A Colorado State of Mind: 27 Hours in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness

What to do when all the popular campgrounds are booked and the resorts and hotels have jacked up their prices for the busy holiday weekend? Why, just head out into one of many nearby designated wilderness areas and pitch a tent for free, away from crowds or traffic! Jerry and I decided to do just that for Labor Day and planned a one night backpacking trip in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. It would be a two hour drive to the trailhead, and 12 miles roundtrip with a 3200 foot elevation gain to South Colony Lakes. With our packs full of all of our less than top of the line gear, we trudged our way up, eventually reaching treeline at 12,000 feet, and pitched our tent on a flat ridge (did I mention we were above treeline and completely exposed? More on that later...). When backpacking for only one night you can afford to carry such luxuries as aseptically packed Indian curry, instant Pad Thai, and rum and Coke. It is amazing how good these things taste in the mountains after a strenuous hike.

As it turns out, camping above treeline is not such a great idea when the weather turns out less than perfect. No sooner had we started dinner when the rain started and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. We quickly moved our cooking gear into the tent (ignoring the warning on the Sterno canister) and proceeded to finish our dinner "indoors". Usually storms blow through quickly in the mountains, but this time it wasn't letting up. That night we fearfully laid wide awake, listening to driving rain, cold wind, hail, blinding lightning, echoing thunder and no so distant rockslides. At times it appeared the entire tent was going to flatten completely and suffocate us. Sometime in the middle of night I saw some straying lights directed at our tent, not brief enough to be lightning. In my half asleep, oxygen deprived stupor I thought for moment it might be a search and rescue team, coming to save us off our death ridge.

But we did survive. The weather eventually cleared mid morning and once the sun came back out it warmed enough to motivate us to make some hot coffee (thank you Starbucks instant Columbian!) and totally yummy maple syrup oatmeal. The scenery and hike back was lovely and the cold, filtered water from the mountain streams reinvigorated us. We passed by nice, sheltered campsites below treeline that we had passed in our haste the day before. We both decided that would be our spot next time. Despite our uncomfortable and scary night, our little adventure was a success. There is something very pleasing and liberating about walking into a wilderness, carrying on your back everything you need for survival. On one of the busiest summer weekends we had managed that, as well as some solitude and seclusion.