Mt Ida, 12,880 ft...

MT IDA!

11 miles r/t (sign says 8-it LIES!)

12,880 ft Elevation

2,112 elevation gain

I followed jan from the truck, at 10,578ft - Up a very steep first mile or so.


The familiar trail seemed to be MUCH harder than the last time; im sure it became steeper.! It was not until we reached The fallen MT IDA, ALPINE VISITORS CENTRE sign that we found a new part of the trail. We took the right and Jan stopped to pull another layer on. MY next layer was a simple wool cap that seemed to make a great difference in the overall 'cold' of the mountain. It was a smooth, flat half mile and then one of climb. It was here that we discovered a grand view of the kaweneechee valley, the never summer mountain range and all of the colorful oranges and yellows that lit them up. I found the sight of the horizontal rip of grand ditch-a restricted dirt road I'd walked at the base of the Never Summers- to be of special interest!


The wind began to pick up- a chilly 10 or 15 miles an hour, and we stopped for another warm layer. Jan told me to tuck my under-layers into my pants for warmth. I tried, but my fingers proved to be to cold and too immobile to do such a thing. I gave up-


We passed a lighter outcropping of rocks to the right- I spotted a larger green one out of the bunch. I picked it up to examine, and to discover one of the largest, clearest hunks of epidote I'd ever seen!
The rock was dark green and almost opaque at its base and tapered off to lighter massive hunks of yellows and greens towards its narrow tip. Gorgeous!


I stashed the green treasure in the pouch of my hoodie and ran a second to catch up with Jan. JAn, at this point on our cold, windy journey, resembled something of an orange Eskimo figure.. His bright-coloured coat was puffed round by the many layers underneath it, and he was round. His eyes did show under the hood that flapped violently in the wind.. I had jeans and a t-shirt on, a long-sleeved jobbie and a thin hoodie; I was cold!


Our trip had proven to be the second time, out of seven ventures, that we would find wind on the windy alpine. The sky stayed grey above us, though the sun peaked over the warm lakes, Grandby and Shadow, far below us.The wind exceeded 40 or 50 miles an hours near the peak- an eternity of cold and stumbling from where I had picked the rock. The icy wind pierced through even my leather boots to drive my toes to pain, and then numb.


I wished I'd brought my hiking stick; it would have made it much easier to stay upright and on the path in that gruesome breeze. We lost the trail- there was no such thing.

Jan crawled over the long, rough boulder field about a hundred yards in front of me. I cant imagine what his feet felt like; he wore only an old pair of holed tennis shoes.

IT FELT GOOD to have accomplished something like mount ida- I gave Jana high-five at the sharp peak. It rose high above everything else and Im sure we were at the same level as longs peak- many miles away.



There was no wind at the top an I grew warm even as I sat still. You could hear it-
The wind rushes and tears at the other side- the Southwest side of mount ida was loud and chaotic. We were at peace, just around the peak from all of that...
Jan made a meal of protein bars, fruit and nuts that he pulled from his pack. I had a cliff bar (thanks ma!) and about half of my water.




We stayed there, behind the guard of the peak- Jan rolled stones down the icy side and I took photos of every degree of surrounding mountain. There were lakes all around us- Many of them !


I looked around our little pad- everywhere within the windless boundaries that the mountain created- for my green rock that'd disappeared from my pouch!
I did not find it on the tip of mounta ida- nor on the steep, trail-less decent from it's peak. I stuck close to jan- I'd gained all of my lost energy and was excited to hike again.
We spooked a pair of white ptarmigans which scurried across one of the snowfields to our right..
COOL!


I walked quickly behind jan- did not spend much time looking at anything too closely.
A rough, ugly piece of clouded, fractured smokey quartz; The mid-sized stone caught my eye and called for a double take. There was nothing special about the stone, but it was special- it stood out for no reason at all.


Instantly I visualized our Broadway bridge... it was the crystal's fault. The bridge was light up with all of the night's headlights and streetlights. I did not recognize the scene, but i knew what it was. Dont know why the image was so strongly burnt in front f the grey landscape of the continental divide...!!???
The wind was colder, and swifter than ever; It blew constantly no slower than 40mph and gusted enough to push the both of us off the trail and to the ground. WOW! It was like an iced tornado!


The wind blew at me like I wore no clothes; It simply cut through everything that protected me. The straps of my pack whipped at my face and neck - the exposed parts of me below my chin
quickly became welted and cut.
Still, I had to stop to examine the light rock again for more green crystals. I spent a full minute scurrying up the loose slope above the trail- Jan continued without me. I found nothing like the large one that I'd lost... though I found one clear chip, a few mm thick and the diameter of a quarter. It was a brilliant crystal, but still could not compare to the one i'd lost. ..



THE wind made our short hike back from there a long one; It was forever before we were able to duck around the other side of the mountain, into the treeline and out of cold. JAn began to sing when we crossed the first footbridge- an upbeat german tune.

I was happy enough to sing to, but Jan was bad enough by himself!
I returned the following day for the same hike after I failed Specimen Mountain, but it was not just for the peak. I must have spent a few extra hours up there- looking for that gorgeous, now legendary piece of epidote that is lost somewhere within 100yrds of the edge that falls from the east of the mountain...looked in the big pile. too, but found nothing nicer than that one clear little chip of it!