We took off work a little early so we could have a long weekend. The first day down there we relaxed, did a little fly fishing, then Travis and I took Brisco and Trek and took off towards Lake City for a day of hiking. We stopped off in Gunnison for dinner, then drove to the trailhead at the base of Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks. We got some sleep, then got up early and started hiking! It felt good to get out for our first 14ers of the season. We had the trail to ourselves and it was a beautiful day! We summited Redcloud Peak and relaxed for a bit, then we went the 1.5 miles along the trail to Sunshine Peak. We had another nice break on Sunshine, then we continued on a loop and went down the lesser traveled side of Sunshine. There was still some snow and we had fun glissading down. The dogs loved the snow and Trek was running around like a wild child on the snow fields! By the end of the hike, we had gone close to 10 miles and we were ready for something nice and cold. We went into Lake City and found a place that had great ice cream! After that we took the back roads to our camper. It took awhile, but it was fun to see more of the country around there. Pictures from our hike are uploaded and can be seen here. Mariah was very happy to see us when we got back! We would have loved to have her hike with us, but 10 miles would have been a bit much for her at almost 11 yrs old.
The next day was spent hiking down into a canyon for more fly fishing. I should have known better, but I wore my sandals and shorts. It was definitely warm enough out for sandals and shorts, but there were some serious rose bushes and stuff that tore my legs up! As our friend Mike said "I bet you wouldn't be doing this if you did beauty pageants!" That's for sure - good thing I don't. :) Despite getting torn up, we had a fun day of fishing and I ended the day landing 30 trout and lost quite a few. We had a good dinner, relaxed and got our packs ready for another hike.
On Sunday, Travis and I left the pups at camp and took the ATV to the trailhead for Stewart Peak. Stewart Peak is a 13,000 ft peak and is the 2nd highest 13er in the state of CO. Sunshine Peak is 14,001 ft high. Stewart Peak is 13,982 ft high. Some people think hiking 13ers is easy, but it's only 19 feet lower that a 14er, so it's still a good hike. Stewart Peak was a nice hike. It's not a popular 14er hike, so there isn't much of a trail heading to the summit.
There's a trail on the lower section, but once you get up to 12,400, you cut left and head up the hill! You follow a basic ridge over the tundra and all the way around to Stewart Peak. The uneven ground is a workout, but it's fun to not be channeled to a trail once in awhile. We only saw a few other people all day and the surprise was seeing a HUGE herd of elk! There were a couple hundred elk in the valley below Stewart Peak and the males were bugling. Quite the sight and sound!
One of the best things about the hike were all the beautiful wildflowers! They were everywhere and there were many different kinds and colors! I'll get pictures posted from our hike soon, but here are a couple of the flower pictures.
With only 1/2 day left before we had to head back home, I went out fly fishing again with my dad. We hit the stream below our camping spot and it was a blast! We were out there a couple hours and I landed 50 trout! They ranged in size from 3"-4" to 12"-15". It's funny how the little ones always go after the biggest fly they see!
As always, we had a great weekend of camping and the dogs really enjoyed the freedom of camping in a high meadow. We'll be back next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment