Ouray
As COVID continued to rage on, we found ourselves suddenly without set plans – many parks had closed with no pre-determined reopening date, and as such many of the campsites we had planned to stay in had auto-cancelled our reservations. Not knowing how long this closure could last, and now missing 9 weeks of reservations, we decided to head back to our home state of CO to wait out the pandemic over the summer. With three national parks, fifty-eight 14ers (mountains with peaks over 14,000 ft in elevation), loads of world class fishing, and more outdoor activities than I can count, we certainly weren’t sad about spending the summer in the CO wilderness!
Finding a place to lay low in CO while still maintaining a close enough distance to family (should anything happen via COVID, God forbid) was a somewhat tall order – the state's population has increased by over 200,000 people since 2016! The secret is clearly out – CO is amazing 😊. Our search lead us away from the major towns and instead to the western slopes; an area we had not yet explored much as family. We settled on spending late spring and early summer in between two small mining towns – Ouray and Ridgway. We knew our location would be close to two of national parks (should they reopen) and allowed us to explore some of the destinations that we had always talked about going to, but never actually did due to the distance from Denver (like Telluride or Durango). The next few posts will be focused on our time enjoying this area and some of the neat ways we were able to continue to get outside every day, while maintaining social distancing and safety.
Ridgway State Park
By far, one of our most visited destinations in this section of the San Juans was Ridgway State Park. For much of our time here the campgrounds were closed, leaving the park mostly human free which created opportunities to get outside with the kids safely. Our favorite activates focused on teaching the boys to fish, and kayaking as a family. Ridgway Reservoir was the perfect place to get the kids excited about fishing – with rainbow trout, kokanee salmon, and trophy sized brown trout available, there were abundant opportunities to catch fish. Of course, it helps that there are two stocked ponds as well! With the reservoir only being a short drive from our tiny home, it was easy to get quick fishing trips in during lunch break or after nap time to focus on some of the basics. I’m certainly no expert angler and appreciated practicing tying knots and casting with my 4yr old! While stocked ponds do feel a bit like cheating, it was wonderful to see my kiddo easily catch fish using basic spinners and worms and help him to understand the full process of fishing, including catching, killing, and gutting the fish. It made for special opportunities to discuss the circle of life and thank the fish for giving their lives to better fuel ours. It offered connection moments with the excitement of catching something, and good conversation on the importance of killing the fish quickly so as not to draw out unnecessary pain. And sadly, it was a good time to talk about “sport” fisherpeople who did NOT respect the circle of life and gladly overfished the stocked ponds only to throw fish they had accidentally killed back into the pond. But truly the best part of fishing (or should I say catching!), was watching the pride on my 4 yr olds face when he helped cook fish for dinner that he had caught – moments I hope I never forget.
Kayaking was another excellent way to get some quality family time in. With our Tomcat Tandem, all 4 of us fit comfortably and even had room for a cooler full of beer. Needless to say, if the weather was nice, you likely found our family on the water after dinner, burning some energy before bed. Because we tended to hit the water in the evenings, it also ensured we were virtually alone on the beach. With over 5 miles of shoreline to explore and over 140 species of migratory and resident birds in the park, it felt like we had a special adventure each time we went out.
Mt Sneffels
Mt Sneffels via Yankee Boy Basin
Of course one of our favorite activities is hiking – you can likely guess that by now if you have been following our travels. As CO natives, one of our passions is conquering 14ers – we actually have a goal to hike all fifty-eight of them. Certainly, some 14ers at this point are above our skill level, but there are plenty Class 2 and under 14ers for us to climb while we hone our skills further. The city of Ouray happens to sit at the base of Mt Sneffels (14,159 ft) – just 6.7 miles south in fact. The kids would not be safe on this level of hike, so we didn’t think it would be possible for us to hike it – instead it felt like it was taunting us!
When we lived in Denver, to hike a 14er required waking up ungodly early to drive several hours to then start a hike before 6am (it’s important to be off the summit before noon for safety reasons). And yet, here we were, just 30 mins away from a 14er we would have never attempted to climb when living in Denver. How could we resist??
With plenty of quarantine, we were able to secure a visit with grandma which suddenly left us without kids and the freedom to try and conquer Mt Sneffels! The drive to get there was short, but a bit treacherous, which had us parking quite far from Yankee Boy Basin and ultimately turned what could have been a 2.5 mile hike into a 7.75 mile hike. We didn’t mind the extra mileage (the hike into and around Yankee Boy Basin is GORGEOUS), but it’s important to note that Mt Sneffels is a Class 3 mountain – this means that scrambling (you must use your hands most of the time to hold the terrain to find your route) and un-roped rock climbing are to be expected - I.e. this is a hike over extreme terrain and is not for the faint of heart. Adding extra mileage onto an already tough hike makes for a long day. It is even longer when you get confused on which peak is the actual summit, and instead accidentally summit on a neighboring peak thinking you are summitting Sneffels (insert facepalm now). I should also note that I am terrified of heights – having never done un-roped climbing, I really wasn’t sure what to expect or how I would feel doing the climb.
The scramble up the snow and scree-covered slope was hard, but very within our skill level. However, as we came up and over the col (a 13,560-ft saddle) and entered the gully that ascends northwest toward the summit, we saw what would make this hike truly Class 3 – a “V” notch which not only adds additional exposure, but requires you to test your rock climbing abilities as you wedge yourself in-between the rock faces, shimmy up, and pull yourself up and over the top. For folks who love to rock climb, I am sure this would seem like a pretty easy climb. For those of us that are not rock climbers and are terrified of heights, the rock climbing portion had me totally out of my comfort zone and the added exposure had me feeling like one wrong move would be fatal. I had to leave my pack at the end of the gully so as not to feel off balance, and if it weren’t for the helping hand of my husband, I don’t know if I would have summitted. My real fear though was trying to get back down – not only down past the “V” notch, but down the snow/scree in which snow axes are recommended (a tool I don’t yet own).
View from the summit
Quick detour in this story: do you ever feel like you have people show up in your life at just the right time, when you really need a helping hand? We continue to experience this phenomenon with complete strangers coming into our life right as we really need some help. For those of you that regularly follow our blog, a great example of this would be the stranger that spent 6 hrs helping me dig out the truck from an ice flat. Or more recently, another stranger that just happen to be driving down the same remote dirt road that I happen to be stranded on with a flat tire – big surprise he pulled over and spent an hour helping me get the spare on our truck. Or perhaps the example of some backcountry folks advising us not to continue driving over a rough mountain pass due to a recent snow that was WAY deeper than it first appeared; we would have absolutely gotten stuck if we had not listened to those strangers who just happened to advise us right before we attempted a rough stretch of road. For our family, this intervention from the right people at the right time happens regularly.
I mention this now because were it not for another stranger that we met at the summit of Mt Sneffels, I am truthfully not sure how we would have safety started our decent. As we reached the summit, a professional mountaineering guide was leading a couple to the summit from an alternative trail. Because he is a paid professional, he is prepared with things like climbing ropes, helmets, snow axes, next level shoe spikes, etc. At the mention of my fear of heights, combine with our recounting the scary climb to the top, the mountaineering guide immediately offered to rope us in with his clients and lower us down past the “V” notch to a safe spot. He also traversed down the snow/scree with us to ensure we did not slide down the slope out of control (I.e. to our deaths!). The couple he was guiding was paying him for this service; he could have easily offered his services at that moment as a paid gig, and I would have gladly accepted whatever bill he would have sent our way. Instead, he was more concerned with our safety and went WAY above and beyond to make sure everyone felt safe on the descent that day.
Several lessons were learned on this hike:
We are not fans of Class 3 climbing and need to be better prepared if we choose to try another.
In the invaluable words of William Butler Yeats: “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.”
Every time we are seemingly in need of a new friend and a helping hand, the universe delivers us a stranger willing to help. Lead with kindness, and it will be returned to you....even if you are stranded at 14,159’ above sea level.
Stay tuned for more of our adventures along the western slopes!
