Colorado Backpack with Dave and Nick

My son-in-law Dave invited Nick and I to join him for a backpacking trip in Colorado. We spent 4 days and 3 nights in the Weminuche Wilderness of southwest Colorado, part of the San Juan National Forest.  It turned out to be a great choice, and on top of that, the weather was mostly good. After all, it was still the monsoon season, and we were taking a bit of a chance.

 Dave chose the Vallecito Creek Trail.  Here we are at the trailhead.

 We packed in 9 miles on Wednesday, starting at 7,000 feet and making camp at 8,000 feet near Johnson Creek.

 The creek was so clean and clear it seemed we could just drink out of it without filtering (we didn't).

 A flower in the gentian genus, I believe.

 I believe these are Police Car Moths.

 A strange looking fly, Adejeania vexatrix, I believe, after consulting iNaturalist.

 Our first break by the creek and first bridge.

 The third bridge, unfortunately, was taken out by an avalanche a few years ago, so we had to ford the creek.  This is trickier than it looks on slippery rocks in frigid water.  Nick insisted on carrying my backpack across for me - much appreciated!

 Our campsite was under these peaks which loomed larger as we trekked further up the valley.

 The trail alternated between passing through shady forests and open meadows.

 After about 7 hours of hiking, we set up camp. Notice the fine furniture we have here!

 Nick and his home for 3 nights.

 Dave and his home.

 Nick and I shared a bear canister, but our food and toiletries would not all fit.  The solution? Nick put a pinhole in all the food packages so he could squeeze out the air, and voila, everything fit.  Here he sniffs the gourmet aroma of a Mountain House meal.  Mountain House meals and Clif bars were frequent objects of sarcasm.

 The days were warm, but as soon as the sun disappeared over the ridge it became cold in the thin, dry, mountain air.

 Hello, beetle on my tent!

 On day 2, we headed 6 miles further up the valley for a day of exploration.  Our goal was Rock Creek.

 Vallecito Creek passed through a little gorge here.

 The start of the afternoon thunderstorms up around the peaks.

 Nick brought his camera and documented many plants and flowers. I appreciated his frequent  stops to examine new specimens as the altitude impacted my lung power.

 iPhone panorama shot that makes the river look weird.

 Indian Paintbrush.

 We were looking for a moose that a woman backpacker told us she had seen a half mile up the trail.  She also said she saw bear tracks and scat in the same area.

 Sure enough, bear track.

 And bear scat, which has a striking similarity to certain Clif Bars.

 We finally came to Rock Creek, which turned out to be quite red.

 Botanist at work.  I could picture Nick being the botanist on the Darwin expedition, bringing plants and flowers back to the ship for study.

 We saw a lot of Columbine.

 We had a few rain showers on the way back to camp.

 Hello!

We got back to camp rather late and ate in the dark.  We were bushed after the 12 mile hike.

 Day 3 started out sunny and warm as we headed for another hike, this time up the Johnson Creek Trail which leads over Columbine Pass at 12,674 feet elevation.

 We saw several areas of moose scat along the way.

 We had lunch above a steep ravine as it began to thunderstorm.  The thunder echoed off the surrounding cliffs and mountains - very dramatic.  After some hail, rain, and dropping temperature, we decided to head for lower ground.  We had made it to about the 10,000 foot level.

 The view from the bridge over Vallecito Creek, about a quarter mile above our campsite.

 That's Nick's tent in the middle of the picture.

After a good downpour, we emerged from our tents and built a fire to celebrate our last night on the trail.

 Three Amigos.

 What???  Nick is actually drying his butt after sitting awhile on a wet log.

 Our last morning presented us with a double rainbow!

 Fording the creek again as we make our way down the 9 miles to the car.

 A real bonus along the trail was fresh raspberries!  They were tasty and prolific!

 This rock slab had the marks and grooves left by glaciers.

 We passed Chimney Rock coming and going on the drive.  We had wanted to hike around the archaeological ruins on our way to Durango, but no one was allowed up there due to weather concerns.

One of the highlights of my remaining time in Colorado Springs was our annual Spud Fest.  Andria grows all these potatoes in bags, which we dumped out. My spud scrubbing crew here is my granddaughter Susanna on the right, and her neighbor Bristol on the left.  The Spud Fest slogan is, "You'll never want to eat a potato again!"

Susanna has the ability to literally climb the walls!  Climbing is big in Colorado, and starts in the kitchen.