Saturday, September 10, 2011

Backpacking By Moonlight - Gotta Love a Good Adventure


"If we could see the miracle of a single flower, clearly our whole life would change"- Buddha


Growing up a Colorado girl, there are certainly many outdoor activities that I participated in on a regular basis. But there are those activities that I feel like I should have taken part in but never did, like backpacking! I have been desperately wanting to go for the past 3 years and have been acquiring all the gear to go whenever I saw it on sale for the past 2 years plus. Finally, last Sunday, I embarked on my first backpacking adventure! After a full day at work, my overly organized and experienced backpacking partner, Andrew, met me with the car packed and ready to go and we headed up to the mountains to get a start on our getaway!


We went backpacking on Crater Lakes Trail, near Rollisville, CO and above Moffatt Tunnel at the Colorado Divide. I have hiked and even gone snowshoeing on this trail probably a dozen times during the years I've lived in Boulder. In fact, the first time I ever went on this trail was probably around 3 years ago and I fell in love with it immediately. I have always loved how the area around the trail is heavily forested with a creek that flows along side of it. A mile or so into the hike you leave the forested trail and enter a beautiful wide open meadow with waist-high grass that dances in the mountain breeze and deep green hills that completely encompass it since they are covered with evergreen trees. 




Last year when I lost Lily, my gorgeous Golden companion of 6.5 years, this meadow was the place I wanted to spread her ashes. When my mom was visiting me in Boulder after Lily passed, we made the hike together, with Lily's best friend and partner in crime, Layla. It was a meadow where Lily always ran like the wind and loved to play. We let the gentle breeze spread her ashes for us. We shared some of the many memories that touched our hearts from raising Lily. Through the laughter and the tears, we were able to let Lily go on to whatever adventure she was meant to go on to next. We both hoped for her sake it included lots of red balls, her absolute favorite thing in the world, and everything else her heart desired. Now I refer to it as Lily's meadow and can bask in the beauty of the earth and appreciate her incredibly sweet soul whenever I go on my favorite hike.


We got to the trailhead at 8pm and were lucky to both have our head lamps to help guide the way, because the sun had long set! We had only the light of the moon and stars to brighten the sky, which was so comforting to me seeing as I have spent the last 2 months living in Boulder where there is enough light pollution to block out nearly all of the stars. I had been missing seeing stars and breathing in that cool fresh mountain air so much recently that this trip was just what I needed. Andrew, Layla, and I hiked for about a half hour until we got to Lily's meadow and took a break to catch our breath and spend a moment in silence for my Lily-girl. 


After another hour or so of hiking through the dark in moderate terrain, we decided to start searching for a campsite. It was already 9:30pm at that point and I knew the remaining trail to the lakes was much more rocky and difficult. Through his backpacking skills, and mostly luck, Andrew immediately found us an amazingly flat spot to put up our tent and call it a night. We got settled in, including Layla who didn't hesitate to snag a large portion of my sleeping pad and a bit of my sleeping bag too. After spending part of a winter in Silverton, you'd think she could handle a night at 40 degrees with her pretty golden coat, but I was wrong. I shared my pad and sleeping bag with my little baby and we all got some much needed rest. 







The next morning we woke up to the sound of the roaring creek and sunshine peaking through the forest that surrounded our campsite. We got our stuff organized and hiked the rest of the way up to Crater Lakes! The trail was definitely difficult enough to where I'm glad we stopped when we did the night before and finished it in daylight. At the lakes, the wildflowers were still blooming like crazy and Layla had so much fun wading in the lakes and splashing through the streams. 







We made the trek back down to the car at the trailhead and were there right at noon. We had made a deal that we would stop at my favorite little mountain cafe, the Sundance Cafe. It is just a few miles outside of Nederland on the way back to Boulder. I got to have my favorite breakfast: scrambled eggs with cholula hot sauce, bacon, and breakfast potatoes! Our little mountain escape came to a close that afternoon as we unpacked our stuff and got ready for another week in the real world!




Hope you all are out enjoying this gorgeous sunshine-filled Saturday and have another day of fun planned for tomorrow! Maybe I'll actually grill tonight and post a new recipe in the next few days! 


Cheers!


xX,
Laura Christine

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