June 23rd - We'll be Home for Dinner or NOT
We left the RV bright eyed (7:30am) and ready for day of Jeeping and hiking. Copper Lake (elevation 11,350)via the Copper Creek Trail was our destination, where we would do an 8.5 mile (round trip) hike. The brochure said, “Famous hike with a gradual ascent. Pristine alpine lake awaits.” This was also considered to be moderate level hiking experience… no problem! Besides we hiked 17 miles to see half dome in Yosemite and that was marked as a strenuous hiking level of difficulty.
On our way we passed through Crested Butte, a ski town with eclectic shops, eateries and beautiful scenery.
In order to get to the parking lot of the Copper Creek Trailhead, a 4x4 is recommended. Notice that the wheels kind of look like chocolate covered donuts or is that just my thinking?
We didn’t quite make it to the parking lot but we had an early morning adventure.
VIDEO Upload - we will upload while in town on Saturday...didn't happen...will try again next time there is better signal.
To me a hike implies that there is an intended path in order to reach your destination. However, our first obstruction away from the path was the rushing water in the creek bed.
The hike was about to turn into mountain trekking expedition, since we needed to navigate a lot of different terrain in order to reach our destination.We crossed over 2 rock slide sites (I didn’t like when the big rocks would wiggle while passing over them…but Lars, The Billy Goat Lindskog, cruised right across). On the GPS Lars marked those with tomb stones (kind of fitting).
We also went through 3 avalanche areas where it we were fighting with the bushes and trees that were down. This wasn’t so bad on the way up, but on the way back when our legs felt like lead, it was a little more difficult to crawl over the obstacles.
The last 1-1/2 miles of the journey was in packed snow. Well, not all of the snow was packed; sinking to knee height snow (and occasionally hip high snow) didn’t make it any easier.
Lars would ask, “Should we turn back?”
I would say, “How close are we?"
His response, “...1/2 mile, 1/3mile and then 1/4 mile.”
I would say, “No, we are too close not to see it.”
6 hours later...We made it!
I would say, “How close are we?"
His response, “...1/2 mile, 1/3mile and then 1/4 mile.”
I would say, “No, we are too close not to see it.”
6 hours later...We made it!
If you would like to view this hike in Google Maps. Click here. Once in Google Maps you can select to see it in Google Earth.
Suggestion: Wait until the snow has melted (probably mid to late July) when there is actually a hike path to take!
Without a GPS device, I don’t think the lake would have been found.
During this adventure the only larger sized wild life we saw, was a few deer and two porcupines.
We made it back to the RV at about 8:30pm (20:30) with pizza box in hand from The Brick Oven in Crested Butte. Thank goodness for meat-lovers pizza-to-go!
Why leave the RV when we can relax and look at views like this?
Our first thought was to go to The Castles, rock formations that take the shape of castles via the Ohio pass. Nope not today...too much snow!
Ok, ok, so we will go to Irwin Lake and see the campground & picnic area.
How about Emerald Lake, nope... not when there is snow from an avalanche.
Since we can't seem to get where we are going, let's play...guess the carcass...any thoughts?
Once we were finished with our Jeeping we went into the town of Crested Butte and enjoyed the parade of people in costume riding bicycles and a cold beverage on a warm patio, but not before seeing Tim and Sherry's RV with a couple of slide outs. (Hehehehe!)
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