The initial couple hundred feet was pretty tame dirt trail but I eventually found a steep, rocky, section that took me pretty directly up another 400 feet. The hiking was easy from then on but beautiful. Most of Durango was in view directly below me.

Steam from the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train as it pulls into town.

Locals apparently spend a lot of time up here. There were several structures built from dead wood and stone – like these impressive chairs.

I eventually picked up about 1,000 feet of elevation before heading back to the hostel. Friends and family think I’m nuts for hiking the same day I arrived but it felt great to get moving – not too challenging at all.

Today will be a full rest day but there may be another hike Thursday. There are some easy trails nearby that pick up a couple thousand feet to 12,000. Whatever I do will be relatively easy because I don’t want to go into Saturday’s 6 mile +3,000 foot hike, and the climbs that follow, tired.

I was just browsing the watch counter at REI when the girlfriend surprised me by whipping out her credit card and buying me a new Core. Regular readers know the story about my previous Suunto and how it imploded at 14,000 feet – a problem which I may have triggered when changing the battery before the climb. Hopefully, that won’t happen again. I’m eager to give it another try at altitude (hopefully somewhere just over 14,000 feet) in just a couple of weeks.

I hit Huntsville State Park before sunrise and was in the empty back sections of the park by dawn. With clear skies and temps in the 50s it was a perfect morning for hiking. I carried a gallon of water (just for weight) and about 10 pounds of stuff (like a change of clothes for the drive back) in the backpack for even more weight. It was a pretty leisurely hike though. I circled the entire park – just over ten miles – in a little over three hours. It felt good to get out of the gym again but I wish we had more challenging terrain and trails nearby.