Colorado Fall 2010
We set out for a 3 week camping trip the middle of September. Our plan was pretty simple, head to northern New Mexico for a few nights to acclimate, then into Colorado. Our only plans were to meet some friends in Breckenridge and spend a few nights at a condo with them at the end of our trip.

We headed to Guadalupe National Park for our first night out. We stayed in the campground, and Lucky & Muley planned to climb Guadalupe Peak, the highest peak in TX, the next morning. I had been dealing with some knee issues and was "resting" my knee for a few weeks, so I would get to pack up camp while they hiked.
campsite at Guadalupe natl. park
view from the campsite
My husband & daughter were back earlier than expected the next morning. I had already packed the camp up and was supposed to have lunch ready for them when they returned. Their attempt to summit was unsuccessful, my daughter wanted to turn around about half way up. My husband and her returned, but then she was upset about turning around. We said the mountain was not going anywhere and would be there next time waiting for her. We headed up to Morphy Lake, near Mora, New Mexico. We had stayed here before, and it is a great place to aclimate. We almost had the whole lake to ourselves. We hoped to be catching our dinner the next few nights. We were quite surprised when a large truck showed up and stocked the lake the next morning with 2700 trout!! We ended up staying 3 nights because the fishing was good and the view wasn't bad either.
We almost hated to leave, but it was time to get to Colorado. The weather was supposed to be OK the next few days with a chance of rain, so we decided to head to Lake City, CO. There was a "fall gathering" of a climbing group, and Lucky was hoping to hook up with them to climb his first class III mountain. By the time we got to Lake City it was getting late. We hadn't had a lot of luck finding good campsites before around the Alpine Loop. The Loop runs from Lake City to Silverton to Ouray. It is some wonderful 4 wheeling, but the mountains there are very steep and dramatic, which makes for uneven, sloping campsites. We may be a little picky too.
It was late by the time we got there, and driving down the Alpine Loop out of town we were not having much luck. There were some spots, but most were right on the side of the road. After regrouping, and seeing the sun setting, we decided to head back to Lake City and grab a hotel and a shower. We had a HUGE pizza at Poker Alice's, and planned to be up early for Lucky's attempt on Uncompahgre Peak in the morning. The weather was supposed to clear early the next day. We woke to thunder in morning, so this was going to delay any kind of an attempt to summit. After waiting out the weather a bit we headed to the trailhead. Muley and I stayed at the trail head while Lucky made for the summit. We had partly cloudy skies, but every now and then a dark cloud would roll by and we would get some snow. Lucky and I had decided beforehand a window of when he should be back, then a window to get worried he wasn't back, then a time to go for help in town. I was very surprised to see him about two hours later. He said the storms had chased him off the ridge before the last climb to the summit.
The last thing you want to deal with is lightning on top of a fourteener, or any mountain. We left in search of a camping spot further down the loop. The plan now was to meet up for the "fall gathering" of 14ers.com group. They were planning on climbing Wetterhorn, a class III, fourteener on Saturday. Since this was to be Lucky's first class III, he was hoping to hook up with them for the climb. They weren't coming till Friday night, so we decided to spend the day at Deer Lake, near Slumgullion Pass outside of Lake City. The scenery could just not have been more breathtaking. Good thing too, because the fishing was pretty bad!
view from Slumgullion Pass, Uncompahgre Peak is the tallest pt.
Deer Lake, near Slumgullion Pass
Lucky was up around 5 am and off to try and meet up with some of the group to climb. Muley and I had a morning of homeschooling and playing planned. By mid afternoon Lucky had returned and shared his successful summit of Wetterhorn with us. He had met up with the 14ers group and had a great climb with them. They were all going to hang out for the evening closer to the trailhead where they were camping, so we headed out. We had a great time getting to know everyone, and there was even one other kid there, Lil' Doggler, that Muley could play with. Many in the group were going to climb Uncompahgre the next morning, and Lucky was in for another summit attempt. Muley and I decided to hike up a bit, see how my knee felt, and see how we were adjusting to the altitude. Again, Lucky summited, and Muley and I hiked up to the valley and had a great view of the peak. I hope to summit that one in a future trip.
We were packing up the next day and heading to Buena Vista for showers, food and a new campsite. We decided to stay near the Clear Creek Resevoir, north of Buena Vista. There are 5 fourteeners on Clear Creek Rd., and we hoped to do some climbing the next few days. We picked Missouri Mountain, mainly because it was 5.75 miles round trip and the elevation change didn't look too bad. HA! I should have known better. This thing was steep from the begining and didn't stop till we reached the summit ridge! BUT, we did it!! This was Muley's second fourteener summit. I was a bit nervous going down because it was soooooo steep. My knees held up well, but it was a tough climb. 8 hour total hike time.
We spent the next day fishing and swimming (only Muley) at the resevoir. Lucky was going to try for La Plata, another fourteener, the next day. He planned to be back after lunch, then we were going to head over Independence Pass to Lincoln Creek, outside of Aspen. All went as planned, he had a successful summit, we were packed up and ready to go by mid-afternoon. After stopping in Leadville for lunch and some supplies, we stopped at the pass for a picture of La Plata. As we were leaving, a young woman had pulled in near us, and her car had overheated coming up the pass. We got out to help her, and long story short, 2 hours later we were following her back in to Aspen to her apartment, and then to the store for some anti-freeze. By the time we left her safe at home, it was about 7:30, and dark. The idea of finding a place in the dark and setting up camp, then making dinner didn't sound too appealling. Especially since Lucky had been up since dark-thirty that morning for his climb. We opted to drive back over the pass and get a hotel (and shower) in Buena Vista. Refreshed in the morning, we headed out again for Lincoln Creek. We were able to stay at the same site as we had two years before. They have primitive marked campsites, 22 total on the 6 mile road up to Grizzly Resevoir.
We hiked and fished in the resevoir the next 4 days. Lucky taught me how to flyfish and I caught four fish! We had fresh trout for dinner two nights there. We met the caretakers that live at the resevoir year round. A nice couple with a great job. They said in the winter the road is snowed in and the only way to town is four miles through the water tunnel. Pitch black and a very tight fit for their jeep.

We also did a hike up to Petroleum Lake. It used to be open to jeeps, but has since been closed. The fishing wasn't great in them, but again, you can't beat the view. Lucky hiked solo up Grizzly Creek to another lake and the fishing was much better up there. Certainly leaves lots of areas there to explore for next time.
Grizzly Resevoir
Petroleum Lake
"The tunnel"
So after three nights at Lincoln Creek, it was time to head to Breckenridge for some pampering! By pampering I mean a shower whenever you want one. Some friends of ours were there for the week and had invited us to come up for a few days. It was a beautiful condo downtown, and it even had a hot tub! After a fabulous birthday dinner for me, we all crashed for the night (in beds!!) We decided to do something Muley would really enjoy the next day--horseback riding. Our biggest problem was most of the outfitters close down in October. We found one outside Fairplay and went for a two hour ride. The views were beautiful and we all really enjoyed the day. The horses were a bit stubborn and mine liked to run my knees into aspen trees, but besides that, it really was a lot of fun.
view from "Texas", my horse
Lucky and Muley riding "Trigger" and "Babe"
Lucky planned to get one more fourteener in, Quandry Peak. He was up and hiking in the morning, forcasted to be the best day of the week. They were a little off on the forecast. It was very cloudy and windy all morning, and he didn't get much of a view from the top. We had planned to hike that afternoon or maybe fish a little, but it rained off and on all afternoon, so we explored around Breckenridge a bit and did a little shopping. We were leaving the next day, so we finished packing and getting everything ready to go. We bid our friends goodbye and decided to head to Carlsbad, NM for a hotel and then have a short drive to Balmorhea State Park to spend our last day of the trip swimming in their spring fed pool. Even though we were having snow in Colorado, it was still hot it Texas! We were at the pool by noon, after getting a campspot and setting up our tent. We had a great day relaxing and swimming. The water was perfect and we even got Muley to go off the high dive, with some bribes for Star Wars figures for her collection. Of course, once she did it, she didn't want to stop all day! The night was very clear and the Milky Way seemed to jump out of the sky, we even saw several shooting stars! A great end to a three week road trip.....Big Bend trip is only 7 weeks away!!

~Cookie
mountain goats on Quandry Peak
beyondthecampground.com
backcountry camping for the whole family