Backpacking Onahu Creek 2015

A good video on a mom's perspective on the outdoors...

https://youtu.be/nElAhif8Rgw

Backpacking with Kids: Fern Lake Trailhead, Rocky Mountain National Park

Wildflower Hikes at Crested Butte

Mid-July marked the one year anniversary of our move to Colorado.  And the longer we live here, the longer our Colorado "Bucket List" gets too.  Last winter we took a ski vacation to Crested Butte.  We discovered then that Crested Butte is the "Wildflower Capital of Colorado."  And thus, wildflower hikes were added to our bucket list.  Mid-July found us driving across mountain passes with wildflowers on our mind.

This summer was the end to the drought in Colorado.  And with all that rain brought endless fields of flowers.  Our first hike was Woods Walk.  This was an easy stroll a couple miles just at the edge of town.  We first ducked into an aspen grove with interspersed meadows, decorated in lavendar, white, and yellow.   And, wouldn't you know it?  All that rain also turned our wildflower hike into a mushroom hike, too.

After emerging from the moods we crossed a meadow to Peanut Lake.  Our trek across the meadow was decorated with wildflowers below and spectacular views of Mount Crested Butte to the east.  In all, this was an easy, casual stroll with plenty of time to stop and smell the wildflowers.

Day two was a similar early day stroll through aspen groves and meadows adorned in nature's beauty.  Did I mention, these were some of the biggest aspens I have ever seen???  And in the background, the peak of Mount Crested Butte.

That is one HUGE aspen!

This "Wildflower Weekend" did not disappoint!

We will see you on the trail.

- Mama Bear

Unboxing and First Look: Enlightened Equipment Enigma Junior Backpacking...

Backpacking Colorado Trail Segment 3

Day Hike: Catamount Trail

This spring has been brutal here in Colorado.  The daily thunderstorms that have plagued us have caused us to wonder, "Does Colorado REALLY have 300 days of sunshine???"  So when the weather cleared, we took the opportunity to escape for the day to a phenomenal dayhike at Catamount Trail.

Catamount?  You know, another word for mountain lion, cougar...    Signage indicating necessary caution line the road on the way to the trailhead at Green Mountain Falls, Colorado.  After parking on the main street, we headed up Hondo Street (there is no parking at the trailhead itself), to the Waterworks Bridge.  There we were greeted by a vigorous waterfall, happily flowing down the mountain, full of all the spring rains.  From there we continued our five mile round trip hike.

In the Garden of Eden

The trail challenged us at first with a steep ascent and repeating switchbacks.  We were rewarded half-way with a short side trail that led to a spectacular overlook of the city.  Returning to the trail, we climbed a bit more to a saddle that led to the "Garden of Eden."  This rightly named meadow is adorned with surrounding rock walls, a meandering stream, and aspen trees.  We crossed the stream and ascended gently to the crest of a hill to a dirt road that led to Catamount Reservoir.  We did not what to expect as we had not seen photos of this area previously.

As we crested the hill to see the reservoir, we were thrilled with the views.  The large reservoir was lined with pine trees and Pikes Peak, all snow-covered, stood in the background.  People were fishing along the shore.  I do not know if anyone caught any fish that day but they did catch some wonderful scenery!

In all, this was one of our favorite day hikes so far.  We started out not knowing if we could complete the entire hike.  And we finished satisfied that we had seen some of the best Colorado has to offer.

We will see you on the trail...

-Mama Bear

Backpacking with Kids Great Sand Dunes National Park

Backpacking Great Sand Dunes National Park

Our first backpacking trip for the season is under our belts...  Great Sand Dunes National Park has a fascinating combination of a huge dunefield abutting marvelous mountains.  The scenery was not disappointing, but the weather left a little to be desired.  Our itinerary was a two night trip, staying at Little Medano campsite the first night and Indian Grove campsite the second.  We would hike five miles the first day, move camp a mile down the trail the second with free play on the dunes, then head out on day three.  Well, that was the plan at least.

The drive to the park was beautiful.  We headed south, past Pueblo, then westward.  It was an area of Colorado Matt and I had never experienced before.  The rains of the spring made the area quite green.  And the Sangre de Cristo Mountains shot up skyward rather dramatically.  The scene was spectacular!

But as we turned northward, we saw storms in the distance.  And with the brewing storms brewed doubt about whether we should continue.  But blue skies on the western horizon cheered us onward and into the busy Visitor Center to declare our backcountry route (a permit is required for backcountry camping in the mountains... no permit is required to camp on the dunes).  We emerged victoriously from the Visitor Center with backcountry camping permit in hand, parked in the overnight parking area and headed out.

A well-kept campsite at Pinon Flats Campgro

We walked through the Pinon Flats Campground (which, by the way, seems to be a rather scenic campground) and then to our trailhead.  The trail itself was rather sandy from the nearby dunes and lined by cacti.  Cool, right?  Except for when Gus fell backward and basically sat on a cactus.  Oh my gosh.  We almost had to bail right then.  He had 20-30 cactus thorns on his butt.  Thank goodness for tweezers in the first aid kit.  Still, he was in terrible pain until the last thorn was plucked from his gluteus maximus.  But he is resilient and after the thorn extraction, he felt fine and wanted to move on.  So on we moved.

At about mile two, the rain began.  No big deal.  We donned our raingear -- the boys with ponchos and Matt and I with raincoats.  But around mile three, with the rain came wind.  Gus struggled with his poncho whipping in the wind like a sail trying to pull him off course.  At this point we were closer to the campsite than we were to the trailhead.  We weren't turning back.  The temperature dropped to around 35 degrees or maybe colder (we did not have a thermometer).  And with that temperature drop the rain turned to sleet.  Jack and Matt kept a brisk pace and stopped to wait for Gus and me under trees.  Gus was doing the best he could but broke down crying....  the campsite could not come soon enough.

We forded a stream and then we were there.  Hallelujah!  We pitched the tent, unpacked our sleeping bags and jumped in.  It was around 3 p.m. but we were exhausted and frozen and we quickly fell asleep while the rain pelted the tent.  After my nap, my fingers had defrosted and the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, so I emerged from the tent to cook our dinner.  Mountain House Meals chicken fajitas (excellent) and hot tea for all.  We ate, cleaned up, and dove back into the tent.  But nature called, just in time for me to see the tent with the mountains aglow in the evening sun... breathtaking.

The night was cold.  We have camped in colder temperatures, but the wind was strong and sucked the heat out of our tent.  The boys, wearing multiple layers, slept great.  Matt, however, was too cold during the night.  When morning came, so did the question of whether we could continue another day.  Matt and I discussed it and decided to have breakfast, pack up, and move toward Indian Grove, our planned campsite for night two.

One of many deer

On arrival there, we agreed it was a more sheltered campsite.  We proceeded to weigh the pros and cons of continuing our trip.  The weather report had called for only a 20% chance of rain for day one and we had been soaked.  It called for an 80% chance of rain for day two.  We decided not to take our chances.  We remembered the words of one book on backpacking with kids...  it is better to cancel than to backpack in the rain with kids.  So we bailed.  And Gus, who had been crying the day before about hiking in the rain, was crying about leaving early.

We hiked on out.  In the blazing sun.  And got sunburned.  And the kids ran up and down the dunes while Matt and I got more sunburned (we had started out the morning completely bundled up and forgot to put on sunscreen when we removed our layers).  We stopped to notify the ranger that our coveted campsite would be free for the night.

Confession...  I was disappointed to have to cut our trip short.  Especially since it was sunny the whole way out.  As we drove away, the storms started to blanket the mountains in the west.  I don't know if they drenched the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  But, never to be discouraged, the abbreviated trip did ignite in us the desire to plan our next backpacking trips.  And we have three more trips on the schedule for the next couple months...

We will see you on the trail...

-Mama Bear

Baking in the Backcountry -- FAIL

Our setup: pot, Trangia burner with Clickstand & Windscreen,
fry pan set on the foil ring to keep it off the bottom of the pan.

Oh yeah, nothing better after supper in the backcountry than warm, fresh-baked muffins.  Steamy hot with melted chocolate chips, satisfying that craving after a strenuous hike.  An awesome baker at home, Tree is the perfect person to create such a delight... or so we thouht.  Having watched a video by Sean (Shug) Emery (Shugemery on YouTube, also at http://www.seanemery.com) about backcountry baking, we were inspired.  We decided to give it a go with a test run of muffing making at home with our backpacking cookset.

Batter ready to bake.

Notice the burned edges

Melted handle of our MSR pot.

We used our stove (Clickstand with Trangia spirit burner), our pot and a fry pan raised off the bottom of the pot with a ring of aluminum foil.  We dutifully filled our muffin papers with the btter, put the lid on and let it go.  Very quickly we smelled something burning.  Too hot!  We closed the simmer ring a bit and checked back ten minutes later.  BURNT!  And the parts of the muffins that weren't burnt tasted charred.  No one was going to want to eat that.  Then, because the simmer ring was too hot to manipulate closed, we were unable to use it to snuff out the flame.  So I put the pot lid over the flame...  and the lid handle melted.  Great.

Our pot in our cozy...  We forgot that when boiling water,
the max temp for the pot is 212 degrees.  With baking it is
more like 350-400 degrees.

Not to be easily defeated, we decided to try again with the simmer ring open only a little.  Well the summer ring has to be open about half way, otherwise it will just snuff out the flame.  It took three times before we could keep the flame going.  Then when we again smelled something burning, we decided to take the pot off the flame and put it in the pot cozy we had fashioned last summer (you can look up how to make a pot cozy on YouTube... they are great).  So the cozy was there for a minute when I smelled something melting.  Melting plastic.  Melting pot cozy.  Melting dreams of warm muffins for breakfast!!!!!!!

May your cook pot NEVER look like this!

Alas, a once-reliable pot sent to the landfill.  In our optimism and hopes for warm baked goods in the backcountry,  we managed to ruin our pot cozy and our pot.  And now, we come to you, older and wiser to the ways of backcountry cooking.  We will keep you posted with recipes that do work.  Until then, we will see you on the trail!

- Mama Bear

Day hike: Red Mountain Trail

Spring has sprung in Southern Colorado.  Warm temperatures in the sixties allow for great day hike weather.  Matt and I took the boys for a day hike in the area.  We headed to Manitou Springs to hike up Red Mountain.  This was a three mile out and back hike, with 800 feet elevation gain.

Our drive to the trailhead was easy, about thirty minutes or so, with paved roads all the way.  The parking at the trailhead was a bit crowded (a Saturday morning in April) because the Manitou Incline and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway were nearby also.  We did, though, find a metered spot near the trailhead, and thus began our hike.

We passed under a gazebo, with a natural spring within.  The boys found its bubbling water quite entertaining.  After the gazebo, we headed left along little Ruxton Creek, then a short jaunt up a dirt road to continue on the trail.  We sauntered up a gentle incline through an open field, passed a small disc golf course, and began a bit of a climb to the point where Red Mountain Trail separates from the Intemann Trail.  At this point we were sheltered from the sun that, though early spring, was blazing boldly.

A Purple Pasque Flower

Now, you might notice one thing.  We haven't had to stop or take a break or have a snack or tend to whining kids.  What a difference a season makes!  Our youngest, Gus, has turned into a fantastic hiker.  He previously required a frequent dosing of sugar to make it up the mountain.  But those days are gone.  He is easily leading the family up and down the mountains now...  HOORAY!

Pike's Peak on the right

Once in the shade of the forest, the slope quickly increased.  The scree-covered trail followed a series of switchbacks up the mountain, frequently teasing us with peeks of the coming view.  As we approached our destination, the pine forest thinned out and the prickly pear cacti started taking hold.  We reached a saddle with a forested peak on our right and a red stone peak on our left.  Clambering leftward along a ridge, a tiny lizard scampered past our feet to the shelter of a nearby scrub oak.  Another fifty feet up the trail and we met our destination, the peak of Red Mountain.  To the east, we could look down on the rooftops of Manitou Springs.  To the northeast, Garden of the Gods reached toward the skies.  And to the west, Pikes Peak ruled over all the views.

Garden of the Gods to the northeast

The summit had been the site of an early twentieth century restaurant, bar, and dance hall.  What remained of its foundation was an easy place to relax, have lunch, and take in the views.

After our lunch, we headed downhill.  The steep terrain and loose scree made for a thrilling descent.  Gus, in his daredevil way, bounded down as a good trail runner should.  His new-found energy and enthusiasm to lead the way up and down the trail make us optimistic for our upcoming backpacking trips!

Post-hike ice cream -- YUM!

We will see you on the trail!

-Mama Bear

Unboxing and first look: Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt

Anticipation...

For the Little Backbreakers, Friday marked the end of ski season.  The last run down the slopes in the second-to-none spring skiing of Colorado.  Blue skies.  Warm weather.  Soft, forgiving snow.  A cold beer on the deck at lunch.  And of course with the end of ski season comes the start of backpacking season.  And we have been feeling it.  Over the course of the winter, our "backpacking closet" was converted from a scavenger hunt search for gear, to a well-organized, labeled, sorted, and perfectly hung BACKPACKING CLOSET.  We have checked and reassessed our gear.  Where can we shave pounds?  What can the boys carry on their own?  How can we modify our gear to approach perfection?  Any new backpacking recipes?  We are trying them out.  

We are anticipating a new age of backpacking with the boys.  One where we can take a free-spirited, impromptu, if-the-weather-is-right backpacking attitude.  What a difference a season makes.  The day hikes of the spring, thus far, have not been weighed down by the complaints of "my legs are tired."  Instead we have a strong, energetic four (and a half) year old who can do a three mile hike without batting an eyelash

.  So it starts!  The mountains, the trails, the wildlife, the solitude, and the million stars dancing in the night skies.  It is backpacking season!

We will see you on the trail!
-Mama Bear