Brainard, Eldora and Mallory Cave - March 5-6 weekend getaway

March 5th-6th, 2016

My partner and I decided to have a weekend getaway to reduce some stress.  Sometimes you just have to get away from the noise of the city.  We reserved a room at Eldora Lodge after receiving the recommendation from a friend of mine.  Because check-in wasn't until 3pm, we decided it might be nice to do some snowshoeing beforehand.  I've never gone snowshoeing before, so we invested in some starter gear (snowshoes, trekking poles, and winter gaters) in anticipation for the journey.  We loaded up the car and took off for Brainard Lake trails in Ward, near Nederlands Colorado.  We started at the Brainard Lake Recreation Area only to discover that there wasn't a lot of snow.  We took our queue from some of the other individuals looking to venture on these trails and no one appeared to have snowshoes with them.  So we grabbed our trekking poles and bundled up, leaving our snowshoes behind.  There will have to be another snowshoeing trip someday.

We checked out the map at the start of the trail head, and determined that we would take the Waldrop Trail to the lake and head back.  It wasn't far into the trail that we came upon snow.  Thankfully the path was packed enough that we didn't struggle too much against the snow since we only had hiking boots on.  I'm grateful for having the trekking poles with us to help us on our route.  The trail markers were to assist cross-country skiers, so we had green, blue and black markers to guide us along the way.  However similar to many hiking trails throughout Colorado there weren't a ton of signs to ensure that we were on the correct path the entire time.  At some point we ended up on the South Saint Vrain Trail.  We moved slow and steady, and eventually we got to Brainard Lake.  It was majestic!  Cold, snowy, frozen.  We saw very few individuals braving this trail, many of whom had more gear than the two of us.  It was nice to have the peace.  There was quiet all around, just the crunching of our feet and poles connecting with the snow.

Brainard Lake - photo credit yours truly

As we rounded our way back, following the Brainard Snowshoe Trail to get us back to our car, my left hip started to really hurt causing us to slow down even more.  Every step I felt pain surrounding my hip.  Step, step, step, step, stop.  Deep breath, I tried stretching a little bit during each break.  I am so grateful to my partner for giving me encouragement, "we're almost there!" he would say to get me moving again.  The real thing about hiking, is that you really have only two options.  Either you make it, or you don't.  And if you don't, you are surrendering yourself to the elements.  So you do!  You keep at it, one foot in front of the other.  I felt myself sweating through each layer of my clothes, breathing heavy and thinking how nice it would be to get back to the car and chomp into one of the red gala apples we had waiting for us in the car.

After the hike I slumped into the car, my feet hurting, my hip aching, my head pounding.  I didn't drink enough water during the hike and I could really feel just how long it had been since my feet hit a trail.  We treated ourselves to a quick coffee stop at the Train Cars Coffee and Yogurt Company.

We drove over to the Lodge and were given a tour.  It had a beautiful view, they were very easy going, the bed was comfortable, there was no cellular reception and while they did have wifi I didn't have a steady connection.  It was recommended that we go to a German restaurant nearby, Westfalen Hof, for dinner which was tasty, the ambiance was a little eclectic, and the service was slower than what we are used to in Denver.  What is nice about this is that it forced us to slow down a bit, I actually felt myself enjoying it a lot.  We had a great conversation and enjoyed good food over a couple of hours.  It was nice simply to be.

This was our table decor - our little companion during dinner :-)

We relaxed the next morning, enjoyed the complementary breakfast, and looked up a mild hike for the day.  We were both sore from the Brainard Lake hiking.  Unfortunately the limited internet connectivity at the lodge what we had initially determined was a longer drive than we anticipated, so I looked up another "easy" hike when we had reception in the Boulder area.  I had just downloaded the AllTrails app on my phone and excitedly announced the Mallory Cave Trail was just a few minutes away, a two and a half mile hike, listed as an "easy" hike.  When we got there, we found a lot more people at the trail head, unlike the experience the day before.  Lots of people, and kids, and dogs.  Much busier a place!  It's nice to see families getting out and enjoying the nice day.  We all get so "plugged in", it can be easy to forget that we live in such a beautiful place in the world.

We didn't even grab gear, anticipating a low-key jaunt as opposed to the hike that we ended up getting.  (And a quick note to anyone going on this particular hike, there didn't appear to be any bathroom facilities of any kind in the area, and it's too busy a place to just jaunt off the trail to take care of business, so plan accordingly!)  Apparently there are multiple lists for this hiking trail, and we had ended up on a moderate trail.  There were switchbacks and steep areas.  There weren't good trail markers to ensure that we were on the appropriate trail and initially the only markers said "Mesa Trail".  It was a ways down the road before we actually saw the signs for Mallory Cave Trail.  About half mile from where the cave was supposed to be I felt myself struggling for air and made us stop.  Again I told myself "either we make it up, or we don't".  And I am a person who hates to get close to the end of something and then "giving up", so I took it as slow as I needed to but I knew I had to get up that mountain.

View on Mesa Trail before getting to the start of the Mallory Cave trail

 

There is a 100ft steep climb in order to actually get up to the cave, an area closed during certain times of the year so that the bats who live there could do their bat business, and this was that time of year.  So, we made it to the cliff head before the gate at the cave's entrance.  I took it as a win.  We sat for a bit, looking at the area around, I was grateful that I had at least thought to grab a water bottle.  I was envious of a three-year-old boy whose mother gave him a Snickers bar for making it as far as he did.  I didn't have a Snickers bar to enjoy, and when I was a child that was my candy of choice to get me motivated for any athletic event!  (Yeah, one morning at a swim meet I refused to get in the water, my mother totally bribed me with a Snickers bar if I would just do one race.  I totally did it and enjoyed every bite of that candy bar as my victory!)

The hike back down wasn't as challenging, though I think there were some sections that were different from the trek up.  My legs shook almost the entire way down the mountain.  My partner asked, "Are you happy?" and I responded, "I'm glad we did it."  He laughed and said, "So you're not happy?"  I thought for a second and said, "Well, I'm glad that we did it, we definitely needed it, but I don't like how hard it was from what I had anticipated.  My app said that it would be easy, and that wasn't easy (just a note: my app did say it was easy, Chris pulled it up on his phone and it said moderate).  And lugging all this up the mountain is just hard!  But I really love being in the mountains."  And that's when I decided that I would document my hikes and progress.  We stopped at a Mad Greens in Boulder for lunch on our way home.  I was so happy to see Dexter and Oscar, our fur babies, when we got back.  I went to the grocer and was very proud of myself that no unhealthy foods made their way into my cart.  It's time for me to commit to my health!