The Flat Iron, Again



This Conquistador Day (Columbus Day) I decided I needed to take a little time out for myself and take a hike. I rarely get time to do anything on my own. I  work, I workout, I work, and then there's family time. That leaves me with no time to do anything else. Well finally I decided that on a four day weekend I could justify a little time away from the family and take a hike. I convinced my friend from my second job that he needed to get out and do a hike and he agreed so I was all set.

Monday morning we hit The Flat Iron. This time it wasn't a freezing cold like the last and the sun was out. We still managed to get off the trail a couple times though (mostly due to phone calls from the office distracting us) and we had quite the fun time trying to get back on track. At one point we were climbing over some rough terrain and I knocked a 60-100 pound rock loose that went right down towards Dave then turned at the last minute. Yeah, fun times.

We reached the top after 3.5 hours. Like I said, calls from the office were slowing us down. I had carried up two sweaters and a beanie expecting it to be cold up top but the weather was perfect. I could have laid out on a rock there all day. We had some lunch, took some pictures, then headed back down the mountain. For some reason I thought we were going to get down in an hour and a half due to the fact we were going down and my pack was now 25 pounds lighter from all the water I drank. Yeah, I was wrong.

On the way down we saw the strangest thing. There were two girls from South America hiking up and one was in flip flops. I was thinking she's nuts. I had blisters wearing my boots and she was in flip flops! Three hours later we were finally back to the car. It took a long time getting down due to my back feeling a little on the weak side. For some reason I can carry Adri up all these other trails with no problem but due to the steep terrain and climbing rock over rock I have had problems both times going down The Flat Iron where I have to stop and rest because my back feels like it is going to give out.

When I got home I felt just like I did the last time. Headache, neck ache, chills, and tired. But again, the next day sore but relaxed. This trail seems to stretch out all the little muscles that people don't even realize exist.

About 25 minutes into our hike looking down.

 

 

 

At the creek. This is where it starts to get steep. 

 

 

 

 

 The Flat Iron. 

 

Right around the time I almost killed Dave. 

The rock wall at the top of the trail. A lot bigger than it looks. I had a much easier time going up it this time than I did the first time. 

 

Taking a peak over the edge.

An airplane flying a few hundred feet above The Flat Iron.