Gardner's Gate April 14, 2019

I had never heard of Gardner's Gate!  I do have all the guide books but rarely do I read through the brand that seems to have a different vocabulary than I do.  Well it is in one of those source references where the way to get to Gardner's Gate is well documented.  It was a fun route finding affair kind of day that took us up and along Indian Graves Ridge, then onto Gardner's Ridge and finally to Gardner's Gate.  We had views of all sorts yet I found it was views like this framed photo that captured my attention for most of our day.   

 While we were gearing up, I looked up and saw where we would first hike up.

It was steep right from the start yet thankfully snow free.  

It was heads down as I went up. No conversation, no admiring scenery, the focus was just to get this big up over with so we could get on with riding the ridge.  While my head was down I did notice lots of crocuses but I only admired them. We reached the top and were afforded a grand view.

 on Indian Graves Ridge

I heard of Indian Graves Ridge before but what I heard was never good.  

That, I don't understand.  I loved everything about this place today.  

I do realize though that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 all kinds of wild and wonderful trees

We descended off Indian Graves Ridge.  A few times we stopped to verify our location and that we were heading where we wanted to be heading.  This sign was an important marker and we were glad to come across it.  

 heading to our lunch spot at the end of the fence in the shelter of the trees

 view from our lunch spot

It took quite some time to get to our lunch spot.  After lunch we checked our time, how much further it was to Gardner's Gate, then decided let's go for it.  This was where the roller-coaster ride began with loads of ups and downs, forest sections and then stretches with open views.  I liked this kind of aspen section.

 We needed to find certain meadows which we eventually did in a fun round about way.

Then the landscape changed somewhat and we sensed we were near Gardner's Gate after being on Gardner's Ridge for some time.  It was looking very pretty and perfect for pictures.  

eyeing where the gate might be

We arrived at Gardner's Gate.  It was well after what we figured should be our turn around time.  Even though it was getting well on in the afternoon, we still took some deserved time here.  This is my destination shot.

 We opened the fence and scampered up the hill to see what was over the other side.

It was beautiful in this direction.  

With mountains behind us, I still enjoyed these rolling hills in front of us.

We closed Gardner's Gate and got back onto Gardner's Ridge for the return trip.  

We arrived back to where we had dined a few hours prior.  

We took a short snack and rest break.

We made our way onto Indian Graves Ridge and decided to follow the fence the entire way instead of meandering through the forest on the other side of the fence. This skeleton was on the trail and while others said it looked like a vertebrae, I said it looks like a face to me.

We made it back to the memorial bench and once again took a few minutes to rest, admire the scenery and to capture more beautiful photos.  Here I go again ignoring the mountains behind me and paying attention to those rolling hills again.

 You can see our cars, those tiny dots in the center down there.  

 I went for a quick down on that steep hill so I could have some time to photograph the crocuses.  

 When I was almost at the bottom I took a look back to see the others working their way down.  

We reached the cars which we parked beside a small boulder field.  It felt good to sit on a boulder and get my boots and socks off, take my hat off and get those pig tails out of my hair, to get my compression exercise socks on then slip into my walking shoes and lace then up.  That's all it took to feel somewhat fresh again.  

Thank you for this day of enjoyable exploring!