Yarn Cruiser
Rising Sun Member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2020
- Messages
- 606
The inaugural Wildflower Cruise was a huge success. We had an amazing group, fantastic camp spot and the flowers were popping!
Wednesday night @DomOfTheDead and I met our friend, Sam from Stay The Trail in Buena Vista for the night. He was manning a booth at All 4 Fun and let us crash on the patio of his rental. We had an early start Thursday morning, Sam was heading a cleaning up run for Tin Cup Pass with Colorado 4x4 Girls and we headed towards Cottonwood Pass to Crested Butte. Cottonwood was a beauftiful drive with an early start we had very little traffic as our 80 slowly made it to summit. We arrived in CB around 10 and set up our spot with @Ann, @hitchhiker and Claire. We spent the rest of the day just poking around CB and spun yarn at lake Irwin.
That evening around the fire @fyffer @Canonyero and @SteveT and his wife Laura met up with us. Dom welded some flowers for attendees modeled after spring beauties the week before to hand out. I had made a photo scavenger hunt that was handed out as well.
Friday morning we left on time from camp! (A challenge for me) 😆😆. We met up with @Roborado and his wife Suzie and made our way to Gothic and the Rocky Mountian Biological Laboratory, via Paradise Divide. I was on a mission for a wildflower guide by a local author, which I found, with a few other books. A small fortune was spent. We decided to check out Judd Falls for a quick hike, the weather was perfect for this, slightly overcast and not to hot. After the hike we dipped our feet at Emerald Lake where we feasted for lunch. We finished Paradise Divide with a couple photos stops, from the scenery to the wildflowers the camera received a lot of action. On the way back to camp we stopped at Bonez where we gorged on queso, guac, yucca fries and those of us not driving, tequila.
That evening around the fire was spent analyzing said financial investment to identify some of the wildflowers we had found that day. The Hamilton's were extremely generous in supplying smores for the group every night, complete with recess peanut butter cups.
Saturday morning started with some decent rain that made me a little anxious for the notorious Devil's Punch Bowl via Schofield trail. The group made the vote to check out the trail and see how the day went, the clouds cleared as we arrived at the turn off from Paradise Divide to Schofield. A couple fun water crossings with waterfalls and the temptations of wildflowers photos led us to the start of the hard section. After walking down a little to check for traffic and a couple areas of concern on this section, we decided to go for it. Dom volunteered to spot and takes photos for the group with the help of Ann and Jake. Which left me to drive the offroadacado.
I am not a fan of heights, though I have gotten a lot better about it over the years with Dom's help. Shelf roads still make me tense. This was a big challenge for me with a big dose of type 2 fun. Sometimes, you need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. Shortly after we started the descent a group of SxS appeared behind us. Talk about pressure, they were up my ass the whole way down to the punch bowl. They didn't even have the courtesy to pull my hair. Dom provided some much appreciated spotting that gave me focus and much needed boost of confidence.
Once we made it to the punch bowl, Ann and I took a quick, frigid dip in the bowl that was well earned. We had to coordinate with a couple other groups of SxS we made it to Crystal Mill and Marble. We had hoped for BBQ but we were already pretty late into the afternoon. We took the scenic Kebler pass back to CB for the evening with a quick stop as Lost Lake before camp.
Sunday morning was bittersweet as normal. The call for a shower was strong at this point but leaving a lovely camp spot with great friends is always hard. We are almost home, stuck in traffic near Fairplay as I type this out. Already excited for the next Wildflower Cruise!
As normal, we will follow up with pictures and reports from other attendees!
Wednesday night @DomOfTheDead and I met our friend, Sam from Stay The Trail in Buena Vista for the night. He was manning a booth at All 4 Fun and let us crash on the patio of his rental. We had an early start Thursday morning, Sam was heading a cleaning up run for Tin Cup Pass with Colorado 4x4 Girls and we headed towards Cottonwood Pass to Crested Butte. Cottonwood was a beauftiful drive with an early start we had very little traffic as our 80 slowly made it to summit. We arrived in CB around 10 and set up our spot with @Ann, @hitchhiker and Claire. We spent the rest of the day just poking around CB and spun yarn at lake Irwin.
That evening around the fire @fyffer @Canonyero and @SteveT and his wife Laura met up with us. Dom welded some flowers for attendees modeled after spring beauties the week before to hand out. I had made a photo scavenger hunt that was handed out as well.
Friday morning we left on time from camp! (A challenge for me) 😆😆. We met up with @Roborado and his wife Suzie and made our way to Gothic and the Rocky Mountian Biological Laboratory, via Paradise Divide. I was on a mission for a wildflower guide by a local author, which I found, with a few other books. A small fortune was spent. We decided to check out Judd Falls for a quick hike, the weather was perfect for this, slightly overcast and not to hot. After the hike we dipped our feet at Emerald Lake where we feasted for lunch. We finished Paradise Divide with a couple photos stops, from the scenery to the wildflowers the camera received a lot of action. On the way back to camp we stopped at Bonez where we gorged on queso, guac, yucca fries and those of us not driving, tequila.
That evening around the fire was spent analyzing said financial investment to identify some of the wildflowers we had found that day. The Hamilton's were extremely generous in supplying smores for the group every night, complete with recess peanut butter cups.
Saturday morning started with some decent rain that made me a little anxious for the notorious Devil's Punch Bowl via Schofield trail. The group made the vote to check out the trail and see how the day went, the clouds cleared as we arrived at the turn off from Paradise Divide to Schofield. A couple fun water crossings with waterfalls and the temptations of wildflowers photos led us to the start of the hard section. After walking down a little to check for traffic and a couple areas of concern on this section, we decided to go for it. Dom volunteered to spot and takes photos for the group with the help of Ann and Jake. Which left me to drive the offroadacado.
I am not a fan of heights, though I have gotten a lot better about it over the years with Dom's help. Shelf roads still make me tense. This was a big challenge for me with a big dose of type 2 fun. Sometimes, you need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. Shortly after we started the descent a group of SxS appeared behind us. Talk about pressure, they were up my ass the whole way down to the punch bowl. They didn't even have the courtesy to pull my hair. Dom provided some much appreciated spotting that gave me focus and much needed boost of confidence.
Once we made it to the punch bowl, Ann and I took a quick, frigid dip in the bowl that was well earned. We had to coordinate with a couple other groups of SxS we made it to Crystal Mill and Marble. We had hoped for BBQ but we were already pretty late into the afternoon. We took the scenic Kebler pass back to CB for the evening with a quick stop as Lost Lake before camp.
Sunday morning was bittersweet as normal. The call for a shower was strong at this point but leaving a lovely camp spot with great friends is always hard. We are almost home, stuck in traffic near Fairplay as I type this out. Already excited for the next Wildflower Cruise!
As normal, we will follow up with pictures and reports from other attendees!
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