Colorado 2010: Devil's Head

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dangerous things happen when my unquenchable curiosity meets the first night of vacation at my Grandparent's beautiful Rocky Mountain cabin. The first dangerous thing to transpire is that I think, which is definitely dangerous in its own rite. My grandpa has this big, beautiful, heavy and twisted-looking coffee table at the cabin that has been made from, well, big ol'hunks of logs and wood. Enter the danger of my unquenchable curiosity, for on this big hunk of a coffee table are piles and piles of magazines just packed with new articles to explore.

The kids were in bed. I sat in Grandma's avocado green chair wearing my cozy pink flannel pajamas. The magazines were waiting, perfectly piled "just so" like my grandma always leaves them. "Ah!" I thought. I reached for tried-and-true Country magazine, to which I relate, seeings it's about we country folk and all.

I flipped straight to the index and looked over Country's Jun-Jul 2010 issue's offerings. My eyes caught the word "Colorado" in the list of stories, so I turned right to that article to see what it was about.

My heart smiled as the article introduced readers to a man who lives and works for the U.S. Dept. of Forestry at Devil's Head fire lookout in Pike National Forest. "NOT TO FAR FROM THE CABIN!" I thought.

Let's see here..."We need to be able to hike 1.5 miles to the top of the mountain, so bring water. We can do that. Check. Make sure you come when it's not storming. We can do that. Check. Extra patience and time to get the kids 1.5 miles up the trail and extra, extra patience for Dawson, who is afraid of heights, to climb the final 143 stairs to the fire lookout tower." This sounded like it could be very fun and doable. Devil's Head seemed like an off-the-beaten-path adventure that we would remember.

"Travis let me read this to you. [I read him the article] What do you think? You wanna do it?"

"Sounds good," Travis said. "We need to figure out how to get there, and we can even go tomorrow."

"Yes, I think tomorrow would be great. I will just call the department of forestry tomorrow morning to see where it is and hours it is open."

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We woke and read the Country article to the kids so they would get pumped about what we were going to go see at Devil's Head fire lookout. They helped me pack the picnic basket, while Travis graciously washed the dishes from morning breakfast.

I called the Pike Forest Service, got the correct county's forest service contact, and she told me visitors were more than welcome and reminded me to bring water (check) and understand we will be hiking 1.5 miles each way (a hopeful check).

So we were off. A stop in Woodland Park for groceries and a cooler to store the cold groceries would prevent us from having to stop at Wal Mart after the day's journey. Loaded with our picnic, a trunk full of Wal Mart groceries, and happy smiling faces, and a full tank of gas, the swagger wagon (our Toyota Sienna minivan) was ready to go. Due north.

We took a smaller paved county road to a series of turns onto county dirt roads that eventually took us to the heart of the Pike National Forest, Rampart Range Road. Rampart Range is a rougher, washboard road, but wide enough and traveled-enough to be safe. It took us right to the foot of Devil's Head, where we parked and had a great picnic.

Climbing to the top of the "mountain" was lots of fun. The kids were real troopers and we just had a fantastic time of talking, playing, stopping to rest for water often, and admiring the beauty. Oh, and smelling the bear/deer poop. :) We made it within 1/4 mile to the top before the kids started complaining they were too tired to go on. We encouraged them, took some extra breaks, and they ultimately wanted to make it to the top with everybody, despite a little discomfort. Bathrooms (yes!) and a little cabin greeted us at the top of the mountain and at the foot of the steps that lead to the lookout tower.

143 steps. 143 STEEP steps. 143 STEEP steps that ascend to a fire tower 9 thousand some odd feet above the world, on the top of a mountain. Yah. Like Dawson was having any of that crazy business. He is TERRIFIED of heights...wait for it...just like me. So there he and I stood looking up at the scary, steep flights of stairs where, from the top looking down, people look like little ants. I pleaded with him. I bribed him. I used reason. I used threats. I got daddy. Travis came down and grabbed his arm and safely helped drag, er, well, by a few steps he was walking up on his own holding Travis's hand. Jillian who was NOT scared escorted me up the steps, but when the point came that she looked down and FREAKED OUT, I comforted and coached her the remaining steps to the top.

Mountains for miles is a magnificent sight. I could see Pike's Peak, and behind Pike's Peak, the San Gre de Cristo range to the south. To the west was the range that Breckenridge is in, and more ranges to the northwest. The shadowy purple layers of mountain peaks reminded me how big a God I serve, that he would make all of this and he knows ALL the mountains' details. How much more does he know and care about me?!

The Forest Fire lookout guy wasn't there the day we went, but we still walked around the lookout tower looking through the glass walls to see instruments, desks and snacks and personal items that the fire lookouts like to have.

Going down 143 steep steps was just as hard as going up, and when Jillian and I finally got down in one piece I said, "I never want to do that again." Dawson and I were so happy we experienced the top, despite our height reservations!

A few bumps and bruises on the way down were a fair price to pay, considering we were going straight down this time, instead of straight up. We made much better time getting back to our picnic and parking spot coming down.

We got to the car just in time to be inside it when an afternoon sprinkle passed by, but also just in time for the rest (and arguably more entertaining part) of our Devil's Head adventure...getting home.