Rearing to go!
My pack...20-25 pounds (not bad eh?!?)
Dan's pack...36 or so pounds.
As we hiked up, we saw wild flowers! They were just starting...here is a Columbine.
Almost there! We stopped for lunch at another lake, Surprise, before getting to the lake in this picture. This is Cat/Kat lake. It was about a 10 minute walk from our campsite.
This is Upper Cataract Lake...just a few minutes from our campsite. Upper Cataract and Cat lake are connected by a rushing stream.
TIRED! But glad to have arrived safely!
We found the perfect campsite!!! Where I am standing to take this picture is a little meadow!
Our tent! Tucked in the trees! If you look close in the middle/left of the picture you can see our bear bag hanging between the trees! We put our food in here and hoisted it up to keep it away from any hungry animal!
In the evenings when we wanted respite from the mosquitoes, we would climb into our tent and either read or play games. We attempted (successfully I might add) to play Euchre! We each took a team and it actually worked out!
Mmm....campfire coffee :)
Friday, after a decent night's sleep, we walked around and explored the area. It was a lovely sunny day so we also sat on the edge of Cataract lake just enjoying the sunshine and the view!!! We also hiked down to Cat lake and saw many beautiful Rainbow Trout!It's hard to see, but we are on the edge of the stream.
The rushing and VERY cold stream!
These flowers were everywhere! They loved especially wet and marshy areas.
It was such a lovely "vacation!" I'll admit, the climb up was a bit difficult...I thought I was gonna die a couple times! (haha! A wimp, I know!) We realized we didn't eat enough on the way up cause we were both light headed at times! It amazed me how much harder hiking is with a pack on! Plus, the altitude (we reached about 10,000+feet) really made my heart work double time!It was wonderful to get out of the city and enjoy some alone time. We hardly saw anybody and just enjoyed the beautiful God-made views and weather! Other than some pesky mosquitoes our time was pretty annoyance free. At night I got cold but it wasn't bad. It seemed that everywhere we turned another view would amaze us! The hike down Saturday morning went a lot faster than the climb up! Many more wild flowers had opened up since we had been there a couple days before. Though it was a lot easier, we were both glad to reach the Jeep again safe and sound! We were both a little sore but it was well worth it!!!
I give backpacking a thumbs up. :)
wow...super fun, but I was exhausted after reading it:). That is some beauty you have out in colorado...those lakes, those mountains....just beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you guys in a couple months!
What a fun trip!! It's so cool that you can just do that any weekend you would like. Glad you had a fun time. I do know what you mean about wanting to die. I felt like that when hiking the Grand Canyon on the way up. All those switchbacks killed me!! However, I didn't even have a 20lb pack on my back. Way too go!! loveya
ReplyDeleteLove reading your post. sound like you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a neat time together. I've never hiked with a pack, I'm sure I'd agree with you that it makes it a lot tougher. I really enjoyed hiking the Grand Canyon, but only had water and granola bars and camara to carry! Hope sometime to come see you and do some hiking with you.
ReplyDelete