The best thing about backpacking with horses? They carry all the heavy stuff, so all you have to carry is a daypack with essentials. The worst thing about backpacking with horses? Horse farts. Specifically, being down wind of horse farts. Phew-eeee!Grubby Guy and I went on a backcountry camping trip to the Flat Tops Wilderness with GGuy’s friend, Bart, and his girlfriend, Nicole. Bart brought his two horses, Twink and Rue to help us pack in, so we were a party of six.
We decided to do a shuttle hike, starting at one point and ending at another, so we left GGuy’s truck at the Hill Creek trailhead, and hopped in with Bart and Nicole to drive up to Wall Lake trailhead near Trapper’s Lake.Once there, we packed all of our stuff – tent, sleeping bags, clothes, food, camp stoves - into dry sacks and panniers to load up the horses. Twink and Rue were not at all sure they wanted to do the hike and tried to make a break for it several times during the loading process. Bart rounded them up, and we got them saddled and left the parking lot about 1:30 p.m.
The Wall Lake trail gains 1,721 feet in just over 2 miles. It is considered one of the steepest but fastest ways to the top of the Flat Tops, and it mellows out considerably after that. Once on top of the plateau, we took the Oyster Lake Trail for another four or five miles to a little lake that was hidden on the top of another, smaller plateau, where we set up camp for the night about 5 p.m. We hung out at camp for the late afternoon/evening, Bart and Nicole went to a look-out point to glass the hillsides and GGuy took his fishing pole to the lake to catch a few. We met up back at camp around 7 p.m. and made some fresh salmon filets that GGuy brought with him from Alaska (gotta LOVE the horses!). We sat around long enough to see a few shooting stars and then crawled into bed to warm up.
GGuy, Bart and Nicole woke up before dawn to look for deer and elk and other critters while I stayed snug in my sleeping bag and slept in. (Heaven!) Once everyone was back in camp, we made breakfast and then packed up again to head toward Oyster Lake. We left camp about 10:30 a.m.
As we hiked, we stumbled upon a herd of sheep grazing on the short grass and their very protective dogs. And, walked past numerous lakes and streams and springs, through flat “parks” that were filled with short grasses and wildflowers, and through low-lying wetlands. We saw the Big Marvine and Little Marvine peaks (http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=1834) in the distance, and endless blue skies. It wasn’t a hard hike in terms of elevation gain, but it was a long, long day. I thought it was going to be 2 hours, so I only packed a granola bar and a few little snacky things. It ended up being much longer, and I was low on fuel. By the end, Grubby Guy and I were slap happy and not making any sense, singing nonsense songs to keep ourselves entertained. We sang “Hallelujah” when we finally came over a small hill and spotted Oyster Lake in the distance, about 5:30 p.m.
Bart picked out a camping spot and tied up the horses. Then we snacked, and set up the tents. Bart and Nicole napped while GGuy and I went to the lake to pump water. On our way to the lake, we spotted a herd of elk lazing in the sunshine by the lake. We stopped and watched an elk take a bath in the pond and the rest nap or munch on the short grass. After about half an hour, one of the elk finally spotted my red vest and the whole herd stood up and high tailed it out of there. We got our water and went back to camp to cook dinner. We built a small fire that night and stayed up late chatting and staring at the campfire.
We woke up early the next morning, and, knowing we had another long day ahead of us to get to the truck, we ate a good breakfast, packed sandwiches for lunch and set out for the Hill Creek intersection off of Oyster Lake Trail. Once we got to the edge of the plateau and headed back down, the trail got super steep and rocky. We had to gingerly pick our way down the trail, using our trekking poles for balance and to stop our downward momentum. Wildflowers grew shoulder-high along the trail, in just about every color of the rainbow. It was hard not to look at the wildflowers and the views, but the trail demanded we pay very close attention. We stopped for lunch on a small knoll and then set out for the last three miles. Everything was going along fine until we came upon a hillside that was criss-crossed by cow tracks. We went left when we should have gone right, and thus began a very difficult detour through ferns that grew well over my head and underbrush that was so thick it was difficult to pull your legs through without dragging a plant along with you. GGuy did his best to keep me calm and assure me that we weren’t “lost,” we just didn’t know EXACTLY where we were. After about an hour of bushwacking and trying to find the trail, GGuy finally spotted it down the hill from where we were. Once we found that, it was an easy two miles back to the truck across a beautiful stream and through a wildflower filled forest.
The Flat Tops are one of my very favorite places in Colorado, and this was a great trip overall. The hiking, while long, was definitely ‘do-able,’ and you just can’t beat the scenery. The Flat Tops are one of the first areas to be considered ‘wilderness,’ and it’s easy to see why it should be protected as a wild place. I would highly recommend the Flat Tops to anyone looking for a relatively easy backpacking trip. After the first pitch, you can cover a lot of ground and see some of the most amazing views in all of Colorado.Lessons learned from this trip:
1) The Flat Tops make a perfect backpacking destination. Once you are on top, you can cover a lot of miles with relative ease.
2) Horses make backpacking much more pleasant, especially since you can fresh food instead of strictly dehydrated food. Not having 40 pounds of gear on your back is absolutely priceless.
3) Right when you think you are in the wrong spot, stop, check the map and backtrack to the point where you KNOW exactly where you are. Far better to retrace some steps than spend an hour hacking your way through dense vegetation that makes it difficult to distinguish land features and find your way back to the trail.
4) Take care of your blisters right away so you don't end up like me!
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