2010 Trip to Thirty Mile Campground in the Weminuche Wilderness in the San Juan Mountains of the Rio Grand National Forest

Ever seen an upside-down mountain…?

We’ll get to that part in a little bit. But first, let me take you through one of the best vacations ever. I must let you know that this will be quite a long post. So get yourself a snack and a little something to sip on ‘cause reading this could take a while.

A little side note here: We couldn’t help but notice all the dead trees in the forest. You’ll notice them as well in most of our pictures and videos. Come to find out, an infestation of tiny beetles the size of a grain of rice is destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of pine trees all over Colorado. It was heartbreaking to see and even more heartbreaking to know that this infestation could possibly close down this wonderful forest to campers in the near future. Some parks in Northern Colorado are already having to close their campsites due to the problem. The Padghams have been camping at Thirty Mile for decades. In fact, Bryan’s grandparents spent their honeymoon there. So we are hoping and praying that this Padgham tradition does not have to come to an end. But enough of this sad news. Let’s get to more fun memories.

We simply could not wait to get the heck out of Dallas. The heat was just horrible. And we knew the weather was going to be absolutely perfect in Colorado. We were also so excited to get to Colorado because Topher had already been there for an entire week with Grandma and Grandpa Padgham (and he was in Kansas with them for a week before that so we hadn’t seen him for 2 whole weeks). He was having such a great time. He helped Grandpa get all the tents set up, rode his bike around the campsite, and even got to play in the water a bit (that water is soooo cold, but apparently cold doesn’t affect him much).

Jon, Bryan, Cole and I arrived the evening of July 24^th after a very long day of travel (1 hour flight to Amarillo and then an 8 hour drive to the camp). And the next 8 days were just as we knew they would be…perfect! We hiked, we fished, we ate…and ate…and ate, we played with chipmunks, we played ladder ball, we relaxed in the hammock, and we hung around the campfire with good friends. Here's a video I made of our campsite and some pictures...

We told Topher he was in a cocoon and he called it a "raccoon". So cute!This chipmunk (I nicknamed him Scarface because he has a scar above his right eye) was so tame. We couldn't believe how friendly he was. As long as he was getting peanuts, he didn't care about anything else.

Shari and I took the boys to Creede on Tuesday to get some laundry and shopping done. Topher and Cole got to play on the old train for a few minutes. We were quite exhausted when we got back to camp that day. It sure ain’t easy doing laundry and shopping with a 3 year old and a 15-month-old. But the fudge we got at The Creede Trading Co. made it a bit easier. I highly recommend stopping in to get fudge if you’re ever in the area. My favorite is the chocolate amaretto. Best fudge EVER!!!

On Wednesday, Bryan, the boys and I had a bit of a family outing to see the Clear Creek Waterfall. It is just such a beautiful site. You can’t see it or hear it until you get right up to it. I saw it for the first time in 2004. It’s the first waterfall I’ve ever seen (and still the only one I’ve ever seen) and now it’s the first one my boys have seen. Topher was in awe. Perfectly understandable.

After the waterfall, we headed to the Continental Reservoir for a snack. It’s quite a breathtaking view. Then again, pretty much everywhere you look in this area there’s a breathtaking view.

On Thursday, Bryan and I headed out for my very first ever backpacking adventure. We left around 9:20am for an 8-mile hike up to Squaw Lake. The first couple of miles were quite tough. Pretty much a hard climb for most of it. But after that first bit, we had a few miles of hiking through mostly flat meadows. There were a few times when we just knew we would get rained on if not hailed on but luckily, the clouds seemed to steer clear of us throughout our entire hike. Someone was certainly watching out for us that day. We were so thankful to avoid hiking in the rain. And then the meadows ended and the hard part came. The last bit of the hike was zig-zagging straight up the mountain. It took us just under 2 hours to do that part and it was exhausting. My 20 pound backpack felt more like 100 pounds at this point. But it was all worth it. It took us 5 hours and 27 minutes to get to the most beautiful lake at the top of this mountain at 11,632 feet.


And our luck with the weather was still strong when we got there. We took about 30 minutes to take in the sites, get some pictures, soak our tired and sore feet in the lake, put up our tent, gather a bit of dry firewood, and get everything in the tent before it finally started raining. We hung out in the tent while it rained for about an hour. Then the rain stopped and we were able to get a campfire going (we forgot to bring a fire-starter and all we had were a few boxes of waterproof matches, but my husband the mountain man got a perfect campfire started). We spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the fire and enjoying the peace, the quiet, and the spectacular view. We were the only ones there for the night except for a lonely doe who hung out around our camp for a few hours. We were so surprised to see her come around as if we weren’t there at all. She seemed to not care about us humans one bit. She wasn’t skittish or nervous or anything. She just walked around the camp and grazed. She was beautiful and peaceful. Very lovely.

View at the very end of the zig-zag (switchbacks)...View of our tent from the wildflowers...Boy am I tired...The beautiful blue sky right after the rain...View of the lake from our campfire...
Our sweet deer...
The mountains on the other side of the lake is the Continental Divide. And in case you’re wondering, here’s what that is (from www.About.com)…

“The Continental Divide in the Americas is the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. Rain or snow that drains on the east side of the Continental Divide flows toward the Atlantic Ocean while precipitation on the west side drains and flows toward the Pacific Ocean. (However, some rivers empty into the desert and don't end up in the oceans.)

The continental divide runs from northwestern Canada along the crest of the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. Then, it follows the crest of Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental. In South America, the Continental Divide lies along the Andes.

Every continent except for Antarctica has a continental divide.”

We thought about hiking up the last 1.25 miles to the top of the divide but we talked ourselves out of it because we were so tired and sore from the other 8 miles. I’m regretting it now. I think we’ll definitely have to do it next time we make this trek.

We woke up the next morning just before sunrise and I got this beautiful video of an upside-down mountain. Ok, it’s just the reflection of the Divide in the lake, but it looks so cool!

We got another fire started to cook our breakfast and then packed up everything to head back to Thirty Mile. We noticed that we had a little company sometime during the night. There were mountain lion tracks about 20 or so yards from our tent. Yikes! Thankfully, we didn’t see her at all and we made it safely back to camp after another 4 hour hike. We took a little time to do some fly-fishing along the way. Bryan caught 7 fish in about 20 minutes. I only caught 1. But I had fun anyway. My first backpacking adventure certainly will not be my last. I loved, loved, loved it. I can’t wait for the next trip.

Mountain lion print (you have to look closely)...

Finally getting back to camp...

One last wonderful memory to share. We got this picture of Topher and Cole on what Shari named "Horse Rock". She also has a picture of Bryan and Jon on this exact same rock when they were this age. So sweet. She's going to send that picture to me and as soon as I get it, I'll post it next to this one. I just love this...We spent the next day recovering and getting things ready to leave on Sunday. I’m always so sad when our trip comes to an end. Maybe next year we can spend an entire 2 weeks there. I would love that. It’s just so hard coming back to Dallas and 100+ temperatures every year. Our first day back to Dallas this year topped the thermometers at 106!! I’m ready to get back to Colorado where the highs are in the 70s. Now if I can just find a house to buy there and a job for Padg, all would be right with the world. ;)