Backpacking Day 5

Day five.  Our last day.  So sad.

We had an easy day ahead of us, as it was all downhill.  After packing up and bidding farewell to the sheep, we hit the trail.

The way back was mellow, for the most part.  We chatted and took our time on the trail.  Oh, and we took the opportunity to take one last CCS.

The trail back took us through an old pine forest.

It didn't take us long to actually get down.  When we got to the bottom we found a sign for trail 806, the elusive trail that had caused us so much trouble the day before.

And then, we were at our car, and it was time to go.

After one stop at the Rio Grande on the drive back to dunk our faces, we started on the long stretch back to Longmont.

We did, however, make one stop to buy some awesome peaches at a roadside stand.  A sweet way (hehehe) to end the trip.

Backpacking Day 4

Day four of our trip started out early for Jo and I.  We had decided the night before to get up nice and early to see what wildlife we could spot.  We got up around 5:30ish, and set off in the chilly morning to see if we could get lucky and see some critters.

Our first CS (confirmed sighting, don't know why we call it this but we just do) was this mama elk and her little baby, who were traveling along the water's edge along the other side of the lake.  This was a good start, especially since the elk up in the alpine were very wild, and didn't want to get anywhere near Jo and I.  Even if they spotted us a mile off, they would take off running as if we were much closer. Jo and I had spooked a huge herd the day before when we were walking from Little Goose Lake, and we really weren't that close.  Not all elk behave this way.  In Estes Park, close to where we live, the elk are quite used to admiring tourists pulling off to look at them, and will graze contentedly on the side of the road, sometimes yards away.

Jo and I hiked a little ways away from our campground in order to get a good view of the valley below us.  We were hoping to spot a bear, but no luck.  We did spot a large herd of elk, which we had heard bugling as soon as we had gotten up that morning.  And we saw a trio of male moose in the willows below.

After looking around, we headed back towards the lake and sat on a large rock next to the water, just enjoying the morning.  That's when this big fella came out of the brush and walked right next to us.  He had been grazing in the willow near where we were camping.

After considering us for a minute, he trotted off, slobering the whole way.  He was only mildly concerned with us; I think he knew just how big he was.

After he left our line of sight, we could hear the moose splashing around in the water.  Apparently, he wanted to take an early morning dip in the lake. 

We spotted this rogue elk at the very top of the mountain ahead of us.  There couldn't have been much vegetation, so Jo and I are not sure what he was doing up there.  Perhaps just enjoying the view?

Both of us were sad to leave Goose Lake.  We had had it all to ourselves, and it really was a lovely alpine getaway.  To say goodbye, we took one more dip.  Yup, it was just as cold as it had been the night before.  Then, we packed up and headed off.

We knew that the day would not be a strenuous one because 1.) both our packs were lighter with the food we had been eating and 2.) it was almost entirely flat or downhill.  Actually, that's not true.  It was flat or downhill for the first half of the day; we would gain some elevation later on in the hike. So, off we went.  This was one last vista before we headed down towards the forest.

We passed a lot of alpiney meadows along the way, rich with columbine, the Colorado state flower.

Apparently Jo and I decided that today would not be a picture day, since we don't have any pictures from the middle of the day.  It's a realy shame, too, since we had quite an interesting middle of the day, and pictures would help to illustrate my point nicely.  So, what's my point?, you might ask.

My point is that there was no trail for a good portion of the day.  Really.  No trail.  For a couple of miles, we we (read: Jo) had to scour the ground for any trace of a trail, and follow sporadically placed tree markers.  Apparently the trail Jo and I had picked wasn't used much.  Or, you know, not at all.  Oh well, it made it that much more interesting when we finally made it to what we figured would be a good camping spot.

We quickly figured out that we were getting close to civilization when our rest was interrupted by a strange sound that sounded like...sheep?  Yes, sheep.  A whole lotta sheep.  Let me tell you, after days of seeing nobody, and no animals except native ones, it was quite a shock to see a herd of sheep coming up over the hill.

A strange way to spend our last night in the "wilderness," I must say.

Backpacking Day 3

The next morning, Jo woke up early to try to spot wildlife, while I slept in.  He found a moose mama with her calf, but he didn't get a picture because he didn't have the camera on him.

We knew that it would be a strenuous day.  We weren't hiking for as long as we had the day before, but according to the map, this would be the steepest and most uphill that we would face.  Our destination was Goose Lake, but we had to hike up a mountain before we could get there.  So, we got started.

Before we hit the trail, we had talked to a ranger about the condition of the trail.  He had warned us that there would be a large amount of downed trees on the trail due to the massive pine beetle kills, and he sure wasn't kidding.  This is just one example of what the trail was like; downed trees everywhere.  We made a lot of detours.

The trail was breathtakingly lovely.  It took us through large fields of tall wildflowers.  We were literally waist-deep in flowers.  The bees and butterflies were out in force, enjoying the blooms even more than we were.  It was sososo beautiful.

The one bad thing about the trail is that it tapered off to nowhere, leaving us to make a best guess as to where we were supposed to be heading.  Jo was great, as always, and scouted out ahead to try to see if he could pick up the trail farther ahead, but that was a no-go.  We knew that we had to cross the stream one more time before heading up the side of the mountain, so we picked a spot that looked about right and crossed over, leaving our lovely flowers behind.

Things were no better for us on the other side, as far as finding the trail went.  We found several options that could have been the trail, but none of them were clear or well defined at all.  Knowing the general direction we were supposed to be heading, we decided to set out and up, and hopefully come across the trail as we hiked up the mountain.

Luckily, our planned worked, and we did in fact come across the trail.  It's funny, because the same thing happened on our last backpacking trip.  It's very satisfying to be able to read the map well enough to go in the right direction sans trail, and I'm thankful that Jo is such a good navigator.  Anyway, we followed it up and up and up, in what turned out to be an extremely steep stretch.  We plodded along until we finally made it above treeline.  The view from the top was awesome, and so worth it.

This was one of my favorite sights of the trip.  "Eagle eye" Jo spotted this herd of elk way off in the distance.  There is no way I would have seen them if it weren't for him.  See what half of them are doing?  Sittin' on the snowbank, cooling off and enjoying the reprieve from the hot day.  Heck, if I had had snow handy, I probably would have laid down on it as well.  They had the right idea.

At this point we were hiking along the ridge, gaining some elevation but not as quickly as what we had just done.  We had a good view of what was below us.  We spotted a pair of moose, along with an elk, in a meadow below us, and stopped to take a picture of the trio.  I took the camera to get a bit closer while Jo layed under a shady tree and relaxed.  The moose were standing up when we first spotted them, but soon decided that it was best to go ahead and lay down to enjoy the day.  The lady moose on the right eventually got up and sauntered over to the small pool of water and plopped herself right down in it.  It was really cute.

Here's Jo relaxing under that shady tree I mentioned.

We still had a decent amount of uphill to do before we actually crossed the ridge and started going downhill, so we got going.  We were happy to see this sight: the cairn at the top, signaling a nice downhill break.

Finally! We had made it to the top!  This was as high as we would get.  It wasn't anything too crazy; I think about 12,700 ft in elevation.

But, still, we felt triumphant.

As I had mentioned, we had a nice downhill break at this point.  Our first destination was Little Goose Lake. From here, it sure does look little, doesn't it?  We were hot and hungry, and were very excited to get down to the water so we could take a little break and have lunch.

It didn't take us too long to get down there.  It was a lovely little alpine lake, and the perfect spot to have some peanut butter bagel sandwiches.

And to take a quick nap.

After refueling, we left Little Goose for our last destination, Goose Lake.  This is where we were going to camp for the night, and it was only about a mile away.  We had a little extra incentive to get there.  Not only was the pack coming off our backs, but Jo and I had decided that we needed to cool down by going for a swim in the icy water.  Little Goose had made it look so inviting, we couldn't really resist.

We hiked on through the alpine, which was lovely.  The alpine is such an interesting place because it is both extremely delicate and amazingly hardy.  It boggles my mind when I think of the adaptations the plants and animals that live there have developed to deal with the short growing season and harsh environments.  Many of the plants up there can actually grow under the snow, in order to get a jump on spring.  And some of the animals, such as the pika, actually make their own hay and store it so they can have food in the winter.  Amazing.

Here's another example of an animal adapting to the alpine.  No trees to nest in?  No problem.  Jo found this little baby bird in a shallow nest in the ground when he almost stepped on its mother, who must have been protecting it.  We quickly moved away after taking a quick picture so the momma could come right back. 

Goose Lake was getting closer...

And at about 5:00, we made it to our home for the night.  We were the only ones there.

We set up camp in a bunch of willow close to the lake.  After ditching our packs, we grabbed a few essentials and did what I had been waiting to do since Little Goose Lake; went for a swim!  The water was breathtakingly cold, and although it felt like torture getting in, it felt amazing once we were fully submerged.  It was the perfect way to cool off and get rid of the layer of grime we had accumulated over the past few days.

Backpacking Day 2

The next morning, Jo and I woke up to the sound of rushing water.  There really is nothing quite like camping next to a river or stream.  After stretching our sore muscles, we headed down to the river to splash some cold water on our faces.  What better way is there to wake up?

Next, we had a delightful breakfast of oatmeal and fruit.  We wanted to hang around and just relax, but even more than that we wanted to hit the trail.  So, after taking a pic of our meadow...

...and one last pic of our home for the night...

...we packed up and hit the trail.  This is where we were off to.  It was an absolutely perfect day, and we were both so excited to be on the trail.

Along the way, we took some pics of some flowers and 'shrooms we hadn't seen before.  I'll go ahead and take a moment to put them in now.  Here goes...

The trail followed Goose Creek, which was perfectly lovely.  I love me a trail that follows water.

The trail was narrow, but clear.  Later on it wasn't so clear, but more on that in a little bit.

The aspens and pines combined to create a beautiful mix.

And another shot of Goose Creek.  Just cuz.

The trail had a mild grade to it, but nothing too steep at all.  It was nice after having encountered so much steep downhill terrain the day before.  Jo and I were enjoying ourselves immensely.  There is one thing to take note of: the flies.  Never, ever, ever have we hiked on a trail with more flies.  It was really weird and very annoying.  Mosquitoes were abundant as well, but they didn't like our bug spray too well and so kept their distance.  The flies, however, didn't mind it so much and seemed to follow us the whole way, waiting for us to stop walking so they could swarm us.  We wouldn't have minded so much if they just wanted to buzz around and crawl, but those suckers bit and it hurt!  I took the random pic below when Jo stopped to adjust his shoe, and the flies were out in force.  Nuts, I tell you.

Warning!! CS story!! So, here Jo and I were, walking along and chatting, generally enjoying the lovely day, when the trail started getting a bit overgrown.  We were in a very grassy area, and there were animal trails around us that were somewhat misleading.  We must have taken one of those instead, because we lost the trail for a bit and were walking through a field when Jo shouted, "Porcupine, porcupine!"  Yup, my man had spotted the spiny, nocturnal critter hunkered down at the base of a tree!  I would have missed it completely, so I am so happy he was there.  Jo and I have an ongoing list of animals we want to see in the wild, and the porcupine was definitely on the list, so we were happy to be able to check it off.  The little guy threw up its spines when it heard us approaching.  Eventually, though, the little fella dropped the spines a bit and slumped further down and...fell asleep.  Apparently he didn't think we were too big of a threat, so he just went ahead and continued dozing.

This was a random little forest pond very near where the porcupine was sleeping.  I like to think that later that night, he woke up, stretched his little legs, then waddled over to this pond to take a quick sip before going off to chew some bark off the trees.

After the porcupine, we pressed on.  We had about eight miles to cover that day, which doesn't sound like a lot until you add 35 lbs of weight on your back.  Jo and I always pick up bits of trash if we see them, and Jo spotted a real winner this time.  This just may be the most random piece of trash we've ever picked up.  Awesome.

If you look closely you might spot the waterfall in the middle of this cliff.  Jo and I lovelovelove waterfalls.

We never hike too fast, and take breaks along the way.  There is just so much beauty to admire out there.  Jo is great at spotting tiny little details that most people walk right by.  That, and backpacking is simply really hard, and it's nice to have an easy pace.

Here's a shot of the valley we were walking through.  We followed Goose Creek to the right.  We were the only ones out there...it was amazing.

About this time, we were starting to get hungry.  We decided this field of skunk cabbage was as good a place as any to have lunch, so we grabbed ourselves a log and whipped out the squished bagels and peanut butter.

Observe.

The flies made eating difficult, so we pretty much stuffed our faces as fast as we could so we could keep walking, since the flies didn't bother us as bad when we were in motion.

After hiking a bit farther, we came across what, to us, was the five star motels of campsites.  Keep in mind that this was miles and miles from anywhere, so to find anything, let alone this, is unexpected.  Seriously, it's like the freakin' Hilton.  Jo hurriedly sat at the table to order some fancy schmancy food before we set off again.  The filet mignon looked good, so he ordered that.

But he was rather disappointed with the wait...

...and ended up screaming and making a scene because of the poor service.  He stormed out of the restaurant soon after this.

Soon after that fiasco, Jo and I decided it would be nice to pose together for a cute couple shot together.  We tried, but the flies made it impossible.  See what I mean?  (Yes, this was a staged shot, and yes, I know it's corny.)

So we hiked on.  Our destination for the night was in a meadow that was still miles away, so we still had a lot of ground to cover.  That being said, there is always time for a quick afternoon siesta in the wilderness.

After leaving the campsite that morning, Jo and I had been drifting in and out of forests and meadows.  Eventually, we entered the forest and stayed in it.  We had crossed a stream earlier in the day, and needed to cross another one.  Jo went first.  He took off both boots and changed into his Reefs, then threw his boots over to the other side of the river so he could cross unencumbered.  He tried to, anyway.  One of the boots he threw made it over to the other bank.  The other boot found itself bobbing merrily in the water; Jo's throw had been way off and he threw his boot into the river.  I couldn't stop laughing.  He retrieved it and everything was fine.  It was awesome.

After the river crossing, the trail took us through a forest that was just covered in flowers.  It was absolutely spectacular, and the pictures don't do it justice. 

We walked along for quite awhile through the forest.  As beautiful as it was, Jo and I were getting tired and we were both ready to settle down for the night.  It had been a long day and we had covered a lot of ground.  That's why we were so excited when the trees opened up and revealed the meadow we were looking for.  Ta-da!!

We happily got the packs off our backs and set up the tent.  Dinner that night was macaroni, seasoned with olive oil and Ms. Dash.  Yummy.  It was a long day, but a good day.  We were tired and happy when we went to bed.

I can't figure out how to delete this picture of Jo, so here he is throwing a tantrum one more time for your viewing pleasure.