When Mary called to see if I wanted to hike, I was tempted to say no and be a vegetable all day after the week I had at school (Halloween really has a bizarre effect on the mental capabilities of children)…but I knew Ginger would LOVE to frolic through the woods and it would probably make me feel better too. So we planned to hike Seven Bridges this morning.

As we were driving up North Cheyenne Canyon Road past Helen Hunt Falls, we began noticing all the snow. Hmmm, maybe I should have worn my stiff, uncomfortable hiking boots after all. I am a running shoe hiker partly because I’m a casual hiker and partly because I don’t want to spend the money on a good pair of boots. The ones I have are 13 years old and I’ve only worn them a handful of times because they cut into my ankles when going uphill or downhill. When I bought them, I was a naive college graduate freshly hired as a wrangler at an adventure camp and in desperate need of some hiking boots. Obviously I hadn’t done my homework before purchasing. Time for some new ones, I think.

After we parked in the dirt lot at the end of North Cheyenne Road where it intersects Gold Camp Road and High Road, we bundled up (little dogs included) and proceeded through the gate which closes off  Upper Gold Camp Road to motorized vehicles. Today I decided to test Ginger’s skills and let her off leash. She was like a hyper-active Little Red Riding Hood bounding through snow and sniffing poo, but she came when I called her, even around other dogs.

We ran into a group of hikers and asked about the conditions of Seven Bridges. One man glanced at our shoes and said I’d be better off on St. Mary’s Trail. The kid with him said, “Yeah, I fell like five times.” He was wearing running shoes. So, St. Mary’s it was. Something new is always exciting.

I think (we were talking and I forgot to pay attention) Gold Camp curves around to the left after the Seven Bridges trail head and goes past a closed off rail tunnel (it suffered a collapse and a fire). It was about a mile or so to the tunnel. I thought we had taken a trail off of Gold Camp, but I’m pretty sure it just curved around. Side note:  There are numerous stories about this tunnel being haunted by school children who were killed when the tunnel collapsed on their bus, which was returning from a field trip. No evidence has been found to support that this actually happened, so most likely the story is an urban myth created by spooked high schoolers who frequented the area to get drunk and make out. Some believe the tunnel is haunted by rail workers. At the closed off tunnel, a narrow, rocky trail to the left goes up and over it. This is St. Mary’s Falls Trail. Then you can see a view of the city.

A funny (well, scary funny) thing happened just as we were about to put the cameras back in our pockets and move on from the view. We heard someone say, “I seeeee you,” in one of those horror movie, sing-song, creepy voices. Ummm, cut to murder scene in the middle of the woods. We were unable to decipher if the voice was female or male, and since my mind immediately goes to the worst case scenerio, I envisioned a crazed lunatic preying on women hiking alone in the woods. It happens; I watch 20/20 and Dateline enough to know. Then I caught a glimpse of the stranger’s purple hat and neon green coat. No self-respecting crazed lunatic would wear such bright colors. No, it was only a (maybe slightly loony) middle-aged woman talking to her dog.

There’s one point shortly after this view where the trail forks. We erroneously took the left one across the stream, but quickly discovered it led back to Gold Camp Road on the other side of the tunnel. I’ve read that bikers often take this trail to connect back to Gold Camp Road. We happened to spot the “I seeeee you” lady on the upper trail so we backtracked and went to the right, a safe distance behind her…just in case.

The trail follows a rushing, clear stream (Buffalo Creek) pretty much the whole way. The grey sky was full of the promise of snow, which always make me feel cozy when I’m bundled up and walking in the woods. Soon, a few ghostly flakes began to fall. The neon green cloaked woman must have turned around well before reaching the falls because she suddenly appeared in front of us, harmlessly sweet talking our dogs now. Sigh of relief.

The trail was snow packed in the shadows of the trees, but not too slick, even in my running shoes. There’s another part where the trail forks, but I think either way connects back to the main trail. We went left. Eventually the trail opens up to a snow-covered scree slope. Flakes were lightly falling.

Mary wanted to find walking sticks for the trek down and had been keeping her eye out. All of a sudden, she said in a low voice, “Do you see what I see?” I panicked for a moment, scanning the trees below for a bear or mountain lion, poised to snatch up my little dog before she could be eaten by a wild animal trying to fatten itself up for winter. Again with the worst case scenerio. “See what?” I asked. She hesitated. Speak, woman, speak, so I know how to react! Alas, she was only pointing out two sticks, each the proper height and thickness for a walking support. However, she had to scale down a scree slope to get them. “This is exactly what that guy on I Shouldn’t Be Alive was doing when he fell,” she said casually as her boots slid down towards the elusive sticks. She safely retrieved them and we left them at the side of the trail to pick up later.

The trail is quite a climb in some parts. According to the sign at the beginning of the trail, it’s 1.6 miles one way. Finally we reached another sign that claimed the falls were .2 miles further. This is where the real climbing begins. There’s a sharp switchback marked with some rocks and a fallen log. Soon after is a sign that says the base of the falls is 500 feet.  I’m sure it’s spectacular in the spring and summer, but most of it was snow covered and frozen. You can barely make out the cascading frigid water. There are some steps that climb up along the falls, but it was too snowy and icy to even attempt traversing up them.

Then the clouds really began to threaten. Mary wanted a winter scene photo with her dogs to send in her Christmas cards. This was the perfect spot for that.

There were interesting rock formations that I didn’t notice until our decent because I had been so focused on our climb. That, and Mary had stopped to pee behind one of the rocks, so I had time to look around.

Right after the rocks, we met a “real” hiker making the last bit of ascent. He wore YakTrax (traction devices designed to slip over the soles of your shoes) and sported two REAL walking sticks that he didn’t have to nearly kill himself to get. We said hello but he couldn’t hear us for the headphones jammed into his ears. I will never understand why people go hiking (or biking, or running, or whatever) in nature and choose to assault their eardrums while doing so. It’s dangerous and detracts from the peaceful beauty (in my opinion). Mary said he’s one of those guys that will get gobbled up by a mountain lion because he won’t hear it approaching.

The best part of this hike was when snow began falling heavy and thick. It was a winter wonderland.

It took us about 3 hours total from the parking lot and back (most likely between 5 and 6 miles).We only encountered the two hikers I mentioned on St. Mary’s Trail. There were a lot more on Gold Camp Road, probably headed to the slippery slope that was Seven Bridges. I hope they had their YakTrax on! Ginger was such a good dog off leash (except when she spontaneously started to pester Mary’s little dog Cassie…a few times on the leash cured that problem). She came every time I called her and even bypassed some barking dogs and a bicycle she wanted to chase. She was in doggy heaven darting along the trail. I had a pretty good time too!