Labor Day Weekend Fun With The Kids & Bro Brown ~ Fish, Sail, Hike, And Concerts 30Aug24-03Sep24

The weather in Summit over Labor Day WE was beautiful and we took advantage of that with a visit from Matt & Eline for several days. The kids arrived Fri for dinner and card games. The drive was a bit brutal from Denver on the busiest car travel day of the year. We kicked off outdoor activities on Sat with brief hike into the Eagles Nest Wilderness on Sat AM. Then we hit the Keystone Oktoberfest for a bit. How is it Eline knew the songs from the oompah band? We also saw CB3 at the side stage; they are a decent local  blues band. Sat night, Eline's sister Valerie joined our group and we has a nice dinner of ribs, corn, and burrata/tomato salad.

On Sunday we each did a little work while the spa repair guys worked to fix a popped line. Our hot tub is in a great spot for soaking and viewing but it's a tight fit to work on it. They repaired the 2.5" line that was popped but I have to wait several days to let the motors dry before really testing the repair. Soon enough they were done and we headed over to Dillon Rez for a sailing outing. After a fun but none too wild sail (wind was pretty light and inconsistent) we stopped at ORB for a beer. We got home in time to change before hitting Bistro North for dinner. We also had a good, but kind of long, game of "Oh Shit" to close the evening... Matt somehow crushed us.

On Monday we saw Bruno & Val off to the Front Range, then had a tasty breakfast at Mtn Lion before heading over to Breck to hike along Spruce Ck up to the Mohawk Lks on Labor Day. Kala did great hiking with an injured knee ~ she rested at lake #4 a smidge while we went up a bit further to get a peak at the top cirques and the Pacific Crest of the 10 Mile Range. We did about 5 miles and 1700 ft of elevation gain. Kaes loved the hike and the water stops. It was a great hike all around and it wasn't as crowded as I'd expected it'd be, but there were folks out with us. Eline was somewhat impressed with the Crusher Too on the 4WD road and saw the need for bit more off-road worthy, 4WD capable SUV: "whoa, I'm doin' Colorado with some Coloradans." On the way home we stopped at Broken Compass for some ColoRADbros and Helter Selzter.

Monday night was a free concert at the Dillon Amp! We picked up bro Brown and saw Shaky Hands String Band first and then Blue River Grass. Both bands were good and the sound was stellar and well-mixed. Kala & I have seen these local bands on other occasions and it was awesome to see them in a bigger venue with great amphitheater sound. Matt & I did enjoy some local Steep IPAs in a can at the show ~ who knew?

Steve & I got out fishing again on Tuesday ~ we went to the Blue River below Green Mtn Rez. Our weather luck continue and we fished all morning in all sunshine. I caught quite a few 14"-18" browns while long line nymphing with Perdigon (mayfly), Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear (drake nymph), and other fall BWO nymphs.

It was a stellar long weekend all around with friends and family... the kids had a nice vacation from work, the boys got to do some fishing, and we got to hang with Eline some more.

Septugenarians Scale Mohawk Lks' Ramparts & More ~ Cool Colorado Cuts On A GR8 Day In The 10 Mile Range 18Jul24

My big bro Brown and I 1st hit Angry James for some pops and live tunes on Wed after his arrival to the Lodge and my 'freedom' from not receiving the camper replacement faucet via FedEx. Hey, who else notices that FedEx info systems now often mis-predict ~ weird at one point they were the best and now, for me, they are the worst. Whatever. We met a local artist that night, he sang a ton of covers, capably, and one original while we were there... AJ's beer was good. Bro Brown's music training continued that eve on The NestMT, after separate dinner plans. A strong start to the WE.

We rested decently and headed out to tackle the climb to (effectively) the Pacific Crest in the 10 Mile Range ~ ok, the base of that. Yeah... the uppermost Mohawk Lks via Spruce Ck trail; this is just over the ridgeline from another fav hike, Mayflower Gulch hike. Anyway... I drove the Crusher Too up the gnarly 4WD road from Blue River to a spot 300 yds below prior capable scaling... the forest service has now blocked the road for the final climb, which is likely a favored stop for Kala, who didn't like that last part "at all."

We donned our fishing and hiking gear and set out ~ literally just 300 yds from the TH we used to set out on prior. One other car was there but just two others as well on return. It is still not easy and bro Brown was pleased the Crusher Too was on point this day. Completely GR8 8mi/1600ft hike today in fab weather. I gave some meager instruction to less aware fishermen today (Steve asked 'why' but I say 'why not' ~ they heeded despite their lame plan and caught up to us on the way back pre-storm: "go deep I said." Steve & I passed snowfields and awesome waterfalls quickly and often: "do you wanna glissade?;" "he might be dead (DD/GL circa some yrs prior)."

There were a decent # of folks on the climb, but not past Mohawk #3, except finally "my guys" on instruction to 'go deep.' Steve saw them. It is not easy but it is gorgeous. The flowers are out right now... lower down we even saw some columbine, rare on this approach to alpine.

The eastern slope of the 10 Mile Range holds Breck skiing, which we love, especially in spring, and is otherwise gorgeous. We were right in it and we knew it. Here's a "super-pan" coming upon Mohawk #6...

We skipped the randy spawning cuts in the outlet sections of 6 & 7 as we leave them to replicate for future generations. The nature show was completely cool though. Steve nabbed some nice Colorado cuttys from the steep (non-spawning) side of the inlet to #6 and I scored plenty in the same area as well as from lake #7 above. The completely weird CO Fish & Game question is, "why is everything now CO cutty and not greenback" as several years prior? At this elevation, it might be winterkill... size is suspicious. Yet, arrival was very cool, as some mouth-breathing 70yr olds kicked everybody's asses up the trail and on the lakes. This was a very cool hike ~ we needed to eat on occasion to keep strength but mine still waned... snow was still everywhere. Our fishing was never suspect. I used the Rodfather PowerPack 6pc 9ft 5wt built for casting beyond the littoral plane on the alpine lakes... tiny parachute Adam's or Griffith's gnats were the ticket.

Once back down the trail and the rugged 4WD "road" we stopped at Broken Compass for a celebratory ColoRADbro. The vibe there was cool.

Bushwack New Ridgeline & Many Cuttys @ Mohawk Lks 01July21

The plan continued, somewhat. I led Steve, Jim and me up the wrong ridgeline toward Mohawk Lks. today. Sure it was a new line, but why. We ultimately made it to lakes #5 & #6 on a great day; it was wrongly forecast to be bad. The hike, despite my route-unfinding, was excellent. Plus, this was the 1st Crusher Too ascent of Spruce Ck Rd, a notorious rock road ~ it was deftly climbed and quickly descended in my new steed. The trail to lake #6 is mostly clear but for 2 brief snow crossings, and the cutthroats are hungry. We had an epic day catching greenback and Colorado cuttys, who were also still spawning at this elevation - which was a keen sight. We caught many fish on dries and droppers but a shift in majority from greeenbacks to CO cuttys from trips up 2 years ago. I used the Rodfather El Cheapo to a great catch but could not entice the nicest 20"er to bite. What a blast with goats, Brown's lunch, an abundance of catch on dries, a closing interview on Crusher Too from an Afghany rebel, and a sweet July 1st closeout at ORB.