Again, I’m over 2 months late in posting this, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. The week after Labor Day in September I met my great friend Kristen Burg out in Denver for a 5 day backpacking trip in the southern Rocky Mountains. The trip had two purposes: try on the Denver/Boulder area, and satisfy my wanderlust. Well, three: Kristen and I met in college (she was in Americorps) and haven’t seen each other since, and after  7 years it was high time for a reunion.

After one day in Denver and picking up our camping permit from the park service, we took off long before sunrise in our rental car. We woke up to smooth jazz as we climbed up, up up. Shortly after crossing into the National Forest we came upon one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen: three bull moose, all together in one field, lazily fighting with their fresh velvety antlers.

We looked at each other and thought; “If this is before we even get on the trail, what else does Colorado have in store for us?!” We could have watched them all morning but we had a long way to go, and a time limit. Our first campsite was 9.5 miles in and on the other side of the Continental Divide, and we had been strongly warned that we needed to be over the pass before noon to be safe from the lightning storms that can start without warning, and which kill a person or two every year. So we picked a parking spot, piled on our layers, and took off into a cold, windy, sunny morning in the Rocky Mountains.

Up up up, 2,500 ft of climb to Pawnee Pass, 12,500 ft at 4.6 miles in, and our first crossing of the Continental Divide.

The wind was INSANE. It would have been much more manageable if we weren’t carrying packs, mine which acted like a sail with my sleeping pad strapped on the outside. We both were literally knocked down by gusts, even braced with trekking poles. We hoped that as soon as we crossed the divide we would be sheltered, but to no avail. Descending towards Pawnee Lake was possibly one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done. I was getting panicky because of the lightning danger, Kristen’s hands were completely numb from the cold, the gusts were ridiculous, and the footing steep and loose. 1,500 ft of descent in a half mile with dark ominous stone spires all around us. I wish I had been able to take more pictures but even getting the cameras out was difficult. I took one panorama as Kristen struggled to get her jacket on, just over the crest. You can see how windy it was because it was impossible to hold it steady. Poor Kristen had welts on her cheeks from her pack straps being whipped around.

Once we got out of the danger zone and I didn’t feel so rushed, the views descending the rest of the way to Pawnee Lake were spectacular.

 We stopped to smell the wildflowers and had a long awaited lunch.

And looked back at what we had just climbed down.

After the adrenaline of the morning the afternoon dragged on a bit. We worried we had missed our turn and started taking every left hand path, most of which turned out to be deer paths or abandoned campsites. But finally we saw a trail sign and headed for our destination: Crater Lake below Lone Eagle Peak.

 We had the entire camping area to ourselves, and even so we didn’t camp in a designated area but on a spit of land that jutted out into the lake. It was perfect. I took some pictures of Kristen sunning herself, the tent just behind her, and Lone Eagle Peak rising above.

And facing the other way:

We both wanted to jump in but the sun was going behind the bowl of the crater and it was already getting chilly. So we relaxed, filtered liters of water, boiled our instant chicken teriyaki dinner, and I’m sad to say were asleep before the stars came out.

Part Two to follow soon!