Mistaken Meadow

For Memorial Day weekend, we took the girls up to the Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Neither of us had been there and it looked like there would be some nice, secluded hiking for the girls. We started at Panoramic Point where you could see over 100 miles of the continental divide.

100 miles of the continental divide viewed from Panoramic Point

The hike began as a descent to the valley floor where tons of aspens were just coming into bloom. As we hit the base, we were surrounded by towering promontories. The area had recently seen rain and numerous ATVs, so the path was a bit rough and muddy.

Family photo-op at Panoramic Point

There was one section that David had to carry Sequoia across because we knew she would splash around in the mud otherwise. After completing the 2.5 mile loop, we drove over to the Horseshoe trail to tackle the climb to Frazer Meadow. We had begun to lose sunlight and had mistakenly read the map to be a 2 mile loop rather than a 2-mile out and 2-mile back. The climb was steep following the babbling brook-- rising almost 1000 ft and reaching the mid-9000' elevation mark. My asthma was showing signs of returning and I knew I was holding Dave back. We decided to have him "run" up with Sequoia to see if the view of the Frazer Meadow was worth the remaining climb.

The view from the base of the Raccoon trail

Thinking I would spot him coming back down, I continued at a much slower pace with Belle. About 20 minutes after separating from Dave and Sequoia, I thought I spotted what looked like Sequoia. I yelled her name and saw her bolt. I quickly realized the giant gray animal I saw was not Sequoia, but a pack of much fatter Sequoia-looking animals. Three of them darted up into the woods about 100 feet from us. I still don't know what they were-- really well fed coyotes perhaps? Needless to say, I began to become much more alert to my surroundings. It didn't help that every few minutes Belle would jolt her head as if she heard something. I think I yelled Dave's name and talked to myself every few minutes just to "warn" any wildlife that we were here. After reaching the end of the Horseshoe trail, I saw the sign for the Frazer Meadow to the right, 0.2 miles. On the trail was a note that said "Turn Here." Thinking it was from Dave, I took the Y-towards the meadow. No Dave. No Sequoia. Three mule deer later -- I'm now in a panic.

Me with the girls on the Raccoon loop trail

It's now been nearly 45 minutes since we departed from Dave and Sequoia and I had turned around and begun running down the mountain. Extremely terrified that Belle and I were going to get attacked by a pack of coyotes or even worse, mountain lions, I screamed Dave's name frantically as I ran nearly out of control down the rocky trail.
Dave and I had a tearful reunion about 0.5 miles from the end of the trail. Turns out he never figured I would've made it as far as I did and he had taken the trail towards the campground of another meadow. After running all the way down back to the car and all the way back up, he finally found another group of people. He gave them Sequoia and sprinted up the mountain yelling my name. While I knew I was okay (asthma-wise), he didn't. He was terribly afraid I had been abducted by a pedophile, a pack of animals, or lying on the trail with a collapsed lung somewhere.

Carrying the munchkin across a creek full of mud

Suffice it to say, this was one of the most scary moments the two of us have ever had. We couldn't stop giving each other hugs the rest of the day thanking each other that we were alive and safe together. After hiking nearly 7 miles up rugged mountains, all four of us were grateful to be back in the comfort of our home.

P.S. Here are the runkeeper maps with pictures of our hikes:
http://rnkpr.com/a68hp5
http://rnkpr.com/a68mao