Nellie Creek
Pat showed up to run the last couple of days with us while Bob left for home. Gary was still without a Jeep so he rode along with Mike. Pat definitely had an interesting night -- he showed up at the coffee house with the back window of his Jeep torn up by a bear the night before! Luckily, no one was hurt and the bear didn't destroy anything other than the window. That's a crazy way to start a vacation.
We said our goodbyes to Bob and headed off to do the last few miles of Engineer Pass again. That would get us to the trailhead for Nellie Creek. We weren't sure how far we'd get up the trail we saw on the topo maps, but we were always up for an adventure.
It was already a nice, sunny day as we headed up the trail. It was pretty cool to wander in and out of the creek, which was fun. We were mostly in the shade of the trees on the way up, but then the trail opened up in to a gorgeous valley.
Unfortunately, it wasn't going to last for long. We soon came around a corner and found a pit toilet and lots of parked cars in a big parking area. We had found the end of our trail.
We got out and mingled, enjoying the sunshine. We were at the trailhead for the hiking trail to Uncompahgre Peak, which looked like a fun hike. After a bit we decided to head back down.
Monica's back was giving her troubles so she was ending her vacation early. Gary was also ready to head for home so he was done for the week. We said our goodbyes in Lake City and the rest of us headed off to see Bristol Head, a mountain we had been driving by all week. We were anxious to see the view from the top. It promised to be a great day.
