After getting back from a fun few weeks back in Missouri, we were itching to get out into the mountains. We decided on a quick and lazy overnight backpacking trip, mostly because getting back into the gym after 3 months (covid closures) kicked our butts!
We ditched work around 12:30pm and headed out US-285 into the Mt. Evans Wilderness, arriving at the Abyss Trailhead around 2:00pm. Even for early Friday afternoon, the lot was full!
We were kind of concerned that hiking this high in early June would be wet and occasionally snow, but it was surprisingly dry. However, plenty of water along the trail – after ~1.5mi or so it follows a creek fairly closely, crossing a few times before the intersection with the Rosalie trail. It’s pretty fascinating watching Moz cross log bridges… even on bouncy, skinny trails she flies across!
We ended up hiking a little over 4 miles, stopping just short of the Rosalie/Abyss trail junction. We found a very nice campsite overlooking a meadow with a small flowing right through camp. Perfect!
We ended up schlepping our collapsible chairs to camp for the first time, knowing we were just doing a short hike in. Very nice! It was a beautiful evening full of talk and photos.
The next day we hung around for a lazy morning, packing up camp around 10:30am. By the time we started hiking back down, well over two dozen hikers/backpackers had went by. We must have timed it just right as we passed only a couple parties on the way down – the lot must have filled early!
Before we left camp, I walked over to the big creek (Scott Gomer Creek) and took a ton of photos. I could spend hours at it, but can never really capture the beauty of the water crashing through these large granite boulders.
That’s all! Just shy of 9 miles for a quick overnight in the Mt. Evans Wilderness. Beautiful! Books read during our trip were ‘Magician: Apprentice‘ (Andrea) and ‘A Darkness at Sethanon‘ (Kyle).
-Kyle