Backpacking with the Lamys in CO

After Boulder for a few days, we headed to backpack with the Lamys for the weekend.  We left first thing on Friday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon.  We had planned on hiking somewhere in the Flat Tops Wilderness area.  The plan was to backpack out and find some mountain lakes for the boys to go fly fishing.  Last minute on Friday morning, the boys called the rangers and found out that all the lakes in that area were still frozen over and the trails were really snowy.  So the location changed to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that are southwest of Colorado Springs.

The drive alone was beautiful.

We stopped in a very small town called Westcliffe for lunch before we got on the trail.

When we got to the trailhead around 2pm, it was already a little chilly.  It was a 3.5 mile hike to Dry Lakes where the boys wanted to fish.  I felt great starting out.  My pack was only around 15-20 lbs (Bryce was probably carrying around 40 lbs including our cooking stuff, tent, and food).  About 1 mile into the hike, it became steep and straight up the mountain.  Oh my word, was it hard.  I started having to stop about every 20 feet just to catch my breath especially with the elevation gain and the pack on my back.  After doing this for at least 30 minutes (everyone was so patient with me), the boys decided to take turns carrying my pack up the mountain.  I didn't get a picture, but you should've seen them.  They were so sweet about it!  They were carrying probably 60 lbs with my pack on their front side, and they could barely see where they were walking with it in front of them.  Once they started carrying it, I was able to hike at a normal pace again.

We soon found ourselves "post-holing" (making our own path and foot holes) through 3-4 feet of snow.  We lost the trail in the snow.  No footprints meant no one else had tried what we were doing.  It started getting dark.  And cold.  We knew we still had quite a way to go to get to Dry Lakes where we had planned on camping.  Finally, we found a campsite along the creek that we were following and we decided it was best to stop for the night.  Thank goodness!

The next day, we left our tents at that campsite and hiked up to Dry Lakes for the day so the boys could fish.  The lakes were at an elevation of 11,600 feet and it was freezing with the wind.  But as soon as the boys dropped their lines in the lake, it was all worth it.  They were catching cut throat trout almost every single cast.  It was a dream for them!  Cayce caught one, too!  They probably caught 30-40 fish the entire afternoon.

It was a pretty awesome view of the valley with pristine mountain lakes surrounded by 2 or 3 peaks.

The fishermen...

We hiked back to camp around 4pm, and it was snowing and hailing right after we got back.  It calmed and then we baked our fish for an appetizer, sat around the warm fire, and then made s'mores after dinner.

I was able to carry my backpack the entire hike down back to the car.  We were all pretty exhausted.  We celebrated in our usual fashion with a too-much-to-eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Colorado Springs.

  

After camping and hiking for days, there is nothing that compares to a hot shower and a bed to sleep in (and a flushing toilet)!