail winds through the forest, there’s not much entertainment — meaning views — along the way. Just past the halfway point, we came to a couple of open spots with views of Pikes Peak. The first spot probably had a magnificent view at one time, but it is now blocked a bit by trees. This was the highest point of our hike … 9280 feet by the compass on my phone.

The return leg of the loop trail took us down to the meadows so it was flatter. I’m glad we hiked the trail in a clockwise direction. Otherwise, we would have been climbing up on the return section of the loop. It’s always nice to have the easier hike on the way back to the trailhead.

Since there were no views to entertain us on the way up, you’d think that we’d manage to get the hike completed within an hour. No, as always, we took longer … about two hours by the time we got back to the car. Our entertainment consisted of wildflowers adding color to the trail … though not in any great numbers. Along the way, we saw bear scat and a couple of paw prints, but no actual sighting. Same with the deer … there was “pellet-evidence” but no sign of the deer themselves. Lots of chirping birds hidden in the canopy and a too-quick-for-the-shutter woodpecker were also companions on the trail.

Before returning to the Cruiser, we stopped at the office to ask about two dry-camping sites overlooking Lake Sapphire that we thought would be perfect for us … level and with a view of the lake. Turns out that even though we can fit into the sites, they no longer allow hard-sided campers to book these sites. When Mui asked why, he was told that people have damaged the trees and vegetation trying to squeeze into those sites. Bummer.

Back home, the sun was out and it looked like it would be warm enough to dine al fresco. We did so, despite the wind that picked up as we were eating. Mui afterwards took a nap while I stayed outside to download photos and write the journal. It was a little chilly at times, but it felt good to sit outdoors.

My reward for braving the slight chill? The two bucks from yesterday appeared out of nowhere. Actually, it only felt like that because they approached so silently that they were already on the move by the time I saw them passing right in front of me. I followed them from a distance to take a few photos. That’s when I noticed that they had stopped in the clearing behind the honey bucket. Funny … one of the bucks was “doing his business” back there!

Around 3:30p, we headed over to Lake Grace for another quick walk to enjoy the views. Then we collected the car, and drove up to the office to get another copy of the trail map. The broad-tailed hummingbirds birds were at the feeder again ... and quite willing to pose for a few more photos.

On the drive back to the Cruiser, we detoured to sit on one of the benches at Lake Leo. Unlike the first day, there were very few swallows flitting about. Nor did we get to see the brood of mallard ducklings today. We did, however, catch a visiting mallard pair “sharing some 💕” until the resident 🦆 chased them away.

I expect that we’ll have another quiet evening at home. Maybe watch one of the old movie DVDs we have in the Cruiser to entertain ourselves.

I should mention that there were a lot more day-trippers at Farish today. All were of the angler variety. A number of tents have popped up in the camping sites, and we noticed the cabins being readied for weekend visitors. Regardless, it was still peaceful … still quiet. And, of course, there is no one but us at the Lake Grace Pavilion.Read more