I camped with two of my nephews, Coleson and Hakeem. We left after work on Friday, September 9th, and camped up at Buffalo Campground in the Buffalo Creek Recreation area. It is between Deckers, CO and Bailey, CO. We ate dinner along the way but had Smores at the campsite before going to bed. I didn't sleep real well but I could tell I was sleeping here and there.
In the morning, I found the source of water down by the entrance to the campground. Once I washed the dishes, they seemed sticky from being stored for a year, I was able to start on a breakfast of eggs, sausage and orange juice. After a couple hours, we headed out to go see a movie (one of my traditions on camping trips, I know it is weird). We even drove into Littleton to find a theater after having lunch at Pizza Hut. We watched "Contagion" which turned out to be a very interesting movie.
We had dinner at the campsite of hamburgers and hotdogs. After Smores and clean up, we watched "Avatar" on my iPad in my car. Not too rustic. I'm sure we could have done all of it in town but it was still fun.
In the morning, after more eggs, sausage and orange juice, we headed back home. The guys had a great time. It was a welcome change of pace compared to hiking 30 miles.
On Friday, September 2nd, I got all the way to Woodland Park and realized I had forgotten my trekking poles. I had to go about 30 miles back home so I decided to just go backpacking the next morning.
On Saturday morning, I drove to Kenosha Pass, CO by way of Denver, since I take Highway 24 often into the mountains.
View from Kenosha Pass
I got on trail about 9:30am, starting from the western end of Segment 5. My plan was to hike Segment 5 and the western end of Segment 4 that I hadn't finished on a previous hike. Segment 5 is fairly flat without a lot of elevation gain or loss. The trail isn't very rocky overall but there are some segments that are rocky. It was an enjoyable hike. I hiked 16 miles on Saturday, which was all of Segment 5 and two miles into Segment 4.
Rock Creek crossing
6oz Cuben Fiber Tarp by Zpacks.com
My 14 pound combination of backpack and lumbar pack performed well. Three things that I want to change are: first, switch out my ultralight weight sleeping pad for an air mattress. I'll start working on a light weight solution but it will probably increase my load total to 15 pounds. That thin pad was too hard to sleep on since I sleep on my side. My hips start to hurt. Once I realized that I couldn't sleep, I decided I wasn't going to hike another 12 miles to finish Segment 4. I would just hike straight back.
Second, I use my cook pot to get water out of the rivers to sterilize with my Steripen UV sterilizer. However, I keep my stove, lighter, wind screen, and pack towel in my cook pot. Each time I got water, I had to take out all of those items. I'll start thinking about a solution but it might be a necessary inconvenience to save weight.
Third, I don't want to hike as far next time. 32 miles was the furthest I've ever gone. I was getting really tired when I had 2 hours or about 4 miles to go. I also started having back problems again within days of getting back home.
I think my 14 pounds of gear, food, water and fuel isn't hurting my back. I did fine on my 9 mile hike to Missouri Lakes. I think it is just the 32 mile distance this weekend. I was pretty exhausted and could feel pain in my right hip and lower back when I had a few hours to go.
