Da boys

Here's another Mark pic...da boys all suited up for the hike, standing in front of the trail sign.

Just think, only a few miles 'up' from this point and I would have those wonderful blisters on the heel of both feet. I guess I shouldn't have looked so happy. ;-)

Da Boys and their Packs

Here's a pic from Mark's camera of da boys with their 45 lb + packs at the start of the hike.

Hanging the food

I just got a few more pictures from Mark Granger, so I'm just now getting around to posting them. I apologize that they are not in 'chronological order' of events for the Hiking Trip...but, oh well, tough sh?t.

Here's a picture of where we hung our food each night to keep it from any roaming bears. This was probably the best location we've ever found for 'hanging food'. It was easy for us to reach, easy for hanging, and most importantly, it was secure enough from predators, or other campers, whichever came first! ;-)

Trees in Outfield?

Only in Colorado would a portion of straight-away center be dedicated to showcasing a creek, trees, a pond and water fountains. Of course, it was cool to see water fountains go off after Rockies home runs...and we got to see them go off a couple times during this game.

Baseball

Our last event for the week was to go to a Colorado Rockies baseball game. Even though they stink this year, they still crushed the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here we have our favorite beer vendor. My favorite quote of his was when he was talking to some teenagers behind us and said: "Hey, bet you'd like a beer. Of course, sucks for you that you're too young! Ha, ha, ha, ha."

Driving the boat

Here is John the captain of our pontoon. We had a great day. No wind. Good sun. Not too hot, and not too cool. The only thing that went wrong is we didn't bring enough beer. Thank goodness Lake Dillon Marina has a Tiki bar that we visited after boating...since we were still parched.

Boating

After we came down from Upper Cataract lake, we decided we needed a relaxing day boating on Lake Dillon. Here are the guys getting ready to board our rented pontoon boat for a few hours of drinking beer and fishing/trolling.

Farewall to Upper Cataract

As we said farewell to Upper Cataract lake, I snapped this picture of Mark with full pack, the lake in background, and Eagles Nest peak in upper right hand corner.

Night Football

Our favorite night time activity while hiking was to play glow-in-the-dark catch with the football. It's actually quite easy to see the football even in pitch black darkness. However, you do need your head lamps so you can quickly turn them on and let the other players know where you are so they know where to throw the ball! Here Mark shows off after a nice catch.

Campsite

Here is our campsite at dusk. Eagles Nest mountain is in the background.

Fire

The great thing about this trip was that there was no fire ban! So, we took advantage of this and had a fire going every night. Craig was our official fire starter, and he did an excellent job. What always amazes me is how much time you spend staring at the fire when you are camping. It's dark, and there really isn't much else to do!

Now, notice that some of the logs have been sawed. Yep, we sawed logs this big with my trusty Swiss Army knife. I swear!

Cooking fish

Even though we caugh small fish, we still had to eat a few...mainly because we were damn tired of Mountain House! Here Mark demonstrates his culinary skills with some mountain trout.

Making Water

As everyone who does multi-day hikes knows, the most fun part is the act of 'Making Water'. Sam here shows just how much fun this is, or isn't.

Yoga?

Here we have Karl doing the Yoga pose called "Proud Warrior". Karl decided to lead us in Yoga lessons each day after all us old guys complained of being sore from hiking.

Now, I wonder if Yoga still works if you do it while smoking a stogey like Karl is? ;-)

Blisters

For some strange reason, I got blisters like the following on both heals. I was wearing same boots as every other year, so I'm not sure why this occurred. Thank goodness for blister patches, moleskin, and duck tape. Those 3 things allowed me to still hike, and not have the blisters get any worse...of course, they didn't get any better until about 2 days after we came down out of the mountains. The good thing is I should have nice callus's on each foot for next year!

Fishing

Fishing was great at Mirror lake. However, everything was small like this fish caught by Craig on some small spinner bait.

Resting

Here is the gang resting and having a snack on the way from Upper Cataract lake to Mirror lake.

View of the creek running down from Upper Cataract lake, with mountains in the background. 

Here is the beautiful scene at Upper Cataract lake. Still some snow on the peak even in late August. 

Creek crossing

Karl Rummel fording a creek.

Logs

Just a few logs in the water at Surprise lake!

Scree field

One of the few scree fields we had to cross.

Gray's & Torreys Peaks

View of Gray's and Torreys Peak from where we started hiking.

Da Boys at top of Gray's Peak

Eric Dirst, Karl Rummel, Craig Madsen, John Richards, Mark Granger on top of Gray's Peak with Torreys Peak in background

2005 Hiking Trip

Well, it was a great 2005 Hiking Trip for da boys! We started the week with a fun 14er climb to Gray's Peak. Then we followed that up with a 3-day hike/camp through Eagles Nest area, where we camped at the Upper Cataract lake and did a couple day-hikes. After we exited the wilderness, we took a relaxing boat ride on Lake Dillon, and finished the week at the Colorado Rockies game watching them beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. What a great trip!

I hope everyone enjoys the pics we'll be posting of the entire trip.

Eric