Colorado Backpacking Trip to Holy Cross Federal Wilderness
Tucker and I just got back from a 3 day backpacking trip to the Holy Cross Federal Wilderness in Colorado. Holy Cross is around 120,000 acres and is located just southwest of Vail. Tucker has been wanting to do a Colorado backpacking trip for years now so he was very exited to go. He has been going on runs with me all summer long so I felt like he was in shape for the trip. Just the same, I carried everything because I knew from past backpacking trips we have taken that anything I gave him to carry I would end up having to lash to the outside of my pack with in a mile of the trailhead. We did the Missouri Lakes loop on the southern end of the wilderness. Elevations ranged from around 9000 feet at the trailhead to around 12,500 feet at the two mountain passes. The loop is around 12 miles, but its extremely strenuous and somewhat technical at times so 4 miles a day is actually a good daily pace for it. This is especially true for people that live at or near sea level because of the high altitudes. I am a runner, but with a 55 pound pack on my shoulders (a lot more weight than I normally carry on backpacking trips because I carried Tucker’s supplies as well) I was really winded coming up the two passes.
When we hit the trail on Thursday morning it was about 70 degrees out and partly cloudy.
Tucker and Carter and the Missouri Lakes trailhead.
However, less than a mile into the trail a storm blew in and it started raining, then pouring, the hailing on us. Water was pouring down the trail and despite throwing on our jackets we were still getting soaked. Luckily, by the time we made it up to Missouri Lakes the storm was moving out so we were able to dry our gear before that night. We found a nice camping spot overlooking upper Missouri Lake.
Tucker and Carter just after we arrived at upper Missouri Lake.
The lakes are at 11,500 feet and are right at the tree line. There was even some snow banks left on the alpine tundra around the lakes. After we set up camp and hung out our wet gear to dry we did some fishing in the lake. On a side note, I have done a decent amount of wilderness backpacking and canoe trips and encountering weather like we had on the way up to Missouri lakes is exactly why I think that down sleeping bags can literally be a killer for spring and summer backpacking trips. The reason being is that because I had to carry both of our gear, I had to lash my sleeping bag on to the outside of my pack. As a result, it got kind of wet despite being in a compression bag. Because its a synthetic bag, I was able to hang it up and dry it out within a couple of hours in the dry mountain air. Had it been a down bag, it would have taken at least a day to dry, and offered no warmth at all that night because down is useless when wet. Such a scenario could easily lead to hyperthermia when alpine temperatures dip below freezing as they did every night of our trip.
Anyway, back to the trip. I caught one Cutthroat Trout that evening and had Tucker bury it in a small snowbank until we were ready for dinner. That night we dinned on trout, freeze dried spaghetti, and some oatmeal cookies Tiffani made for us. We had a ton of wind that night so we had a hard time sleeping consistently throughout the night. Moreover, the moon was full and was so bright at that altitude that visibility outside was nearly as good as it is in the middle of the day. We woke up around 6 am the next morning and I made Tucker some hot chocolate and me some instant coffee (its terrible but I have to have my morning coffee). We had our breakfast of instant oatmeal and I started breaking down camp.
Tucker at our camp that morning.
We hit the trail around 10:00 AM and started over Missouri Pass. Lugging 55 pounds of gear over a 12,500 foot pass is quite strenuous to say the least.
Catching my breath about halfway up the pass.
This pass was not very technical and we only had to cross one small snowfield. We had great views of the upper Missouri lakes on the way up.
Missouri Lakes from Missouri Pass
Once we got to the top we were greeted with a beautiful view of Treasure Vault lake and the Cross Creek valley.
Treasure Vault Lake from Missouri Pass
We then set out across the alpine tundra in the valley to Fancy Pass. The tundra was carpeted with wildflowers and we had the whole place to ourselves. Along the way we encountered several curious marmots including this pair.
Marmots
Tucker had quite an eye for them and could easily spot them among the boulders. We had to keep a tight lead on Carter as it seemed that he thought he had found his true calling as a marmot hunter. The way up Fancy Pass was not overly difficult aside from the steepness and the altitude. The top of the pass was over 12,500 feet and Tucker felt like a true mountaineer on top of it.
Tucker at the summit of Fancy Pass
We were greeted with another wonderful view of the valley below from the top of the pass.
View from Fancy Pass
The route down from the pass ended up being very difficult with a couple of very hairy snow bank crossings. Had I known how difficult it was beforehand I would have probably opted to take Tucker on a different route in the wilderness. Just the same, we were careful, took our time and made it down safely.
Tucker descending a snowbank
Because of the amount of snow and ice we encountered on the pass I would recommend that anyone attempting it should make sure they carry crampons with them. Fancy Lake came into view about two thirds of the way down the pass. Fancy lake is a beautiful small lake at around 11,600 feet.
Fancy Lake
We got to the lake around 1 PM and setup camp in a small grove of sub alpine spruce.
Fancy Lake Camp
We then spent the next 2 days fishing the lake (we caught 6 more Cutthroat Trout):
Tucker Fishing on Fancy Lake
Exploring:
Mountain Vista
Climbing (Tucker thinks of himself as a seasoned mountaineer now), and dinning on trail mix and freeze dried meals (they are better than you would think they would be).
Tucker Climbing
We had good weather with sunny warm days and cold nights. We lucked out on firewood because a previous camper had left a large pile of it near our camping spot. Luckily I remembered to pack some marsh mellows this time. Tucker even found a trout bag someone had left at the lake and I found a Cabelas Packable Jacket. Evidently someone left in quite a hurry before. Maybe the horrible weather we encountered on our way up to Missouri Lakes ran them out without even getting all their stuff.
On our final morning in the wilderness we did some more exploring, saw an elk and a mule deer, and then set off down the fancy creek trail down to our vehicle. The trail was quite steep and meandered its way through a spruce forest.
Tucker Fancy Creek Trail
The trail down was very pretty and passed through a couple of small meadows.
Meadow
Since the forest was predominately spruce, it was largely unaffected by the pine beetle epidemic that is destroying much of Colorado’s lodgepole pine forests. Tucker tried fishing the creek down in the valley but did not have any luck.
Tucker fishing in the creek in the valley.
After a little while Tucker gave up and we started back on the 730 mile drive back home. We had a great time in Colorado but we both missed Tiffani, Harper and Zhen Zhen and were glad to be going home. When we got back Tiffani was baking Tucker’s favorite dinner for us, Lemon Chicken (Nigella Lawson recipe), and Zhen Zhen and Harper came running out to greet us.