Wonderful Wild Basin Welcome Wagon, Trip report

“I flew in Friday evening to Denver and was greated almost immediately by Roam Around and Double D (I'm creating a trail name here). At the airport it was about 60 degrees and warmer than Chicago. We had a short drive to the trailhead with a quick stop to pick up a few last minutes odds and ends. It was quite a bit nippier up in Rocky Mountain National Park. Wild Basin baby!

We began hiking in the dark for about 2 miles plus some road. The creek was babbling next to us but with cloud cover we had no visibility. Arriving at the campsite we followed llama tracks in to a secluded cove and set up the tents quickly in about 1-2 feet of snow. A hot drink and we all hit the hay.

In the morning I awoke to a light snow falling and could see the ridges encircling the camp site. A very short walk took me to the bridge over the first cascade (and largest water flow) of the trip. Later, Roam got water from the creek and we boiled for coffee, breakfast and to fill water bladders. Double D had a pretty cold night but was a trooper as we donned hiking clothes and packed up to head up trail.

The trail was packed snow covering ice at first and just a little slippy. I thought often of the yak trax I'd left at home. They would have been helpful. But the hiking was relatively easy as we climbed. Once past Calypso falls and Ouzel falls we climbed up to the ridgeline and encountered our first real snow cover.

Snowshoes went on as we crossed the exposed ridge. The trail was covered with powder and we followed for quite a while following some tracks until our "guide" headed straight up the small peak to our north. We dropped down having lost the trail. We had a line to Ouzel lake but stopped short in a protective ring of pines. Traveling though two feet of snow and struggling with drifts had slowed our progress and we felt good setting up camp there. It was a good choice. My only issue was bringing the wrong tent spikes for the Hillberg which led to difficulty in getting the perfect pitch. Shortly after as Roam and I (mostly Roam) cut firewood with the Sven saw, Tmac came strolling in to camp. We all settled in to the task of organizing and cooking around the smokey fire. Hot food and drinks with good conversation had us all comfortable even if a tad on the cold side. We snuggled in to our shelters on the deep snow for a good night's sleep. It was an early night and no one even had room to taste the cheesecake pudding I had made. Our bellys were full and our eyes were feeling sleepy.

In the morning we rekindled our smokey fire for breakfast. We boiled snow and I had success with my espresso maker in the fire. Espresso mixed with the "Orange, not chocolate" made a wonderful drink, worthy of your average coffee shop. Just after breakfast we were joined by the infamous EddieS who had hiked in to join us for the day. He was looking for toilet paper and I was gullible enough to fall for the joke. We'll keep the rest private on that one.

EddieS and Roam hiked out to get a glimpse of the elusive Ouzel Lake. TMac and I followed not to far behind while Double D kept the fire going and tried to warm up for the hike out.

The entire group headed out of camp in good spirits. With a significant wind to our backs we ascended to the ridge for a downhill hike to the trailhead. I hiked most of the way with EddieS and he kept me in stitches as we cruised along. Once off the ridge we had a nice snack break on a rock overlooking spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and including Long's Peak in the distance. It was close to Ouzel Falls and the sun was warming us nicely from above. The rest of the hike was filled with short stops to take in the snowy creeks and falls. 6 miles later and we came upon the cars. It was bitter sweet as we said goodbyes and made dinner plans to meet downtown for dinner later in the evening.

At Roam's house we all had hot showers and put on our non-technical clothing for a night out. We gathered up the kids who were bubbling with energy and stories. We dined with Tmac and his really wonderful girlfriend. It was an interesting affair with several "service challenges". But the company, exceptional!! It was easy to fall asleep later snuggled up in a warm house filled with a fine family and great doggies.

This morning Roam Around and I helped send the kids off to school and sadly Double D had to head off to work. She missed out on our morning trip to the biggest REI I have ever seen. The only thing keeping me from an extravagant gear spree was the lack of room in my stuffed duffles. I picked up some really cool stuff though and we raced to the airport.

I made it with time to spare and had a great flight home chatting with a most interesting (and very handsome) man headed to Africa.

I'm home now and so happy to see my waggy Shanedog and lovely daughter, but with rich memories of the trip. I have rarely experienced such hospitality.

Just try to keep me away from the Denver area in the future!

Thanks again Roam. (We truly must be siblings separated at birth you see.)”

“You weren't the only one thinking of yaktraxx left at home. :)

Glad you guys called out when you saw me near camp, cuz I probably would have blindly trudged on to the lake.

I haven't looked at the pictures yet, but maybe I'll get them to webshots tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a wonderful trip...I didn't know you lived in the Denver area, T Mac...didn't we meet in Iowa? no mention of paddle, dhutch...glad to see the 12 step program is working...looking forward to pictures...it sounds like it was beautiful...I hope you have better luck with winter photography than I do...I find it's hard to capture the ooh/aah beauties of winter...”

“lol mata. It was tough to leave "Black Bart" at home but I was cubing out my checked baggage capacity as it was. Shane babysat :-)

I'm ashamed to say that I let the guys take all of the pics. Can't wait to see them.

TMac - I unpacked and hung everything out to dry. My house smells like, guess what, pine smoke. I can still taste that mmm mm good, pine snow water. While we were at REI I almost picked up those snow spikes but, they only had 1 left. I guess they're popular at this time of year? :-)”

“Sounds like a great trip. So, is Roam always available for every snowshoe trip that comes along, LOL? Guiding stikmon one weekend, dhutch the next? Gotta make westerly plans, I see! :-) (And I just got snowshoes for my b-day -- which was Saturday, I guess when you guys were traipsing in RMNP!)

Ummm, is "Double D" the person our South Dakota tripsters from Labor Day 2005 know as "Chante?"”

“Mata - yea, we met on a Yellow River hike. How you doing?

DD = Chante. :)

I've only unpacked my down stuff. I know, that's terrible, but I'm a slacker.”

“Nice, glad you had a good time. Pics please”

“Forgot my boots at Roam's house :-(

I call Chante "Double D" because there were two Diane's on this trip. :-)”

“I'm just glad to hear Roamie's still with that cool Chante! Good goin', Roam. ;-P LOL!”

“How did I miss this thread??????

We had a great time!!

I took a bunch of pics but havn't looked at them yet - i'll get on that tonight at home.

:)

Come on out Liz.... anytime!”

“Hey all,
Dhutch1 I am so glad to have met you. I changed my name on TT last year and haven't posted since so yes, this is Double D (that makes me laugh), Chante or Shortstep. As you know I am not hard to catch up with when hiking, I figured the name was fitting. Can't wait to see some pictures as I think my camera was frozen solid the whole time. I will get your boots to you soon, I promise.”

“shortstep - I love it. Glad to see you post!

You guys were so great and I had the most fabulous time :-D”

“Glad you had a great time. Sorry we didn't meet up.”

“Me too. But don't you worry, I'll be back. Would love to meet you and the Mrs. Adventurist!”

“chante/double d/shortstep now your confusing Me, Heck you have more names than Me. Glad you roam and dhutch had a good time. I need to get back west sometime”

“Finally got my pictures from this trip online.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/555977421PySQDn”

“'bout time!

Dang!

:)”

“Shoot TMac just in time. I had forgotten all about this trip by now :-)

just kidding, can't see them at work and can't wait to look at em once I get home!”

“Nice pics. Thanks a million!”

“My pleasure.

As you could see, I'm big on captions. :)”