Breaking clear away

Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

- John Muir, 1915

John Muir had the right idea; the wilderness is beautiful, inspiring, strengthening, and it should be appreciated and enjoyed as often as possible. As blog followers will have seen this summer, I've been thoroughly enjoying the access to the wilderness that is inherent to this city and this part of the country, for which I'm grateful. The first two weekends of September were a grand continuation of that trend.

Volunteering with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC)
The first weekend of September saw myself, my roommate, and three friends from school off on Friday evening and driving toward the Salida area of West-central Colorado to spend part of the Labor Day weekend volunteering on a trail building project with VOC. It was a rainy, colder, autumnal weekend, and it was glorious. It felt just like home, and I loved every moment!

We were helping VOC, the National Forest Service, and the Colorado Mountain Club to build a section of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which, once finished, will be the Rocky Mountain equivalent of the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail. It was a lot of hard work, but we had a blast. VOC is such a well-run organization, and they take great care of their volunteers. Free campsites near the work site, food provided for all meals during the weekend, free beer (thanks, New Belgium!), and free t-shirts and other swag. It was most excellent. There were probably 40 or so volunteers the first day and 20ish on the second day. It was interesting to meet the other volunteers, who came from all walks of life and were predominantly older than our small Korbel group (average age was probably early 50s). Everyone worked hard and enjoyed the benefits of cooler weather, being outside, and the camaraderie of good people who love the outdoors. 

Our group worked the first day on two main projects: building up a drain on the trail and re-enforcing a corner right next to the drain (photo on the left, below). After doing that in the morning, we went up to the front of the line of crews and worked to break new trail, dig out rocks and roots, and set up a good "critical edge" of trail at the mineral soil level. 

The second day saw us dealing with rocks, rocks, and more rocks! Our primary goal was another corner re-enforcement project (below, right). We dug up, lifted, and moved half a dozen large (i.e., 200+ pound) boulders to support the critical edge of this particular turn. It was intense, but we had a great team! Another crew was moving an even bigger boulder (easily 500+ lbs) for their turn in the trail, so we spent about an hour helping them lift that sucker out of the ground and roll it down the hillside to the right spot in the trail. It's amazing what you can do with a team of ten people, some rock bars, pickaxes, and a lot of sweat and coordination! We all felt like Stone Age champions for moving so many heavy rocks. Breaking ground for a new trail, hauling huge rocks, and all-day manual labor definitely gave me a whole new appreciation for the years of hard work that went into the millions of miles of hiking trails in this country!

Relaxing in my personal REI advertisement after the first day, and appetizers before camp dinner.

For those of you in Colorado, I highly recommend volunteering with VOC! They coordinate trail restoration, construction, and repair projects across the state throughout the spring, summer, and fall of each year and are a fabulous, well-run local NGO to support. I hope to be volunteering with VOC again very soon!

Backpacking weekend at Gore Lake
For the second weekend in September, a friend and I decided to take advantage of beautiful late-summer weather to go for an overnight backpacking trip deep in the mountains. We decided to check out Gore Lake, located in the Eagles Nest Wilderness near Vail, CO. The hike was 5.8 miles each way, with a 3,200ft elevation gain along the way, and the lake is at an elevation of about 11,400ft. I had heard that Gore Lake was a gloriously beautiful place, but it was even more amazing than either of us had anticipated! 

The hike was gorgeous, moderately strenuous, and loosely followed Gore Creek for four miles from the trailhead. At that point, you came to a juncture where there were the graves of a couple of Swedish gentleman who had died in the area in the 1940s - wild! Once you turned north up the trail at the fork, it was a final 1.8 miles of quite strenuous uphill trekking until you finally reached the lake. I'm definitely in pretty good shape (thanks to running at elevation), but this trail was particularly challenging, being strapped into a 30+lb backpack and all! The payoff upon reaching the lake was more than worth it, though. We even added a few technically unnecessary (but traditionally necessary) beers each to drink in celebration upon our arrival and with our camp dinner. Wahoo!

Welcome to Gore Lake!

It doesn't get much better than alpine lake-cooled Old Chub to celebrate spending time in the wilderness.

We arrived at about 15:00, and once we found our wonderful campsite along the water's edge, we set up our hammocks, got organized, gathered firewood, napped, meditated on the rocks jutting into the lake, made dinner, laughed a lot, "camp bathed" off the sweat of hiking in the lake, started a fire, watched the sun go down, were entranced by the fire, and then were in awe of the stunning display of stars. I haven't seen the stars and the Milky Way that clearly and pristinely since Labor Day 2011! It was amazingly, fiercely dark by 21:00, thanks to not having any light pollution from cities. It was also a particular treat to be perched right next to the lake; the water was so still and calm that you could see the stars and Milky Way reflected on the lake's surface! I wish I had been prepared with a tripod and the patience to capture that image, it was breathtaking. Fortunately, though, those kinds of images tend to stay brightly imprinted in my mind's eye for a long, long time. That kind of incandescent wonder at the beauty of nature is not soon forgotten.

The view from my hammock at 7:10am and 11,425 feet. This is livin'!

The next day began for me by being woken up by the sunrise kissing the tops of the peaks across the lake at just after 7:00. After taking in that lovely view for a while, I faded back into sleep, and my friend and I didn't get up, out of our hammocks, and going until about 9:00! It was glorious.

Once again, I was able to hammock camp this trip, much to my excitement! This trip was ideal; it was sunny and warm during the day, but not uncomfortably hot; the nighttime temperatures were mild and not at all too cold; there weren't any mosquitos to speak of; and the views upon waking were unparalleled.  This was certainly among the most scenic and memorable camping I've ever done in my life.

See ya next time, Gore Lake!

We hit the trail for our return at about 10:30 and made it back to the car by 14:00. We stopped in Frisco for lunch and to catch the last few minutes of the Seahawks game (my friend is also a PNW native), and then took the long way home to avoid some atrocious I-70 traffic into Denver. Although I wish we could have stayed for two nights instead of only one, our overnight at Gore Lake was absolutely lovely and gave me a great inclination to return there again in the late spring or early summer of next year. Gore Lake is a majestic, hidden gem that instantly topped my list of favorite places in Colorado. Here's to forever pursuing and appreciating the wilderness at hand!