Kent's 50th B-Day Camp Trip

Hello, last weekend I began celebrating my 50th birthday while backpacking with a group of seven friends over Labor Day weekend. Click here for a slideshow. Camp trip B-Day. My actual B-day is September 5th - tomorrow!
We selected Lake Charles near Eagle, Colorado, because it is close enough to Denver, yet a tough, five-mile hike. We were hoping there wouldn't be too many other campers at the lake and we weren't disappointed.
We had a great camp site at the far end of the lake which made for a beautiful sunset on our first night. The next morning I was surprised to see all the paraphernalia my fellow campers had packed-in to mark my special day. It was also our really big day to hike and fish.
We headed off to Mystic Lake which is about another mile-and-a-half at the end of the canyon, with mountain peaks above and an elevation at about 11,500 feet. By the time we arrived at the upper lake, the sun was pretty much gone for the day but that didn't stop us from spending the afternoon fishing for cutthroat and brook trout. Paul and I hiked all the way around the lake, maybe two additional miles, and most of the time in the rain. Our trek paid off as I caught more fish than I've ever caught before - 15 trout! We released most of the fish but kept enough for a delicious dinner cooked on a makeshift grill over campfire coals. Before dinner we had a birthday toast with little bottles of margaritas that Geri had secretly packed in!
While the foil-wrapped trout cooked over the fire, a few of us thought we would dry out our wet socks, using sticks to hold them over the fire - kind of like cooking a hot dog. It wasn't a bad idea, but we needed to be a little more careful than we were. More than one sock ended up charred or with burn holes.
On Monday morning it was time to pack up and head down the trail, which turned into another adventure searching for wild mushrooms. Back in the parking lot, Geri had one last surprise for me, as I was sprayed with little, confetti party poppers.
I owe a big 5-0 thank you to Paul, Margie, Stephanie, Jimmy and Rosie and especially Geri for being such good sports and great friends.
Cheers, Kent Meireis