It’d been a few months since I’d really camped out and I’ll admit to missing sleeping in the cold and laying in a warm sleeping bag for hours. After a quick drive up to Breckenridge and south to the Spruce Creek trailhead I set off with lingering daylight skinning up the Spruce Creek Road, then turned a right on the gated aqueduct road to a little meadow with a clear view of Red Mountain across the valley.
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After stamping out a flat tent platform and setting up the tent my cell phone started ringing. Pete was calling to check our plans for Sunday and when he asked me what I was up to I could answer “shoveling out my vestibule”. I guess if I’ve got cell phone reception it’s officially backcountry-lite. My front porch cleared out I fired up the stove for a few hours of staying warm, drinking hot chocolate and tea and getting lost in numerous clothing layers.
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I’d positioned my tent door to catch the sunrise without leaving my sleeping bag and thankfully dawn delivered some stunning colors.
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I was enjoying coffee and breakfast when the sun hit and after quickly re-packing my backpack for a short tour I left camp and headed towards the Lower Crystal Lake. Above treeline the wind was blowing down valley and transporting a lot of snow around.
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After several trips to this lake in all seasons I’ve never gotten tired of the view of Father Dyer Peak.
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I made my goal of the cabin ruins and snapped a few photos before cooling off too much.
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Heading back down hill I took off the skins and locked my heels. The creek drainage I was skiing varied from hard windslab to 4 inches of powder. The skinny racing skis I was on didn’t handle the variable conditions well. Still I got down and back into the trees okay and cruised back into camp to lap up the abundant sun light. After breaking down camp I slowly made my way back down the Spruce Creek Road, mostly snowplowing to handle the top-heavy load.
