Cherrie and I decided to go for a bike ride. We were only going for a short ride, until we wondered if the trail went around the lake. Lets see! How long could it take to bike around the lake? Sooooo we started out on our adventure to bike around the lake and be back at camp before the sun went down, uh huh.
At first it was a normal mountain biking ride, occasionally passing people along the way. Then we noticed we weren't seeing any other people and the sounds of the campground had disappeared and we were gone longer than we wanted. We could still see the lake and we were on the opposite side from where we had started, no problem, just keep following the trail, uh huh. We came upon some signs in the woods for snowmobilers that pointed in one direction 8 miles and in the other direction 5 miles.
We decided to stick with our trail. The trail started to become very ugly, fast, so we had to walk our bikes and push them through slippery mud, often along a steep slope. It was getting dark in the forest and we were getting a little concerned, okay maybe more than a little. Will we have to spend the night in this muddy miserable place?
The mosquitoes were thick and buzzing all around, Cherrie was having trouble seeing and getting through the mud. The mosquitoes were getting to her and she could hardly see anything because she left her glasses at camp, it was only going to be a short ride, "right". I told her if I spread mud all over her the mosquitoes wouldn't bite her. She said #%$#, to that, so she continued to get bit up. We were getting bit up pretty bad and what made it worse, we had no water. This sure was turning into a full blown adventure. Cherrie wasn't as enthusiastic as when we had started, especially when I wanted to smear mud all over her. Maybe she thought we would come upon a bear or worse. I don't know what would be worse but give us enough time and we'll find it.
We finally came to an area that wasn't as dense with trees and the trail improved so we could hop on our bikes and ride again. We could hear kids and see campfires in the distance from neighboring campgrounds. There was very little light by now, but we pushed on.
We could hear an occasional car on a highway in front of us and eventually we made it to that highway. Well now what? We were on this highway but didn't know what highway and there was nothing around. Do we go this way or that way? We thought about it and made a decision to go north, a ways down the road we came upon a sign that said "CO HWY M". Now we knew where we were, but we didn't know if we were going in the right direction. Our sense of direction was messed up from being in the forest for so long.
We continued down the highway hoping to see a familiar landmark soon. Finally we did, it was a sign for "CO HWY N" which is the road our campground is off of. We turned onto "HWY N" and continued our adventure down the moon lit road and turned into the campground to coast into camp 5 hours later, where Russ and David were waiting impatiently.
Cherrie and I were tired and thirsty. David and Russ were just getting ready to go to the ranger station to report us missing because it was now 11:00 and we've been gone since 6:00. We got the lecture from both of them as Cherrie gulped her water and I sipped my cold beer wondering what the mud adventure would of been like.
It sure would have made it a lot easier if we had a cell phone, or maybe just turned around and went back. Cherrie and I never go anywhere without our water. If we're hiking we take our Camelbak and other things we may need. We're a little more prepared for adventure these days then back then.
This is the route we took around the lake, "the long way".
View Firefly Lake in a larger map
I remember Russ and I going through all the firewood that night, lol. Leaving the young ones to the fire is not smart, they just play lets see how tall the flames can get and use all the wood.
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