5 Miles in the Wrong Direction - Mt. Adams - 2024

 

Brad and I originally planned to do a backpack into the Weminuche this past week, but there were forecasts of heavy rains so we called and audible and instead headed down to Willow Lake in the Sangre de Cristo mountains for a shorter hike that would take less time.  Mt. Adams was on both of our lists, and was highly recommended by other hikers.  We started on the trail completely engulfed by mosquitos.  Wow.  I'd never experienced such thick clouds of these vampires.  They were so numerous that we would accidentally inhale them and gag every so often.  It made for a miserable 5 miles and 3000ft. of elevation gain to the lake.  Relieved to arrive at the lake, we looked around to enjoy the majestic mountain scenery.  Only...wait...none of this looks like Willow Lake.  Where was the massive waterfall and the views of Kit Carson Peak?  Another hiker noticed that we looked confused and told us that we were 5 miles in the wrong direction! This was actually South Crestone Lake, not Willow Lake.  

Bighorn Sheep

Brad's Karate Mobile

"This doesn't look right."

We had a good laugh (either that or cry) and sat down to think bout our options and look at a map. We figured out that we were looking up at Unnamed 13,159 to the east and Unnamed 13,552 to the south.  Both of these were connected to Adams via their ridge so we decided to try and create our own route from here and see if the terrain would let us summit Mt. Adams.  We did some scouting of the route that evening to see if we could gain the ridge of UN13,159.  Once we realized we could do that, we had high hopes that we'd have a good shot to summit Adams the next morning.  We built a campfire and enjoyed a mosquito-less night once the temperatures dropped.    

Sunset over UN 13,552

The next morning we trailblazer our way to the top of UN13,159.  It was another beautiful sunrise in the Sangre de Cristos.  It's always a special experience to hike in places where you know very few others have traveled and experience the solitude.  From the top of our first 13er, we looked at the route up Mt. Adams and had some serious doubts weather or not we'd be able to summit from here.  The slope turned out to be much more doable that it looked from a distance.  Once we reached the saddle, it was over 1000 ft. of type 2 fun climbing on steep loose talus.  At the top was the summit blocks that we weren't sure we'd be able to safely climb, but hoped that the ridge would offer some doable options on the back side.  Our hopes came true at the top and we had some quick fun scrambling to reach the summit.  Brad and I agreed that Mt. Adams must be one of the best summit views in this mountain range.  You could see a clear angle on all 5 of the Crestone 14er group.  

Approximate Route up UN 13,159

Jagged Spires - Prints available

Approximate route up Mt. Adams

Horn Lake

Approximate route to summit from the saddle

14ers Crestone Needle,Cestone Peak, Columbia Point (13er), Kit Carson, and Challenger

The way back was grueling, but uneventful.  Burgers in Buena Vista! 

Approximate Route from South Crestone Lake

Family Trip to Cozumel - Winter 2023

This winter, we took a family trip to Cozumel where Brian and Dive had lived for a few years in the past.  We waited until the morning of the trip to tell the kids we were going.  We surprised them when they woke up just to see the look on their faces!  Neither of them had ever been to the ocean or on a plane or out of the country so a lot of firsts were being had!  It was a great time and B & D were awesome tour guides for us!  The whole time we were there, they had a "cold front" that was going through.  All the locals were bundling up in jackets while we were like, wow 70 feels nice! 

 I did take one of my Nikon's too: 

Definitely tough to come home from that one!  Back to winter and cold.

Return to the Sand Dunes - Spring 2023

 The Great Sand Dunes are a special place.  It's a super unique national park that is in the middle of nowhere southern Colorado.  360 Sangre de Cristo mountain views and hundreds of miles of sand with no trails.  To get to the dunes, we started at the parking area and walked across Mediano Creek, which was cold on the first day and warm on the second day based on whether or not the sun was out.  

The kids have been to the dunes before, but Kolby was only a toddler and KD didn't even remember the experience being a 3 year old.   This time, we drove down there and didn't tell our kids that our family friends were going to meet us there.  It was a fun surprise when they showed up to our camping spot the first night.  The look on their face when they saw them was priceless.  We had a great time with the Coffins as we stayed at our parents "cabin" in the Spanish Peaks area the first night and then rented a cabin near the dunes on the second night. The kids (and adults) got to play in the creek and, believe it or not, all of the older kids made it to the top of High Dune, which was not an easy task!  The wind up there was intense.

Mediano Creek

 

Sunset on the Dunes

 

 

 

Lost Twin Lakes, Bighorn Mountains - July, 2020

We spent a week in Wyoming at Nathan and Kameryn's place which sits on a foresty hill.  Wow! They have built a beautiful house in a beautiful place!  All the in-laws joined us up there with all the kids which was chaotic... and... fun.  On the weekend, we went backpacking into the Bighorns for one night to Lost Twin Lakes from the Tensleep trailhead.  It was a moderate hike, though it kicked our butts cause we're getting old.  The fishing was really good, the veiws were good, and we saw some bull moose on the way out.  It was also nice to get to know Nathan and Kameryn a little better.

Sunset - Lost Twin Lakes - Prints available

Lost Twin Waterfalls :)

Sunrise - Lost Twin Lakes - Prints available