Backpacking the Continental Divide

Let me tell you about one of my close calls in the mountains. One time I went backpacking with two friends and we were attempting to walk the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountain National Park. We had 60 lbs. backpacks each to carry our food and supplies. We started at the north end of the park and walked south.   We were dropped off at Milner Pass. The first hike from the road was tricky because the rocks were like giant boulders making it difficult to walk up the steep hill with my heavy backpack. We were above timberline all through the journey. I learned a good technique in scouts that made it easier to take each step with all the weight I was carrying. It’s called the rest step. You would take a step up the hill and with the opposite leg bend it straight and rest until you get your wind back and do the same thing again. 

When we were setting up our tent on the first night a thunder storm hit and a rock exploded from lightning and it was less than 100 feet from us! We said “Oh shit!” and hurried to setup our tent thinking it would be safer under the cover of the tent.

That night the storm passed and we had the best spaghetti dinner all cozy in the tent! It’s amazing how boiling water can warm up a little tent. Did you know that it takes longer to boil water at high altitude?  After a day of hiking we were exhausted and didn't mind going to sleep after dinner.  Here's a picture of my gas stove. 

A few days later we had another frightful event with lightning. We were in a boulder field unprotected from the elements when a thunder storm set in. We were the tallest things around and we said get down quickly. As I was taking my backpack off which had a metal frame a little spark went from my finger to the frame.  I said “Oh shit” again and quickly hit the ground! My ears were ringing; I guess that's a result of the static electricity. The storm passed and we were on our way again. To the west of the park is a wilderness area called the Never Summer Range. It was a good thing and bad. Unfortunately we never made it to our final destination. There's a big mountain called Mount Alice and it was covered with snow and we didn't have the proper equipment from trudging through snow that deep. We could see through our binoculars that the snow was 4-6 feet deep. The nearest town was Estes Park. So we headed down to Estes Park. It was the longest hike in a single day that I ever did. It was 20 miles! Oh boy we were exhausted by the end. Once in town I remember standing outside the phone both listening to my friend beg his mom to drive up and rescue us. People kept staring at the 3 of us all rugged looking with our backpacks at our feet.  I got a kick out of it! 

Long's Peak - My Favorite Mountain in the World!

I climbed Long’s Peak a few times the normal route but my most memorable story was when my climbing buddy, Alex did the east face of Long’s with ropes. We knew it would take all day and into the evening to climb so the morning before the climb we spent the night at the base of Long’s. We didn’t sleep well because we had minimum gear because of weight of our packs that weighed 50 pounds because of the ropes and climbing gear! With my skinny butt the rock I was sleeping on got extra hard!




It was a beautiful sunrise and when we woke up for breakfast we saw a marmite family sunning themselves on a rock near by.



After a little breakfast of Ramon Soup with Vienna Sausages in it we started the all day climb. Unfortunately in the early part of climb I lost my balance and fell 30 feet and it scared the living daylights out of me! Fortunately I had only a few bruises so we climbed on.



It was an exhilarating climb! I must admit that we were totally beat when we reached the summit. I think that was one of my more major climbing experiences in my life! The weather was absolutely wonderful the whole day which unfortunately can get very bad at 14,000 feet in an instant. Which reminds me of two times when we turned back on other backpacking trips due the Mother Nature having different plans!

Here's  a picture of our route!

We stayed up at the top for a long time before we had to descend. There were other people up top and it was interesting to explain how we didn’t take the normal route to the summit. It made us proud to be true mountaineers!



The trip down was less tiring than the climb which is usually the case. It was home free once we got below the tree line! In the parking lot was my trusty 1959 Jeep and boy was it a site for us weary souls!



Some day I really hope you can climb Long’s but please don’t make it your first forteeneer. Trust me you have got to train for it and you would be disappointed if you were not prepared. Good luck!

Fond Memories of Wilderness Fishing with my Dad

 I would like to tell you a story of my favorite fishing trip. When I was in junior high in Fort Collins...I went backpacking with my dad and a good friend. The friend name is Al Barns. Al lived on a ranch outside of Fort Collins. He was an avid hunter and fishermen like my dad. One of his animals he owed was a donkey named Lady Bird. He took her on our wilderness backpacking fishing trip. She would carry our food and cooking equipment.

Our adventure was to hike into the Rawah Wilderness area. There are 26 lakes all feed by melting snow. The area is free from motorized vehicles. We backpacked nine miles to get to our base camp. We were thankful of Lady Bird because after seven miles, we were feeling the weight on our backs.

The lakes are above timberline. That’s why we camped at the base camp. Our camp was just along a pure rocky mountain stream. The area was surrounded by magnificent pine trees. We got up early and cooked a mountain man’s breakfast that would last us till lunch time. My dad would make his specialty called monkey guts. A bunch of eggs with grilled onions cut up potatoes, sausages, and diced ham all mixed together. Served with buttered toast lightly browned over the morning fire of course!

With our fishing gear and lunch in hand, we headed for the lakes. Lady Bird would stay behind. It was a difficult climb to the lakes about an hour. Once we got above timberline, we heard water running under the rocks beneath our feet fed by the snow above the lakes. To get a drink of water, we carried clear surgical tubing to feed through the rocks to get perfectly clear water!

Once we reached the lakes it was time to get busy fishing. The fish were jumping that morning. My dad loved to say look at them jumping every lake that we passed by as children. We just laughed.

Since the trout aren’t stocked up in the wilderness, their meat is pink not white like most store bought fish. Native trout with pink meat tastes much better than white meat. A specialty fish up in the Rawah is called Cut Throat trout. They have bright red markings just below their gills, thus their name.

The catching was fantastic that morning. Just before lunch I caught a large cut throat and built a little fire to cook this fine fish. After the fire had red hot embers burning, I cleaned and roasted my catch until the meat practically fell off the fish. The trout melted in my mouth. To this day that was the best fish I have ever eaten. Naturally what do you do after a delicious meal, I took a nap.



The end of my fish story (in this fishy story, all is true)
Enjoy the pictures below.