Adventure!!!

Chritre, Coco, Izzi and I went for a backpacking adventure the last couple of days. We went to Conundrum Hot springs, near Aspen, CO. The hot springs are at the end of an 8.5 mile hike at 11,200 ft elevation (starting at 8500ft). Its a very popular backpacking destination (in July and August), despite the distance and elevation one needs to do to get there... for good reason, the views are absolutely breathtaking. Knowing that it is such a popular destination, we specifically targeted a weekday early in the season so we wouldnt have crowded hot spring pools to share.

So we were starting on monday, planning on hiking most of the day to get to the springs, soaking, camping, and then returning on tuesday. We got of to a later start than we would have liked, partly because I had forgotten my trekking poles so i went to a shop where i could rent some. While I was doing that, Chritre went to the forest service station to get the low-down on the trail conditions. When we met up she gave me the brief report, and said we'd need snowshoes- which she brought but I didnt... I resisted going back to the shop to rent snowshoes because I figured they were just giving the conservative advice, but i got them... which turned out to be a good call. They also told us that the creek crossings are probably sketchy- makeshift bridges over white water, but we sorta anticipated that from what we had read/seen about this hike.

Starting in the early afternoon on the hike, I felt like we were safe because 8.5 miles walking at 1.5 mi/hr gets us there long before dark... this, I thought, was a conservative estimate- even considering elevation gain and other impediments.

We had some idea that the first creek crossing at about 2.5 miles may be difficult... lots of snowmelt above flowing into the creek. We got there and there was a makeshift bridge over a narrow part- where I crossed, fell off the logs, scratched the hell outta my shins, soaked my shoes, etc... but we needed something better to get the dogs to cross... we found a dam downstream that had a good manmade top to it- flattened and scored logs- a good place to get the dogs to cross, no swimming needed. GOOD GIRLS!! Chritre changed to good hiking sandals- no wet hiking boots and socks.... yet (she's SMRT). Once back up to hiking at regular pace, we noted that we were only averaging about a mile per hour.

Continuing on our journey, it was relatively uneventful till about mile 6, where there is another creek crossing, but conveniently, there is a snowbridge upstream of the makeshift log-job... this is where the snowshoeing began, without them we would have been 'postholing' or sinking in, with every step. Sidenote here- there are lots of chutes or slide areas where avalanches occur and take down acres of pines with them... one such slide area resulted in this snowbridge. These are noteworthy because where the slides collect, the trail becomes completely obscured... and therefore difficult to navigate... subtracting from our already low speed.

Marching on... at mile 6.5 there is another creek crossing that we had some idea was challenging. Our overall pace had not benefited much from uneventful hiking, mainly due to obscured trails between mile 6 and 6.5... and snowshoeing alone implies a slower than average walking pace. (In addition to the heavy packs we had been carrying for 6 hours or so.) The crossing at mile 6.5 required another decsion on how to best get ourselves, our gear, and the dogs across, but the flowrate of the creek wasnt nearly as intimidating as it was at mile 2.5. I again went first, straight across the part that seemed managable- crotch deep, water not too fast. There was a part that almost took me off my feet, but i made it- dropped my pack, went back and carried one dog at a time... GOOD GIRLS!! Chritre again came across without wetting her boots, but she was all adrenaline in that fast part that almost took me off my feet... i watched as the fear of mother nature contorted her face like she was in front of a blind firing squad... 'maybe I'll live, but maybe i wont.'... i was yelling from the sideline like a rabid football fan. She made it and nearly collapsed from the rush she just experienced... Fatigue was setting in but we were running short on time to make it all the way... so we pushed on as soon as she got her shoes on.

We both had wet shorts, I had wet boots, we were snowshoeing, the sun was fading, it was getting stressful. The trail wasnt too hard to navigate for a while, thankfully. We ran into a couple camped at about mile 7, they had been up to the springs- they had a nice little campsite and a campfire, their work for the day was done... boy did we envy them. It was about 7:30 pm, they said 'eh, about another hour'... 'but the trail is hard to follow in spots'. We continued... feeling a sense of urgency to go as fast as possible. We passed by one or two places with dry, flat ground, where we considered setting up camp... but we knew we had to be getting close. The most stressful moment was when we were in the middle of one of those slide areas and we couldnt find the trail... it was getting kinda cold (wet feet+snow), and there was no sign of a piece of flat dry ground on which to camp. We eventually found the trail, it lead into a snowy patch of woods- no place to camp in there either... at this point we were looking for a survival camping site... and we know there are sites closer to the springs... we just had to get there. Finally, monday's hiking ended when we emerged from the woods, it was practically dark, and we found some dry flat ground that seemed like the best place to set up camp in the circumstances. We were both exhausted, Chritre was nearly broken emotionally from fatigue and the pain of blistered heels. We fell asleep pretty quickly after nibbling on energy bars/pop tarts, although the dinner plan was originally tuna mac n cheez. I still had food for the dogs at this point, and some for the next morning.

Tuesday morning we got up and while I was ready to admit defeat, not get to the hot spring, and just hike back to make sure we could make it back sometime tuesday, Chritre was gung-ho, not willing to make it that far and turn back. So we got up, left our campsite set up and finished the hike up to the hot spring. It was great, we had the place to ourselves, miles from anyone, beautiful views, etc... although we were both a little nervous about the return trip. We hiked back to our campsite, ate our tuna mac n cheez, packed up our stuff and started our journey back home.

Knowing what was coming made all of our obstacles a little easier, and now we were having little problem navigating. The return was more or less uneventful at the outset, the difficult crossing at mile 6.5 we did another way which seemed a little easier... Although we were going downhill and knew where we were going, we still werent averaging a pace much better than 1mph... we were a little surprised. Eventually at about 6 or 6:30pm we came to the really challenging creek crossing at mile 2.5. The creek (or more aptly named a raging river) had risen quite a bit in the last 28 hours or so, submerging in white water the makeshift log bridge where i hacked up my shins, and apparently submerging and damaging the dam where i had gotten the dogs to cross previously. After assessing the situation, we concluded that there was no safe way to cross and that we should just set up camp and plan for the river to be lower in the morning, exposing the dam where we could safely cross. (side note, we thought the coolness of the evening would slow the flow... which it surely does, but this could also be seasonally higher water... i was concerned that morning would not bring better conditions, chritre probably was too but neither of us said that out loud). Chritre was supposed to be back to work on wednesday morning, but there was no chance if we were camping, which we were. We set up camp, built a great campfire, tried to dry some clothes... we had a bunch of energy bars, pop tarts, granola bars and apples to keep fueled... the doggies ate apple and granola bars. We had a nice campsite, we could hear the creek raging and the occasional strange 'thunk' noise... a log from the makeshift bridge or elsewhere being tossed like a ragdoll in the creek.

Wednesday morning I got up and assessed the crossing possibilities. It looked worse than the night before... the log bridge was gone, the dam was taking a beating, no f'n way!! i tried making a log bridge, no f'n way!!... this was a very stressful time... what do we do?? there is no-one but us on this side of the creek, we know that for certain after hiking all the way from the springs down to this point without seeing another human... no way to even attempt contact for help... we are on our own. We started crafting our escape. Flashback two days earlier, Chritre said 'you gunna grab some rope for us to hang our food from bears?' I said 'yeah, how much?? 20 ft??' she said 'eh... make it 30'... I cut about 35 feet. (sidenote, this is the rope from tying down furniture in the POD... there was a bunch left that gux tossed in... thanks gux). I also had about 6-8ft of rope that i had used for tying the dogs together when I needed them to stay put. We were going to need every inch.

So the plan we cooked up was to heave gear attached to the rope across the narrow part, where there was formerly a log bridge... I had to jump into the white water to get across, and then we would toss the end of the rope back and forth with dogs and gear attached one at a time. The hardest part for me was to take the leap across, not knowing just how far downstream I would drift before emerging on the other side. I didnt see any white water 'holes' (falls/ vortices that would pull me down- permanently) or I probably wouldnt have had the balls to make the leap... i jumped across, grabbed at the first bits i could and got out... even though the water was probably sub 40deg... i didnt feel it till minutes later. Step one, complete. I was really nervous now about successfully having chritre heave the dogs as far across as possible, while having them attached by the rope+leash+choker chain (thank goodness for the choker chain, a regular collar woulda yanked off)... chritre heaved, I yanked (coco first), and coco emerged after a swift pull by the river... then came izzi... same deal... whew... GOOD GIRLS!! One piece of gear at a time... it was cold and stressful and we still had to get Chritre across... finally it was her turn... she looped the rope securely around her wrists in a way that she could also perform swim strokes.... she took the leap and i yanked her to safety!!! WHEW!!!!! victory was ours!!! We took an hour or two in the sun to shake the cold, make coffee, eat clif bars... etc... then we hiked out. It was hard core!

p.s. Gux will be interested to know that I had regular bowel movements on the trail. I was surprised, cuz usually just bein away from home is enough to throw a monkey wrench into the regularity. I had my morning extrusion each day out! No joke.