Fresh Mountain Air, nothing like it.

There's nothing like waking up in a tent in the mountains.  Tom and I had a great weekend in the Collegiate Peaks area of Colorado, backpacking and hiking with Ellie Mae.  We hiked in on Saturday night, about 3 miles, to camp just below Ptarmigan Lake.  We found a great spot with plenty of gorgeous views.  It's marked with a red star in the first picture below.  Saturday, we hiked up Jones Peak A and bagged a 13er (2nd photo) - Ellie Mae's first!  She did great, the outdoors and hiking really brings out her puppy side, which is great to see, since she's such a calm dog at home.  She was tear-assing around the area around our campsite on Friday while Tom was gathering wood, I was getting water, etc.  Seriously crazy! 

We also got hit with a lot of weather on Saturday afternoon, rain and hail for 2-3 hours.  Tom stayed out in part of it, keeping our fire going and having a few cold day hikers ask to warm up their hands a bit.  Surprising how many people don't recognize the "weather is approaching" signs in the mountains - a lot of them were from out-of-state, which would explain it.  People...take at least a rain jacket and a fleece!

Sunday, the weather looked like it could rain any second when we woke up, so we quickly packed up our (mostly) dry gear and hiked out.  All in all, a fabulous weekend, and most importantly, one WITHOUT CELL SERVICE.  Fantastic.

Campspot marked in red, on our way up Jones Peak with Ptarmigan Lake in the background!

Jones Peak from Ptarmigan Lake.  Beautiful morning for a 13er hike!

 

Freebird(s).

The ladies got their first dose of free ranging in the yard last weekend.  They ventured out, then returned to their run where they stayed for most of the day. Hm. 

Also, we saw John Prine and some Avett Bros on Sunday. We really went to see John. Great artist. And you simply cannot beat Red Rocks as a venue. 

On the trail.

Finally, hiking season is upon us in Colorado. Two weekends in a row we've gotten out. This weekend we tackled Ute Pass from Acorn Creek Trail north of Silverthorne (http://www.dillonrangerdistrict.com/trails/Acorn_Creek.pdf). 

We found total solitude during the climb, and ran into only a few hikers on the way down. There were beautiful wildflowers the entire way, even wild roses and clover, which I've never seen in Colorado before. And it's official, Ellie Mae LOVES hiking. She was way more excited this time than on her first long hike we did last weekend. She's a great trail dog, she stays close and listens to us, we couldn't ask for more. 

The view of the Gore Range from our hike. 

A stunning view. 

So many columbines (our state flower).

Ellie frolicking in the flowers. 

She had to lay down in the creek to cool off.