Mount Belford

To celebrate our second wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided to climb a mountain. Late June is still pretty early for mountain climbing, especially with all the late season moisture we got this winter, but we decided we would go for it anyways.

We chose Mount Belford (14,067'), accessible down Clear Creek Road outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. We arrived late Friday night and camped right off the road about a mile past the trailhead. With seven miles and 4,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of us, we went to bed early that evening.

In the morning, we got an early start, hiking the first mile and a half of switchbacks in the dark. The water crossing was very high, so we took a half-mile detour to see if there was a better spot to cross - there's not! So we took off our shoes and crossed the icy knee-deep water. After the water crossing we quickly made it to tree-line and began our ascent of Mount Belford.

We saw several other groups on the trail, but the mountain wasn't too busy. We made it to the top in time for lunch, but the clouds started building around us. We decided not to bag two peaks in one day, and we left Mount Oxford for another day.

I was grateful for the icy water crossing on the way down because my feet were sore from the first fourteener of the season. After a wonderful hike, we made it back to van-trouble; it wouldn't start. It turns out we had jostled the battery lose on the washboard road. Luckily, Justin had it up and running with enough time for us to make our dinner reservation at Mount Princeton Hot Springs. Of course, we soaked in the over-priced hot springs, too.

It was a wonderful anniversary, and I am looking forward to many more adventures to come.

The Sandy Juan

Somehow we scored a permit for the busiest week on the San Juan river (from Mexican Hat to Clay Hills), in mid-June. Run-off was fierce throughout Colorado, and everyday we checked the flow of the old San Juan. We watched as the river rose all the way up to 6,800 CFS on the day of our launch.

Having run this stretch of the San Juan at a typical 400-1000 CFS several times, I was both nervous and excited for the big flow. I had planned on taking my Shaboomee paddle board down the San Juan, and with limited boat space, I decided not to chicken out because of high water, instead I borrowed a helmet and headed for Utah.

It rained all day, and as we began shuttling the cars, I started worrying about Clay Hills Road. It was, as I suspected, in rough shape. We had to rally our cars down to the takeout and back to the put-in. It was touch-and-go in spots, but in the end we made it back to the put-in - not without a few hiccups, however. The Subaru that was taking us all back to Mexican Hat overheated from the clay and stopped us about 45 minutes outside of Bluff. We were stranded for three hours; the car refused to start.

It was a Sunday, and when the ranger stopped by he told us the nearest auto repair shop was in Blanding, and they weren't open until Monday. With that, we decided there was no point in waiting around or missing our trip, so we left the car on the side of the road (knowing we could deal with it when got off the river) and two kind and generous rangers drove us all the way to Mexican Hat.

We launched and made quick time to our first campsite. The river was exciting at 6,800 CFS. A new rapid formed from a flash flood at Twin Canyons; it felt even bigger than Government, but that may just have been because it caught me by surprise on my paddle board. It was wonderful, but then the storms began rolling in. Slickhorn Canyon flashed in the morning while we were packing up, and Grand Gulch was pouring out water when we passed by; I've never seen so much water in the canyon. on the final night there was a torrential storm; we were camped at Oljeto - a known flash flood site. Just as I had fallen asleep, hurricane-like wind picked me up in my tent and the sky opened up with a torrential downpour. Luckily, we made camp on a high ledge and everyone was safe.

It was a San Juan trip unlike any other I had done before. I missed the calm serenity of that stretch of river, but the high water and unpredictable weather gave new life to that canyon and showed me a side, which I appreciate in it's own light.