A Colorado Ridgeline Link-Up
For our first backpacking trip of the season, we decided to head south! Grady scouted out a fun link-up of two drainages in the area, requiring a little scrambling and some ridge line hiking. Not the easiest way to start the season, but we thought it’d be a great opportunity to get outside and test out some new gear before our upcoming bigger trips. Grady had new boots and a new backpack to break in, and we had new backpacking chairs and a pot we’ve been itching to try out since we received them as gifts this winter.
We’ve been to this area once before and have camped in the initial drainage for this two-night loop. Last time, we (I) forgot the tent poles so we were at least off to a better start. Unfortunately, this Basin seems to have a bad effect on us forgetting things - this time, it was the bug spray. Early July near lakes in Colorado is an unfortunate time to forget your bug spray, but we hoped for the best.
On the way into the first spot, we saw a lot of Bighorn sheep - especially as we neared the lakes. The clouds were moody all afternoon and we kept thinking it might rain, but we got lucky and the weather held off.
Grady jumped in the freezing water and while I wasn’t about to do that - he had plenty of company with the hundreds of fish we could see swimming around. Our luck continued and the sky cleared for a surprising sunset view. Grady had scouted this place as being better for sunrise, but it totally exceeded our expectations when the low-lying clouds in the basin delivered a beautiful sunset.
We heard some coyotes as we were setting up our tent earlier, but their howling ramped up into the early evening. It was unlike other howling we’ve heard and was more high-pitched. There were definitely a number of them and their howling seemed to be getting closer. They weren’t the only animals out there - there were many kinds of mini bears all ready to come for our food. Between the Bighorn sheep, Marmots, birds, chipmunks, and the howling coyotes - we had to really stash our food carefully in our critter bag to keep it safe.
We made Annie’s Four Cheese Pasta, one of our favorite backcountry meals for dinner - and the new pot (MSR Trail Lite) was amazing. It was so much better than our old pot given it has greater capacity and lower weight. Our only potential concern is the structural support of the collapsible handle, but we have some ideas for that which we plan to explore for future trips.
Plus it could handle the volume of TWO whole boxes of Annie’s Mac & cheese - which despite what the box might tell you, is in fact the right serving size for two hungry people. Eating our Mac & cheese in our new Helinox Zero chairs felt like luxury in the backcountry. At only 1 lb 1 oz, we think it’s absolutely worth carrying these things in with you. You can lean back comfortably and it really beats having no back support on an uncomfortable rock.
We watched the clouds roll back in as it enveloped the whole basin in a thick cloud of grayness. Good news is that it cleared beautifully for the morning sunrise - the skies were clear and the views lived up to Grady’s photography expectations. These are some of the few mountains in the Rockies we think resemble the Dolomites - they’re just spectacular.
The mini bears were in full force trying to come for our oatmeal and First Ascent Coffee. There was even a little marmot brawl next to our tent! We packed up camp and headed up to the saddle of a nearby 14er. Shockingly, there was only moderate traffic for a 14er, but that quickly diminished as we peeled off to an off-trail class 3 traverse.
The traverse looked intimidating from afar given it was a pretty tight ridge line in places, but we were so glad we did it. There were some definite class 3 sections which were made more challenging with a heavy pack, but we were able to get around some more difficult stretches. We finally made it across the traverse to a high alpine meadow where we thought we’d be able to relax and enjoy the view back at the ridge. Turns out, the wind was gusting at approximately 50 mph so other than snapping a few quick photos - we quickly continued onwards and upwards for our final ascent.
We knew that it would involve steep scree coming down into the next basin, but we didn’t quite realize it would be nearly 1000 vertical feet of scree surfing in a 45-degree couloir. It was a little more challenging with a heavy pack, but we navigated it pretty efficiently and calmly. From there, we entered a snowfield that left us glissading down towards the valley. Grady made it look easy on his feet and I took a different approach sliding down on my butt, maybe not intentionally. The last stretch prior to reconvening with s trail was a more typical off trail route over to the next lake - just a little bumpy and uneven but felt welcomed after the rest of the day.
I don’t think we’ve ever been more tired from a 4.5 mile day, but after a quick dip in the water and some photography scouting - we retreated back to the tent early to seek refuge from the mosquitos.
We hiked out the next morning, skipping the hot breakfast in favor of a fast push to the car to go get pancakes for a late breakfast. The 8-mile exit felt longer than we expected, so the pancakes motivation was undoubtedly carrying us onwards. I have had some doubts about my backpack (the Gregory Deva 70) since I purchased it last year, but on this trip it hurt my hips, shoulders, and back more than ever before. With two big backpacking trips on the horizon, I decided on this hike out that it may be time to pivot to a different backpack. We celebrated the adventure with coffee and pancakes at one of our favorite Colorado restaurants, Canon City MUGS, and already started getting excited for our adventures of next weekend.
