NO VACANCY

 

 

This year’s trip was less planned than usual.  Originally we were going to fly into Las Vegas.  Then we switched to Denver.  Initially we planned to include three Umphrey’s McGee concerts at Red Rocks in the agenda.  Ultimately we weren’t able to work that into the trip.  The biggest challenge was also the primary purpose for our trip.  Christy has had major knee problems for 10 years now.  She has no cartilage left in her knees.  A couple of years ago a friend recommended the Steadman Clinic, in Vail & Edwards, Colorado, to her.  They are on the cutting edge of stem cell therapy.  One of their procedures involves removing stem cells from the patient’s hip and placing them in the knee the re-grow the cartilage.  They aren’t the only clinic that provides this service.  Christy found a doctor in Charlotte that performs his own research.  His patients fund the research, as he charges $15K for the procedure.  The Steadman clinic charges $3K.  We booked our flights for Colorado.  We scheduled Christy’s surgery for the end of the trip, since she wouldn’t be able to hike afterwards.

 

This year’s trip featured tremendous variety.  We started out in the mountains of Colorado.  Then we headed to the deserts of southern Utah and Northern Arizona.  After a couple of weeks there we got tired of the heat.  We headed back to Colorado and spent the rest of the trip cooling off in the mountains.  We visited canyons, cliffs, rivers, lakes, meadows, and mountain tops.  Along the way we were treated to arches, rock towers, slot canyons, waterfalls, swimming holes, and wildflowers.  We backpacked, dayhiked, and car camped.  Christy even spent a couple of days mountain biking.  We had been to all of these areas before, but we had never combined them into a single trip.  Also, most of the actual hikes we did were new to us.  There were only a couple of repeats, and even they were somewhat different.  Previously I had dayhiked Upper Calf Creek Falls, near Escalante, Utah, and we had dayhiked the Virgin River Narrows in Zion.  We repeated those hikes, but this time we did them as backpacking trips.  Everything else we did was completely new to us.

 

We flew into Denver on a Saturday in mid-June.  I’d gotten a great deal on a SUV from Airport Van Rental, a new rental company that specializes in SUV’s and vans.  Their rate was less than a compact car from any other agency from the Denver airport.  The service was slower than Avis – we had to wait 30 minutes for the shuttle van to arrive.  The car ended up being a Nissan Pathfinder with 4WD.  We were ecstatic!  Having 4WD opened up a number of options for us.  One of the hikes I really wanted to do is 10 miles down a rough dirt road that might require 4WD.  Suddenly, getting to that trailhead was not a problem.  It would help us get to several other places over the course of our trip, too.  And we didn’t have to pay extra for it.

 

We stopped in Denver for lunch and hit a Wal Mart for supplies (cheap camp chairs and a cooler) and groceries.  Then we drove to Dillon.  The first weekend of our trip had been full of uncertainty right up until the day before we left.  Christy had her initial appointment in Edwards at 2pm on Monday.  I wanted to make the most of our time before the appointment.  Ultimately, I planned a hike in the Lost Creek Wilderness on Sunday.  On Monday morning we’d do a ½ day hike, with another short hike on the agenda for that evening.  I thought we might manage a short hike Saturday evening, too.  I’d decided that our best strategy would be to camp near Dillon.  From there we’d have a fairly long but still reasonable drive to and from the Lost Creek Wilderness on Sunday.  It would be a convenient starting point on Monday though.

 

We drove north from Dillon to the Blue River Campground.  It is fairly small, and it was completely full on Saturday afternoon.  My map showed another campground nearby, on Boulder Creek.  However, that campground doesn’t exist.  We decided to drive back to Dillon, as there are several campgrounds situated around the Dillon Reservoir.  We stopped at the REI there to pick up stove fuel and other supplies.  Afterwards, we picked up a few things at the Whole Foods in Frisco.  We also hit the Basecamp Liquor store right next door.  The service there was fantastic.  I chatted with an employee, who directed us to a gluten-free beer that Christy really liked.  After telling him my preferences, he suggested 3 excellent beers.  I tried them all, but liked the Crank Yanker IPA (Buena Vista, CO) the most.  At $9.50 for six 16 ounce cans, it’s a pretty good deal.

 

Then we went looking for a campsite.  The first campground was full.  The second, a much larger campground, was also full.  The final overflow sites had just filled up right before we arrived.  Sigh.  I talked with the campground host, and he told me that all of the other campgrounds around the lake were full.  I had picked this area because there are a lot of campgrounds.  Apparently there are a lot of campgrounds because they are popular and easily accessible.  At least the host saved us the trouble of driving to each of them.  It was time for plan C.

 

We decided to drive towards the Lost Creek Wilderness.  That way, we would be closer to where we planned to hike on Sunday.  We drove through the busy little town of Breckenridge and on to South Park (Fairplay, CO).  Over the next 24 hours, we managed to hit all 3 gas stations in that town.  From there, we headed north on highway 285.  After a few miles we saw a sign for a campground.  It was 8 miles up a dirt road.  On the one hand, it was in a remote area, a long way from pavement.  On the other hand, it would really suck to drive all the way up there only to find that it was full.  Still, we decided to give it a shot.

 

Initially we passed through a desolate, run-down area that was a little creepy.  We were listening to Widespread Panic, and “Henry Parsons Died” came on. 

 

Me: “How appropriate”

Christy: “Why?”

Me: “This certainly looks like a Henry Parsons Died kind of a place”

 

We were 5 or 6 miles up the road when we passed the trailhead for the Rocky Point Trail.  I noted that it looked like we might be able to walk down that trail a short distance and camp.  I wish I’d actually stopped and investigated it.  We stopped the next morning, and found a good spot a short distance from the road.  Just beyond was a great view over a deep valley to a rolling ridge of snow-capped peaks.  We ended up at the Selkirk Campground.  For $17, the campground provided an outhouse, a picnic table, and a fire ring with a grill.  There was no water, but we had enough to get us through the evening.  The Rocky Point Trail had a great view and was free.  At least the campground was a decent, quiet place.  We were just happy that we didn’t have to spend any more time searching for a campsite.

 

It was fairly late when we arrived, so we organized the car and grilled chicken for dinner.  We were exhausted from a long day of traveling and went to bed shortly after dark.

 

 

PEDRO’S BRIDGE

 

 

It was cold at 6 the next morning!  We fell into our normal campground routine – I get up first and make coffee and breakfast.  Christy gets up when coffee and breakfast are ready.  She usually cooks dinner though, so it is fair.

 

The major drawback to where we camped is that we had to leave and find a new place for Sunday evening.  Our location was simply too far from Edwards.  If we camped there Sunday night we would spend most of Monday morning just driving to Christy’s appointment.  I wasn’t willing to sacrifice a half day hike on Monday morning for the convenience if staying at the same campground a second night.

 

After we ate Christy started cleaning the dishes.  She was nearly finished when she held up the coffee filter and asked, “How do you clean this?”.  Then she lost her grip on it and it fell in the dirt.  I responded, “not like that”.

 

We drove back to Fairplay and stopped at a gas station to buy water.  We bought a lot of water (and ice) during this trip!  Most of the campgrounds in Colorado do not have drinking water, even though they are usually near a lake or stream.  It goes without saying that camping in the desert requires carrying lot of water, too.

 

From Fairplay we made a long but scenic drive to the Goose Creek Trailhead in the Lost Creek Wilderness.  We passed through a desolate area of red rock cliffs and scrubby trees that looked more like Utah than Colorado.  We passed a number of primitive campsites along the way, but most of them were occupied.  The Goose Creek Trailhead was bewildering.  It is in the middle of nowhere, but there is a large parking area, and there must’ve been at least 30 cars there.  Where did all of those people come from?  Presumably Denver and Colorado Springs, which are 2-3 hours away.  The Lost Creek Wilderness is a popular destination in late spring and early summer, when the higher mountains still have a lot of snow.

 

Our plan was a 10 mile round trip hike to the namesake of the wilderness, Lost Creek.  Christy, my friend Dave, and I had attempted this hike way back in 2000.  We’d gotten a late start and then got hammered by a monstrous thunderstorm that pelted us with hail.  We had bailed out from that hike before we’d gotten very far.  I was eager to make another attempt at it.  Oddly, the parking lot and the first part of the trail were not familiar at all.  I was surprised that it wasn’t recognizable.  I wonder now if we had even been in the right place on that previous attempt.  That had been long before you could plug directions into a smart phone.  Perhaps we’d taken a wrong turn and had ended up hiking an entirely different trail?

 

After a short distance we reached a junction.  From here it is possible to make a 20 mile loop that is a popular weekend backpacking trip.  We turned right towards Goose Creek.  After a short distance we reached “Pedro’s Bridge” over a small stream.  I’m not sure how it got that name, but that’s certainly what I would’ve voted for.  A bit farther on was an unnamed bridge over Goose Creek.  After that, we hiked along Goose Creek, passing numerous boulders and cliffs and a bunch of appealing campsites.  We also passed a lot of backpackers on their way out.  I was surprised to see so many people finishing up their hike before noon.  What was the rush?

 

We passed a spur trail to a large camping area along the creek.  Then we began climbing switchbacks, away from the stream.  We traversed a wooded hillside that offered up a few views of the cliffs and rock formations above the far side of the creek.  This included Finger Rock and Harmonica Arch, both of which are well-named. 

 

We entered deeper forest and did a short but steep climb to a minor ridge.  Although we were in the woods, it offered a cool, shady spot for lunch.  After eating I walked down the ridge for 5 minutes.  The ridge ends at a promontory high above the Goose Creek Canyon.  The view here is incredible.  There are cliffs, boulders, and rock formations in almost every direction.  This would be an awesome place to camp, or eat lunch.  We resumed the hike, and reached another minor ridge a bit later.  I hiked a well-traveled spur trail out to another great viewpoint.  This trail is very scenic overall, but for the best views, you have to explore a bit off the main trail.

 

A little farther on we reached an obvious side trail that led us down to a pair of historic cabins.  There used to be more, but one has collapsed, and another was burned by vandals years ago.  There are all kinds of historic artifacts here, including the remains of a car abandoned in a small stream.  There is also supposed to be a grave near here, but we couldn’t find it.

 

We continued on the spur trail, which took us to an incredible area of boulder caves.  One source of information claims that the area has the most extensive network of boulder caves in the world.  I don’t know if that is true, but it could be.  I explored a few of them before we continued on to the remains of the old shaft house.  Years ago, somebody came up with a bizarre plan to dam Lost Creek to provide water for Denver.  The problem is that Lost Creek disappears underground numerous times (one source of information says 22 times).  So, they tried to build an underground dam, which would’ve flooded the canyon.  As you might guess, the project was a complete failure.  Hooray!  The historic remains of the project did add some interest to a very scenic hike.

 

I attempted to continue on to Lost Creek.  One of my sources of information states that the trail continues to the brink of a cliff.  A pair of rickety ladders lead down to the bottom of the canyon.  From there it is possible to canyoneer upstream, following the creek as it disappears and reappears among the boulders.  I hiked to the brink of the cliff, but the ladder is long gone.  Somebody had propped a scrawny, 20’ tree limb against the cliff.  I suppose hikers with more courage than me use it to get down.  I spent a few minutes trying to find a route through the boulder caves to get around it, but had no luck.  I gave up and returned to the shaft house, where Christy was waiting for me.

 

We started back, but stopped again at the old cabins.  Christy went ahead, while I explored a prominent trail leading downhill towards the creek.  It passes several campsites, including one that must be very close to where the creek reappears.  I suspect that you can start at that point and canyoneer upstream, which would enable you to bypass the cliffs with the missing ladders.  I thought about exploring further, but Christy had already started out and I didn’t want her to end up waiting for me.

 

The hike back was mostly downhill and fast, despite the afternoon heat.  Along the way I saw a snake and a deer.  We also passed an antelope on the drive out.  Back at the car, cold beers were exceptionally refreshing after a hot hike.  On the drive back out, we were startled to encounter a search and rescue operation.  There was a car parked on the shoulder in a rather odd place.  Just above the road was a big cliff.  We hoped that there hadn’t been a rock climbing accident.  It didn’t look good though, as there were several police officers, 2 ambulances, and several other rescue vehicles.

 

We drove all the way back to Dillon and on to the Blue River Campground.  It was only half full on Sunday evening.  We got a nice spot right next to the river.  The campground doesn’t have water, so I ended up driving back to town to get water and firewood.  While I was gone a moose wandered right through our campsite.  I couldn’t believe that I missed out on the most exciting wildlife sighting of the trip.

 

We ate dinner and enjoyed a nice fire that evening.  Due to the heat and fire restrictions, it ended up being one of the few campfires of our trip.  It got really cold that night, partially because we were camped so close to the river.  We were quite comfortable in our sleeping bags in our tent, but we were glad we hadn’t tried sleeping in our hammocks!




Continue reading about our trip as we dayhike to Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs.


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