​​In The Shadow of Longs Peak

Peaceful Valley Spring Camping

08 April 2005 – 09 April 2005

Note that the photos are not from this trip but are from the same winter and destination area.

We decided to leave later than normal for this trip.  I picked Gary up at 9 AM and we were on the trail by 10:30 or so.

The original idea for this trip was to be in March…and to haul sleds.  One thing or another came up and we delayed the winter camping trip till this weekend which made it spring camping.  But we could not have asked for better weather.  It was already 50 degrees when we got to the trailhead.  Our experience at Rock Creek yesterday indicated we should leave the sleds at home so we packed up our backpacks instead.  We haven’t done much in the way of carrying heavy packs lately and this was telling as it was incredibly challenging.  But 5 hours of crying and whining later, we reached the end of the road at the wilderness boundary and decided to pitch the tent there.  The weather was balmy, the spring snow nice and soft.  We made supper and fell asleep. .or what is taken for sleep on any first night out. 

We were awakened by owls.  Then we were awakened by Jesse barking.  Then we were awakened by coyotes who seemed to go away once we brought Jesse into the tent. 

Sunday greeted us with blue sky to the west but totally overcast to the east.  We took our time and had a leisurely breakfast – 2 pots of coffee for me and eggs with salami and cheese.

We donned our skis and headed west past the wilderness boundary toward the headwaters and snowfields of the St Vrain.  The snow and sky were perfect.  We followed the (unmarked) St Vrain Glacier Trail which was fairly wide so we expect was an old road that ended in a large open meadow with the Elk Tooth prominent on our right and the ridge north of Sawtooth to our left. 

After a quick rest, we turned and followed our tracks back.  Packed up and vacated camp around 3:15 and got back to the car at 5 PM, walking the distance from Camp Dick back to the car.