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

Backpacking and fishing with friends

Hello last week we went backpacking, hiking, camping, fishing etc. with a group of eight friends. We met up in Buena Vista and stayed at Pinon Court Motel so we could get an early start on the trail into the Horn Fork Basin. I've camped in this basin at least 5 times over the years. It remains one of my favorite places to go because of the variety of things to do. Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia offer climbers a good challenge while Bear Lake has many healthy but hard to catch cut throat trout.
We camped just below timberline in the trees so we could have a campfire.
After the four mile hike to camp, we set up camp just below timberline in the trees. The five ladies decided to climb Mt. Columbia, 14,073 feet while the guys hiked another two and half miles up to the lake to go fishing. We only caught one big enough to eat, thanks to Jimmy.
Later in the day, Jimmy and his wife Rosie cooked up the fish in foil over the fire and we all had a nice appetizer to go with our freeze-dried dinners.
The next morning Paul, Margie and Rosie headed up Mt. Harvard, 14,420 feet while the rest of the group settled for hiking up to the lake. Geri, Jimmy and I made it to the lake. Jane and Stephanie decided to head back to camp as they were hiking out that afternoon.
The rest of the group met up back at camp where we helped Jimmy and Rosie pack up their camp as they had to get home. We wanted to stay an extra night after working so hard to get to such a beautiful place.
If you would like to see a slideshow of our trip CLICK HERE: Camping Trip. All of our slideshows require flash player. Download a free version here: flash player.If you would like to learn more about Colorado's 1,400 foot mountains visit, Colorado 14ers.