Howdy, gang! My cousin Andrew and I have been camping together for over 20 years and took another exciting adventure earlier this month to the Flat Tops Wilderness near Steamboat Springs/Yampa, CO. Part of the adventure was just getting there. Andrew lives near Steamboat (in Stagecoach) and was going to pick me up at the airport in Denver. Long story short (and an adventure unto itself!) I arrived at his condo 16 hours late. However, kudos to Southwest Airlines for handling a very tough night with class and great customer service. In fact, as we pulled into the gate at DIA, the captain said, "Well, ladies and gentlemen...tonight was epic!" Just the words you want to hear from the flight deck!
We hit the trail early the next morning and headed south toward Bailey Lakes from Stillwater Reservoir (accessible via Yampa, CO). We camped on a pretty heavily used spot, complete with remnants from at least one horse camp...beer cans, a coffee can, a Spyderco knife, two fire grates, three fire areas, a bunch of firewood, some paracord, a mason's jar, and enough manure to power a small town. However, it was beautiful, and not hard to see why it is a popular site.
My cousin is a licensed pilot and had been flying over the area to check on snow and lake conditions. However, he had to keep a 2000' ceiling over the wilderness area. As such, there was just a touch more snow surrounding the streams and lakes we intended to fish than was clearly visible from the air. So, we packed out a night early to fish Sarvis Creek, which flows out from the dam at Stagecoach Reservoir. (Anecdotal Fact: Stagecoach is the namesake of one of Colorado's largest lost ski resorts that operated from 1972-1974. Developers hoped it would become the gem of the CO ski areas but things went downhill...more figuratively than literally! In fact, Andrew lives in one of the original condos built just off the still-visible runs.)
Andrew was using a classic and famed Jansport external frame he found in a guy's trash pile at the curb. I refurbished it for him and turned it back into a classy ride. Andrew is an accomplished climber (owns his own tower company, actually) and has bagged dozens of peaks, including many of CO's 14ers. That is to say, he knows his gear and he LOVED the way this pack carried. (His gear room is a thing of beauty most stores would like to emulate!) He wanted to give it some trail time, as he intends to use it on his hunts this fall.
I was using a plethora of DIY gear, including my snowshoes, pack, tarp, hammock, TQ/UQ/UQP, Tenkara rod, landing net, stove, parcho, etc. I was super happy with how things performed this time around. The only thing I destroyed were my trusty old sunglasses, but nothing a little super glue couldn't fix!
It's been in the mid to upper 90's everyday since I returned, so it's been nice sitting inside and editing the trip video. Enjoy!
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Originally Posted by WileyBruin
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