The crew at Willow Lake below Challenger Peak.
My first 4th of July was spent in Colorado on a camping trip with three activities: hiking a 14er, visiting Great Sand Dunes National Park, and climbing at Penitente Canyon. We left Los Alamos after 1pm and stuffed Jae's and my car full of stuff and four persons in each car. We arrived at the parking lot by Crestone around 5pm and unpacked the hiking gear and started the ascent towards Willow Lake. As we drove towards Crestone we saw a lot of lightning on the mountain and it seemed to be pouring down and hailing as well. It had stopped more or less by the time we headed off. We met some hikers on the way back to their cars and they told us that is was pretty packed up by the lake so they suggested to camp by a meadow further down. My back pack was very heavy so I was hiking slowly and it was a relief when we decided to camp at the meadow which we reach after about an hour of hiking. The spot was very nice and we managed to fit three tents. The beer tasted very good after the hike. Previous campers have had a fire place on a rock but I dug a fire pit and surrounded it with rocks. The others were not convinced that having a fire on the rock could shatter the rock. Next task was to gather fire wood and my small axe got put to work. Jae cooked pasta and a nice pasta sauce. We went to sleep early to get up at 5.30am to start the hike.
In the morning it took us about 70 minutes to leave the camp so at 6.40am we walked up to the trail. The hike up to the lake involved two more water crossings on wet logs which would have been really sketchy with heavy packs. After two hours we reached the lake and stopped for a snack. All tents by the lake seemed empty so they probably started by the same time as us to get down before the common afternoon thunderstorms. The first part from the lake was nice with a scenic view of the lake and the valley below. Then the struggle started. We got up the the grassy slope which was quite hard to hike up. After a while I got in to a 30 steps-rest-30 steps-mode. Half way up the slope a group of big horn sheep walked by quite close. We also saw some marmots. At the beginning of the snow field we stopped and most of the group turned around while Lauren and I decided to give it a try. Walt was already at the top so we tried to follow his footsteps. Finally, we joined Walt at the summit. He had spent his time at the peak by building a 8-piece cairn - one for each hiker in our group. After pictures and some snack we headed down again. We chose a different trail down and came to another snow field where people had been skidding down. Walt set off first and Lauren and I got convinced to try it. I put my rain pants on and my softshell gloves to use as brakes. It was a very fun and efficient descent. At the bottom I got a bit stuck with one leg as I was trying to stop before the snow field ended. Later I learned that someone had broken his leg doing that. The rest of the group was waiting for us above the lake. When I got down to the camp I grabbed my shorts, a towel and soap and dipped in the small creek. It was cold and very refreshing after sweating all day.
 Big horn sheep |
 Challenger Point |
Willow lake
The next morning I cooked oatmeal for breakfast and I brought a lot of stuff to put in it so the others seemed to like it though it had a slight smoked flavor - which I was afraid to get when cooking a big pot of oatmeal. After breakfast we packed all our stuff and hiked down to the cars. Since only Walt and Donna had been to the Great Sand Dunes National Park before we decided that both cars would go there. We stopped by the visitor center and then drove to the parking lot for the dunes. One has to cross a river that was like a very wide creek at this time of the year. Kids were playing in the water and people were sunbathing there - it was almost like a real beach. At the dunes I spotted a nice ridge that I wanted to take pictures of so I headed off to the right while most of the others headed for the highest dune.
A nice sand ridge at Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO.
After lunch in Alamosa and purchasing a climbing guide book we drove towards Penitente canyon. The campground was equipped with toilettes and fire pits but the closest water source was down the road. Walt spotted a good spot to get the beginners to climb so we put up ropes on a
5.2, a
5.7 and a
5.8. By the way, on the way in to the climbing area there was a rattle snake that Seth apparently came pretty close to. I only saw it taking shelter under a bush. The start of the 5.2 did not feel that easy but the rest was like climbing a slanted ladder. The start of the 5.8 was a bit tricky but fun. We also did two routes to the left of the first three - a
5.8 and a
5.10. When we got back to the campground the tent I borrowed from Jae had moved some 50 feet in the wind. I did forget to put my pack in the tent but the stakes were in the ground but the did not hold it down enough.
The next day we went further in to the canyon to the Hueco wall. There were several nice climbs of different difficulty.
The Hueco wall at Penitente Canyon, CO.
