Sangre de Lupp, Finan, and Olson

**This trip occurred in mid-July and it is now mid-May. I should have crafted and posted this report as soon as I got home from the trip but I didn't. I am moved to craft and post now because of the love I have for these brothers. Reminiscing about this trip brings me great joy and reminds me that I have a couple brothers in Christ who keep me grounded, make me laugh until I cry, make me think deeply, and force me to challenge my deeply rooted assumptions about many things. It also occurred to me that the time they take out of their lives to embark on these excursions requires a big sacrifice. I'm a single guy (sorry, mom) who teaches for a living and whose biggest concern in the summer is getting fifty high school girls fit and ready for the cross country season...something I take very seriously, I should say! Lupp and Finan, however, have regular jobs in which they have to sacrifice precious PTO and disengage from other serious social regularities: Lupp being married comes immediately to mind! (Abigail, you are a saint, and I mean that.) Anyways, thanks, boys, for making our time together a high priority. Now, on the story...

In the words of John Steinbeck (or was it Scottish poet Robert burns?):"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Well, that could essentially sum up the beginning of this particular trip and the plans we had as well.

It all started when the snow started falling in the Colorado and Wyoming Rockies in the winter of 2018-19 and seemingly didn't stop until about mid-June! Snow is great for fire mitigation, having plentiful water reserves in the mountainous states, and for those who live as ski bums in the winter and raft guides in the summer, but it certainly narrowed our available choices for adventure. We finally settled on the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rockies in Colorado which is a tiny little finger of mountains jutting out into the high desert of the San Luis Valley in the south-central part of the state. All systems were a go, or so it seemed.

About ten days before Lupp and Finan were to fly into Denver, at which time I was supposed to pick them up after having driven out, I was on my way home from visiting my Grandpa in the UP of Michigan when I ran into a terrible thunderstorm, hydroplaned, slid down an embankment on I-75, and rolled my 4Runner. That whole ordeal is nearly worth it's own post, but suffice to say that Sheriff Hanft of Ogemaw County is truly a special man...thanks for letting me stay in your fishing cabin until I could get my affairs in order! So, I had to book my own last minute plane ticket to Denver. No big deal. We would just have to rent this time.

Well, that was interesting!

I flew in a bit early and spent an extra day with Calleigh in Castle Rock. Lupp was the first to get in and I drove up to DIA to get him and bring him back to Calleigh's. The plan was for Finan to pick up the rental car when he landed, drive to us, and then we would head over to Steve and Kellie's for a night to organize ourselves and get ready to embark. Of course, that plan didn't exactly turn out perfectly either. When he got to DIA, Finan realized he couldn't find his driver's license, which was a vital component to him being able to rent the car. So, Lupp and I hopped in Calleigh's car and headed back to the airport. After waiting in the SIXT rental car line for way too long, we finally rented a car (in Lupp's name) and were inching closer to being able to get into the mountains. We shot back over to Calleigh's, dropped her car off, loaded my crap into the rental (a GMC Terrain) and headed towards Steve and Kellie's for the evening with a quick Walmart stop to stock up on grub. We stayed up a little later than we thought we would but Steve got to telling stories about his early years as a hippy in Malibu and in Vietnam. Who could go to bed in that environment?!

A must have when backpacking

We left the house around 6:15 the next morning and stopped at Costello House in Florissant for a quick cup of Joe and a bit to eat and then continued hammering towards our first stop: the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We got a slightly later start up to Star Dune than we would have liked as the sand gets really hot once the sun has been on it, but we headed up anyways. We crushed it to the top and scalped all kinds of people on the way up. The Dunes are a surreal place: all that sand with 13,000 and 14,000 foot peaks in the background.

On top of Star Dune

We had some fun on the way down, running down steep dunes as fast as possible and the like. When we got back to the car we jetted over to Zapata Falls campground for a quick hike up to Zapata Falls. We went from scorching hot on our feet at the dunes to freezing cold on our feet in Zapata Creek in no time. With all the snow, the creek was still fed by a lot of snowmelt up high and it was COLD! We made our way up the creek and into the falls themselves before hiking back out to the car and heading towards the little town of Crestone.

Finan almost to the falls

Crestone is an interesting place to say the least. There is a lot of emphasis on strange spirituality "stuff" in that town. We perused it in the car for a few minutes before decided on trailhead from which to embark. We drove a few miles up to the North Crestone Creek Trailhead and started up the North Crestone Creek Trail.  We hiked in between 2 and 3 miles that first evening and set up camp close to North Crestone Creek. It became apparent before we even stopped to set up camp that the mosquitos were operating at "apocalyptic levels." I have been backpacking a long time, and have never seen mosquitos of this size, density, or unfazedness. Repellent didn't work. Long pants and long sleeves didn't work! They were consistently biting through our clothes.

Camp 1

The next morning we left camp after breakfast and headed towards North Crestone Lake. It was a gorgeous hike through a fairly steep gorge and we gained about 2000 feet of elevation in the four miles or so it took to get to the Lake. We made it out to a small outcropping of rock in the lake where we were fortunate to find solace from the mosquitos for a time due to the consistent winds. We ate lunch, took a few pictures, and just relaxed for a bit. We then skirted back around the lake and decided to make a charge straight up the steep, grassy slopes to gain the ridge and possibly attempt to gain a 13,000+ foot peak. When we got to the top of the ridge we could see some clouds brewing and after following the ridge for a while decided it best to head back down. The view from the top of the ridge looking past the mountains and back into the valley were pretty dramatic. The worst of the rain held off until we were settled back into camp. We ended up staying in our tents for nearly four hours due to the train. We finally came out around 9:00 pm and made dinner. We were off to bed soon after.

On the way to N. Crestone Lake

North Crestone Lake and surrounding cirque.

Lunch spot on an outcropping in the Lake

The lighter grassy ramp in the center of the picture was our route up the ridge, as seen from our lunch spot.

Lupp and Finan on their way up the slope. It doesn't appear steep, but it is. Look at how they are both leaned into the slope.

Looking back down the slope, you can better tell the steepness. 

The rocks in the lake in the distance was our location for lunch. 

Panorama from the top of the ridge above the lake.

As had been the story up to this point, our best laid plans were so far not quite working out and this sojourn into the Sangre de Cristos (which translates to blood of Christ) was no exception. This was turning into more of the "Sangre de Lupp, Finan, and Olson" and we decided it was time to get the heck out of there. In the morning we packed up camp and headed back to the car. Time to find a new place to explore with less mosquitos.

Yes, they have mosquito nets on IN the car...full disclosure, so do I. We just couldn't escape them. 

We arrived in Buena Vista around noon and headed straight for Eddyline Brewery where we proceeded to drink a couple beers and eat a couple pizzas. We pulled out the maps and started scouting out some places. Having spent a lot of time in Colorado I had a few places and ideas stashed for this type of occasion, you know, the "when all else fails" type of occasion. The first of which was to drive over to a nice little spot of BLM land not far from town and camp next to the Arkansas River for the night. First we stopped and grabbed a six pack and then headed over to the spot. We proceeded to soak in the shallows of the Arkansas River for the next few hours and I think Finan even showed his entire nude body off to some innocent rafters. These are the times for which the three of us embark on these trips annually: it was an afternoon filled with fantastic, challenging conversation.

In the morning we headed towards the Frenchman Creek Trailhead but the GMC could only make it about 2/3 of the way up before it's off-road capabilities weren't up to the task, so we parked it and hiked the final 1.5 miles up the road. We then hiked a nice 5 miles to Rainbow Lake in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. The campsite we found was made by some people who put some epic time into it. We soaked in the lake for a while, had a nice fire, and another great round of conversation.

Rainbow Lake

Camp at Rainbow Lake. Notice the Taj Mahal of backcountry benches back there!

The next morning we broke camp around 8:00 and jumped back on to the Colorado Trail until we reached the intersection of that with the Pine Creek Trail. We then headed west on the Pine Creek Trail and up into the Pine Creek drainage. It's a fairly wide drainage that follows Pine Creek with picturesque peaks in the distance. There was a trail we wanted to take that went south and up and over a ridge, down into South Pine Creek basin. It took us quite a while to finally find the trail. That trail soon crosses Pine Creek on a single log, and we all promptly fell in while attempting to cross! There were some really cool, old mine ruins and a mine shaft that we poked around for a few minutes before heading towards the top of the ridge.

Pine Creek and Pine Creek drainage.

Lupp and Finan hiking into Pine Creek Drainage.

Finan in the Creek!

Welcome to the creek, Lupp!

It was STEEP hiking and we lost the trail a few times but knew essentially where we were heading so just kept aiming up. Once on top we descended into the basin below, and the descent was even steeper than the ascent. We had gained 1200+ feet on the ascent and now very quickly lost about 1000 feet of that. We soon found ourselves in the middle of a pristine basin. I could find no direct evidence of recent camps or human remnants. It's often remarked that Colorado is no longer a place where you can find solitude, but I beg to differ. If you are willing to work hard enough, you can find it, and this was proof. This was such a cool place. We shared a few rounds of Fireball (Finan's favorite) and Incinnerator (Lupp's choice) as the sun set behind the ridge with a nice fire going and a clear night's sky.

Campfire in S. Pine Creek basin.

Camp in S. Pine Creek basin.

We had one more big push to make the next morning to get up and over the ridge and out of S. Pine Creek drainage and then into Frenchman Creek Drainage which we would follow back down to the car. Our camp was at around 11,700 feet and the ridge we had to gain was around 13,100 feet, the highest elevation of our trip. We played around on some snow for a while at the base of the slope to the top of the ridge and then pounded the slope hard! We were all starting to catch our stride right when one might think we would be getting tired: not these bad mamajammas! We messed around on the ridge for a while before bombing down into Frenchman Creek drainage and heading back to the car. We did encounter one sketchy snow field we had to cross, the first one that was unavoidable and at a gnarly enough angle that we had to pay attention to what we were doing: thus no photos!

Peaks all around us as seen from the ridgetop on the final day. Somewhere in the center of the photo is the location of camp from the night before. 

When we made it back to the car our next move was agreed upon unanimously: drive to town and go directly to Kay's for a burger and a shake. Get some beers at the liquor store. Head back to the BLM campsite for another night on the Arkansas. We had one final, grand fireside chat and the next morning we woke up early and headed straight for a local coffee shop so we would watch some Diamond League action! Nothing like capping off a great trip shared by three track nerds with some track!

Final campfire.

We then went back to Steve and Kellie's and spent one night there before heading back towards Denver. Lupp and Finan dropped me off at Calleigh's where I was going to spend a couple extra days and they flew out. Our trips are the highlight of my year. As I said at the beginning of this (lengthy) post, the fact that we all set this aside as a must each year is special, and it requires a lot of sacrifice on their part. Now it's mid-May and only two months from our next adventure as it currently stands. Here's to the next great journey!

The Boys