Lost Creek Trail Backpacking Final Day

It is our final day of our trip.  We are pretty certain we are 2.5 miles from the trailhead.  The water crossing on the detailed topo map is a reliable source to make this determination.

We sleep in a little bit.  We can see both hands, and if I had my contacts in, I'm fairly confident I could have seen the wrinkles in my hands. It was 6:30 when we began our morning process.  Today for breakfast we are having eggs and polenta.  Pat was debating between pancakes or oatmeal.  We helped her decide.  I wanted to see the master making cakes in the backcountry.  While making our final preparations for a sit-down breakfast, Kathi looked up to see what the clomp, clomp, clomp noise was...A BULL MOOSE! He was cruising down the path going towards the water.  ("Hey, buddy, make sure to get a good drink there as water is pretty scarce above")  He stopped in his tracks, holding his breath, and we were all holding ours... Slowly, we all came to the conclusion that we were not a danger to each other.  I sooo, wanted to walk over to the tent to retrieve my camera, but he was close enough to us that "moving" could have caused him to think we wanted to challenge him.  I waited until he was moving away before going to the tent to grab the camera.  I did get some nice butt shots, and one side view with the camera.  At his closest point, I put us about 60 feet apart.  After the moment passed, we had to pass the pop quiz from Pat.  What would you have done if he charged? The answer is, get behind the closest tree.  Moose are dangerous but have a difficult time changing direction quickly.  They have good power, so pick a sturdy tree :)  This moment was a special moment.  Besides for some dried up poo we had not seen any real wildlife other than a few chipmunks.

Now back to breakfast...Pat was in the process of making her pancakes.  She just tossed her ingredients into a ziplock, added water and started to squish it up.  Add some cinnamon for flavor, pour into medallion sized drops in the hot pan...flip with a spatula and wha`laa....backcountry cakes. We had a little medallion as a taste test.  They taste perfect!  After breakfast, we break down camp slowly taking out time.  and chatting about our trip and future trips.  Pat provides us with a lesson in triangulating our position using a compass, topo map, and the environment.  I like lessons out on the trail that are not"hard luck" lessons.  This is just the way I like to learn...no pressure!  This is a skill I would like to learn and not have to rely on a gps unit that requires batteries.  Batteries are heavy and carrying any extra weight is not a happy place.

We broke camp at 11:30 and leisurely hiked the 2.5 miles out to the trailhead. As we hiked this last few miles we crossed running water many times.  Lost Creek is very abundant down here, not so much higher up.

Our final lesson was to learn the pacing of gaining elevation when hiking with a backpack and group.  When hiking uphill slow step, breath in, straighten leg until standing bone on bone,  before taking the next step, breath out.  Walking at this pace will lessen muscle fatigue especially with a 40 pack.  Pat had led us through the whole hike, and at no time did I feel out of breath.  Even with a heavy pack!  Love it!

At the car, we changed shoes, put all of the packs into Pat's car and began the 15-mile spaghetti, washer board, dirt road out.  As you might remember from our drive in the road is mostly 1 car wide with occasional bump out for 2 cars to pass as long as one is standing still.  Imagine our surprise when we met a school bus coming up the road...followed by 5 cars and a Fed Ex truck. We tucked into the side wall bump out and held our breath as the school bus squeezed by.   Somethings you just can't make up!

We drove back to Pat and Wendy's Denver house.  There we opened everything up in the garage to dry out.  I think the temps were around 90 degrees.  We then went in the house and had a tour of their beautiful home.  Everything seemed so clean and white when you are five days removed from a shower you try not to touch or bump into anything!  We enjoyed a welcomed shower.  The trail grime and sweat washed away but the memories of the trip forever imprinted in our minds.

Cleaned and refreshed we were ready to join Wendy for a dinner at Famous Dave's.  Over some tasty barbecue and beers, we rehashed the trip.  Moose, lifeguard Pat, midnight hikers passing by, FBC's, the names of our Packs, and setting our sights on new adventure possibilities.

25 miles in

backcountry shower...

Outdoor restroom...behind a rock

After poking around in this, we think it was horse poo

The moose was...That way...

Moose

Fold it up.

One last long look.

Lost Creek is Right! Day 3

Ohh, Baby!  We are getting good!  Today we are up and at the breakfast thing with almost complete efficiency!  We only had to get up once! Of course, Pat is a champ at this and did not have to climb out of her chair once.  We are but weee grasshoppers at this backpack experience thing.  Pat, seems to think we are good candidates for mastering the organization needed for a one-sit meal.  We will continue to hone our skills.

We break camp at 7:42 and begin a climb that seems to go on and on.  We are hiking up to a pass called MacCurdy Park.  It is around 12,000 foot in elevation.  We do not have an altimeter, but we think we are around 10,400 or maybe 10,600 depending on where on the map we really are?  We climb slow and steady taking breaks to get our packs off and for Pat to get a drink of water.  Kathi and I have our camelback water reservoirs hooked up so we can sip away while hiking.  Pat prefers to hike for a distance or time and then drop her pack to take out her Nalgene water bottle and guzzle down some water.  No worries either is fine.  This gives us a good break from the pack and gives us a chance to do some snacking.  We do not ever really stop and have lunch.  We just sort of grazed our way through the day.  Dried fruit, a little jerky, some cheese, nuts, and Luna bars.  Each stop, I manage to find some sort of great item to snack on.

We arrive a spot in the trail that has some little pool of water.  The trail comes down to the pool, but it is difficult to see where the trail continues.  There are several little offshoot trails that come and go from the water pool.  Pat needs to soak her feet, so we have another snack and while we are doing some map reading we watch two people come down the trail from the direction we wish to go.  Lucky for us, all we had to do was watch where they came down through the rocks.  Pat had watched a YouTube from some guy who posted his trip around this trail.  He had mentioned that the trail was a bit tricky through this session.  I see why!

We finally arrived at the pass.  Most of this up hike was in the trees with occasional vistas of lumpy rock formations. There is a junction trail at this point it is around noon, so we stop for some photo's, a foot rest and some water.  We are looking at the map.  It looks like we are going to loose some elevation and then have to gain it back again.  We feel pretty good and are ready to get moving.

Hiking downhill we make good time to the bottom and cross McCurdy Creek.  The creek is pretty low, as in just inches of water.  Since we have not seen water for awhile, we ask Pat if she wants to soak her feet.  We are headed to a place called Lake Park.  Pat is going to skip this foot soak and do a foot soak at the Lake. We continue hiking.  Since we are at the bottom of the valley, we need to hike up and over the next pass.  This one seems a bit steeper and we need several spots along the way to grab a drink.  As I mentioned we are on our way to Lake Park.

Up and over the pass and down down down to the Lake... Except, we can't find the lake or water.  We drop our packs and divide up to scout for water.  We establish what directions each of us will go to search, and to not get lost...Roger that, Do not get lost!  I head back the way we came to look closer at the last campsite we walked by.  Usually, if there is a fire ring, there is water of some sort close by.  I arrived at the fire ring and started walking towards the sound of a frog.  Thinking frogs and water go together.  I found a bog.  Much further out into the bog I sighted a pond.  I could not find any water running to or from the pond.  Hmm, Lake Park is the wrong name for this place.  More like Puddle Park.  I return to make my report.  Neither Kathi or Pat found water on their recon trip.  It was pretty clear that we could not stay at Lake Park.   But we did need water.  I was down to my last 8 oz and so were both Pat and Kathi.  Pat needed to soak her feet.

So doing what all great leaders do, Pat put on her bog walking shoes (camp shoes), took the dromedary (water bag) and a cup and then set off to gather some of the bog water.  I wished I would have taken a picture of this.  Pat had to wade out into the pond to get to some sort of clear water and scoop it into the dromedary.  She said she had one step that was a bit of a surprise, but she managed to control the lake walk and did not fall in.  She said she was in up above her knees.  Thank you, Pat, for retrieving some water.  We used the water filter to make the water drinkable and filled up everyone's water reservoirs.  Hmm, the water although clear still tasted kind of boggy.  This is when you either believe in the magic of a water filter or not...  Was the pond water really drinkable?  We always carry a little crystal light lemonade packet to help improve the taste.  This was a good resource to have.  I'm thinking that believing in the power of a good water filter is a good belief to have.  We are going with it.

As we hiked out of the Lake Park area, we passed a downed and decaying Lake Park (Puddle Park) sign saying we were at 10,880 feet.  We had good look at the map and need to hike up to Hankins Pass and then down to find a good location for camping.  As we are hiking up the side of the mountain we have some good vistas of some white capped mountains.  This always is a welcomed site.

Hiking out of Lake Park was very steep.  I feel very happy to have some lemonade bog water.  We arrive at the Hankins Pass.  It is pretty clear there will be more hiking today.  There is not water at the pass.  Looking at the map we all agree that the first place with good water is our home for the night. It is getting late in the day.  Fortunately, we are all down hill from this spot.  After about a mile we find a fire ring /campsite.  The water is just barely moving.  We press on.  We have already had our fill of "slow water".  We pass a couple of young guys hiking without shirts under their heavy backpacks.  (This type of no shirt fashion is only done by young strapping male youth in the prime of their lack of brain cells. Carrying a large pack while moving means there will be friction.  Friction equals a possible blister.  Blisters while hiking is bad.)  One of the guys says there is a great site a mile or so down.  The guys behind them have the map, so if we want to check we should stop someone else. They were looking for water.  We tried to tell them there was little water ahead.  They were young. They were headed to Lake Park!  They will be very disappointed to find that Lake Park is really Puddle Park. Hope they has some bog shoes!

We continue to hike downhill looking for a good source of water and flat ground to pitch camp. Around 5:30 pm we finally came to a water crossing.  This was a good water source, and with some good recon work, we were able to spot a place to put our tents amongst some downed trees.  This was paradise!  Today was a hard long day of uphill elevation gain, lack of water, and downhill loss.  Hiked from 7:42 till 5:30.  Pat declared that today was her personal best for hiking on this trail.  As the sun set down over the hills to the west, we put up our tents, sat down to prepare our dinners.  A great day,  great meal, well-earned miles, easy conversation, good friends...life is good.  Oh, and fresh water to replace boggy water...life is even better.  We will sleep well tonight.

I am guessing we hiked around 10 miles today. I need my Gps unit for things like this.

Setting up camp

Whoa that was a big hike

Trying to id the mountain way in the distance?

Team Picture!

Wondering if we are headed to the top of this pass?

Lost Creek Canyon Day 2

Not our usual snow capped mountain hikes, but this hike is melted out and assessable!  The envronment is all lumpy rock formations.  A very different kind of scenery.

Our goal for the day is to get up when you can see your hand...I'm not sure what time that is as I have never thought of the time that way.  I woke up at 4:00 and I could see the outline of my hand...does that count as seeing my hand? No, I will wait until I hear Pat mulling around.  FYI you can see your hand around 5:20 am.  We got up, stuffed out sleeping back into it's stuff sack along with our sleepwear.  Repacked out backpacks and crawled out of the tent.  Made some oatmeal for breakfast, washed dishes, and broke camp at 8 am.

Today's trail is up and down.  We gained and lost elevation all day.  Pat's plantar fascitis has flared up.  To help her out she is able to soak her feet in the streams we cross.  We were able to stop and soak three times.  At one of the creek crossings, we were all able to have a foot ice bath as the crossing had two possible ways to cross.  one choice was to walk across a round log suspended four feet above the water line and hang onto a loose rope for balance. The second pathway was to remove your hiking boots, put on your water shoes and walk through the knee-deep stream.  While we were changing into our other shoes a group came from the opposite direction.  They decided to take the first route... the first person across got baptized.  It made a pretty big splash.   A lady about my age fell pack first off of the log into the water.  What we heard was a yelp and big splash.  The lady said she was alright, but I can't imagine that falling off of a four-foot high log pack first felt very good...And she was talking a mile a minute so she must have some good adrenaline going.  The other three people she was hiking with crossed without a baptism.

After fording the creek, I had to put all new moleskin on while Pat and Kathi reviewed the map and baptizing log.  We decided we were close to an upcoming water source and possible good location for your second night of camping.

We hiked around 8 miles today.  Guessing the exact mileage on the map is impossible as all of the switchbacks are not taken into consideration.  We call our second camp "penny's swamp".  I learned a good lesson about locating a good place to do your business in the outback.  Consider all of the bends and twists in the trail before pulling your pants down.  I managed to hike way back off of our campsite, which was really only 7 feet from the trail. I had the opportunity to have four hikers walk past. I yanked my pants up pretty quick when I realized my error!  Lesson learned!  Our second night at camp our dinner was interrupted by a late afternoon/evening shower.

This might be a good time to talk about Pat's dinner.  Last night she was overzealous with her stove top stuffing.  She meant to just make some of it but instead ended up pouring the whole packet into the water.  She could not eat the four servings it made.  As Pat was scooping all of the leftovers into a ziplock the gain in weight for her pack was very apparent. She had to carry around the extra weight of the made meal.  Tonight for supper it is some more stuffing to help Pat decrease the weight of her pack. Kathi and I had Jamaican jerk beans and rice. Spicy and tasty!  We are trying to eat all of our heavier meals first.  We have all of the weights written on the sucker bags that we have packed into our bear cans.

Tonight we had some brief showers move in right around supper time.  We had a meal that we were not able to practice the art of getting everything in order to sit down and cook dinner without getting up.  I can tell we are a bit more prepared for dinner, but sitting down was a pretty wet choice.  So we stood around and chatted about trips, hikes, and bucket lists.  So much to do, so little time.  I better retire from teaching if I am going to get that bucket list taken care of!

Hmmmm, that sounds perfect!

Eariler to bed tonight due to the rain.  We did a bit of reading before falling to sleep.

Colorado Lost Creek Canyon Backpacking Day 1

Time to dig out your hiking boots, scrounge around for your best hiking socks.  But this year we are going big!  That's right it is our first official Backpack hiking trip.  Think about putting together enough food for four days with a bear canister, sleeping accommodations, clothing, water treatment gadgets, headlamp....hmmm and whatever else you think you might need for to live for four days.  By the time the backpack is packed, it is 40 pounds.  We are in the Lost Creek Wilderness in Colorado to learn how to be "Backpack" hikers.  We are hiking with Pat Wischmann who spent her career of teaching students and other PE teachers "outdoor adventure". What a treat to be able to spend time learning from the best as well as sharing stories, and experiences with her. Best hikes, bucket list hikes, and learning experiences to name a few topics.  We spent the days and nights in easy conversations listening, chatting, asking questions, laughing and chuckling at the stories we have collected through the years.

Due to the late snow arrival in Colorado, the mountain tops are snow capped and beautiful to look at. Although it is beautiful to look at, it is not very fun to hike through with a heavy backpack.  Pat made several hikes to try to locate a trail we could hike without battling downed trees and snow.  We decided to hike a lower elevation loop hike down by Fairplay, Colorado.  Lost Creek Canyon.  Lost Creek takes its name from a creek that repeatedly disappears underground and into rock piles.  At one time in history, people intended on damming up the creek in a water diversion project.  The idea was to divert the water to Denver. The problem was the creek just kept disappearing!

The drive to the trailhead takes three hours.  The last 50 minutes of the drive is on a dirt road that looks more like a squiggle of dirt scratched into the hillside.  The road is heavily wash boarded, one car with wide, with an occasional two car widths, bypass to allow for passing  Mostly it is wide enough for one car to drive while bouncing along on the washboard.  At about 35 minutes into the 50-minute drive, we find a semi parked on a spaghetti corner of the road.  I'm not sure how the semi got that far out there, but he was busy fixing something on the bottom side of his trailer.  Most likely changing the wash from all of the wash boardings...We managed to squeeze past.

We arrive at the trailhead to find the parking lot is full. We manage to carve out two parking spots. It is around noon as we change our boots, and don our packs for our outing.  We shoot a couple of pictures, register for the backcountry experience and hit the trail.

Setting off with a 40 pound pack feels much different than a 15 pound pack. Right off you notice balance will be a critical focus.  No way do I want to trip and fall with this pack on...We settle in and begin the schooling of learning how to backpack hike.  The pace is slow and steady.  After 3 and half miles we arrive at a historical site.  It has running water, a great flat place to camp.  It is early in the the afternoon, but we decide to stop and set up our first camp.  Being first time at capturing water, setting up camp, cooking supper...we needed a little extra time to get our routine put together.  Pat wanted us to be clear that there are three things we were looking for :  Water, Shelter and Food. Could we find close reliable water, was there a place to put a tent, and could we cook there.  After putting up our tents, Pat schooled us on setting up the dinner event.  "try and get everything in order, so that when you sit down to make supper, you don't have to get up and retrieve something."  This little lesson will take some practice, we had to get up to retrieve many things.  For supper we had jambalaya that we made with our dehydrator.  Just give it a soak in the water, bring to a boil, simmer and eat... Very tasty!!!  After dinner we walked up to the ruins.  We found a big iron pump that was bolted into the mountain.  To bad those men worked so hard getting that pump hauled back into the mountain only to find out the water source was not reliable.

Came back to camp and went to bed.  It took us about 30 minutes inside the tent to get everything in it's correct spot.  Pat was in her tent about 10 feet away...  I am sure she was laughing at us trying to get organized.

Sad note, our  Big Agnes "moon-glo" tent was a no-glow tent.  The tent has led light strip in the dome., operated by three AAA batteries.  It worked at home, but by the time we set up the tent in the real environment... it was no longer working.  We had to dig up the head lamps.  Oh well, guess I now have lots of extra batteries in my back pack...

old stove and a pile of rusted bed springs is all that is left

Buck house from the water diversion escapade

Close up of signage

Hit the trail! Stepping into an old western movie set.

Trailhead

Pre hike photo

Last chance to back out of this idea...Kathi and Pat mull it over.