Wednesday, October 26, 2011

First Colorado camping trip

We finally went on our first camping adventure in Colorado.  And true to Sharp fashion, it was definitely an adventure.

First we explored some BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) out on the CO/UT border.  We took our low car to some spots that shouldn't have; however it was fun exploring.  Austin and Annabelle took a little walk to expore over the hill.

The scenery was beautiful.



After driving and walking around for awhile we decided that the primitative camping sites were not our cup of tea (at least for this first trip).  So we headed to a local state park and set up camp.  We found a nice little spot on the edge of the campground and were able to watch the sunset as we prepared dinner.

Austin did well at starting up the campfire with some sticks, dryer lint, and newspaper. 

Sunset

The beautiful changing colors around the campsite.

I put together hobo meals for our dinner and Austin expertly put them in the fire.  Unfortunately, I forgot that these are supossed to cook in the coals, not in the fire.  So most of our dinner was burned; however, we also had some hot dogs so all was okay.  We finished off the evening with sticky smores and good stories.

We went to sleep without the rain flap on because it seemed like a mild evening.  However, during the evening, the tempertaure dropped considerably, a storm blew over, and it started raining.  So at 2:00AM, we were running around our campsite putting on the rain flap, and pulling things in the tent so that they wouldn't get wet.  It was an eventful night, but hey, we were camping in Colorado.

In the morning I got up and fried some eggs, potatoes, and such for breakfast.  It was quite a hearty breakfast.  Then we cleaned up, packed up, and headed to the lakefront to explore a bit.


After sitting next to the very windy lake, we decided to go back out to the desert on BLM land and hike the dinasour trail out there. 

The dinasour is a pretty easy hike, but has increadible views of Rabbit Valley and multiple mountain ranges.  Also, there are fossils still embedded in the rock at various points along the trail.  We were proud of Annabelle for making the hike with us, despite her recent injury.

Austin was kind enough to move a boulder out of the hiking path.

We also made sure to follow all the directions and close the random fence gate.

I felt on top of the world

I set the camera on a rock and tried to take a "we hiked this together" picture for the wall.  However, Annabelle kept getting in the shot.  So I took care of that....

What a happy family.  :)

After a few hours of hiking and visiting with new friends (people that we met on the trail) we headed back to the car.  By this time, Annabelle was limping pretty badly, so Austin carried her the rest of the way to the car.

So what did we learn?  (1) Prepare for extreme temperture drops at nighttime in Colorado.  (2) When the sign says "only high clearence vehicles", they really mean it.  (3) Dogs cannot do 2 mile hikes after breaking bones the previous month.  (4) Cook the hobo meals in the coals.  (5) We can't wait for our next adventure!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

"Honey, I thought this was going to be a one hour hike..."




Ahh, the famous last words.  Yes, Austin and I went hiking this weekend and an one hour hike turned into six hours.  Oh the adventures we will have in Colorado!

So we decided to hike "Crag Crest" Trail which is on the Grand Mesa.  (The Grand Mesa is the largest flat top mountain in the world and averages around 10,000 feet in elevation). The map says that the route is 10.3 miles.  We thought, "10 miles!  Shoot we can walk that in 2 hours or so."  So we packed some water, a few nectarines, and we started off.


We started at the East Trailhead (not knowing that it is the hardest route to take) and the trail immediately started heading upwards.    However, we were enjoying the beautiful scenery and remarking that the elevation wasn't affecting us at all, to really pay much attention.

Upper Eggleston lake

Fall foliage along the trail

As we later found out, the trail climbs from 10,150 feet at Eggleston Lake to 11,189 feet along the crest.  We were literally switchbacking up the mountain.


Austin waiting for me to catch up.

A view of the lake from way up above.

Yup, we were going to climb all the way to the top.

Me, taking a break and trying to catch my breath.  I was still smiling at this time, not for much longer.

After about 1 1/2 hours of hiking straight up, we finally made it to the top.  The views were spectacular!!  I was praising God and singing out His name because the beautiful creation that He had created all around us.  We spent some time up at the top eating our nectarines and enjoying the views.

"I wonder how long it will take to do the rest of the loop?"  At this time, we thought that we had already hiked maybe 4-5 miles of the entire trail (really it was more like 1 mile).  So we thought that we would walk along the crest for just a bit more, start the descent, and be back at the car within another hour or so.

But the crest kept climbing....we thought we were at the top, but as we topped a "hill" of rocks, we would then see another hill that we would have to climb.  It just kept going.

View of the bookclift mountains from the top.

How many lakes can you count?  There are over 300 on the Mesa.

The steep trail.

This picture really shows the fall colors.  The Aspen trees were a beautiful gold.

Then the trail tried to trick us.  We would come to patches that looked level as they crossed a "prairie".  We would be encouraged "Yes, we are starting to descend, we must be at the end."  But of course, it would just start to rise again.  Up and down.  Up and down.  Burning thighs. Up and down.  But still, beautiful views.  :)

We finally turned the corner and realized that the 6.5 mile crest portion had taken us around 4 hours to complete.  We were exhausted.  We were also very hungry.  Considering we thought we were only going to hike for a few hours, our lunch was still in the car.  We also were starting to run low on water.  According to the map we only had 3.4 miles to the car.  The map made it look kind of flat.  "Great," we thought, "we will finish the descent, cross the lower fields, and be at the car within an hour."  Oh, how I laugh at that now....
A deer that crossed our path on the lower section.

4 deer that stood very proudly while I took multiple pictures of them.

The high prairie grass that the trail cut through.
 It was about this time that we started getting lapped, yes lapped by other groups that were also doing the entire loop.  We had passed them on the crest and now we were passing them on the lower part.  That makes it seem like we had the same pace...but that is deceiving (as is the whole trail).  See, they had started on the west side which has a much more gradual assent.  They had also started about two hours after we started.  Yup, we were over two hours behind these other hikers.  "You are almost there," one group said, "only 2 to 3 more miles."  At those words I promptly sat down.  I just couldn't go on anymore.
A great view of the aspen trees turning color.

We actually hiked to the top of that rock.  This picture was taken about a mile from the end looking back at our amazing journey.
 For the last mile, I have no pictures.  The sun was starting to go behind the rocks we had climbed, we were really hungry, and we had run out of water.  I was on the verge of tears multiple times and Austin was playing encourager to just keep me moving.  I started singing songs about heaven and figured that I would be there much sooner than later.  Austin just kept pushing me along. 

Finally, we rounded a corner, and there....the most beautiful color of brown....a beacon in a storm...a marker that returned my smile....there was the end of the trail.  Only 1/4 mile hike straight down, back to the car.  We had made it.

So we survived.  A little over 6 hours later, we sat in the parking lot, eating our very warm picnic lunch, and drinking the extra water that I had in the car.  We relived the high and low moments of the trip.  We praised each other for completing the trek.  And we stood taller.  Because unbeknownst to us at the time, we had just completed one of the more difficult trails in the area.  Austin said that "2012 Elizabeth is going to look back on this trip and laugh at 2011 Elizabeth."  He might be right.  But I don't know if I will ever do the loop again to find out.

But hey, don't you think the pictures were worth it!  :)

Off to seek new Colorado adventures,
Elizabeth