SW Colorado 2016

Andy and Sue took us on a nice "warm up" hike, with good views and easy terrain. Here, on the trail that is called Ice Caves just north of Pagosa Springs. Susie, Sue and Keetna

Here is one of the cracks in the terrain which would stay cool for a very long time.

The higher one gets, the better view of the Piedra River valley.

Rafters on the Piedra River.

The entire raft flotilla and a kayak.

Andy strikes his "mountain man" pose.

It was a toasty day, so we stopped to shed some clothing. Of course, Keetna continued to wear her fur coat.

The Weminuche Wilderness in the distance from Ice Cave Ridge.

It was a nice hike that day, but time to cool off and enjoy the view from Sue and Andy's deck.

No, Keetna did not die, she is just relaxing after a warm hike.

The next morning, we drove SE from Pagosa Springs and did a hike to what is called locally as Lizzy Lake. Here, Susie is hiking thru some stately aspens.

An amazing field of Skunk Cabbage. We will come back to that later.

Crossing some of these creeks on downed logs can be tricky. Here, the guys wait to catch Sue on the off-chance she goes into the creek.

Opal Lake.

From a side trip to Opal Lake, we crossed a large meadow and started to climb to our destination.

Arbor glyphs. Interesting carvings in trees.

A close up of a bird.

We reached the boundary of the Chalk Mtns branch of the South San Juans Wilderness. Nice memories here: In 2003, we took a great backpack in this same Wilderness. See: http://www.twohikers.org/WesternMtns/SouthSanJuans03/Ssj03_intro.htm

A little pond below our destination.

Making the final climb

Lizzy Lake (actually unnamed on topo maps. But a nice spot for lunch.

Time to put on a bit more clothing.

Sun is coming out, which makes it a nice day.

Sue, Andy and Keetna

We left Lizzy Lake and began our hike back down to the trail head.

An entire field of them

Amazing skunk cabbage