A couple weeks ago, for Tom's birthday (his 30th again, ha!), we decided to visit an old friend - Lake Constantine in the Holy Cross Wilderness. This lake is very picturesque, a good 5 mile hike in and not too crowded with backpackers. Well, at least it wasn’t on Friday night, a group of early 20 something's showed up as we were packing out, loud and obnoxious - we were happy to be exiting the area. If you're going to hike in 5 miles, please respect the tranquility of the area and don't setup camp right next to someone else - there is plenty of wilderness out there!! (stepping down off soapbox now)
Tom took most of Friday off, so we were able to get a good start from Denver, drove up to Minturn, just west of Vail, and hit the trailhead early afternoon. It was just under 5 miles in on a fairly good, if not a bit rocky, trail. Ellie and Tom, scrambling up a bit of rock below - it's always more fun when it's wet and you have a 30-40 lb pack on your back, ha!
Ellie Mae wasn’t a fan of the graupel that fell on us about halfway up, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel, if you’re not sure what that is, it’s quite common in the mountains here), so we waited it out under a tree and hoped it’d pass soon.
Luckily the sun popped out and we headed onward and upward. We arrived at the lake, searched for a campsite for 20 minutes or so and found one with a good fire ring, logs for sitting around the fire and a good flat spot for the tent. Tom gathered wood and I setup house, those caveman roles really do stick around in modern society. :) Our campsite is just ahead in this photo, taken from the trail down to the lake, you can barely see our tent, to the right of the trail under the first trees.
It was a beautiful weekend to be up in the mountains, a few passing clouds and pretty darn chilly, but we had a great time relaxing by the lake and enjoying one of the last few weekends of summer in Colorado. Oh, sure the weather will be up and down (we’ve had plenty of upper 80s since that weekend) but the nights are chillier and you can smell fall in the air.
Some random photos from the weekend below, Happy Birthday Tom!!
Tom being manly - he's pulling down a dead tree in the first photo and then walking with a huge log on his shoulder in the grassy area in the second photo (you can barely see him).
Tom took most of Friday off, so we were able to get a good start from Denver, drove up to Minturn, just west of Vail, and hit the trailhead early afternoon. It was just under 5 miles in on a fairly good, if not a bit rocky, trail. Ellie and Tom, scrambling up a bit of rock below - it's always more fun when it's wet and you have a 30-40 lb pack on your back, ha!
Ellie Mae wasn’t a fan of the graupel that fell on us about halfway up, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel, if you’re not sure what that is, it’s quite common in the mountains here), so we waited it out under a tree and hoped it’d pass soon.
Luckily the sun popped out and we headed onward and upward. We arrived at the lake, searched for a campsite for 20 minutes or so and found one with a good fire ring, logs for sitting around the fire and a good flat spot for the tent. Tom gathered wood and I setup house, those caveman roles really do stick around in modern society. :) Our campsite is just ahead in this photo, taken from the trail down to the lake, you can barely see our tent, to the right of the trail under the first trees.
Our sunning spot for the weekend, you can see Tom and Ellie out on the big rock (taken from camp):
Some random photos from the weekend below, Happy Birthday Tom!!
Sitting around the campfire - Ellie Mae has this weird habit of "people sitting" - she likes to be upright. Weirdo.
Breakfast on our favorite rock by the lake.
The view from our breakfast spot.
Ellie keeps a keen eye on Tom when he's not within 10 feet of her - you can see his blue shirt walking away below, she's very concerned.
Tom being manly - he's pulling down a dead tree in the first photo and then walking with a huge log on his shoulder in the grassy area in the second photo (you can barely see him).
Looks like a very pretty place!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very pretty place!
ReplyDelete