“We got to plan another trip” we often say to each other, my husband Craig and I. Its easy to get caught up in the monotony of day to day life spending time on things that are necessary but not of value to fuel our hearts and souls. Something that’s always strengthened our love for life and each other, and kept the fire alive in our relationship has been adventures, big and small. In this series I’d like to share with you some of my favorite adventures I’ve had with my husband over the past 10 years we’ve been together. I encourage you to light the fire with your own relationships and make time for a new adventure whatever that might be and see where life takes you!
Happy Anniversary Nichole & Craig!
I couldn’t think of a better way to spend our 4 year wedding anniversary than taking a 4 day long backpacking trip through Lost Creek Wilderness. On the way to the trail head both Craig and I were a little skeptical of this being a good choice as we drove past desert like terrain where the forest had burned down. Black trees like toothpicks scattered the landscape, but things quickly changed about a half mile into the trail.
We decided to do the 25 loop in the opposite direction, knocking out the steep incline in the first 2 days leaving us with a gradual decent on the last 2 days. The trail followed Goose Creek and meandered through a few different valleys and gulches around interesting rock formations making for some spectacular views!
With the snow pack being so low this year we almost turned around and went somewhere else. We were carrying a water filter with us and pumping from the creek as we went. The first night we made camp and then went in search for water, only to find that the creek was dried up where it should’ve been indicated by the map.
Craig and I had a discussion that night about what to do next. We could either go further along the trail hoping that water was where it was supposed to be or turn around. If we kept going and didn’t find any, we’d be dehydrated and grumpy and have a long way to go to hike out. Or we could drive to another location with a proper lake where we’d be sure to find water for ourselves.
We decided to turn around. We were both a little sad but felt like it was the safe thing to do. We got about two miles down the trail and ran into some ladies who had camped there the night before. The creek was flowing in that area so Craig went to go filter some water and I went to talk with the ladies to see what their experience had been like. They had done a similar loop opposite the way we were going. We got out our maps and they showed me where the creek was flowing.
It was assuring to get their perspective because they had already been where we were going and knew what the conditions were like. With the knowledge that there was water further along the trail we decided to turn back around and finish the loop. I’m so glad we did! We basically just added 4 miles to our loop with the backtracking so instead of 25 miles we ended up doing about 29 and it was totally worth it!
Craig got some awesome blisters and pushed through the last day. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. We saw some amazing terrain, camped by flowing creeks, wandered through beautiful aspen groves, and had some quiet time with each other. We also celebrated with shorts, flip-flops and a victory beer once back to the car which we stashed in a small cooler (still somewhat cold after 4 days in the heat)! It was amazing trip, I’m so glad we went!
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