Well Renae and I decided that once I got back from my horse training in Denver on Saturday night we would head out for a backpacking trip on Sunday afternoon. It turns out I was a little more exhausted than expected. SOOOOO I suggested that we just head out for a day trip on Monday leaving early. Renae said it would be fun to hike Kannah Creek to see how far we make it without packs. So Sunday evening I got our day packs together and we headed off early Monday morning and got to the trail head around 0840 in the morning. The first part of the trail is not much different than the previous post describes. Only differences were I had a new camera to play with, there were biting nats the size of Chicago, and the trail was more overgrown with weeds, flowers, and grasses. It only took us about two hours to get to the spot were we camped last time. This was a huge difference considering it took us 3 1/2 hours last time, although in our defense we were carrying 30 lbs packs and had just worked all morning laying tile. We stopped at the camp site and had a bite to eat then headed on. Well just past the creek crossing started the long sludge uphill to the first plateau on the Mesa. It seemed it took us forever and I do mean forever to just go 1.3 miles and literally it took 2 hours or so. Around noon we were starting to get worried because we hadn't seen any water since the camp area and the dogs were getting thirsty. So Renae and the dogs stopped in a shady area and after catching my breath I trudged up a hill to see if there was water on the other side. Sure enough it sounded like Niagara Falls roaring through the hills. So I called to Renae to come up the hill. It was a sweet little spot, so we took some time, I layed down on the grass, Renae chose the water to relax in. The dogs were very grateful and spent 10 minutes laying in the water and drinking. Renae decided she wanted to fill her hydration pack so we took out the new filter (just like the old one) however they had made some changes to it so we spent 15-20 min trying to figure out what went were without directions. Luckily we got it figured out. Man that water was cold but it felt real good on tired and aching muscles. After our break we decided to head back to the car. We took some more pictures on the way down and Renae decided her old camera had officially quit. We stopped again at the camp site and Renae put a t-shirt on at this point she had been wearing a tank top and was starting to get lobster red and switched into her sandals because her heels were hurting. I stretched out my legs and hips because my hip was bothering me and we headed on. Well shortly after this Renae decided she couldn't hold her pee any longer and said right here. She yelled at me to tell her if any one was coming. She is so crazy. The last 9/10 of a mile I was leading because my feet were hurting and I could feel the blisters forming on my arches where my orthotics were rubbing. I had tunnel vision and was dragging my hiking poles behind me for a ways. We made it back to the car and luckily it started (another story) after 6.5 hours of hiking, 7.5 miles, with 1550 feet of elevation gain. We broke our old record of hiking 7 miles out of Missouri Basin in Buena Vista. There was only one other person on the trail and she was on a horse. We saw little lizards, Zeus cornered a baby bird (which I made him leave), huge ants (this long ---------), birds and we heard crickets, locus, and more birds. Funny we didn't see any ground squirels or prairie dogs. We did have to drive through a herd of cattle being moved from one grazing area to another (which ended up being the road?????imagine that). Renae wanted me to make note that throughout the hike there were large sections that had a noticable odor, she said it was my butt but I'm sure it was natural gas seeping through the earth's crust.
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