I'll try and make this short and sweet for y'all. I went backpacking in the Weminuche Wilderness and the Maroon Bells-Snowmass WIlderness in Colorado the first couple weeks of August. We spent 3 night and 4 days in each. We were originally supposed to do two 40 miles hikes, but one of my friends had a knee that acted like it was going to give out the whole trip so we cut both routes short to about 28 miles each.
Two of my friends had never been backpacking before and one of them had only been once with me a couple of years ago. Usually my brother is kind of the trip leader so it was new for me to have to take on so many responsibilities. At the start my friends basically had no idea how to navigate, set up or break down camp, cook, fish, purify water, or pretty much anything else. I basically felt like a dad taking his teenagers camping for the first time, but by the end of the trip everyone had learned a lot and the work load was being a lot more evenly distributed. Good job guys!
Our first day in the Weminuche it absolutely poured rain our entire trip in. We had rain gear which worked for light rain, but once it started pouring everything got soaked. We set up our tents in the rain, but luckily our sleeping bags stayed marginally dry so luckily we got to sleep pretty cozy despite the weather. Lows at night were approximately 35 degrees. That first night was just about the most miserable I have ever been in the outdoors and I felt terrible that things turned out that way for my friends. The weather stayed pretty nice for the rest of the trip, however, and we were all very thankful.
I did not bring my camera phone into the Weminuche, but my friend did . I don't have many good pictures of that trip as a result. I had my friend email them to me and for some reason they are all so tiny they almost arent even worth posting, but hopefully youll get the idea.
Weminuche Wilderness
The rain was a total *****, but the clouds definitely made for some dramatic scenery
I have bought out of state fishing licenses and lugged my fishing pole all across the mountains a few times before with absolutely no luck to speak of so when I caught my first trout in the wilderness I was ecstatic.
When we caught enough for a meal I was even happier
Waterfalls and river crossing were extremely common in the Weminuche
Other highlights were that we saw a moose, and we had to bushwack for a couple miles after our trail disappeared into a swampy area. The Weminuche felt much more remote and wild than the Maroon Bells area. We saw three groups of people the entire time we were there. The terrain was much less steep, but river crossings were an hourly occurrence here.
Maroon Bells - Snowmass WIlderness
I caught my first fish on a fly rod. It was hard work, and I had to wade thigh deep into painfully cold water to give myself a shot at him.
We caught enough for dinner again. We let a couple go and I actually had already beheaded and gutted one before I remembered to take a photo.
Sorry for the tiny picture, but my friend and I absolutely slayed the trout at Geneva lake. We were getting rained on and we got our shoes and socks soaking wet but we could not have cared less. I was catching a fish on practically every cast. We threw back more than we kept and we kept 7 for dinner. They were all pretty good size too.
This was the view behind us the whole time we were catching fish at Geneva Lake. It was the experience of a lifetime.
The view here looking down into the Fravert Basin coming down from Geneva Lake was my favorite view of the entire trip.
I'm used to my brother bringing his DSLR camera and taking excellent photos when we go backpacking, but I did the best I could with my moto g camera phone. It was definitely easier to carry up all the switchbacks.
I really liked the solitude and the remoteness of the Weminuche, but the sheer beauty of the Maroon Bells area was breath taking. We saw a couple of hundred people on this hike. Most of them were towards the beginning or towards the end, but the views made up for the lack of solitude.
I don't have any pictures of it, but we stopped for a night at Great Sand Dunes National Park on the way up. It was fantastic and I'd definitely recommend stopping by to take a look.
Two of my friends had never been backpacking before and one of them had only been once with me a couple of years ago. Usually my brother is kind of the trip leader so it was new for me to have to take on so many responsibilities. At the start my friends basically had no idea how to navigate, set up or break down camp, cook, fish, purify water, or pretty much anything else. I basically felt like a dad taking his teenagers camping for the first time, but by the end of the trip everyone had learned a lot and the work load was being a lot more evenly distributed. Good job guys!
Our first day in the Weminuche it absolutely poured rain our entire trip in. We had rain gear which worked for light rain, but once it started pouring everything got soaked. We set up our tents in the rain, but luckily our sleeping bags stayed marginally dry so luckily we got to sleep pretty cozy despite the weather. Lows at night were approximately 35 degrees. That first night was just about the most miserable I have ever been in the outdoors and I felt terrible that things turned out that way for my friends. The weather stayed pretty nice for the rest of the trip, however, and we were all very thankful.
I did not bring my camera phone into the Weminuche, but my friend did . I don't have many good pictures of that trip as a result. I had my friend email them to me and for some reason they are all so tiny they almost arent even worth posting, but hopefully youll get the idea.
Weminuche Wilderness
The rain was a total *****, but the clouds definitely made for some dramatic scenery
I have bought out of state fishing licenses and lugged my fishing pole all across the mountains a few times before with absolutely no luck to speak of so when I caught my first trout in the wilderness I was ecstatic.
When we caught enough for a meal I was even happier
Waterfalls and river crossing were extremely common in the Weminuche
Other highlights were that we saw a moose, and we had to bushwack for a couple miles after our trail disappeared into a swampy area. The Weminuche felt much more remote and wild than the Maroon Bells area. We saw three groups of people the entire time we were there. The terrain was much less steep, but river crossings were an hourly occurrence here.
Maroon Bells - Snowmass WIlderness
I caught my first fish on a fly rod. It was hard work, and I had to wade thigh deep into painfully cold water to give myself a shot at him.
We caught enough for dinner again. We let a couple go and I actually had already beheaded and gutted one before I remembered to take a photo.
Sorry for the tiny picture, but my friend and I absolutely slayed the trout at Geneva lake. We were getting rained on and we got our shoes and socks soaking wet but we could not have cared less. I was catching a fish on practically every cast. We threw back more than we kept and we kept 7 for dinner. They were all pretty good size too.
This was the view behind us the whole time we were catching fish at Geneva Lake. It was the experience of a lifetime.
The view here looking down into the Fravert Basin coming down from Geneva Lake was my favorite view of the entire trip.
I'm used to my brother bringing his DSLR camera and taking excellent photos when we go backpacking, but I did the best I could with my moto g camera phone. It was definitely easier to carry up all the switchbacks.
I really liked the solitude and the remoteness of the Weminuche, but the sheer beauty of the Maroon Bells area was breath taking. We saw a couple of hundred people on this hike. Most of them were towards the beginning or towards the end, but the views made up for the lack of solitude.
I don't have any pictures of it, but we stopped for a night at Great Sand Dunes National Park on the way up. It was fantastic and I'd definitely recommend stopping by to take a look.