Handies Peak

No matter how long I'm away, the San Juan mountains always feel like home to me. Their beauty is like nothing I've found elsewhere. While visiting family in Durango, CO this past weekend, we decided a bit of adventure was in order and we went hiking to the top of Handies Peak.

We all woke up at 4:00 am, and my step-dad drove us all to Silverton, up Cinnamon Pass and into American Basin. The drive was rough - four wheel drive was certainly required - and it took us nearly 3 hours!

Everyone was happy to get out of the car at American Basin when we arrived at 8:15 am. We began hiking right away. I imagine hiking this trail in July is spectacular, as it would be lined with wildflowers. Unfortunately we didn't see many wildflowers, but it is the end of August, so we were expecting that sad reality.

The trail is very scenic from beginning to end, and Sloan's Lake is stunning - especially as seen from above. We summited the peak at 10:30 am, and quickly drank our celebratory beers. At 14,048 feet, Handies Peak became my sister's first fourteener summit.

As we began our descent the storm clouds rolled in. My brother, sister and I shared stories and laughter while searching for geodes and spotting fat, happy marmots all the way to the truck. It was a day I'll never forget, and I'm so glad to have shared the experience with family.

Rafting Ruby-Horsethief

Summer is coming to an end, and when I got the opportunity to raft Ruby-Horsethief on the Colorado River, I didn't hesitate to say "YES!" Ruby-Horsethief is a mellow float down the Colorado River between Loma and Westwater.

There are virtually no rapids, so my sister and I decided to paddle duckies (inflatable kayaks) down the river. We all met at the put-in around 5:30 pm and quickly rigged boats while three people in our group shuttled cars to the takeout.

We launched around 7:00 pm, and expected a 45 minute float to our campsite. The sky turned pink as the sun went behind the canyon wall, and I realized it was going to get dark - fast! We had missed our night-one campsite, which was supposed to be Bull Draw!

We continued on until 10:00 pm working hard to stay close together and listening to beavers splash in the water all around us. Just as I began to get a tiny bit panicked, we found a spot to camp for the night. It wasn't a great spot, but I was relieved to be off the dark water.

The next day we continued on and found our second campsite at Black Rocks without any trouble. We pulled up, made camp and settled in for the night. A few people from our group hiked down to the "jumping rock" for a bit of added excitement. The rest of us cooled off by floating in the calm water right in front of our campsite.

On Sunday we headed out early and made good time to the take-out. The weather remained beautiful for the entirety of our trip, and we all packed up our gear with big smiles and sunburns!

One Day, Four Fourteeners

We loaded up in The Vansion and headed to Alma, CO to hike the Decalibron Loop. The Decalibron Loop gets it's name from the four fourteeners you summit during the hike: Mount DEmocrat, Mount CAmeron, Mount LIncoln, and Mount BROss. I have no idea why there's an "n" at the end, but we'll go with it.

The Kite Lake Campground was overflowing with hikers and climbers looking to get an early start on Saturday morning. But we were lucky enough to find a nice spot to camp just off the road on the way to Kite Lake on Friday night. We enjoyed a small fire and a beer and went to bed early. We woke up at 5:00 am on Saturday morning and were on the trail by 6:00 am.

We decided to hike the trail backwards, starting at Bross and finishing up with Democrat. The trail to Bross is all loose rock and gravel; I was glad to have my hiking poles on that ascent! The summit of Mount Bross is closed currently, and the trail takes you about 300 feet below the summit and over to a saddle that leads the way to Mount Lincoln.

Once you've made it up to Bross, the hike over to Lincoln is relatively easy. I enjoyed the ridge walk and the view from Lincoln. It was the perfect spot for a snack, and we spent some time hunkered down in a rock shelter before continuing on to Mount Cameron.

Mount Cameron is classified as an Unofficial Fourteener, because of it's proximity to Mount Lincoln, but I'm counting it nonetheless! The wind kicked up on top of Cameron, and we didn't hang out too long before deciding we ought to start our ascent of Democrat.

Mount Democrat was a struggle for us to do at the end of our day. It's steep and rocky, but not too long. I definitely understand why the majority of people begin their hike with Democrat - and not end it there! We made it to the summit just as the clouds began to move in, and after snapping a couple of photos we headed on down to beat the storm. To our surprise it began to snow instead of rain as we made our descent.

The dogs found a patch of snow near the top of Democrat that was begging to be frolicked in, and they took that opportunity to frolic indeed! In all, the Decalibron Loop took us 6 hours to complete. We took our time, stopped on the top of each summit and really enjoyed our time above 14,000'!

We camped again on Saturday night on the road to Kite Lake. We celebrated the epic day of fourteener summits with chilled wine and a delicious dinner. 

Lettuce Turnip the Beet

This weekend I harvested golden beets from the garden and decided to pickle them, so I can enjoy them throughout the year. I've helped my mom make and can jam in the past, but had never tried to pickle anything before. To my surprise the whole process turned out to be pretty simple!

I followed the recipe found at Savingtheseason.com that uses ginger and brown sugar - two of my favorite flavor-adding ingredients! The only change I made to the recipe was adding several slices of ginger to each jar prior to adding the beets and brine. The final product turned out beautifully, and I'm looking forward to tasting it in the weeks to come!