Heart Lake and Rogers Pass

It was a sunny fourth of July weekend, a perfect opportunity to head into the Sawatch Range for some high elevation backpacking. The entire city of Denver had the same idea, and we found ourselves in bumper to bumper traffic heading into the Mountains. This was too much for Neil's 2004 Subaru Impreza, the clutch exploded, and we had to get towed back to Denver. While waiting for the tow truck to show up, Matt wondered if he was hanging out with the wrong people (given that we were two for two on exploding clutches).

 Although our ideal weekend was thwarted, we decided to make the best of the day
and chased the sun into James Peak wilderness. Hiking a few miles in before the dusk, we camped a few hundred feet from a the trail on a non descriptive slope. In the morning we headed 3 or 4 mile up to a nice collection of Alpine lakes. All along the way the river was raging from the late season snow melt.

 We decided to gain another 100 feet of elevation to Roger's pass. This gave use a great view of Winter Park. It was around noon, with some darker clouds rolling in, so we decided to call it a day and headed down trail. On the way back to town, we stopped by Stage Stop in Rollinsville for a post-adventure beer.

 Oh, Neil forgot her hiking boots but remembered her Yak Tracks. She managed the hiking trip with her sandals but learned to always pack the boots after getting a pretty bad stubbed toe on the way down.