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.
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| Our starting point- the car is actually parked halfway down this road |
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| Up and up into the mountains and wilderness |
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| South Colony Lake |
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| Crestone Needle in the background |
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| Our campsite above treeline |
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| Indian curry in the mountains- yum! |
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| Our dinner quickly moved indoors when the weather turned sour |
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| Filtered mountain water, it doesn't get any better! |
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| A big reward in Westcliffe on the drive home |
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| Colorado summer storms |
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| Airing out our feet for the drive home |
