We did our first family hiking/backpacking trip this weekend. We left Friday after work and drove about 3 hours southwest to Goose Creek. We got lost about 5 times on the way; we can't seem to get anywhere in Colorado on the first try :( We finally found the sign that pointed to the Goose Creek Trail Head, and had to drive on a narrow dirt road for about 15 miles or so. The more and more we went, I was getting more and more scared! Talk about a secluded area! If anything bad were to happen out there, you would be out of luck!
It was dark by the time we got there, so we had to hike the first half a mile or so in the dark. We finally decided we went far enough, and went off the trail into the woods to find a flat spot for camping. We felt like we walked way up into the woods, but when morning came, we saw we were about 20 feet off the path! The dogs slept surprisingly good in the tent with us. We were worried since it was our first time. I only woke up about 5,000 times thinking there was a bear :) Needless to say, I was exhausted in the morning, and my passing-out-problems are strongly influenced by the amount of sleep I get. I felt pretty bad the next day. We had granola with blueberries and scrambled eggs for breakfast. They were pretty good for being freeze dried.
We packed up the campsite and started off down the trail. I already felt like I was going to pass out, and the 25 pound (I'm guessing, it was probably less) backpack was not helping. We hiked maybe 10 minutes, and I decided we had to set up our second camp. We found a really awesome spot way off the trail this time. We set everything up and took off hiking again.
We walked and walked and walked. A lot of it was up hill, very steep, even for Steven. I had to make us keep stopping when we got to the top of a hill. Finally when I didn't think I could do anymore, I made Steve go on ahead a little to see if he could figure out how much further to our destination. He went maybe 10 more minutes, and someone told him it was 20 more minutes from there. They had wanted to put in a reservoir there, and our destination was the switch house. They never did put the reservoir. When he got back to me I decided it wasn't worth going to with how dizzy I was. We walked the 3 miles back to the tent, luckily downhill this time :) We were all exhausted from the 6 mile hike, so we decided to go to bed. I have no idea what time it was, but we were hoping around 8:00. With how long it was light outside, it was probably more like 5:00! I slept a lot better that night.
In the morning we ate breakfast, packed everything back up, and hiked the half mile back to the car. Since we had hiked the first time in the dark, it was interesting to see it in the light. This part of the hike was part of the 2002 Hayman Forest Fire, which was the biggest forest fire in Colorado history. All that is left of the trees are burnt trunks. In the dark our brains automatically filled in the missing spaces, and we felt like we were in a tight forest. To our surprise on the way back it was very bare!
We packed up the car and drove the 3 hours back home. We stopped at the first Wendy's we saw because we both had to go to the bathroom unbelievably bad, and I was craving a nice big juicy hamburger! Definitely the best hamburger of my life, and the freeze dried Chicken Stew and Chicken Teriyaki with rice wasn't even bad.
The first order of business when we got home was giving the dogs a bath, and a shower for us. We were all very dirty! The picture below shows what happens when you are hiking in the woods and don't feel like you need sunscreen...
