Hi Folks! Our adventures continued this weekend with my very fist backpacking trip and my first time camping. I'm kind of a little bit scared of the dark and dark + woods + a HUGE fear of bears is not a great recipe for camping but I survived and had a blast! (Mostly due to the lack of bear encounters.)
Kenny rode his bike down from Boulder Friday night and we got all of our bags packed. Our friends Bill and Ben met us Saturday morning and we hit the road to Buena Vista, CO. It was about a two hour drive but it was just beautiful. And, of course, there was coffee which makes everything better.
(I have a picture of the scenic drive and coffee but it won't load, I'll try again later so just use your imagination for now.)
We made it to Buena Vista and parked at the Denny Creek Trail Head that leads to the Mt. Yale summit and Hartenstein Lake. We headed for the lake and with our backpacks (on my gosh heavy!) it took us about 3 hours to make it the three miles and 1,500 feet or so up to our campsite. I'm not gonna lie, it was tough. The trail was pretty steep and there was some river forging. Well not really forging but given my propensity for falling down I felt pretty good about making it over some log bridges and such.
This was not only my first time backpacking but it was my first time doing anything above 9,000 feet. Our packs were HEAVY, did I mention that already? But the views were more than worth it.
See what I mean about the backpacks?
Yup, that's Kenny carrying Juneau on his shoulders. She was CRAZY when we started out on our hike. She was running after all kinds of creatures in the woods, running up ahead of us and then racing back. Then so yaked. It was gross. Poor pup got herself so excited that she threw up (ahem, Vyonne). She was having a hard time after that and we were pretty worried. Kenny and Ion carried her for a few minutes and then we stopped at a creek so she could get some water. While we were contemplating Ion and I staying behind with the pup while the rest of the group went ahead to set up the campsite (we were still pretty far from the lake at this point and didn't want to have to set up tents and such in the dark) Juneau miraculously started running up ahead again. She gave new meaning to puke and rally. So on we went with a very energetic and happy dog leading the way.
Juneau, as usual, had the most fun (after she got her second wind). She spent most of the time chasing poor chipmunk and even went straight down this rock face. (To the right of where Ion's standing if you're curious as to how brave/nuts our dog actually is.)
Our campsite was beautiful and pretty secluded so Juneau got to run around and explore while we hung out around the fire. She liked to make sure everyone was accounted for and snuck up on some of the guys when they left to "water the trail." I think she was just patrolling for bears.
Once we made it up the trail Kenny, of course, got the fire going. It was a pretty sweet set up with logs and a huge rock around the fire pit.
(I also have a great photo of that but again it won't load. boo. So this fire shot and shot of the rock "table" will have to do ya. Imagine log "benches"and you get the picture.)
Now that you've seen our cliff bar wrappers and sunscreen, check out the actual views from of the lake. It was so beautiful and peaceful (until we started our loud laughing and storytelling). It was a perfect place to camp. And you should definitely take my word for it because, you know, I have all that camping experience. But if you're questioning my credibility here are some pictures, all taken from our campsite, to back me up.
We got our tents set up,
and filtered some water for drinking and cooking.
We spent the rest of the day and night sitting around the fire, drinking Firefly and lemonade, eating freeze dried dinners (surprisingly delicious!) and making smores. Mmmmmmm. I have to tell you that when we were breaking into the smore supplies Ion asked how exactly we get the graham cracker on a stick. What?! I felt like we were living that scene from The Sandlot, "smore what?" He figured it out though and we successfully made smores without having to skew the poor graham crackers. Love it! We had so much fun but we're pretty sure the people camping downhill from us weren't fans of our loud laughter. Oops.
The sun went down and it got chilly fast. The weather made me so excited for fall. I am itching for sweater weather and football! The best view of all was of the stars. I have never been that far out at night and it was truly unbelievable. You can see everything so much brighter and more clearly when you're so far from city lights. We could see the Milky Way. Incredible. You'll just have to believe me though because I couldn't get any good night shots with my camera.
I successfully completed my first night sleeping outside (well, in a tent) and made it back in one piece. (No bear encounters = success!) We packed up all of our bags again Sunday morning and headed back down the trail.
We made it 50 feet from the parking lot when Bill commented on my lack of injury during the entire trip. Of course 10 seconds later I eat it about 10 feet from the parking lot. No cuts or scrapes though! Win. It was a great trip and I can't wait to do it again!
We got our tents set up,
and filtered some water for drinking and cooking.
We spent the rest of the day and night sitting around the fire, drinking Firefly and lemonade, eating freeze dried dinners (surprisingly delicious!) and making smores. Mmmmmmm. I have to tell you that when we were breaking into the smore supplies Ion asked how exactly we get the graham cracker on a stick. What?! I felt like we were living that scene from The Sandlot, "smore what?" He figured it out though and we successfully made smores without having to skew the poor graham crackers. Love it! We had so much fun but we're pretty sure the people camping downhill from us weren't fans of our loud laughter. Oops.
The sun went down and it got chilly fast. The weather made me so excited for fall. I am itching for sweater weather and football! The best view of all was of the stars. I have never been that far out at night and it was truly unbelievable. You can see everything so much brighter and more clearly when you're so far from city lights. We could see the Milky Way. Incredible. You'll just have to believe me though because I couldn't get any good night shots with my camera.
I successfully completed my first night sleeping outside (well, in a tent) and made it back in one piece. (No bear encounters = success!) We packed up all of our bags again Sunday morning and headed back down the trail.
We made it 50 feet from the parking lot when Bill commented on my lack of injury during the entire trip. Of course 10 seconds later I eat it about 10 feet from the parking lot. No cuts or scrapes though! Win. It was a great trip and I can't wait to do it again!
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