In the weeks between deciding to return to Colorado and
actually doing so, I created a profile on a gay social networking site with
heavy Colorado usage named Connexion and began chatting with people in the
state . It wasn’t long until I was contacted by Kelly, a firefighter in Fort
Collins, who noticed my pictures of trekking in the Pyrenees earlier that
summer and asked me for advice. He was about to leave to hike there on a trip
with his sister who lives in Paris. We kept in touch and decided to meet up
when we were both in Colorado.

Well, as two avid hikers who started with a conversation
about hiking when we met, we decided to undertake one when we finally got to
meet in person. I asked Kelly to go easy on me, so he chose a loop hike in
Rocky Mountain National Park that started off at the Bear Lake Trailhead and
went in a rough counterclockwise circle to via Nymph Lake, Lake Heiyaha, and
Alberta Falls. Although the hike was relatively easy in the sense that there
were no big gains or losses in altitude and it didn’t climb too high, it was
still strenuous is the sense of being over twelve miles long with many ups and
downs along the way even if no mountains to climb. For the most part it was a
sort of walk in the woods through valleys and over ridges with only occasional
good views of the mountains around . That wasn’t all that disappointing, though,
on what turned out to be a mostly overcast day but one still quite warm for
early October. When we finished and were heading back to Estes Park we
experienced the pleasure of watching the bugling elks. October is the rutting
(mating) season for the thousands of elk in area and becomes a big tourist
attraction as males elk battle it out and attempt to protect the harems they
have built up from other randy stags. While it’s fun to watch, you don’t get to
do it alone.

When I got back to Littleton, I told my housemate Dave about
my walk in the woods first date. He called it a “Kellython”, the term I’ve
since come to use for all my strenuous outdoor activities with Kelly. It’s one
of those “Only in Colorado” things where a first date involves a half day march
through the mountains.

It must not have been too bad since a few days later I was
back for some more. I guess I passed the test on the first day’s hike because
for our next outing we decided to do something in the same area but a little
more strenuous. We returned to the Bear Lake Trailhead but this time turned in
the other direction to hike first north and then west with rapid altitude gain
as we climbed toward the Continental Divide on what’s called the Flattop
Mountain Trail.

The trail is called that because it ends on the peak of
Flattop Mountain on the Continental Divide at 12,324 feet in elevation, a climb
of around 2,900 feet over 4 .3 miles from Bear Lake. Needless to say, the views
from the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park are spectacular,
and the view from Flattop includes the Tyndall Glacier wedged in a shady area between
Flattop and Hallett Peak that catches snow blowing down from the Divide.

Being gluttons for punishment, Kelly and I decided to
continue on south along the Continental Divide for another mile or so to
Hallett Peak at 12,713 feet. Hey, when you’ve come this far, why not climb a
second mountain in the neighborhood. It was on Hallett that we took a long rest
and had our lunch. Yes, it was cold and windy but still very clement weather
overall for mid-October.

No great day of outdoor activity in Colorado is complete
without finishing up with good beers and burgers (OK, sometimes burritos).
Fortunately, there is such a brewery in Estes Park, the gateway town on the
eastern side of Rocky Mountain National Park – The Estes Park Brewery.