tent – Going Down The Trail

Last Summer’s Colorado Trip

June 2, 2024June 3, 2024Backpacking, Colorado, My Favorite Things, Opting OutsideLeave a Comment

Holy cow have I been slacking off on the outdoor blog posts! It was a busy year and I had to let this go for a bit, but let’s get back to it:

Last July it was time to head back to Colorado for the summer adventure. I had to go solo, so I thought I’d go tick off a mountain that had been vexing me and then just see where things took me.

Loaded up the gear, packed the truck and I hit the road early on a Saturday morning.

From Phoenix it’s about 6ish hours to get to Colorado, then it’s some nice driving, the first part, not my favorite.

Around 6 o’clock I pulled into Ridgway State Park, my home for the night. I’d be hiking into the backcountry tomorrow, but it was nice to spend an easy night in the tent at altitude.

It’s a pretty sweet State Park. There’s a real nice lake, quality campsites, and some amazing views! It would be great place to use as a base camp for doing day hikes all around the area.

The next morning I woke up early, packed up and headed for the Blue Lakes Trailhead.

The road to the trailhead is dirt, it’s accessible by 2wd you just have to go slow in a lot of spots. You see all kinds of vehicles out there, I guess you’re only limited by how much you care about your car.

Got there early enough that I got a good parking spot, and took my time organizing my gear. Pretty soon my pack was on and into the woods I went.

It’s very popular place for backpacking and day hikes so you see a decent amount of people on trail. It’s a short, pretty tough hike that goes up hill in about 200 yards from the parking lot. Basically you switchback up the gully until you reach the main basin. There’s a few waterfalls to see but mainly just hiking up in the trees.

After a little over 3 miles you reach Lower Blue Lake and quickly find that all that effort was worth it!

There were a good amount of people camping but I was able to get a nice, relatively secluded spot.

Took my time getting my site set up and had a nice relaxing evening, I was so glad to have my hammock.

That evening I got ready for the next day’s hike, Mt Sneffels. I had made two other attempts at this mountain, both unsuccessful because of storms (I should have started earlier both times). Summer in Colorado means afternoon storms so I wanted to get on the trail at a solid time.

I felt good hiking and in not too long I was standing at 13,000 ft on top of Blue Lakes Pass, looking down on the middle and upper lakes.

After that you descend into Yankee Boy Basin, and head towards the Sneffels trail, trying not to think about having to climb up to the pass again…

The next section kind of sucks as you climb the loose scree slope to the saddle. At the saddle you look up the Purple Couloir, the path to the summit.

The couloir is full of huge rocks and you navigate up through them to the notch. It was a big snow year so the snowfield up high was pretty long, it was nice to have the axe. I flopped my way up through the notch, not really sure how it get back down, and was headed to the summit.

It’s a cool view from the top, looking all around the San Juans, and east towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, I believe. The flys were pretty bad so I headed down after a good look around and a few pics.

Hauled myself back down the notch with the help of some folks coming up, down climbed the snowfield, skated and slipped down the scree, and cursed a little as I climbed back up to Blue Lakes Pass. A little while later after an 8 hour day I was back to camp.

Back at camp I made myself a snack, sat back and enjoyed being out in the woods, and again the hammock was good.

The next morning it was time to formulate the next plan.

I had thought about heading to Ice Lake near Silverton, but was kind of tired of being by myself in the woods, so I headed over to the old stomping grounds of Crested Butte for a few days.

Had a nice afternoon walking around town, and was able to have a couple beers with an old friend.

The next morning I headed out to do the West Maroon Creek hike. I didn’t really have a goal, just to hike up high in the amazing alpine!

Made it up to the basin, the wild flowers and mountain views were outstanding, it was great to just hike along in such a beautiful place.

Had a nice dinner in town at The Wooden Nickel, a couple beers and crashed out for the night.

The next morning I was able to have a quick cup of coffee with another old friend I hadn’t seen in 25 years!

I was planning on making my way back to Phoenix after that but decided to get in one more hike, a little lift assisted hike to the top of Mount Crested Butte. It had been a long time since I stood up there, it was a fun way to end the trip!

Colorado Hiking Video

A Little Trip Around Northern Arizona

October 30, 2020November 16, 2021arizona, Colorado, Opting Outside2 Comments

It’s been a weird year, right? I think everyone’s plans have been thrown askew this year, and my normal yearly backpacking trip was no different. This year I was ready to do a solo backpacking trip but events conspired against me and it just wasn’t going to work. I still felt like I need some time outdoors in the woods, so I decided to take off on a little car camping trip around Northern Az and just find a few cool things to do!

I headed out on Monday, up towards Flagstaff. I left Phoenix around 9am and made pretty good time out towards Mormon Lake about 20 miles Southish of Flagstaff. I was able to get a really nice campsite at the Dairy Spring Campground, it always helps to show up early afternoon on a Monday! I planned on being there a few days so I set up my big tent to have a nice basecamp, it was great to have all that room and be able to stand up inside the tent but it’s a lot more work to put up!

After I got my camp set up I headed out for a quick mountain bike ride, and man did the altitude kick my ass. The hills took it out of me and I just couldn’t get into a good rhythm. Really wasn’t enjoying myself, except for the excellent temps, so I headed back to camp. Still glad I went on this ride, I feel like it jump started my acclimation.

After getting back to camp I just chilled out the rest of the evening and enjoyed being outdoors. I was able to have a fire, and relax next to it enjoying a few beers. Dinner was a Mountain House Beef Stroganoff, one of my favorites and something nice and warm in the stomach because it got cold that night!

The next morning, after not the best night of sleep I’ve had in a tent, I woke up and lazed around camp for a bit while fixing breakfast. The goal for the day was to hike Mt Humphreys, the tallest peak in Az, and I want to get going at decent time. I grabbed my gear and headed towards the mountain!

The trailhead is at the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Area base. There were a decent amount of cars in the parking lot, lots of people getting in one of a few cool hikes around there. You see some people for the first mile or so, and after that it’s a lot of walking alone in the woods, which was pretty peaceful.

My favorite part begins once you go above treeline and get to the saddle between the peaks. From there you really feel like you’re up in the mountains as you climb the ridge towards the summit. If you do this hike always remember that the mountain tries to fool you with a few false summits. After a bit of hanging out and taking some pics on top it’s time to head down. Once your back below treeline the hike starts to kind of wear on and on and I’m usually ready to just be back to the truck! Overall it’s a cool hike that puts you at the highest point in AZ with some great views.

After my hike I headed back out to the campsite for another evening of relaxing by my fire and a few beers. This night it felt really cold, I’m willing to admit that I’ve become a wimp to the cold after 20 years in Phoenix, but it was a cold night all around, even wrapped up in the sleeping bag.

The next morning I decided to move on to places more warm. I’d never seen Horseshoe Bend and wanted to look into a little paddling on the Colorado River.

It was about a 2.5 hour drive over to Horseshoe Bend, and while it’s kind of touristy and more of a stroll over to the edge of the canyon, it is a really cool and beautiful thing to see. I took some pics and looked around, at one point I could see kayakers on the river below, that really cemented my desire to see the Bend from the river as well! So, after taking in the sights I got back in the truck and headed over to Lee’s Ferry about an hour away.

Lee’s Ferry is in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and very near Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, all places with some really cool stuff! It is also the spot where rafting trips start down the Colorado, if you pass Lee’s Ferry you’re committed at least a 2 week river trip and need a hard to get permit.

Pretty nice campground there, no problem getting a spot around 3pm, but it did fill up as the evening went on. Great views of the surrounding cliffs as the sun set. The coolest campsites seemed to be at the far low end, where they looked over the Colorado River.

After getting set up I reserved my spot to get hauled up the river and rented a kayak from Kayak the Colorado for the next day. Got to hang out on the small beach area next to the river for a while, it was an overall beautiful night outdoors!

My kayak reservation the next day wasn’t until 12:30, so I took my time at camp in the morning, reorganized things in the truck and slowly packed up. Still having time to kill, I took a little drive around the general vicinity, lots of really cool cliffs and rock formations, and finally headed towards the put in area.

The paddle down the river was super cool, it’s completely flat water, you can pretty much just float if you’d like. I started off about 10 miles up river from Lee’s Ferry, there’s some really cool ancient petroglyphs to see (unfortunately some jerk named Trent felt the need to add his name).

I got to see Horseshoe Bend from the top and the river and the whole paddle was awesome, with the canyon walls soaring right out of the water to hundreds of feet above you! Took one off river hike up a canyon, it had some really cool rock formations but the walking in the deep soft sand was not my favorite.

It took me about 3.5 hours to do the paddle, I’d love to go all the way to the dam and paddle back, there are a few spots that are designated campsites, it would be awesome to spend a night on the river!

After returning my kayak it was time to head home to Phoenix, it was a great time overall and I got to see somethings I never had, it wasn’t the trip I thought I’d have this summer, but this year you take what you can get!