Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Browns Lake

Christine and I got out for our first backpacking trip together in a long time. Looking through my old photos, I think our last trip may have been the Grand Canyon in October 2007. Wow. After that, Christine’s hip was beat up pretty good and she had hip surgery almost a year ago.

Backpacking in June requires some educated guesswork about what routes may be impassable due to snow. I looked at various sites to get an idea, and we settled on a hike to Browns Lake in the Comanche Peak Wilderness. This route would take us up to 11,000 feet, and I felt like we’d encounter a little snow, but nothing major.

The afternoon storms have been pretty wild as of late, so we got an early start Saturday morning. I think we managed to make it out before 8AM, which is pretty sweet. 1.5 hours later, we were at the trailhead. It was breezy and cool, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

We hiked slow and took several hip-stretch breaks. I’ve done a ton of riding this year, but my hiking muscles have clearly gone stagnant. I was happy to be moving at an easy pace. Along the way we encountered a little snow, but nothing that couldn’t be walked around or over. Kuzca loves snow in the summer, so she was going out of her way to walk through and eat as much snow as possible.

All the recent moisture brought out a ton of wild flowers. I don’t think we’ve seen this many in a long time. It was a nice site.
2009-06-27_10_wild flowers

We arrived at the lake after 2.5 hours and I set down our gear in a nice camp site. Typically we get all set up before we do anything else, but we were feeling lazy. We hung out by the water and took a nap in the sunshine.
2009-06-27_29_laying by the lake

The usual afternoon showers never came and we enjoyed 2 great days. The hike out was a little quicker. My pack had lost some weight, and Christine was trucking along to get in a cardio workout. It was a short trip, but I’m so happy that we finally got to go backpacking together again. I can’t wait for the next trip.



My dog is not a snuggler. Sometimes I try to make her snuggle:
2009-06-27_22_forcing kuzca to snuggle

Whenever we get the tent set up, Kuzca begs to get inside so she can hang and sleep in her own little cave. Christine fooled her this time, but setting up a blanket in the tent vestibule. It worked amazingly well.

2009-06-27_30_kuzca in the vestibule

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