Trails

Uncrustable Weekends

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If you haven’t had an uncrustable sandwich during a hike, you are missing out. And if you don’t know what an uncrustable is, here’s a quick run down. You can find them in a box in the freezer section at any grocery store. They are PB&J sandwiches that are ready to grab and go at any time. And let me tell you, they taste the best at the end of a hike.

This fall, my roommates and I have started a new tradition of going on hikes every Saturday morning. We typically leave the house between 4:30-5:30am in order to get to the trailhead right as the sunrises. This means that Friday nights are filled with intense searches on google for the best hike we can find, researching driving times and trail maps, packing up our gear, and heading to bed early for our long day.

Our first weekend, we went big and hiked Mt Sherman, which is a 14er (a mountain over 14,000 feet above sea level). This was my 14th 14er and I was excited to mark another mountain off the list, and introduce my roommates to these mountains!

Mt. Sherman’s trailhead starts above the tree line so the hike is not very long and it’s considered “easy” especially for a 14er. The elevation will still get you every time though! The mountain face is covered with rocks, so I also highly recommend bringing hiking poles since the rocks are extremely loose on the way down. Overall though, it was a good hike and one of the last really warm weekends to hike at this altitude. (We had an early snow three days later!)

The following weekend, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a re-hike of Sky Pond. This is a hike that two of us hiked earlier in the summer but we wanted to go back on a clearer day since it was really cold and rainy on the day we went. Since we had an early snow just a few days before, there were several areas of the trail that were snow or ice packed already.

When we got to the waterfall, we weren’t sure if we could still make it up due to the ice and snow. But we watched a few others go and then went for it. And it was worth it! We made it all the way to Sky Pond and it was beautiful…but very windy! Plus I just love the rock formations found at this lake!

The following weekend was the beginning of the aspen leaves changing color, so we went on an adventure to find some beautiful leaves! We ended up at Herman Lake Gulch. This was a great trail, but I was glad that we got there early! By the time we made it back to the trailhead, the parking lot was packed! This hike was about 3 miles out and 3 back. The first and third miles were pretty tough, but the second mile was really enjoyable. The trail ended at a lake, where we got to enjoy our uncrustables! But the way down was when we really got to see the beginnings of fall colors in Colorado!

The last hike for this post was our hike at Meadow Creek and Lily Pad Lake. This was the best weekend for the aspen leaves and they were absolutely stunning! We chose this trail because of the number of aspens along the trail! The Meadow Creek Trail isn’t labeled that well and it doesn’t really lead to a lake or the top of a mountain, so we went along this trail until we hit an open field and then turned around. The Lily Pad Lake hike is not that long, which is why we added on at the beginning, but it is beautiful!

We got to see some of the most incredible fall colors out there and it was a joy to spend the day in God’s creation with the vibrant colors!

There are many more adventures waiting out there for us, but so far, Colorado has been fun of some great adventures! Hiking may not be restful to many, but it is to me. It reminds me that I am part of something much larger than myself and that I serve a God who is big and who is also in the details of everything. So my encouragement to you is to get outside an enjoy God’s creation! As you do, express gratitude to God for His creation!

Oh also, #uncrustables … SPONSOR ME! 😉

Mt. Quandary

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Mt. Quandary (14,265ft) was my 13th 14er and 3rd for the 2020 year. I hiked this mountain on July 21, 2020. Our total time was 6 Hours 25 Minutes, with a total HIKE time of 5 hours, 48 minutes. Two of my friends also went with me and we had a great adventure.

We spent the night in Breckenridge the night before, which is a great place to be. It’s only about a 10-15 minute drive to the trailhead from there and well worth it! We started at 5:57am. The beginning of the hike was pretty “easy” for a 14er. It was in trees and had some steep sections, but it was relatively good for the beginning of a 14er. Once you get out of the trees though, it was a pretty decent hike from then on…plus, there are a few false summits.

The best part about this hike was the mountain goat! We named him Billy and he was big and super close to the trail! At one point he did start walking towards us which was a little scary at first!

We made it to the summit by 9:18am and ate our Uncrustables sandwiches …which by now you should know is my go to lunch snack for all hikes. (#uncrustables…sponsor me!) It was beautiful at the top! You could see several lakes from there that looked like glacier water. Then we started the decent at 9:55am, reaching the parking lot by 12:22pm.

This was a great hike, and a relatively easy 14er. It was one friends’ first one and another’s second, but we were all traveling from Texas, low altitude, so it was a great hike for us. There were a TON of people on the trail though, even amidst Covid-19. I was really surprised by the number of people on the hike for a Tuesday! I was glad that we started before 6am and reached the parking lot before 12:30pm though. It seemed like a lot of people started around 8-9am and it would have been way more crowded of a hike.

Another great part of this hike was that after we were done, we only had a 10-15 minute drive back to Breckenridge! Staying in Breck really is the only way to hike this!

If you are looking for an easy first or second (or 13th) fourteener to conquer! The views are great, it’s a popular hike, and it should take you about 6 hours! Best of luck out there friends!

Sky Pond

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I explored a new part of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) that I hadn’t hiked before. My traditional hike is up to Emerald Lake, but we were in for a bigger, longer, and more difficult hike. And we definitely found it!

We hit the trailhead (after having to ride the shuttle because it’s #summer and everyone is in RMNP…) at 7:52am! This was a great time to start despite there being more people than I expected in the park during Covid-19….but it was a Saturday so that explains it a little.

Anyways, we started out the hike and it was honestly really easy. We read that this was a “difficult” hike yet nothing seemed difficult at all. It was a great trail, well marked, and extremely beautiful! We made it to Alberta Falls pretty quickly and stopped to take some pictures! The waterfalls along this trail were phenomenal.

We continued to hike and came to Loch Lake! This lake is INCREDIBLE. Seriously. Even if you only make it to this lake, it would be well worth your time. The trail hugs the side of the water most of the time so you have a great view of the lake as you make your way around. There were picnics and people fishing all around the lake. (On the way back we stopped to hammock by the lake for a little break, while we enjoyed the fresh air and great views!)

After hiking around the lake, the trail begins to get steeper, but still not at “difficult” level. There were a lot more steps and a steeper incline that led right up to the base of another waterfall.

Only this time… you have to hike up the waterfall! This is why this trail is marked “difficult.” Everything began to make sense!

(This is the waterfall we hiked up.)

We watched several people hike up and down the waterfall before it was our turn. By this point, there was a light off and on rain but either way we were going to get at least a little wet during this next section of the hike. We made our way up the waterfall, scaling the slippery rocks, helping each other out, and double checking every foothold to see if it was secure.

Once you make it over Timberline Falls, you reach Mirror Lake. This is the lake that feeds into the waterfall and it was marvelous! From here you have to hike around this lake to get to the final destination, Sky Pond. Now, this should be an easy thing to do, and it is if you know where the trail is, but we didn’t. We got some “directions” from a couple hiking down from Sly Pond who said, “Yeah, you just go up and around. It doesn’t really matter where you go, you will make it.” So we took that as a fact and headed over the rocks… and over the trees… and into the bushes… and then under the trees… and then we were lost. And yes, we did literally hike on top of trees.

So that happened, but we finally made it back to the trail. (And yes, there is an actual trail that was literally 20 feet away from us when we got directions from the misguided couple.) We made it to Sky Pond by 10:50am, which is a 3 hour and 2 minute hiking experience! We found a place to sit on some rocks, eat our uncrustables (which are now a required food item for all of my hikes!), and just gaze on the beauty of creation that stood before us. It really was unbelieveable.

Until it started to rain more than just a drizzle. Plus it was cold rain…not the warm, enjoyable rain, but the cold, sharp, almost hail kind of rain. So we shoved the rest of our food in our mouths, zipped up our raincoats, and headed back down the trail (the real trail) and towards the waterfall.

Everyone made it back safe and sound, and we rewarded ourselves with coffee at Kind Coffee…mostly because it’s a tradition of mine, but also because we needed some warmth!

If you are looking for a little (or a BIG) adventure, then Sky Pond is a great place to go. I hope to enjoy this hike several more times in the future since it was so beautiful. This honestly may be one of my top favorite hikes ever, which is truly saying a lot!

The reason why I love hiking so much is because you get to see the beauty and creativity of our Creator! He made each of the rocks you climb over and the particles of water that fall down into the rivers. He knows exactly where each tree was planted and how long it has been living. The beauty of God truly comes out in His creation and I love getting to explore new places in order to see even more facets of His creativity!

And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:11

Backpacking in the Dark.

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I recently went on my first backpacking trip with some friends. I didn’t want my first time backpacking to be with only first-timers like me, but that’s how it ended up. So we did some research, asked some friends, bought some gear, and borrowed the rest. We planned out easy meals, shoved things into our bags, and then managed to cram it all into the back of a car and head to the mountains.

Oh, and we brought spike ball because are you really camping without it?! 😉

(The start of our journey up the mountain as the sun sets.)

We planned poorly because we started our trek into the campsite right as the sun was going down. This was a new trail I had never done and it became dark outside quickly. I had read up about the trail online multiple times and everyone said it was about a 1-1.5 hour hike in and then you arrive at a small, run down, old cabin…which you cannot camp inside of. (That was a key point that everyone made very evident on the trip reports.)

So the four of us were in the dark, looking for a small cabin, with way too much stuff. I’ve heard that everyone packs too much on their first trip though, so I think we were doing it right.

Well, we got tired really quickly. And it got darker and darker. Then we started to doubt our directions, believing we made a wrong turn, but unable to see where we were or where we were going. We came to a bridge that was made of trees just laying across the river. I crossed this bridge first to see if I could tell if it was the right way. There was no way to tell either way, so the rest of the group slowly crossed this bridge and we continued in the dark.

(The bridge was really scary actually. It was wobbly and unstable and looked way longer in the dark…especially with a heavy pack on your back.)

(The bridge! Not that crazy til you have a heavy pack on and it’s dark.)

Anyways, we made it to a good stopping place and two of us continued up the mountain to see if we could find the cabin or at least a good place to camp for the night. We managed to find several other tents and a good place to camp that was decently flat for our tent. We went back to get the other two and then headed back to our prime location… except we missed the spot and ended up further up the mountain.

But…… we found the cabin!! 🙂 This was a joyous moment as we realized we had made it and taken the right trail!

So we set down our packs, set up the tent, and then headed to bed. It was a cold night and we were on a slope so we slid down to the bottom of the tent all night.

But it was all worth it.

Our backpacking trek may have been less than ideal, but it was worth it because we were together, trying something new, as a group of friends. We were on an adventure!! And when you are on an adventure, everything that is less than ideal or things that seem to go wrong, simply make the adventure that much more exciting!

This was the end of our backpacking portion. Yes, it was a short backpacking experience, but it was one that gave us a good taste of what it would be like to backpack for a few days next time…with less stuff, less elevation change, and more daylight.

From our campsite, the plan was to hike some 14ers each day for the next few days and just enjoy being in the mountains. The camping area was right below the treeline, so we had some wonderful evenings of stargazing and incredible views of some of the tallest mountains in Colorado!

Check out future posts about our hiking adventures!

P.S. As I researched some of the info below, I came across a website that said: “Missouri Mountain Trail… is only recommended for very experienced adventurers.” So if you need any “very experienced adventurers” we are now your people! 😉

Trail: Missouri Gulch Trail near Buena Vista, Colorado

Elevation Gain: Approx. 1,350 feet

Time: Approx. 2 Hours

Distance: About 1.5 miles

(Trail on the way back, obviously, during the day and not in the middle of the night!)