So in our January post I talked about our first Snowshoeing trip to Brainard Lake. Since then we have gone three more times- including two overnights! I have definitely taken to the snowshoeing and camping more than I did to snowboarding (though I am still happy to keep trying to learn the snowboard thing!) I think it is just easier..and a bit more peaceful.
The first trip was with a few friends to the Bear Lake area in Indian Peaks Wilderness. We hiked for two or three hours and it was snowing the whole time- pretty fun! The next trip, which we took the last weekend in February was in the James Peak Wilderness off of the East Portal Trailhead. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot- we got the last spot! It was pretty crowded- with quite a few backcountry skiers- but no one else stayed the night.
We (or, more accurately, Sean)built our first snow cave! It was roomy and warm and pretty awesome. It was built pretty quickly, and just off of the trail.
It was so much fun! The first picture is of Sean using the probe to measure the snow in order to make sure that we had enough space to build a solid snow cave. Sean melted snow and boiled the water to pour into bottles for us to throw in the sleeping bags. It made for a much more pleasant experience! We also just used the Mountain House dehydrated meals so were able to just throw a couple of cups of water into the bag of food and have a great meal in nine minutes. We love this method because it involves no dirty dishes- just a bag we can throw away.
For the last weekend in March we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked up to Ouzel (pronounced ooze-le) Falls on the Wild Basin Trail. We filled out a backcountry permit and hiked. The first two miles were on a road that is actually open in the summer- it is frustrating to hike along a road! It feelsl ike it is taking that much longer to get to the wilderness. Even though we were hiking just two days after a blizzard hit Denver we didn't need our snow shoes for the first 3+ miles of the hike. The best part was that when we got to the fork in the trail where the trail splits into two with the second spoke going to backcountry camp sites. We had to forge the trail the entire way to an adequate camp site- it was obvious no one had camped back there in a long, long time.
Once we decided on a spot to set up our new four-season tent (yippeee hooray!!!) we stomped out a sleeping space (Not flat enough as our backs found out the hard way later that evening)and set up the tent. It is much bigger then our 3-season and it has two vestibuels (so Sean can be setting up the stove in the front vestibule while I load clothes/sleeping bags in through the back vestibule etc.) this one change made a huge difference in both getting camp set up quickly and breaking camp quickly.
In these shots you can see our new tent (and Sean in the vestibule), our backcountry camping permit and a sign that reads "All stock except for llamas permitted"
So it was nice to get out to the woods even during the winter- but it did make me very anxious for the colors that come out during Colorado's springs and summers...once this snow melts there will be many more trip reports!
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