Happy August! This is Skyler writing to you with a special extended post; my first solo post in over a year!

The ~2 months of downtime from our blog is by no means the result of a lack of trying, but I apologize regardless for the long hiatus. If you stick around to the end of this post, I will share some bonus pictures from a few adventures that I’ve embarked on since our last entry but had not finished blog posts for due to a few different reasons. But, to start, I am excited to first detail some recent self-inflicted suffering in the setting of Mount Evans Wilderness.

We completed an absolutely epic hike to Beartrack Lakes in the Mount Evans Wilderness prior to Ty’s exodus to Michigan, a hike that sadly never precipitated its own blog post. The photo above is Ty on that hike, which took place almost exactly one year ago. This hike requires one to start at the Camp Rock Trailhead in the Mount Evans State Wildlife Area, which requires a special permit and is less crowded as a result when compared to other trails in the neck of the woods of Mount Evans. The hike to Beartrack Lakes made this part of Colorado one of my favorites, and I plan on doing a separate post to share photography from that original trip, as well as a few return adventures.

The Camp Rock Trailhead services two trails: the one we took to Beartrack Lakes, as well as another that follows a similar path but lies some distance to the north named the Beaver Meadows Trail. The two trails are connected several miles to the west by another trail named Cub Creek Trail. I had left Denver around four in the morning and rolled up to the trailhead just as the sun began to rise. Armed with some determination (and hindered by being a bit out of shape), I set off along the Beaver Meadows Trail. The excessively muted early morning light made for challenging photography conditions, but I still tried snapping some pictures all the same.

The rolling, wooded path began as an uphill slog but offered some brief downhill respite before entering the trail’s first namesake beaver-populated meadow about a mile and a half in.

By this time the sun had risen to the point where brilliant golden light was cast across my surroundings. Myriad wildflowers adorned the verdant grasses that blanketed the meadow.

Suddenly, movement caught my eye in the distance. I stopped in my tracks and was immediately disappointed with my decision not to lug a telephoto lens along for this adventure: a moose had appeared from behind some large bushes across the meadow. I could tell the moose had noticed me—even from a distance—and I grew concerned when I realized the way forward would bring me uncomfortably close to him.

Exercising extreme caution, I proceeded along the perimeter of the meadow, ruefully recalling a previous encounter I’d had where a moose charged at me after I’d accidentally gotten too close.

I couldn’t tell from where I had originally spotted it that the moose was male but later could distinctly see some newly developing antlers in the pictures I took as I got closer.

I continued along, rather content with such a close-up sighting, even if the pictures I took could’ve been better. C’est la vie!

It was after this meadow I reached the signed wilderness boundary. The sign flaunted a crown of green fruticose lichen, which I thought was neat.

It was here, about two miles into the adventure, where the relentless uphill really began. A series of four long switchbacks led me high above the meadow, where through the trees I could now see a glorious pyramidal rock formation puncturing the sky. I continued on.

The next landmark along the trail was the aforementioned trail junction with Cub Creek Trail. This was about three and a half miles in. From the Beaver Meadows Trail I took a right onto the Resthouse Meadows Trail.

Passing by a small unnamed pond, I continued uphill to what would become the crux of my day: a series of steep switchbacks leading up through the charred remains of the Lincoln Lake Fire of 1962.

I am not actually certain that was the fire that wrought the aftermath of the havoc I witnessed, as there have been several fires in this general area—the Resthouse Meadows Fire of 1964, the Beartracks Fire of 1998—but given the proximity to Lincoln Lake, I suspect the blaze from 1962 to be the likely culprit.

The landscape had quickly become alien and reminiscent of other adventures we’ve had nearby burn areas. The mangled trees offered little shade and creaked ominously in the breeze.

The switchbacks lit my calves ablaze and my pace slowed as flashes of doubt plagued my mind: was I even going to be able to make it to the lake in this shape? Why did everything HURT?

I reached the journey’s final trail junction after practically crawling up the last switchback, and here I turned west to follow the Lincoln Lake Trail along the final stretch to the lake.

Readers, I would hate to disappoint you. Do not get me wrong, I am not about to knock this adventure in any way; the wildlife sightings, the sheer solitude of not encountering another soul for practically the entirety of the trip…but this lake in particular is nothing to write home about. I knew this before starting the adventure and really had mostly been planning to use the time to get in some exercise and witness some new scenery. I say all of this because high above the lake, unfortunately, there is an ugly and prominent scar in the earth: a portion of the road that leads to the summit of Mount Evans. So, when I reached the lake, I took two pictures to prove to myself later that I had reached my objective and hadn’t merely experienced an exhaustion-induced hallucination. So…voila!

If you want to take a picture of the lake that isn’t plagued with motor activity, you simply have to either take it from the road above or just zoom in, so…voila!

Not particularly inspiring, I know, especially when compared to the other glorious lakes that are nearby!

And that’s it. Story told. Adventure over. Except, really, I still had to get back down to my car. Storm clouds began to roll in and I put my camera away to hurry along my descent in an effort to evade the threat of precipitation.

To illustrate the menacing clouds, I took another picture of the first meadow where I had seen the moose. It was indeed a remarkably different scene than what I had witnessed five hours prior.

Like I said, I love this part of Colorado. The Mount Evans State Wildlife Area will close to activities other than hunting and fishing after Labor Day, so I intend on making a trip to some lakes above Beartrack Lakes (with that included in the adventure) before then, and I will share another blog that actually includes some glorious lake photography.

Until then, my friends…stick with this post a little longer for the following bonus content! This bonus content consists of five pictures from two posts that never made the press. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them in the galleries below.

Incomplete post – Raiders of the Lost Park

Unwritten post – The Big Easy

Stay cool, adventurers!