2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

This summer our family hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte with another precious family. Read about our first day on the trail here. And second day here.  Third day here.

Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 4

Taido woke us up early with bowls of coffee and oatmeal on our last morning in the mountains.

We had four miles of downhill to hike before we would come to Gothic, Colorado, where a shuttle comes twice a day to take folks to downtown Crested Butte. The shuttle comes at 11:30 am and 5:30 pm, and we wanted to be on the 11:30.

Everyone was dreaming of showers, a big lunch at a restaurant, the hot tub, real beds and internet access, so we didn’t want to be sitting in Gothic all day waiting for that 5:30 shuttle. We were hiking before 7 am.

We broke camp and set off, immediately having to cross the same creek that Rhonda had fallen in the day before. Cole carried Simon across in the pale early morning light.

This time I opted to keep on my long sleeves to avoid a repeat of the whole whining-inside-my-head-about-being-cold scenario from the day before. This was a good decision as we hiked for a while in the long shadows cast by the mountains.

We started all together, but it wasn’t long at all before everyone was ahead of Rhonda and me. Bobby stayed back with us, bringing up the rear, as we were stepping carefully down steep, rocky paths.

The trail from Copper Lake to Gothic is absolutely beautiful. However, I can’t imagine doing it in the reverse, as a day hike, which many folks do. The elevation gain is serious. We were marveling at the uphill climb behind us and thankful that we were going down, even if our knees and ankles were hating us a little.

Mary Polly and Ben switched shoes because the day before she said she felt like she was wearing clown shoes. She wore thick socks with Ben’s Keens and Ben was back in his boots. Again, not ideal, but she seemed just fine and her footwear certainly did not slow her down. She and Ben were racing ahead with everyone else.

The kids would stop and wait for us at the river crossings, of which there were several. Everyone was in a bit of a hurry so mostly, they all opted to slosh across and just hike in wet shoes. I cannot bear the possibility of soggy feet while hiking, so if the water was up past my ankles, I would stop and change to my sandals. If it was pretty low, I would go ahead and cross since my boots are waterproof.

We had at least four river crossings on the way down, but maybe more like five or six.  I’m pretty sure I was the only one with dry boots by the time we were done crossing rivers.

After we were past them all, we began to see lots more day hikers. The area was absolutely covered in wildflowers, so many people were hiking part of the trail to see the flowers. The Crested Butte Wildflower Festival happens every year in mid-July, so it was a peak time to see them.

Gothic, Colorado is home to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), a dream school for science majors all over the world. Students come out and spend weeks of their summer studying the mountain ecosystems, and complete all sorts of projects. Mary Polly swears she is going to go one day. The folks from the RMBL always have the best parade float in Crested Butte on the 4th of July. They all dress in green leaves and flowers. They look like forest fairies who’ve come out of the woodwork just long enough for the parade. These crazy kids are partially responsible for our getting to see all the incredible wildflowers, as they are constantly working to restore areas that have been trampled or damaged with native Colorado wildflowers. We ran into a few of them on the trail gathering samples and doing field research.

Taido had told us that we would be near the end when we reached Judd Falls, a day hike that we’ve done several times as a family while camping in Crested Butte, so we were excited and watching for the familiar falls.

It was probably around 10am when we reached the falls. We stopped for a minute to admire the view, but we were all anxious to get down the rest of the way to Gothic, so we did not stop long.

From the falls, we all started hiking down together. Taido was looking for a turn off to Gothic from the Judd Falls trail, that is only used by the RMBL residents. If we didn’t take the turn off, we would pass Gothic and go all the way to the Judd Falls trailhead, which is on the dirt road about a mile up from Gothic. To go that way would add almost two miles to our hike.

However, the turn off was not clearly marked, and I didn’t remember one from our previous hikes to Judd Falls, so I was becoming less and less convinced that such a trail existed.

Then Taido turned left off of the trail into an overgrown area, that was, at second glance, a trail in a former life. Or a lesser used trail. It was wide enough for a jeep or a four wheeler, but did not look as though it had been used as such for some time.

We waited and watched him while he hiked downhill a little bit before he yelled up to us:

Yes, it’s this way!  Come on!

Sketchy, I thought, but we followed him. The kids scrambled down to him and on past him. Everyone could feel that we were getting close so they were all running.

We followed after them, but they were all quickly out of our view, so we just kept hiking down the overgrown trail.

It was not long though before signs of civilization appeared. We passed lots of projects, plants with small fences protecting them. There might have been marijuana growing. It is Colorado, after all.

We started to see the cabins that house students for the summer, so we knew we were in Gothic.

As we emerged from the woods, we could see the kids sitting at the shuttle stop.  They had shed their backpacks and were drinking sodas they had bought from the brand new Gothic Visitor Center.  They were smiling  and yelling to us that we had made it.

But before I reached them, Taido said to me, Where’s Ben?

Isn’t he with you?

No, I thought he was with you.

Without even speaking, we realized what had happened. Ben had been ahead of us when we had made the turn off the trail, and we didn’t notice.

We. Did. Not. Notice.

Just let that sink in for a minute.  Are you thinking What kind of parent does not notice that their kid is not with them??  Yep, that’s what I was thinking too.

I don’t think Taido and I even exchanged words. In a matter of seconds, Taido and Cole were running back up the trail we had just come down, and I threw down my pack and headed up the road to the Judd Falls trailhead in the hopes that he would be there.

I was about 100 steps up the road before I turned around and Bobby was with me.

It was a mile to the turnoff and another half mile to the trailhead.

Dear Lord, let us find him. Let us find him. 

Let him know that we will find him.

We’ve hiked this trail before. He knows the way. Let him be sitting at the trailhead. Let him be there. Let him be there.

It seemed like forever before we reached the turnoff.  Bobby kept asking me if I was sure we hadn’t missed it.

Nope, I’ll know it when I see it.

A car or two passed us without slowing.  I was starting to wonder if I should flag one down when we finally saw the cars parked on the road.  Cars park at the turnoff, because the 1/2 mile road to the trailhead is a four wheel drive road.  So usually only jeeps or cars similar to jeeps drive to the trailhead.

We reached the turnoff and he wasn’t there.

Judd Falls is a popular day hike, so there were lots of cars parked at the turnoff and several hikers.  We ran past them, practically shoving.  I would walk when I was panting too hard to run anymore.

I was trying to calculate how much time had passed.  How long had he been by himself?  I couldn’t make out if it had been twenty minutes or two hours.

We had just reached the trailhead when Taido came running toward us from the other direction.  They had found him.

Waves of relief washed over me.

Dear Lord Thank You.

Ben had gotten all the way to the trailhead and waited for a while before he realized we weren’t behind him.  Then he walked the trail back to Judd Falls and was wandering near where we had turned off the trail when Cole and Taido found him.   Taido sent them back down the way we had come before coming around to meet us to let us know they had found him.

We turned around and walked back to the road and the mile back to Gothic.  On the way I thought about seeing Ben and what on earth I could say to him about the fact that I, his mother, had left him.

In all honesty, I had enjoyed the day of hiking a good bit behind everyone else.  It had been quiet. Peaceful.

Along the trail before we reached the falls, I was even feeling a little mournful that the backpacking portion of our trip was almost over.

We had done what we had come to do, and soon we would be rid of our packs, but with them we would also be giving up the seclusion of the backcountry.  I was trying to hold in all the exhilaration of the previous days of hiking and of reaching our highest point.

I was in my own little world.

I had no excuse to give to Ben but my own blatant selfishness.

When we saw him, Taido and I both took off running to his side.  He was sitting in a rocking chair outside the Gothic Visitor Center and were both down on our knees in front of him simultaneously telling him how very sorry we were.

I was crying and saying I was so, so sorry.  And Ben was saying he was sorry for hiking ahead and not staying with the group.  And Taido was telling him, No Buddy, it wasn’t your fault.  I should never have turned off the trail without making sure everyone was there first.

Later Ben told me that though he had been scared, he had just trusted God that we would find him.

I continue to be amazed at how trustworthy God is.

Unbelievable moments of mercy in the midst of my greatest failures.

Bailey bought Ben a drink and we all brushed ourselves off, dried our eyes and snapped a quick photo before the shuttle came.

We had made it.  All of us.  From Aspen to Crested Butte.

The post Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 4 appeared first on Alison Chino.

2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

This summer our family hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte with another precious family. Read about our first day on the trail here. And second day here.

Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 3

Our early morning wake up call came in the form of a light rain shower.  We popped up and scrambled to get all our packs under the tarp with us and then started to pack them.

I have this way of stuffing my sleeping bag that I’ve done since I was a little girl.  I stay in my bag and use my feet to push the bottom of my bag into the stuff sack.  Then I cram the bag in layers into the bag, again with my feet, while slowly sliding out if it.  By the time only my legs from my knees down are still in the bag, I go ahead and come all the way out and use my hands to stuff the last couple of feet of bag in.  It’s ridiculous and it only allows me to stay warm for about 30 seconds longer, but I have been coming out of my cocoon in this way since I was about 4.

Once we had our bags stuffed and pads rolled, the rain stopped.  Mercifully.  We then had breakfast (leftover chicken burritos from the night before and more bagels) and broke camp.  We were moving by 7am, which honestly is still a little late by mountain time, but over two hours earlier than the start we’d gotten the day before, so we felt like we were getting a jump on the day.

In the cold morning air, Taido had urged us all to buck up and go ahead and dress for how warm the day would get, not for how it felt to us right then.

You’ll get warm as soon as we start walking. 

I obeyed and stripped to just my walking skort and my t-shirt, cramming my layers down into the bottom of my pack.

Side note: I did not want any extra clothes weighing my pack down so I wore the same clothes for the whole hike, a Patagonia walking skirt with shorts under it that I bought three years ago at the Thrift Store Of Aspen for three dollars, and my Bean2Blog t-shirt.

I was freezing.

I pulled out my warm hat out of the top of my pack and pulled it down over my ears, wearing it under my sun hat, because surely we would soon walk into the sun.

We had not been on the trail five minutes before we came to our first river crossing of the day.  The water was not rushing quite as fast as the last crossing, but it was a little deeper.

We changed out of our boots and into our sandals.

Oh, except for Ben.

He was already in his sandals because Mary Polly was wearing his boots, even though they were too big for her.  This was our current solution to the small problem I like to call Boots Fell Apart.  However, this arrangement created a little problem for Ben called Hiking In Wet Sandals.

Ick.

However, neither of these issues were looming large on my brain since after the river crossing the one thought consuming me was,

I Cannot Get Warm.

Followed by,

I Am So Cold.

Again, not to sound dramatic, but after I got my boots back on and started hiking, I was shaking and wishing I had more clothes on for about two hours.

Ridiculous I know.  Why did I not stop and dig out more clothing?

I don’t know.  I just kept thinking I would warm up.  We were hiking in the shadow of the mountain and you could see the sunlight getting closer and closer, climbing up the valley.  I knew it was just about to hit me and wrap me up like a blanket.  It’s my dad’s voice inside my head telling me to Just Keep Moving.

But my pack was a bit heavier on this day (only by about three pounds, but still) and we were immediately gaining more and more elevation, so I just knew I was going to be sweating any minute.

So I was focused on just keeping a slow, steady pace.

Before the day started, Rhonda and I had a little Come To Jesus Meeting in which I begged her to believe me when I said that it’s better to not stop for long, to not sit down, but to just keep moving.  (I was totally channeling my father.) I don’t know if she believed me or if she was just unburdened by carrying an almost empty backpack, but she was having a much better day.

And everyone else was grateful we were not under the sun’s heavy heat yet.  Simon, now that his pack was strapped with rope onto his brother’s load, was practically running up the trail.  I kept having to call him back to me.

So between Rhonda, Simon and me, I have to admit that I was definitely the one struggling on Day 3.

We moved slowly through the morning in increments of twenty steps.  When I stopped for five to breathe, I would exhale Lord, give me twenty more.

Up, up, up we went.  Above the thinning trees.  Through more rivers.  Blair fell onto her side in one and got soaked.  Sometimes, part of the group would try to jump or stone step instead of stopping to switch shoes, so several were hiking in wet shoes.

Mercifully, you dry quickly in the moisture deficient Colorado air.

We had a Packs Off break after our third river crossing.  The sun had finally found us and I was basking in it, letting its heat smooth away all my goose bumps.  Some of us were wet and all of us were tired.  Taido said we had done about a third of the elevation gain we needed to reach the pass.

We shared trail mix.  Bobby and Mary Polly filled our water bottles.  Bailey took pictures of the waterfall just above the river crossing.  I just rested.

It was hard to get going again, but we stayed all together, slowly moving forward.  We saw our first bits of snow along the trail.

We crossed over small patches near the tree line and around boulder fields.

I always am awash with wonder when I get above tree line.

To climb this high is to see the world anew.

It’s like The Sound Of Music scenery all around.  These great grassy fields and 360 degree views of the world that are just unbelievable.  I was still in a labor march to get up the switchbacks, but I was teary at the beauty.

Steeper and steeper, our trail was cut into the side of the mountain.  I hugged the mountain side of the trail, feeling like I was a bit too shaky to be near the edge.  Simon and Ben were motoring on up in front up me and I whispered prayers for steady footing.

We could now see the pass.  It still felt far away, but we were gaining on it.  We were going to make it by noon.  Maybe.  And then we would have lunch.  I just looked forward to sitting down.

To taking off my pack.  My head was all filled with scattered soundbytes.

Twenty steps.  Breathe five. Twenty steps. Breathe five.  Further up and further in.

This is what heaven will look like.  Only I will be able to breathe.  And run.  Oh, and FLY.

Taido could see a larger snow field ahead and called out to Ben and Simon to stop.  And to wait.  They were perched on rocks above the trail when we got to them.

Taido, Bobby and Bailey examined the 50 foot pitch of snow we needed to cross.  The actual snow was not as scary as the 70 foot slide straight down that you would take if you were to lose your footing on the snow.

And honestly, not even the chance of falling was making me want to cry.  It was the thought of having to climb all that way back up if I slipped and fell that made me want to burst into tears.  Or what if someone else slipped, and we had to go down and help them.  And then climb back up.

We were within shooting distance of getting over the pass.  And that’s what I wanted.  To Get Over That Pass.

While I was fretting, Taido was making his way across.  He roped himself to Cole and Bailey, who stationed themselves up against the rocks, sitting down with their feet leveraged against rocks in front of them.

I had not had my phone out all day (Thank you Bailey for all the pictures for this story!), but I pulled it out and videoed the snow crossing.  None of the other four hikers we saw that day were carrying rope.  I so appreciate Taido’s willingness to err on the side of caution in situations like these.  He’s been in some tight spots mountaineering so he’s willing to carry a few extra tools for a pinch.  Also, who doesn’t want an opportunity to use an ice axe?

We all made it safely across, crossing one at a time along the rope that Taido now held secure on the other side.

Simon came with me, tied into the rope and stepping right into my footsteps.  We were all following Taido’s boot marks though.  He was, in every way, our trail blazer.

Once we were all across, the kids practically ran to the top of the pass.  Rhonda and I came behind, reaching it at last.  Overjoyed.

We made it!

We did not get our promised rest though because Taido could see clouds moving in.  We snapped a few pictures and then he shooed us on.

When those clouds reach us, we don’t want to be exposed.

I was awfully disappointed that we weren’t having lunch on the pass because I was carrying three pounds of it.  Taido took it from my pack and stuck it in Cole’s.  A giant summer sausage that I never, ever want to see again.

The other side of the pass was almost more beautiful than the side we’d come from.  Sweeping boulder fields full of switchbacks gave way to green forests and a mountain lake below.

Breathtaking.

I was super wobbly coming down.  Gone was the trouble breathing and keeping pace uphill but shaky knees and ankles made me choose steps carefully and nearly stumble several times.  Rhonda was having the same trouble, so the others quickly got ahead of us, freely running down the mountain in their youth, without a thought of a possible rolled ankle.  They were all ecstatic to get to the gorgeous camping area below.  Bobby stayed with us as we made our way down.

The clouds were getting darker all the way.  As we neared the bottom, I could feel Taido’s urgency in choosing a camp spot.  He and Bailey scoped one out and quickly moved us all in.  It was a little bit of a climb on the other side of the lake which Rhonda was none too happy about.

More uphill?

And we had to cross a creek, which Rhonda fell all the way into, soaking her boots.

Still, we were practically there.  Our longest day of hiking was

almost.

done.

On arriving, however, there was no time to stop and rest.  We were following Taido’s lead, scrambling to get tents and tarps up before the rain.  We barely had one tent up and one tarp up before it hit.

Crazy hard rain and hail.

Under the tarp, we were all laughing.  Giddy from fatigue and the unbelievable timing of getting our shelters up, we huddled together on top of our packs under the tarp.  Taido was still securing it in the rain, with Bobby, Bailey and Cole helping.

The ground turned white before our eyes.

Soon we had to take turns standing up and knocking the hail out of the top of the tarp.  Cole would say I never took my turn and that he did most of it.  My legs were no longer working, so that might be true.  Also, I was making a video.

Most afternoon mountain storms blow over quickly, so we waited an hour before we went ahead and pulled out lunch underneath the tarp. We cut absurdly large chunks of summer sausage and cheddar cheese.  We passed around crackers.

Soon the hail stopped and then it was only raining.  For about an hour.  Then it started to hail again.  We could see sunlight and blue sky in the distance.  It just wasn’t reaching us.

Bobby began to be concerned that we might should get lower.  Because, thunder and lightning hello!  Bailey, who, let’s be honest, was not tired after the long day, said that we should just hike the four miles down that were left.  Because there was a hot shower waiting below.

But in addition to the fact that Rhonda and I would never have made it (she was already asleep in the tent at this point), we were under shelter and somewhat dry at the moment.  If we packed up and started moving again, we would get drenched, and pelted with hail.

Taido kept saying he thought it was about to blow over.  I made pouty faces and asked him why he didn’t bring more tents.

I am helpful like that in a crisis.

When the rain had turned to a light drizzle, Taido said he was going for a walk around the lake and left.  You know, because we hadn’t really done much walking that day.

Bobby crawled into the tent with Rhonda and napped for a bit.

The kids spent the better part of two hours discussing which Harry Potter character they would most like to be.

I pulled every ever loving bit of clothing I had out of my pack and wrapped it around me.

Six hours and two more hail storms later, the clouds finally cleared enough for me to feel like the boys and I were not going to be huddled together all night trying to stay dry.

When Taido came back, he washed the tarps and hung them up so we would not be sleeping in mud.

And then we cooked dinner.  I was not looking forward to this night’s dinner and when I describe it to you, dear reader, I am certain it will sound disgusting.  But believe me when I tell you that it tasted like food from the angels.

When really it was Ramen noodles tossed with jars of pesto and canned chicken.

It turns out that being curled up in a ball trying to stay warm all afternoon makes you very hungry.  And then also the food had the added advantage of being hot. I warmed my cheeks on the sides of my bowl.  Taido then washed out our bowls and fixed us tea and hot chocolate in them.  (Cups are for chumps.)

I can neither confirm nor deny whether there was a fire in our campsite that night, just a few feet away from the NO CAMPFIRES sign and in the middle of a fire ban.  But somehow, we all got warm and dry before we climbed into our sleeping bags under a miraculously clear sky.

Stars upon stars upon stars.  I fell asleep breathing huge sighs of relief.

We were on the downhill, friends.  Just a few miles from the finish line.

Four to be exact.

Well, make that six or seven when you add in that one of us would get lost along the way.

Read Day 4 of this story here.

The post Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 3 appeared first on Alison Chino.

2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

This summer our family hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte with another precious family. Read about our first day on the trail here.

Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 2

Before the sun was up, Taido was gone from his sleeping bag. I heard a noise, so I came out of my mummy bag enough to see that he was gone. I said a little prayer and tucked my head back inside my sleeping bag, hidden away from the cold mountain air.

I woke up later to full light, and still there was no stirring in the camp. I got up and went and found the food, secured away from camp in case of bears. I dragged our three stuff sacks full of food back into camp and pulled out the sausage, eggs and biscuits.

The eggs had been cracked the week before into a Nalgene bottle, and then frozen, so they were still thawing out, as was the sausage.

I was about to get water from the creek for coffee when Bobby came out of his tent.

Morning.

You know how it’s sort of awkward to see people in the morning before you’re all put together. Yeah, there’s none of that on a backpacking trip. Grooming is a faint memory you leave at the trailhead.

We exchanged pleasantries and then he headed into the woods.

Meanwhile, Taido wandered back into camp.

Nothing had been taken from the trailer and he had gotten the padlock on, but he hadn’t found his phone.

Discouraged, we were beginning to discuss what was the most unfortunate, the cost or the hassle, when he decided to have a last look by the creek.

We walked over together because we needed water anyway. And about a foot out of the creek, lying face down in the mud on the trail was his phone.

He picked it up, wiped it off and turned it on. I was trying to figure out what grain we had in our gear that we could put it in. Oatmeal, maybe?

But the phone totally came on and worked perfectly fine. His battery was not even low. Seriously, sometimes I think Taido is channeling Ferris Bueller. Had it been my phone, I’m sure it wouldn’t have turned on and the screen would have been cracked.

Bobby came back into camp and offered to help us cook breakfast. We got everything started before Taido told him the story.

Well, I guess you’re all warmed up for the day.

As everyone else started to wake up and wander over for breakfast, they could not believe that Taido had already been to the van and back that morning.

We took a long time eating breakfast and breaking camp. It was 9:30 before we had our packs loaded and were back on the trail.

We stopped for a few pictures of our pretty spot before we started hiking.

It made a world of difference to everyone to have had a good night’s sleep. Or at least some sleep. We brought Thermarests for everyone, and even carried extra thick ones for Bobby and Rhonda, but when we threw them into the tents, we neglected to mention that in addition to unrolling them and letting them inflate with air, you also have to blow on them and close the valves. Whoops!

Oh well, you are not going to BELIEVE how great those mats feel tonight!

The girls had also slept on flattened mats. Details.

Still, Bobby had a great attitude and kept saying that he felt like a new man this morning! Everyone’s spirits were up for the first hour or two on the trail.

We hiked through gorgeous wildflower fields. I have never seen the flowers like they were this year in Colorado. Fields and fields of red, yellow and my favorite…the purple, white and yellow Columbine, which is the Colorado state flower. ($500 fine for picking one)

There were very few other hikers on the trail to East Maroon Pass, so we got really excited when we saw one. On this particular morning we met an older man who hikes this trail alone every year on his birthday just to see the Columbines. So Bobby had to ask what birthday he was celebrating. It was his 88th.

It was wonderful to have Bobby on the trail, because he has never met a stranger, so we got to hear stories from many of the other hikers, and we were always the most inspired by folks who had been hiking the mountains for years and years like this guy.

By 11am the bright sun seemed to make our packs heavier, and our trail started to gain in elevation a little more. We were all growing weary and hoping for a lunch break, but we had a short Packs Off break instead.

Packs Off means you get to take your pack off and sit down for a minute. The kids beg for these breaks, but usually we just stop long enough to pass around water bottles and catch our breath.

I think our slower pace was most painful for Bailey and Cole, who had: A. Boundless Energy and B. Excessively Heavy Loads.

Lots of stopping and going slow meant they had to carry their loads for longer, so every once in a while Taido would let them go ahead and tell them to stop when the trail met the river and they would take off like racehorses who’ve been set free. Then when we got to them they would have been waiting 30 minutes for us to reach the Packs Off resting point. This didn’t happen very often since Taido likes for everyone to stay together on the trail, but occasionally while we were hiking or at the end of the day when it was time to scope out a camping spot, he would let them ahead.

Most of the time Rhonda, Simon and I were at the head of the pack, setting the steady, slow pace.

Somewhere along the trail, Mary Polly’s boots began to fall apart. The soles were cracking at the heels. Taido roped them up to hold them together. (Note to self: Don’t by Dunham boots again.)

We were really beginning to slow when Taido said we could stop for lunch after we reached our first river crossing. Always reading the TOPO maps, he knew that we would soon reach a spot where we had a fairly significant crossing and that after we reached it, the trail was going to get pretty steep.

Taido once almost drowned on a Colorado river crossing, so I tend to get a little nervous about freezing cold rushing water. I was trying to remain calm as we got closer. We could hear the water before we saw it.

It’s so hard to tell in pictures how fast the water is going, but it looked and felt like it could easily sweep me away on a normal day, but today I was extra tired and my pack was burrowing into my shoulders, making little bruises on my collarbones, so it seemed like it wouldn’t take much to knock me over.

We all put on our sandals and tied our boots onto our packs.

I watched Taido cross first, using his trekking poles to make sturdy steps in the current. Then he dropped his pack and came back across for Simon. After Simon was safely on the other side, the rest of us crossed with Taido or Bobby in the water steadying us with their hands. They had to get out after every person to let their feet thaw.

Being tired makes me emotional anyway and watching Simon hang on to Taido’s neck sort of undid me. When it was my turn to cross, I gritted my teeth and went as quickly as I could, but then I kind of fell apart when I stepped out. It was soooooo cold. I know it sounds dramatic, but I really felt like my feet were never going to get warm. I was just sort of paralyzed once I got over to the other side and then I was super teary watching everyone else cross. Bobby carried Rhonda’s pack over for her, and then he went back to help her cross.

.

They were the last ones over. Even though there was only steep rocky trail after we crossed, we all found places to sit down, so Taido went ahead and pulled out lunch. We had bagels and peanut butter, Pringles and M&Ms. It was a relief just to sit, even though we were all perched awkwardly on rocks.

We needed a minute to recover, and we were trying not to think about how much the trail in front of us seemed to be going up, up, up.

So after we ate and pumped water back into all our water bottles, up we went.

It was slow going from the beginning. Normally when hiking, we start early enough to be at our next spot by 1 or 2 in the afternoon, but since we’d gotten a late start we were having to hike a bit later. It was hot in the sun, and we were having more trouble breathing. I started in pretty quickly on counting steps to get up the steep parts. Counting about 25 steps and resting for 5 breaths. I’ve mentioned before that this is how you get up a mountain when the altitude is too much.

I told Rhonda to stay with me and I would count out our steps. She was not buying into the five second standing stop. But I had a little Simon, Mary Polly, Blair and Ben parade behind me keeping my exact pace, marching out 25 steps at a time.

Mary Polly’s boot situation kept getting worse and worse. One of her soles came off completely and she was carrying it and hiking lopsided.

Simon kept stopping and crying. His backpack was a little too big and the irritation of it flopping on his back was bothering him more than the weight of it.

Mary Polly was fed up with her boots, Simon was fed up with his pack, and Rhonda was fed up with going uphill.

When Bobby told her she was too far from the van to turn back now, she said that she guessed she was just going to have to die in the mountains.

Good thing it is so pretty here. It’s a good place to die.

She was dead serious.

Bobby and Bailey (her husband and son) stayed right with her, encouraging her and standing her back on her feet each time she stopped to rest.

It was a loooong afternoon. When we were getting close to another river crossing, Taido said to start looking for places to camp. Pretty soon we found what might have been my favorite spot we camped. We had just come through a field of fallen trees, so the view was clear to the mountains. The trees were all bent over from (we think) an avalanche and it was just sort of an amazing natural phenomenon to see. New trees were growing amidst the graveyard of fallen trees. The trail had been re-routed around some of the bent limbs.

Once we pulled off the trail and collapsed on the ground to rest, we saw Bailey coming through the trees with an extra backpack. This was so sweet to me. How many times have I needed a little help with my load for that last half mile?

And soon enough, relieved from her pack, Rhonda came walking in to the campsite, followed by Bobby. The kids all started setting up their hammocks and Bobby started on their tent. Rhonda immediately got into it and went to sleep. She couldn’t wait to try out her mat once it was really inflated! Plus she was wiped out. We all were. It had been a long uphill afternoon and everyone wanted to just put their feet up.

We set the tarp up and enjoyed an afternoon of sleepy card games and reading. Mary Polly and I put our Thermarests into some handy dandy chair kits and sat in the shade to cool down and finish off the M&Ms.

It was lovely to not be rushed to fix dinner and to enjoy the afternoon.

Lazy hours in the mountains = Best part of camping.

Taido had grilled, sliced and frozen the chicken that we were carrying, so we just wrapped it in tortillas with beans and cheese and warmed them in the skillet for dinner. Rhonda got back up for dinner and we all ate A LOT.

We played a couple rounds of Killer and shared our highs and lows from the day (found my phone, my boots fell apart, my son carrying my pack…) before Rhonda went back to bed, and then Simon fell asleep in the middle of the tarp.

We were cleaning up camp and talking when Taido told us that we needed to start really early the next day because it was going be a long one.

Longer than today? I thought.

We have to gain twice as much elevation tomorrow as we did today in order to reach the pass. And I’d like to be over the pass by lunchtime.

Then he told us he wanted Rhonda’s pack to be practically empty and that Simon wasn’t going to carry his at all.

Also, we were going to start the day with a river crossing.

Thinking about getting into the freezing cold water first thing in the morning made me shiver in my sleeping bag. So I tried not to think about it. The stars were incredible that night. I was marveling up at the gazillions of bright little lights and thanking God for every mile hiked and every flower seen.

When I thought about how much we’d seen already in just two days, I could hardly take it in.

Read Day 3 here.

The post Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 2 appeared first on Alison Chino.

2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

This summer our family hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte with another precious family.

Preserving my vacation memories is part of why I started this blog six years ago, so I’m going to give each day its own attention in order to tell the story of our hike. At the end if you’re interested, I’d be more than happy to do a post just on the details of how you and your family can make a similar journey from Aspen to Crested Butte!

Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 1

We left Arkansas after lunch on a Wednesday, stopped for dinner and drove all night to Colorado.

We had breakfast in Glenwood Springs before arriving in Aspen.

Aspen is one of those places that does not seem like it can possibly be real. I love to make a stop in Aspen, but I start to feel like I’ve fallen through the looking glass if I stay too long. Au pairs at the park, Banh Mi Pizza, and shopfronts that should only be in New York or London are mixed in with backpackers, sandwich stands, and camp gear stores. One of my favorite spots in Aspen continues to be the Thrift Shop, where we picked up an old Mountain Hardwear zip up, a jacket and a backpack. Total cost: $11. A good deal is hard to come by in Aspen, so we always stop in there.

We ate lunch and picked up our last few groceries, before we headed to a nearby campground to get geared up.

The process before you actually hit the trail to go backpacking is a little bit overwhelming.

Basically, we put a tarp down and then throw everything that has to go with us on top of it. There’s a pile of backpacks, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents, cooking gear and food. Plus we each have our own personal items.

Taido had organized everything ahead of time, so we had to wait for him to assign us our packs and our stuff. Once we had our packs, we loaded them up according to his instructions:

Loosen all the straps on your pack first. Then put your sleeping bag in the bottom, followed by your clothes. Then add in the community gear. Your sleeping pad goes last.

Simple enough.

Still, we struggled. It took for-like-EVER, and we didn’t loosen all our straps, because there were a gajillion, but Taido came around and fixed all our packs and added things to the tops and to the outsides.

He was only a weensy bit frustrated.

Finally, though, after many adjustments, we were ready.

It was about after 5pm when we drove the van up to Maroon Lake.

Maroon Lake (with the famous Maroon Bells in the background) is one of the most photographed spots in all of Colorado.

Since so many people want to visit this gorgeous place, they close the road up to it for most of the day and only allow buses to run. So, if you are camping or backpacking and you want to take your car up, you have to do it before 9am or after 5pm.

This meant we were getting kind of a late start on our first day, but Taido promised that we were not going to hike too far in before we set up camp on our first night. Just a mile or two.

By the time we got up the road, found the correct overnight parking lot and were ready to hit the trail, it was after 6pm.

It felt like it had already been a long day, so we were not exactly starting out with the wind at our backs. Also it seemed we were going to be fighting daylight. But Taido was unconcerned, so we snapped a quick group picture, said a prayer and headed in.

(Bobby, Cole, Taido, Ben, Mary Polly, Blair, Rhonda, Bailey, Simon and Alison)

Almost immediately, we were surrounded by Aspen groves and wildflowers. It had been a year since I’d hiked a Colorado trail and all the familiar views and smells sort of washed over me on those first few minutes on the trail.

I was so thankful to be back.

The kids all got ahead of us quickly. I think the adults were feeling the overnight drive a little more than the kids, who all slept just fine in the van. Rhonda and I had been walking to get ready for this trip for a year, but the altitude and the lack of sleep became too much for us in a hurry. It was not long before she was looking at me and saying, I think I’ll volunteer to hike back out tomorrow and drive the van around to meet y’all.

Oh no. I said. You can’t say that so soon.

Pushed down by the unfamiliar weight of your pack, your first hour on the trail might be the hardest one of all.

When I was 15, I talked several of my friends into going backpacking with my father and three of us were in tears after about 10 minutes on the trail. Not. Even. Kidding.

Daddy! I’ll NEEEEEVER be able to do this! My backpack is soooooooo heeeeeavyyyyy!

I can’t remember if he even acknowledged that I was speaking, but if he did, it was only to tell me to keep moving.

While the van is still close enough that you could turn around, you are tempted to do just that. It’s right there. You know the way. You just need to steal the keys.

Even though we only hiked about 2 miles, we were all super exhausted. Well, all of us except for Cole and Bailey.

Simon and Rhonda were both close to tears toward the end of the day, plus the shadows just kept getting longer.

I think Simon might want to go back to the van with me. Rhonda offered.

We came upon the most amazing field of Columbines, the Colorado state flower.

Can you even believe how gorgeous this is?

Rhonda barely looked up. Taido looked at us and promised that we would stop very soon to camp.

In fact, start looking for where you want to camp because we are far enough in that we can stop as soon as we see a good spot.

It was about another half mile before we came upon a clearing near the creek. We decided it would do.

Taido threw a tarp down and told everyone to throw their community stuff on it, so we could find dinner. He and I set quickly to fixing dinner while everyone else set up tents. It was dark by the time we ate our Creamy Shrimp Pasta, which tasted wonderful. Rhonda was not at all hungry, but we made her eat and drink before we all fell into our sleeping bags.

Sleeping arrangements: Rhonda and Bobby had a tent. Blair and Mary Polly (15 & 13) had a tent. The rest of us (Bailey, Cole, Ben, Simon, Taido and I) slept on a tarp with an MSR shelter staked over us. This last option is both my father and husband’s sleep spot of choice. The MSR is so light and is a great shelter from the rain (if it’s not too windy), but you are still out where you can see the stars come out and the sun come up. I’ll be honest. I’m just fine as long as I don’t think about how there’s nothing between me and the animals.

I was zipping myself up into my bag at about 9:45pm and Taido was still up rummaging around. He came over to the row of sleeping bags after I was all tucked inside of of mine and told me he couldn’t find his phone.

I took it out to take a picture in that wildflower field and that’s the last time I remember having it. I’m going to hike back just to that field with my headlamp and see if I dropped it on the trail.

Seriously?

I’ll be back in a minute.

I waited for him to get back, checking the time on my watch. Eventually he wandered back into camp. I think it was almost 11 when we crawled into his sleeping bag.

Well?

Nope. No luck. And it gets worse.

Worse?

Guess what I just found in my pocket?

What?

The padlock to the trailer?

The one that’s back at the trailhead with all our bikes in it?

Yep.

Silence.

After a while he said,

I’m going to get up at first light to go put the lock on the trailer. Then I’ll be able to look for my phone in the daylight. I think everyone is really tired so they may not even get up before I’m back. If they do wake up, the biscuits, sausage and eggs are for breakfast tomorrow.

Ok.

I fell asleep whispering an all too familiar prayer to God,

Help.

It was not even the first time on this trip that I had closed my eyes and breathed that prayer, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Read Day 2 of our hike here.

photo creds: Taido Chino and Bailey Eubanks

The post Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 1 appeared first on Alison Chino.

2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

I had a revelation along the way last week in the mountains. Well, several actually, but the first one was this.

I really love backpacking.

Seriously.

Taido goes backpacking a lot. Three of our kids have been with him at least once.

But I had not strapped on a pack and headed into the woods for more than a long day hike in (ready for this?) 17 years.

What?

How is it that I have gone that long not doing something I love so much?

I’ve done a lot of family camping. In pop ups. In tents. Near the cars. And the bathrooms.

But backpacking is a different animal, y’all.

Backpacking is camping in its purest form.

Stripped down. Bare necessities.

Bring only what you can carry.

Friends, for me? That ain’t much. I think I weighed in at around 35 pounds.

Fortunately for my friend, Rhonda and I, we have husbands and sons who can heft closer to 75 pounds.

I’m unashamed that we had to rely on these men for our food and shelter.

In fact, nothing can take away from how proud I am of us for hiking all the way from Aspen to Crested Butte. Not even the fact that we ran into two different couples who were doing the same hike in one day that took us four. When the first couple ran (literally, y’all, RUNNING) past me on the trail and someone in our group informed us that they had left from the same place we had left from three days ago, at 8 am that morning, I said to Rhonda,

I am not letting that cheapen this experience for me one little bit.

Just think of all we’ve seen.

We’ve fallen asleep to the sound of rushing rivers,

With the stars as our canopy and the moon as our evening light.

We’ve gazed at flowers that only a handful of other people in the world will see this summer.

We’ve taken time to stop and wonder at the colors, the variety and the sheer multitude of wildflowers. 

We have carefully crossed rivers and snow fields, giving thanks for the ropes and strong hands that guided us and our children along.

We’ve sat around a campfire and eaten meals from tin bowls that tasted better than food at any restaurant because everyone knows food tastes better when you’re outside and when you’re hungry from your journey.

We’ve been humbled by our loads and received mercy from our families.  As mothers, we experienced a role reversal on the trail with our children whom we have long served. And it was good for us.  And for them.

And so much more.  The gifts are countless.  Even my greatest moments of shame on the trail have been rendered gifts to me as I reflect on our time there.

I saw what I went to see in Colorado.

I experienced the mountains in a new way.

And that experience is more precious to me than the fact that we made it from Point A to Point B.

I have so much more to share about being in the mountains, but today I am just giving thanks for the journey.  Where in your life have you seen how the journey or the experience is even more precious than the destination?

The post Along The Way appeared first on Alison Chino.

Are you making your summer travel plans yet?

In the Beach vs. Mountains scenario, mountains definitely win at the Chino House.  While I can get into a little time on the beach, the rest of my family has little to no use for it.  Especially if the alternative is mountains.  I have made peace with this reality since I also love the mountains.  Plus, now I get to go to the beach with girlfriends, which is just fine by me.

I am super excited about our plans to return to Colorado for our annual family camping trip! We love the Rocky Mountains and so we will be heading back to some our favorite spots.

This summer we are shaking things up a bit and going light. We have unloaded our pop up and are planning to do our first ever Chino Family Backpacking Trip.

We decided at the end of our trip last year that all of our kids are old enough for a real mountain trek, so our plan this year is to hike from Aspen to Crested Butte.

We first visited Crested Butte as a family in the summer of 2007, and we all fell in love with this idyllic mountain village. I read about the hike between the two towns that summer and dreamed of one day being able to do it.

Well, this is the year! Lord willing, the Chinos, along with our friends, the Eubanks, will make it from one town to the other on a mountain trail that meanders along a creek for about 18 miles.

We ate dinner with our friends, Bobby and Rhonda, at their lovely home a few weeks ago to discuss the details. Or more accurately, to hear the details from Taido. He has the entire trek mapped out and planned all the way from our footwear options down to the meals we will carry.

Rhonda and I have been walking together to get ready, but Taido told us we needed to step up our game. Add in some hills. Start breaking in our boots. Maybe consider carrying a pack on some of our walks.

We have added in a hill or two since then, but we still have a long way to go to be ready for the big hike!  Still, ready or not, I am so excited about this adventure!

Are you doing anything fun this summer?  What’s your favorite vacation destination?

The post Summer Travel Plans appeared first on Alison Chino.

Remember all those different blog posts about our trip to Colorado last summer?

I guess I got a little burned out on mountain pictures, because I neglected to put these up from Ben’s inaugural backpacking trip.

My dad, Taido and Bobby take the graduating seniors backpacking every summer before they head off to college.

They climb a big mountain and spend a week away from the world, telling their stories to one another.

Cole and Mary Polly have both gotten to tag along on one of these grand adventures, so last summer was Ben’s turn.

Ben’s trip was different from Cole and Mary Polly’s in that one has the option of reaching the base camp of Windom Peak by train.

I’ve never been on this train before, but it looks amazing.

Here’s the group of seniors, all clean and fresh on their first day.

Ben carried a daypack similar to the one both Cole and Mary Polly carried on these trips, with Taido carrying the rest of his load.

I always worry a little about the kids when they are gone in the mountains with the men.  I have no idea how they are holding up or if they are whining for their mama.

But everyone said Ben did great.

He made a new best friend that he hung pretty close to throughout the week.

Meet Blake.

Love these pictures of Ben.  He’s looking rough at this point in the week.

Also, I had to include this picture of Daddy doctoring a blister with moleskin, because it is something he has done about one million times on these trips.  Always prepared.

It’s always considered a major trip accomplishment for the whole group to make the summit!  Exciting!

Taido and his partner in crime, Bobby.

Taido only had one taker for Extra Summit Day: the day when you get up while it is still dark and climb ANOTHER mountain.

Blake was game.  Here he is on top of Mt. Eolus.

I know Ben will treasure the memory of this week in the mountains with his dad and some other pretty special guys for many years.

The post Mt Windom, Colorado appeared first on Alison Chino.

This summer has been a whirlwind of adventures.  In June, Cole went to discipleship camp with Taido and 80 other middle school students.  Mary Polly went to Chicago with my mom to visit my sister and her family.  Then she was home for one day before leaving to go on the College Backpacking Trip with Taido.   Soon after Mary Polly arrived home from her mountain adventure, Cole flew out to spend a week with my sister’s family at Castaway Club, a Young Life camp in Minnesota where my brother-in-law was speaking for the month.  Meanwhile, Ben headed to Kentucky with Taido on the high school mission trip.

We were finally all reunited in the Smoky Mountains for our first extended family camping trip in five years.  Seventeen of us huddled in the rain under my daddy’s “magic tarp.”  Whitney is currently posting pictures of this rainy adventure, so I’ll share the treasures Taido brought home from Mary Polly’s first backpacking adventure.

My daddy has been leading backpacking trips for longer than I’ve been alive.  Of course, Taido is equally passionate about the mountains, which has always made for a strong bond between the two of them.  Cole got to go on this trip several years ago and I was nervous about whether or not he would be up to the task.  Carrying your gear uphill every day for a week can be pretty rigorous.  He had a great week with his dad and Grandpapa though, so I was very excited for Mary Polly to get to have her turn.

Still I was anxious for her, especially for “peak day,” the day the campers wake up before dark to climb to the top of a fourteen thousand foot mountain.  It’s a huge accomplishment in my book, and I will never forget the first time I stood on top of my first “fourteener.”   I was 15.

Mary Polly will be 10 next week, and the first time we got to talk to my dad he said she was climbing like a mountain goat.  I love these pictures where she seems like she is right at home on the trail.

She looks a little tired in the next one.  She is actually on the top of Mount Blanca.  Woohoo!

This next one is a shot of the view from the camp at which they spent most of their time.  Looking at these pictures makes me wish I had gone.

The tent in the background is the little two-man tent Taido bought for he and Mary Polly to sleep in on the trip.  That man never misses an opportunity to acquire a new piece of gear!

Of course there are always a few overachievers who have to grab a second peak.  Mary Polly skipped out on the second peak day, while Taido, Daddy and a few others climbed Little Bear.

This climb is looking a little more technical to me.

From the top of Little Bear, you can see the camp by the lake.  So far away…

My husband and my daddy!  I love these men!

The climbers who wanted more!  All these guys climbed Little Bear.

Above is the view of Blanca from Little Bear.  This picture of Mary Polly and her daddy makes me feel like this is a memory she will treasure forever and ever.  I’m so grateful that she got to be a part of such a significant experience.

There were just a few brave gals on the trip.  I was thankful for each one of them!

Little Bear under a rainbow.

The post Mary Polly’s First Big Climb: Mt Blanca, Colorado appeared first on Alison Chino.