There Is A Trail Up In The Rocky Mountains That You Should Never Hike, And For Good Reason
"This old trail used to be the only way through this little strip of Colorado to get onto Utah in the Winter when the snow was high, but it would give you about a 50/50 shot at making it. About half the people would freeze or starve to death. Take your pick. But the real…
By Jack Follman
Ezra and I set up camp around an old fire pit on the edge of a cliff which looked down at the valley below where the museum and town lied. I couldn’t believe we had climbed so high in just one day, it felt as if we were now up on the edge of the Earth. The air was razor thin. I was almost light headed.
We had just finished off a dinner of pork and beans and Potter’s Crown whiskey Ezra drank straight and I splashed with Pepsi, making Ezra laugh. It had to barely be 9 PM but Ezra and I both seemed to already be ready to go to sleep the way you do when you camp.
I sent up a tent next to the fire and saw the first crack in Ezra’s tough guy façade when he said he would sleep in there with me. Earlier he said he was just going to sleep next to the fire.
Not too long after dinner, we retired to the tent. Exhausted from the day, we both immediately collapsed into our sleeping bags. I was ready to fully drift off to sleep when Ezra’s voice stirred me.
“I wasn’t going to sleep in this ol pup tent. But I gotta tell you, something got me real spooked out there.”
I was suddenly wide awake.