Beautiful Colorado

Matt and I have been crazy busy this summer, so we haven't had a ton of time for my favorite summer activities: hiking and camping. Luckily, I was able to squeeze in a bit of outdoor fun in between all of the other stuff. A couple of weekends ago we made our only backpacking trip of the summer.

With a couple of friends guiding our way, we headed up the Poudre canyon and hiked into the Rawah Wilderness. Matt had his own little Rawah adventure last year, but this was my first time in this area and my first time backpacking.

Dave, Katie, Roxie, and Kanzi (you can try and guess which names belong to the dogs).

As you may remember, Dave is quite the photographer. We made a couple of stops to get some good pictures.

Dave, very carefully taking pictures in the stream.

Without too much excitement, we made it to our destination. After setting up camp and getting some dinner, we were pretty quick to head to bed.

Dave, cooking delicious freeze-dried dinners (though I'm not really sure if "delicious" is the right word to use).

Yep, we squeezed our books into our packs.

Michal, the spider who lived on our tent... until I accidentally knocked him off.

Roxie and Kanzi: cool dogs (owned by Dave and Katie).

The next morning we took a short walk up to Blue Lake. It was a little foggy, but absolutely beautiful.

Blue Lake.

Pretty.

And then we were on our way back down.

It was definitely a fun trip. And I only had one day of ridiculous crazy homework before I was off again, back into the mountains. This time, I went on girls' camping trip with a friend and her dog, who you may remember from here. Rachel, Keva, and I headed to Gunnison, Colorado, an area I had never seen before.

On our way. One of the Collegiate Peaks in the background (I don't remember which one...).

Because there are lots of whales in the mountains of Colorado.

The first night, we headed straight in to the secluded campground and set up camp.

Our cute little campsite.

Rockin' the headlamp look.

We had grand plans to go on a cool hike the next day, but our slow start and need to stop at the coffee shop for caffeine delayed us enough that the rain came in before we could head up the mountain. Instead, we explored the cities of Gunnison and Crested Butte, shopping and doing all the things that make Matt sigh with boredom. That's why girl-time is important. After a stop at the local brewery (cool vibe, okay beer), we were ready for a second night of campfires and conversation.

The area we stayed in was so beautiful, with valleys and streams and bluffs and plateaus. It was definitely different from many of the other Colorado areas I've hiked and camped in.

Driving back to our campsite.

Blue Mesa Reservoir. Our campsite was 9 miles into those bluffs somewhere.

Deer.

On the road to our campsite.

My castle. Doesn't this look like something out of a Tolkien book?

We were able to stroll up the nearby trail a bit in the evening. It wasn't quite hiking, but it was pretty. And I've really gotten into Colorado wildflowers recently, so it was fun to see so many on the trail.

Flower. This one wasn't in my new book...

Fireweed... and an ant.

Pretty.

Headed into the West Elk Wilderness.

Keva. Good dog.

We had more grand plans to go on a rain-check hike the following morning, but our attempts were again thwarted by Mother Nature.

Rain.

Instead, we drove around a bit and checked out the town of Salida. After getting caught in a crazy rainstorm, we decided it was time to head home.

On our way out. The sky cleared up and it was beautiful.

Sometimes, I feel so lucky to live in such a fantastic state with so many beautiful places close by. I haven't been able to get out in the mountains as much as I would have liked this summer, but I tried to make up for it at the end with an great week packed full of Colorado awesomeness.