OK, resurrecting this thread for summer 2021. Woohoo, it's time to get outdoors!
I got out last weekend to the Flat Tops Wilderness in NW Colorado for a couple of nights. My usual companion, Zelda, was recovering from minor ear surgery, so I was accompanied by my second choice companion Opus-the-big-goofball-oaf-who-knocks-down-tents-from-the-inside-at-4am-when-it's-very-cold.
This is a really enjoyable loop through an area known as the Little Flat Tops, about half off-trail, that connects the beginning and end via about 2 miles on a dirt road. I've done this trip a number of times, and as is often the case we saw nobody else for three days. The first day was not so great, in fact the temperature plummeted and we were snowed on as we crossed a ridge at about 11.5k ft ... on June 26th if you can believe it. (This is not Alaska,
@KAP.) No photos of that, I was too busy keeping my iPhone dry ... ok, trying to stay warm.
🙄
The approach is just up a nice long valley with willows.
After reaching a plateau (it's not called the Flat Tops for nothing), and then crossing over a cold and snowy ridge, we descended into a huge trail-free valley and camped next to this pretty seasonal creek after the snow stopped. If you look closely, you can see the tent in the trees in the right foreground. This whole valley is just a magical place for me.
Lots of unnamed pothole lakes in this off-trail area.
The route climbs out of the valley, navigates around a massive rocky ridgeline (shown in the background of the second photo), down into the adjacent valley and then turns back to climb towards Mandall Pass. Opus took a back-scratch break on the way up. I don't think he was rolling in anything nasty.
View from Mandall Pass down into the Mandall Lakes drainage with typical Flat Tops terrain in the background.
Campsite by Black Mandall lake. An established site obviously, but we had the place to ourselves.
Opus and Columbine, our state flower. Sorry, I always need to take of photo of it, it's a habit.
