Morning Glory

As October was nearing an end, we loaded up the vansion for one last desert "hoorah" before winter. We drove into Moab and found a campsite nestled in among ancient dinosaur bones and history.

We decided to hike to Morning Glory Natural Bridge, well, us and at least a hundred of our closest friends. The hike was absurdly busy, as most hikes in Moab are these days, but still lovely. There was an abundance of water, which the dogs were happy about. The trail follows a creek for a good while with several crossings.

We made it to Morning Glory Natural Bridge just in time to see a group repelling down from above. Although it wasn't the most peaceful hike and a feeling of solitude was seemingly nonexistent, it was still a great way to celebrate the changing season and soak up the last bit of warmth the desert had to offered.

Leaf Peepin'

Fall is a magical season, and every year, one of my favorite seasonal activities is leaf peeping. This year, we decided to pack up the vansion and head up Kebler Pass in search of golden leaves.

It was the perfect weekend to view the changing colors, but we were certainly not the only ones who decided that. Kebler Pass was busy and crowded with photographers and others out to see the stunning colors for themselves.

We found a campsite at the way to Lost Lake and enjoyed an crisp evening under a late September sky. The next day, we drove further up Kebler Pass to Lake Irwin, which was super crowded. Once we were past the lake, however, we pulled off the road and hiked up to Green Lake. We only passed a few people on the hike and were able to get beautiful views of the valley.

Missouri Mountain and Clear Creek Campout

With summer nearing an end, my husband realized we had yet to camp with our families this summer. We quickly called everyone and made a plan to meet up Clear Creek Road outside of Buena Vista for a weekend campout.

Justin's sister and I began plotting an additional adventure which required us to meet a day early and climb a fourteener, Missouri Mountain (14, 067'). Missouri Mountain is a ten-mile round trip hike with 4, 500 feet of elevation gain. We set a date, and met for the hike. My sister and two friends also decided to join, making us a party of 5 strong women and 2 dogs.

Our alarm clocks went off at 4:00 am, and we huddled around the stove to make coffee. We were on the trail by 5:30, making good time up to Missouri Mountain's summit. The trail was great and well-maintained; we even passed by the Colorado 14er Initiative Group working on the trail. Once at the scree field, however, the trail became steep with loose gravel. We took our time and made it to the ridge quickly. The ridge is exceptionally long and beautiful, and I enjoyed walking the spine until I saw the final scramble, which required a bit of climbing. The guidebook calls this a class 2 climb, and it didn't say anything about any climbing - or scrambling for that matter.

Unfortunately, Loki (my puppy) and I didn't feel like we could maneuver the climb together, so we stayed back and didn't reach the true summit that day. We did, however, enjoy the beautiful views on our very private "false summit," only feet lower than the actual summit.

After the hike, my friends left and my family arrived. The next day we took our stand-up paddle boards down the road to Clear Creek Reservoir and played around. My mom and mother-in-law took to the boards and had a blast. That night, we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed some family time.

Fancy Pass Loop

"I'm so fancy!"

I woke up one summer morning in July and realized I had yet to put my backpack on this season. Knowing that had to change, I immediately began planning for an adventure.

After some time spent reading guidebooks and looking at maps, I settled on Fancy Pass Loop, also known as Missouri Lakes Loop. The trip is eight miles long with two passes, Fancy Pass and Missouri Pass. Once I decided this was the spot, I scoured the web looking for trip reports and such.

I quickly discovered that this is one of the more popular loops in the Holy Cross Wilderness. Website after website warned against overuse and crowded trails. I had already planned everything out; however, so I decided to give it a try anyways.

My husband had the grand idea to hike up Fancy Pass and down Missouri Pass, which turned out to be an excellent decision as most people seemed to day hike to Missouri Lakes. We hardly saw a soul until we reached Fancy Lake, and even then we only crossed paths with two other groups.

Fancy Lake is stunning, but Fancy Pass is daunting with a 35 pound pack and a surprising amount of snow. We took our time crossing snow fields and navigating a path to the top of the pass. The views were beautiful, and we scoped out an area to camp in near Treasure Vault Lake. Several other groups were camping in-between the passes, but the area was large enough that every group was able to find a secluded spot.

We toasted to adventure and enjoyed a dinner of couscous with bacon and veggies while soaking in the views. We had a family dance party in an alpine meadow at sunset, then we went to bed. The following day, we quickly climbed to the top of Missouri Pass and made our way down to the many lakes below.

It turns out the trail wasn't overly crowded, and the mosquitos were more obnoxious than any person we encountered. Happy trails!

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.

Indian Creek

When the snow starts melting in Carbondale, Colorado, I start itching for the desert. I find comfort in the warmth of the red rock, the twinkling stars at night and the blooming desert flowers. Each of these things reminds me to appreciate every season, and every springtime desert trip teaches me to make the most of mud-season back at home.

We packed up the vansion and drove to Moab. Our destination was Indian Creek, a spectacular car-camping spot tucked up against Canyonlands National Park. We spent four wonderful and refreshing days at Indian Creek, exploring nearby canyons and soaking up the sun.

It was exactly what I needed; it always is.

CDT: Elbert to Hagerman Pass

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir

My husband's sister, Shannon, set out to hike a section of the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado this summer, and she asked my husband and I to meet her in Twin Lakes towards the end of her trip and hike the last four days with her. The section we were asked to hike consisted of summiting Colorado's two tallest peaks, Elbert and Massive! 

We met Shannon around noon in Twin Lakes and drove up to the Mount Elbert Trailhead where we spent the night. In the morning, we woke up early and began our hike up Mount Elbert. For a Monday there was a surprising number of hikers on the trail. We summited around 11:00 am, and took a few pictures. It was a cold and windy day, but we were thankful for a clear sky as we made our decent and camped another night in the van. 

The next morning we hiked seven miles on the CDT to the intersection of the Mount Massive trail where we made camp for the night. This section of the CDT overlaps with the more popular Colorado Trail, and we saw a ton of other backpackers. We also encountered many day hikers; the most memorable of which was a self proclaimed "experienced hiker" from Boulder asking, "Do I sound okay to you?" from where he sat off the side of the trail, about 2 miles from the parking lot. This day hiker was completely out of food and water; Shannon gave him the last 3/4 liter of water she had along with a pack of fruit snacks, a granola bar and a baggie of nuts. The hiker drank some water and began eating the fruit snacks. He called us angels as we traveled on.

We got a late start on Wednesday morning, beginning our hike up Mount Massive at nearly 7:00 am. I was nervous about the late start, but tried my best to move at a fast (for me) pace up the mountain. We were about a mile and a half from the summit when some clouds began moving in, but we continued up anyway. We made good time to the ridge line and were on the summit before we knew it. And what a spectacular summit it was! It is rocky and harsh and exactly what the top of a mountain should be. 

I was elated to have summited Mount Massive, but I knew we needed to begin our journey back down as the storm clouds were moving in, and I never like to be on a fourteener summit after noon. We snapped several photos then began hiking back down and were surprised by just how quickly the afternoon storm moved in. It started with a sprinkle, then turned to heavy rain and finally decided to hail! We were literally jogging down the mountain to find safety and shelter in the trees below. 

Once we were out of harm's way, we hiked further down the trail and again setup camp for the night. Thursday was our last day on the trail, and we hiked 9 miles on the CDT to Hagerman Pass Road. We made it to the road in just under 5 hours, and hitched a ride to Justin and Shannon's aunt's house in Leadville. 

The trip was wonderful, although tiring, and it definitely satiated my itch for more fourteener summits and backpacking! 

Celebrating Love at High Elevation

My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary on June 29th in the high country outside Aspen, CO. We began our day hiking up to Cathedral Lake, which is a stunning alpine lake complete with towering peaks and dramatic views.

We took a break at the lake for a snack before deciding to head even higher towards Electric Pass, the highest named pass in Colorado at 13,635 feet. At around noon we stopped for lunch in an alpine meadow below Electric Pass; we decided to save that summit for another day and headed back down after lunch.

Our dogs were pleasantly surprised to find snow in late June, and we paused to let them romp around and cool off. When we made it to the van, we loaded up and headed further up Castle Creek to find a spot where we could drink a cold beer and soak our feet in the icy creek.

We treated ourselves to appetizers and chilled wine on the patio of the Pine Creek Cookhouse (where we were married in 2013) then drove for about a half hour up a dirt road and made camp for the night. It was a wonderful first anniversary, and I look forward to many, many more! 

CHEERS!

Exploring Western Colorado

This weekend, I spontaneously decided to go camping with some friends who were running a race in Gunnison, CO. Driving to Gunnison proved to be an adventure in itself as we took a detour to drive through Paonia, CO and ended up driving the Scenic Byway on Highway 92 through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

We pulled into Stevens Creek Campground just as the sun was going down, and decided to camp just off Highway 50 on the shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir for the night. People are right when they say Gunnison is the coldest place in CO, and I was definitely kicking myself for not bringing a heavier sleeping bag.

I awoke lakeside to a beautiful view and warm sunshine, and I enjoyed a morning of sipping hot coffee and reading Tom Robbins, "Another Roadside Attraction" while my friends drove into Gunnison for their race.

That afternoon we decided to move camp to the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which we had heard was spectacular and worth the trip; however, we somehow missed the turn and found ourselves in Paonia, CO. After deciding not to backtrack to find the right turnoff for the North Rim, we headed into the hills for some wine tasting. 

We stumbled upon Stone Cottage Cellars Winery, and boy did that place charm our socks off! The tasting room is a beautiful stone cottage (go figure) that the owner built, and the wine is absolutely delicious. We spent a bit of time exploring the winery and taking more photos than the paparazzi before buying a bottle of chardonnay and hitting the road - yet again! 

The owner of the winery told us about Paonia State Park Campground, and we headed that way for the evening. After finding the perfect camping spot right on the creek we settled in for the night and shared a bottle of delicious Colorado wine. 

Cheers to finding adventure daily!

Desert Adventures

I love the mountains, but sometimes my soul just craves the desert. And because of that craving, my husband and I usually find ourselves in Fruita or Moab at least twice a year. On this particular trip to the desert we met our friends Steve and Mel from Durango and hiked Fisher Towers together.

Fisher Towers is a popular Moab hiking and climbing destination, and it's obvious why! We hiked for about an hour and a half then stopped for a lunch and beer break. The crisp wintery Euphoria (Ska Brewing) went down smooth on that warm fall afternoon in the desert. And it paired with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches surprisingly well, too!

After our hike, we said goodbye to Steve and Mel and went searching for the perfect camping spot. Moab has become such a popular destination that camping can be hard to find at times. We lucked out finding a great spot out of the way several miles past the Amasa Back Trailhead.

The next day we decided to explore Dragonfly Canyon (aka Culvert Canyon) down Potash Road in Moab. It proved to be a spectacular hike with pools or water, high canyon walls and even an arch near the end of our hike. My Utah Hiking book does explain of the trail, "I can't tell you exactly how to get there. I can only point you in the right direction and enthusiastically suggest you go!"

The trail is not well marked in all spots, and we seemed to have done a lot of meandering before finding our way up to Jeep Arch. It was truly a spectacular hike, and we plan to make our way back there in the near future.