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beyondthecampground.com
backcountry camping for the whole family
Colorado 2011
Part 1: Rio Grande Reservoir & Nellie Creek
Part 1: Rio Grande Reservoir & Nellie Creek
Our Colorado trip this year was a little earlier than it had been the last few years. We headed to cooler temperatures at the end
of July for 25 days of camping, fishing, hiking and climbing 14ers. For those of you not familiar with 14ers, it is a mountain
14,000 feet or taller. Colorado has 53 of them, and none of them are easy (unless you drive to the top of Pike's Peak or Mt.
Evans, but that's cheating). Last years trip started in the middle of September and finished about 10 days into October. We had
the Aspens changing color and cold mornings. This year we would be hitting the monsoon season with a bit warmer temperatures.
After the worst drought in Texas history, some rain was sounding wonderful. We headed out at dark-thirty and made great time
into Colorado. Our plan was to stop in Raton, New Mexico; but we still had some daylight left so we pushed on to Walsenburg.
Small town, not a lot of places to stay. We checked out the state park, and sadly the campsites were right next to the highway.
After driving all day we decided a hotel for the night was sounding pretty good. We found a great place on Hwy 160 just west of
town. The rooms were clean, they had an indoor swimming pool and a nice complimentary breakfast. If you are in the area I
would recommend staying at the Rio Cucharas Inn.
After a restful night we were on the road heading west to the Rio Grande Reservoir. We needed a few days to aclimate, and we
had heard that there was some good fishing in the area. We spent three nights at Lost Trail campground. There was no fee, only
seven sites and they had a pit toilet. The area was beautiful! It was so great to be back in the cool Colorado temperatures.
Here is our campsite at Lost Trial Campground. We
were at the end of a turnaround with one other site
near us. To the right in the trees was the beginning
of the Rio Grande.
Our first day we decided to do a little four wheel driving up
to Kite Lake. The road up to the lake follows the Colorado
Trail for a bit before the trail splits off to go around the
lake and continue west. It took about two hours to get to
the lake. It would have been sooner but we got behind a
group of about ten FJ cruisers that were part of a group
from the FJ weekend going on in Ouray. They had about
250 rigs for the weekend, so the trails in this area were full
of Toyotas (and ATV's as usual).
Kite Lake
end of the road at Kite Lake
lunch spot at Kite Lake
view from the ridge above the lake
afternoon storms moving in--time to go!
The rain missed our tent the first day, but it was visible up and
down the valley. We set our sites on hiking up to Heart lake the
next day. It would be an 8 mile round trip, with some good
fishing at the lake. We took our time heading up, but we were
feeling the altitude as soon as we hit the first hill. The first
three miles weren't too bad, but the last mile was fairly steep.
We used a mountain climbing technique of walking for twenty
breaths (Lucky counted his) then a standing rest for eight
breaths. We did this pattern all the way up to the top of the
lake. It was still tough, but we knew each day would get a little
better. It reminded us why we wait to try and climb any
fourteeners for at least five days. It's just too hard and it
makes us miserable, and that is the last thing we want to do to
our daughter. It's got to be fun! We saw one hiker on their way
down, other than that, we had the lake to oursevles. It was a
great afternoon, but we had to start down as the afternoon
clouds began to build. We got caught in some rain on the hike
down, but not the deluge we were expecting.
fishing Heart Lake
Creek
crossing
on the
trail to
Heart
Lake.
Heart Lake
Rio Grande Reservoir
After a great weekend near the reservoir, we packed up
camp and headed towards Lake City. We were itching to
summit a 14er, and Uncompahgre Peak was first on the
list. We drove up Nellie Creek to check the camping at the
trailhead; and see if there were any other good camping
spots in the area. We found one in an open valley about
five minutes below the trailhead. There were a few cars
already set up at the trailhead, so we decided to head
back down to the site we saw on the way up. As we
turned around, the power steering was making a really
bad noise. Once we pulled into the spot, Lucky checked
the hoses and it looked like we had blown the high
pressure hose in the power steering. Not good. Of all the
spare parts we carry, that was one thing we did not have.
He didn't want to drive all the way down, so we decided
to climb the next morning, then he would catch a ride
back into to town as the climbers were heading down in
the afternoon. The plan would be to buy the part in Lake
City (or order it) and rent a jeep to get the part back up
to the rig.
We woke the next morning at 5 am to drizzle and clouds. We decided to attempt the summit, ready to turn back it the conditions got worse. As the sun came up the clouds started burning off a little, and after hiking a bit through the drizzle, things began to improve. There were a lot of low clouds as we climbed up the mountain. When we reached the bowl below the peak, we were amazed to see about 700 sheep coming across from the ridge next to us. There were 4 working dogs and one shepherd taking the sheep across. They were right in the middle of the trail, so we motioned to the shepherd if it was OK to go through the middle of them. He nodded and motioned for us to go. One of the dogs came and followed right behind me as we went through the sheep, but he seemed very friendly. We did not make eye contact with the dogs or talk to them. We explained to Hiker they were working dogs and not pets. The Shepherd caught up with us and asked if we spoke spanish. Lucky does a bit, so we were able to learn he was from Bolivia and was working for a local rancher to move 1300 sheep. This was just the first wave. As we talked with him several of the dogs came up and leaned on us, demanding attention. We picked our way through the rest of the sheep and set our eyes on the summit.
The switch backs near the top and the rock scramble up scree were the most challenging. There were a few people on the summit, but not too croweded. The clouds would clear briefly to give breath-taking views of Big Blue Creek, Wetterhorn and Matterhorn. We headed down after about an hour on top and had an uneventful climb back to the trail head.
We woke the next morning at 5 am to drizzle and clouds. We decided to attempt the summit, ready to turn back it the conditions got worse. As the sun came up the clouds started burning off a little, and after hiking a bit through the drizzle, things began to improve. There were a lot of low clouds as we climbed up the mountain. When we reached the bowl below the peak, we were amazed to see about 700 sheep coming across from the ridge next to us. There were 4 working dogs and one shepherd taking the sheep across. They were right in the middle of the trail, so we motioned to the shepherd if it was OK to go through the middle of them. He nodded and motioned for us to go. One of the dogs came and followed right behind me as we went through the sheep, but he seemed very friendly. We did not make eye contact with the dogs or talk to them. We explained to Hiker they were working dogs and not pets. The Shepherd caught up with us and asked if we spoke spanish. Lucky does a bit, so we were able to learn he was from Bolivia and was working for a local rancher to move 1300 sheep. This was just the first wave. As we talked with him several of the dogs came up and leaned on us, demanding attention. We picked our way through the rest of the sheep and set our eyes on the summit.
The switch backs near the top and the rock scramble up scree were the most challenging. There were a few people on the summit, but not too croweded. The clouds would clear briefly to give breath-taking views of Big Blue Creek, Wetterhorn and Matterhorn. We headed down after about an hour on top and had an uneventful climb back to the trail head.
Uncompagre is the tallest peak
Here come the sheep!
Big Blue Creek from the summit
climbing up the scree
view from the summit
contemplating Wetterhorn in the distance
Marmot on the way down
Columbines-my new favorite Colorado flower!
Once we make it back to camp, Lucky got a backpack
together to head into town. One of the couples we met on
the summit was nice enough to give Lucky a ride into town;
they had to return their rented jeep. What great luck! We
needed a jeep. Unfortunately, all of the jeeps in town were
booked for the next four days. Jeep rentals were running
about $160 for 24 hours. Lucky found a place with probably
the last ATV in Lake City and got it for the bargain price of
$200 for 24 hours! They did have a "raptor" ATV vehicle,
brand new and sparkly that they would let him have for
$269! He asked if that was for a week--Ha! Just 24 hours.
We didn't have much choice, so he rented the regular ATV,
ordered the part that would come in the next day, and
headed back to join us at camp. When he pulled up on that
ATV, Hiker was jumping up and down going nuts because she
would get to ride on the ATV! Lucky spent the evening
getting the rig ready for the parts and I got to drive Hiker
up and down the road. We did have a lot of fun on that
thing! The good news was it turned out to be a low pressure
hose ($8 vs. $150). So the next morning Lucky headed back
into town, got the part and fixed the rig. Lucky drove down
and Hiker and I took the ATV down. All things considered, it
was a great few days. We turned in the ATV and headed to
Gunnison for a hotel, shower and to try and pick a spot to go
for the next few days.
Uncompagre Peak
Nellie Creek campsite