Rain, Sleet, Snow......Black Bear Pass

August 28, 2014
Black Bear Pass, Ouray, CO

We Lived.

Barely.

I drove 1,000 miles to travel back up the Black Bear Pass......a memory of three years ago that I held on to so tightly that my inner-self wouldn't rest until it lived it again. 

And today, that happened.  But a completely different memory was formed this time.   I'm struggling to find the words to describe this trek up that beloved treacherous mountain....

The weather said partly sunny....high of 66......but when we woke this morning, it was pouring rain. P-O-U-R-I-N-G.

We went anyway. 

As we headed up that perilous wet 12,000' mountain.....the only Jeep to tackle it this day.....the temperatures were dropping into the 40's...the rain turned to sleet....then snow.....and the fog was so thick the mountain disappeared from view. 

Did I mention we were in an open-air itsy-bitsy Jeep with 5 people in it?

This was not for the faint of heart, folks.......climbing over 12,000' on narrow, wet and dangerous trails with only inches from the edge.....and being the only Jeep in sight did cause me to rethink whether this was a good idea or not.

And then it happened.

I had to pee......

BAD.

I held it as long as I possibly could.....I was sitting on the hump seat in the back and kept "mouthing" to the driver in his rear-view mirror how desperate I was getting....but folks, we are hanging off a mountain....there's just no rest stops on this trail.

He finally stopped.....I climbed over the rear spare tire.....told everyone to sing while I relieved myself at the back of the Jeep in 40 degree weather with a fantastic view of Telluride.....and all was well in my universe once again.  Ahhhhhh.

After a warm, dry lunch in Telluride, this little group of 5 who feel like family now, headed back to Ouray a different route over the mountains....a sunny, beautiful, aspen-tree-lined route this time.....

......and promptly kissed the ground.