Lost Creek Wilderness - Kayla's 2nd Annual Backpacking Trip

With baby number five coming early in the fall, I knew I needed to get my backpacking trip with Kayla scheduled earlier in the year.  Being that we now lived in Colorado, which is not facing low-snowfall and drought conditions, I had to choose a trip that we could take earlier in the year without running into snow and ice issues. 

I settled on the Lost Creek Wilderness in northern Pike National Forest, as the destination for this year’s trip.  Very little updated trail information could be found for the region.  Most reports I saw were 5-10 years old, and didn’t contain immense amounts of information about distances, places to camp or what we might find.  So I did it the old-fashioned way, determining approximate distance measuring on the map (thank goodness for Nat Geo maps!).  I modified our trip itinerary a few times based on the little tidbits I could gather about trail conditions, avoiding long sections of burnout from the Hayman Fire of 2002 (which still has the countryside ravaged and depleted of trees and shade), and areas that seemed more prone to fallen trees from strong winter and spring storms. 

One of the benefits of the area we were visiting was that most of the terrain was between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, with a pretty constant median of about 9,000 for most of our hiking, which meant we’d have no snow issues to speak of, and the weather would be about 15* cooler than at home (which was forecast to be in the mid-90s).  Since we weren’t above tree line, we would be able to find some escape from the sun. 

Because of the quick turnaround, I spent far less time waiting for this trip than I have in the past.  Usually it’s weeks or months on end waiting for the trip, but with the move (and not actually getting my PTO request approved until 2 days before we left!) there wasn’t nearly the waiting I’m used to having for a trip, so it felt like it came up really quickly.  I got everything all packed up in the two days leading up to the trip, and we were ready to go! 

One thing I really appreciated last summer was the DeLorme inReach unit to message Laura and have our progress tracked.  Last year I rented one to try it out, this year I needed to buy one.  Thanks to REI’s dividend and a member sale, I got a terrific deal on the higher-end model that included navigation features, including detailed maps and compass.  I was going to do an off-trail backcountry trip with Laura this summer (before the baby news and move), so that was a feature set I really wanted, but I made use of it on this trip as well.  But more on that later…

We hit the road a little before 6am on Wednesday.  It was about a 2-hour drive to the trailhead despite only about 50 miles of driving.  Mountain roads and dirt roads will do that to you.  Driving through a couple of towns with 20 mph speed limits doesn’t help, either… 

We hit the first interesting part of the trip when the directions I had to the trailhead started to disagree with the signage within the national forest.  I followed my GPS directions on the first different turn, until I saw another sign a mile later stating that this is not, in fact, the way to the Wigwam Trailhead, despite what your map may have told you.  Ah, so it’s like that.  So we turned around, drove past the cows standing in the middle of the road again and followed the signs the rest of the way. 

When we got to the trailhead, there was one other vehicle there.  As we laced up our shoes and grabbed our packs, the occupants of the other vehicle arrived and left.  It appeared we’d have a quiet day. 

We were at the northern end of the Hayman Fire area, and got past the last of the damage within a half mile or so.  The first bit of the trail was downhill, but proceeded to move steadily up over the next 6 miles or so.  The trail head sits at about 8,100 feet, and we needed to gain about 1,000 feet.  The trail itself was mostly pleasant, running through mostly shaded forest along Wigwam Creek.  There were many stream crossings, with the first three getting progressively harder, and had me wondering just much harder they’d get.  But no one got wet.  That was for later… 

Our Colorado State Flower - Colorado Blue Columbine

Kayla was having a little bit of a slow start getting her hiking legs under her.  Though not burdened with an exceptionally heavy pack, she was still carrying her clothes and water, like last year, and the fairly constant uphill was tiring her out quickly.  I carried her pack from mile three to four, where I gave it back after a lunch break.

Finally, we reached Wigwam Park, an area where the flow of Wigwam Creek slows considerably due to several beaver ponds.  The beavers had been busy, not only on that dam (which was a good 12-15 feet high) but on many of the trees in the area.  Because this was more meadow-like, there was little shade, and it was hot and had lots of flies and mosquitoes. 

We reached the junction for the Goose Creek trail, which we planned to take south, and headed down.

After only about 20 feet, the trail became very muddy.  Looking ahead, the trail all but disappeared into mid-length meadow grasses and brush.  Knowing that the trail had to be there, we pressed on, but the water and mud were well beyond ankle depth, and there were at least two creeks ahead I could see with no crossings.  Now with wet feet, but no way to continue forward, we turned back to look around.  Back at the junction, we explored the area before the beaver dam to see if there was a crossing.  Nothing there.  Then we moved past and looked, but still nothing for the next quarter mile.  I sent Laura a message that we were going to be taking an alternative itinerary, due to impassible terrain.  We found a little spot to sit and pull out the map.  I couldn’t see anything highly desirable as an alternative, but we were planning three nights, and I didn’t want a long dayhike with a disappointing finish to be the result, so we continued on Wigwam toward Rolling Creek. 

After another half mile or so, Kayla spotted an area where we might cross. 

And so we did!

This is actually from the hike back two days later - the hood was her idea of mosquito protection

On the other side was a semi-established campground, but no trail.  So I pulled out the topo map and compass on my DeLorme and found a good contour to follow around the densely wooded hillside to backtrack where we should meet the Goose Creek Trail. 

Somewhere along the way, Kayla lost a sock.  When we had our marsh escapade, our shoes and socks were all wet.  I wear trail runners and lightweight hiking socks typically, so they dry fairly quickly, but Kayla was wearing her higher hiking boots and slightly heavier hiking socks, and already had a little blister from a pre-trip hike, so she had taken her shoes and socks off, switching to backup socks and her Crocs.  As we navigated, I carried her boots, but she had her socks, and evidently one fell somewhere along the way.  When she noticed, we looked around for a bit, but to no avail.  Since we weren’t on a trail, there was no way to retrace our steps completely, and we had no idea how long they’d been gone in the half mile or so we’d gone cross country.  But speaking of trail, what’s that down there?  A trail!  Down a bit closer to the edge of the forest, we found a trail, and followed it until sure enough, it led us to the true Goose Creek Trail!   

Once we got to the Goose Creek Trail, things starting getting hilly again, with more stream crossings and some fallen trees.  We also saw our first people on the trail, a father-son duo dayhiking and hoofing it back to their trailhead, wherever that might be.  Kayla was pretty beat, but we needed to get somewhere where it flattened out a bit to set up camp.  As we neared a clearing, we went off trail and found a perfect spot to set up camp.  We had logged 9 miles on the day, despite the fact that we didn’t get where we’d intended for the day (our detour had added a couple of unplanned miles, so the four miles to get to my intended first night’s spot was not going to be possible).  I updated Laura on our progress and updated itinerary for the trip, we made dinner and headed to bed.  Passed out before dark, we both slept like champs. 

The next morning, we had a beautiful sunrise to the second day of cloudless skies.  In the past, I’ve always gone with a cold breakfast (granola bars, maybe some trail mix), but this time around, Laura made some oatmeal packs with dehydrated fruits, nuts and some powdered milk.  They were excellent each morning of the trip, and the hot meal got Kayla moving out into the crisp air a lot faster, too!

We hit the trail and immediately started a climb of about 400 feet to get over a pass toward to reach the Lost Creek drainage.  The pass topped out around 10,200 feet, as I recall.

Once over the pass, we descended to the junction with the McCurdy Park trail, and headed west on that.  We continued to descend another thousand feet, Kayla reminding me all the way down how difficult this would be tomorrow coming back up.  Yes, I told her, but live in the now and have fun.  Tomorrow we worry about tomorrow.  We’ll be fresh then. So little we know sometimes...

We hit the bottom and the mouth of Refrigerator Gulch, my original goal for last night, and my current goal for tonight. 

We stopped to grab a quick drink before heading up, just as a group of three middle-aged gentlemen were coming down.  And when I say gentlemen, I mean sorta.  They asked where we were headed, and I said Refrigerator Gulch for the night, to which they quickly replied they were taking up the only camping area up there and there was no room, but up the trail a little ways was another site.  I wanted to challenge based on what I could see on the map, but I really didn’t know for sure, and I really didn’t want to drag Kayla up there just to turn around, and then have to go up further on the trail.  So I thanked them for their “help” and we continued on.  Except it wasn’t that much of a “little ways”, it was another half mile and 400 feet of climbing.  But we found a nice spot, with one flat area for the tent.  The problems were 1) no real shade from the midday sun, 2) no stream or water (that instead ran through Refrigerator Gulch, well below us now) and 3) very little protection from the wind ripping across the top of the canyon.

We set up the tent, ate some lunch, and I decided we’d take a nap and then weigh options.  Though I didn’t want to head back up the pass today, I also knew the pass would be the last act of the day, instead of the start of a 10 mile day tomorrow. 

After some food and a little rest, we decided we’d head back up the pass tonight.  I recalled some flat spaces in the aspens and pines at the top of the pass that might serve as a good spot for the night, then we’d have a shorter day tomorrow, and just a few miles out on Saturday morning. 

We headed back down to the mouth of the gulch and filled up on water before the long climb back up to the pass.  It was about as painful as I suspected it would be, slow going all the way up, and not nearly enough shade.  We saw three or four groups headed down, odd, considering we’d seen almost no one the day prior, yet not odd since this was the more desirable area to hike and explore, down in the drainage.  I was disappointed we didn’t have a chance to explore, but we got some good beta for future trips and we’ll be back. 

When we finally reached the top of the pass, we fairly quickly found a spot in the area I remembered from earlier.  A great flat spot, shaded from the late afternoon sun, but with a clean shot for sunrise warmth the next morning.  Kayla was still feeling energetic after her 8 miles today, and spent time making a fire pit area and cleaning up the campsite while I set up camp and made dinner.  Though I was tired, we stayed up until sunset this night.  The views were obscured by trees, but looking back down into the valley with the golden glow of sunset was beautiful and peaceful.  It cast a wonderful light on our site as well. 

The next morning as we ate breakfast, I told Kayla we had options.  We could follow the plan, hike about 7 miles today, spend the night and then just wrap up the last 3 miles early tomorrow morning to make it home for lunch, or we could pack up now and see if we could exit today, and sleep in our beds tonight.  She jumped at the chance to try and finish and get home.  The trip had been less fun in terms of exploring, and mostly playing the “how many contingency plans can we follow” game, which I agree had become tiring.  It’s the cost of exploring a new area, especially one not as well documented.  The benefits for the future are great, but for this trip, there was no defining point of satisfaction, like climbing a mountain, or time to explore something close to camp, as we’d expected in Refrigerator Gulch.  So I could completely understand her desire to get back to some semblance of comfort at home.  We’d had to re-dress her blister each day and she was developing a small one on her heel after having to resort to her shorter socks, so I didn’t want to push my luck, either.  I can carry two packs for a couple of miles, but I didn’t want to carry Kayla and two packs for the remaining 10 miles. 

And so, we hit the trail.  And Kayla didn’t complain once.  Just kept pounding dirt and rocking along.  We flew back down to the beaver ponds, and I figured we had it licked this time.  We’ll just follow that dirt trail, and it’ll take us to the log crossing.  We must’ve just missed the trail the other day, but now we know where we’re going and won’t need to bushwhack at all.  Ha.  The trail followed and we got a little past where we were the other day when we’d found it, but then it just…disappeared…  So again I pulled out my map and followed the navigation points I’d entered the other day back to the crossing.  The crossing felt so much more sketchy than it did the other day.  Maybe it was because were more excited about finding a route the other day, and today we just wanted to book it.  Either way, we made it across that crossing and all the rest without a hitch.  And when I say the rest, there were 16 crossings each way on the trip.  Some were pretty simple hops, some were more interesting.

Keeping an eye on the inReach, I keep an eye on our progress.  I figured we’d wrap up around dinner time, based on our pace the last two days, and get home in time for bed.  At the rate we were actually hiking, we’d be home for dinner!  I updated Laura on our progress and we kept rolling along. 

We came across a father and son getting started on their backpacking trip.  They’re planning to head to Refrigerator Gulch tonight, so I give them some tips on the trail conditions and bypass of the beaver ponds.  Showing them pictures and looking at our maps I’m hoping I gave them enough to get through.  Once they get there, they’re only about half way, and it’s going to be a long day for them to make it down before dark, so I know they can’t afford to bumble around like we did.  I’ll never know, but hope they made their destination without any trouble. 

As for us, we made ours!  We got back to the trailhead in very quick time.  10 miles in 4 hours.  I was very proud of Kayla.  She absolutely rocked that last day.  Last year, our three days were pretty predictable on well-established trails, and the longest day was 7.5 miles (6.5 and 5.5 on the other sides of the long day).  On this trip she’d done a 9 mile, 8 mile and 10 mile day.  And just blasted through the last one.  Of course, descending 2,000 feet on the last day didn’t hurt.  Gravity does its part eventually on every hike… 

Since my directions had been useless coming into the park, I had to use the DeLorme to help keep us on the correct forest roads out of the park as well.  Thankfully it worked like a charm and we made fairly quick time, arriving home by mid-afternoon. 

The trip was interesting for me.  Not at all what we’d planned.  The itinerary changed several times, we had to do off-trail route-finding, didn’t spend a single night where we’d anticipated and just had our general plans scattered.  But we still had great daddy/daughter bonding time together, saw some beautiful sites and got some quiet wilderness time.  The trip gave us all some confidence in the new DeLmorme unit for keeping Laura informed of our itinerary changes, and its navigation tools were exceptional and I will trust them again in the future. 

I don’t know what next year will hold, since I’ll be taking Elise out for her first trip in addition to Kayla’s third trip, but I’m looking forward to exploring the mountains of Colorado more in the future and continuing to get my girls out in nature.  This has become a very rewarding tradition, and one I’m excited to continue for many years to come!