Switzerland Trail North Bound, Gold Hill CO [A creative narrative]

(A creative narrative on a quick day trip to go hiking with the family in Gold Hill) 10/16/19

Oh how the sweet sweet crisp fall air swiftly moves along the trails and up the dirt roads of Gold Hill ,CO.

With the crumpling leaves steadily dropping, and the lenticular clouds floating along we arrived at the North end of the Switzerland Trail-head. About five miles from the mountain town of Gold Hill. The trail  began flat and wide, what a great running trail I imagined. 

Though, with the leash in one hand, my purpose was to find the warm & fuzzy feelings of a family hike with my two dogs and mother. 

Although with them, I felt it. That deep blissful feeling of being surrounded by no civilization, ,power lines or soul of any kind for that matter. Nope, just me, the abundance of alpine trees (of course the living creatures in our bio-diverse forest), and the Chinook winds barreling through the mountain range. A peaceful feeling I will not forget. As we crested the steep and slippery ridge to the top, the snow dusted mountain range appeared. 

Add I feel like these mountains are the hidden secrets of the Rocky Mountain range.
They are just 40 minutes from the center of town but covered up by the Boulder flatirons back home, and thus not in view.

From the ice glaciers out ahead, the Twin sisters peaks, and a wide-open view of the Western backside of Long’s, I was in Awe! I couldn’t help but get that feeling of being on top of the world, in my beautiful home. With my beautiful mountains, our beautiful mountains. And yup, THEIR beautiful mountains. A chipmunk crawled up a tree. 

The silence with only the winds speaking for the world, it resonated with my soul. It reminded me, that nature is RESILIENT. It is RESISTANT. And it is POWERFUL beyond the man’s perspective. 

While I have a deep rooted believe that humanity is harming and destroying the natural world. With species going extinct at rapids rates, and atmospheric climate reshaping the Earth’s biodiversity (and what humans always lived with). 

Nature, its winds, its soils, its rocks, its minerals, its atmosphere, its roots.

It knows what to do, we just can’t disrupt the plan.

As my family arose with me to experience the wide-open view, we turned and skidded, yes skidded back down the mountain. 

I arrived back to the large alpine tree we started at, after just accomplishing what felt like a puzzle sloping down the steep trail-head, focus on my stability.

I shouted back, waiting for Kuro, my mom, and Marcy, “Marcy!” 

Oh how she jolted forward on her descent. It was a race to the finish-line, and leaving 

my cautious mother to the dust, she cruised down the trail, naturally taking the tangents with such a smooth and speeding style, you’d think she was an Olympic skier descending the ski slopes. 

As she flew towards the last switch-back, the fur along her face brushed backwards from the winds, her eyes light up, her smile widened, both with excitement and joy to see me. If she could talk she would say, “Natalie!” and ran for a hug to me.

We waited as a few minutes past for my mother to come down the mountain, with Kuro close by her side. All four of us headed back to the car as we’d descend back to Boulder.