Labor Day Weekend 2018
Monument Valley – Alta Lakes – Telluride – Blue Lakes
Casey and I both work your typical “Monday thru Friday 8-5” jobs so it’s hard for us to plan long trips because it requires taking time off and coordinating schedules that work together. This is why long holiday weekends are what we live for and we do our best to always make the most out of them. Labor Day weekend was around the corner so we had lots of planning to do. Monument Valley was something that had been on our travel list for a while now so we decided this weekend was the perfect time to make the trek. I have also been dying to go to Telluride for years but no one was ever willing to make the 8-hour journey all the way up there for a short weekend. Monument Valley was only 3ish hours away from Telluride and it was the perfect excuse we needed to finally make it up!
Day 1 (Friday): We had packed the night before so when I left for work I left everything on the bed for Casey to pack in his truck for us. ← Anyone that knows me should be extremely proud of me for this. I am QUEEN of saving my packing until the last 30 minutes and then running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Anyway, we took Kato to daycare and our plan was that Casey would come over to the house at lunchtime and pack the cooler/truck and I would leave work early and meet him around 3. We would head out when I got home and just pick up Kato on our way and we would be on the road with our Jimmy Johns in hand by 3:30 pm (don’t judge us, it’s seriously the best road trip dinner).
Well, everyone knows things never go according to plan, so naturally, I didn’t get home until about 5 and we weren’t on the road until 6:30 and we hit tons of traffic. Completely un-shockingly, we managed to forget something and just outside of Flagstaff we realized we brought enough blankets this time, but no pillows. Have no fear, Dollar General / Family Dollar is here! Somehow we always manage to need to stop and pick something up and this trip was no different. 3 pillows later and we were back on the road! No biggie though, I had gotten us a nice cold brew to keep us awake for the trip. We chased a storm out to Monument Valley and pulled in to our campsite around midnight or 1 am… I honestly have no clue what the real time was because you went back and forth between PDT and MDT a few times over the last couple of miles and I honestly lost track of what the real-time zone was. Anyway, we pulled in and got our camping spot and quickly set up for the night (again shout out GoldDog for the easy set up). We had to be extra sneaky because apparently dogs aren’t allowed at this site. Had we known before we would have made other plans, but being that we got there so late and were really only sleeping there and packing up in the morning, we decided to roll the dice. Thankfully, Kato did great and didn’t make a sound. I think we have his full day of daycare to thank for that! (We love you Deer Creek Animal Hospital!!)
Day 2 (Saturday): We woke up early and pretty much packed things up right away. There was rain in the distance so we needed to snap some photos, but other than that we were gone. We went to the nearest gas station and stopped to get gas and cook some breakfast. Not our favorite breakfast site we’ve ever had while camping, but sometimes you just gotta do whatcha gotta do. After breakfast, we took the truck down the loop road around Monument Valley. We didn’t go all the way around as we knew we wanted to get to Telluride at a decent hour and still wanted to take Kato for a little hike to tire him out.
Well, that plan backfired on us, and Kato had ZERO interest in hiking and he laid down about 5 minutes in and refused to move. We’re not sure if he was being sassy or if the sand was too hot (it shouldn’t have been… it was a nice 70-degree day) but nevertheless we packed up early and made our way to Telluride.
We didn’t have any coffee that morning, so I slept for probably 1/3 of the trip. When we got into Colorado I looked out the window only to be greeted by little piles of snow on the ground. I had brought maybe one long-sleeved shirt with me so I was kind of stressed but oh well, I blame Casey for not preparing me. We drove through Cortez desperately needing coffee but had zero success (looking at you loops, how dare you to be closed when we needed you most?!). We pushed on, ok Casey pushed on; I really just dozed in and out in the passenger seat, and we made it into the town of Telluride around 5 pm. They had the streets closed off for a festival and we parked and got out to walk around the town in hopes of finding a quick bite to eat and some coffee. We quickly learned that people playing violins really scares our big 95lb ridgeback… yeah, we don’t get it either. Anyway, we found a hot dog stand and grabbed a bite and found the local Starbucks #basic. With full and caffeinated bellies, we were off to Alta lakes to find our camping spot for the night!
Alta lakes was only a few miles east of Telluride (we actually passed it on our way in, but our hunger and caffeine withdraws took precedent) and lakes are about a 30 minute climb up the mountain to the top. The entire area is free dispersed camping so there are plenty of spots to pull off and set up camp, but we wanted to be by the lakes so we made the full journey. A storm was rolling in just as we started up the mountain, and it rained on us the whole way. The area was packed but we managed to find a spot up by the lake. We waited in the car for the worst of the storm to pass, and then we (Casey) set the GoldDog tent up. It was crazy seeing the mountain across the lake dusted with snow after the storm. Casey built a fire ring and we had enough dry wood for just one meal. We had planned to cook both breakfast and dinner over a fire, but again sometimes things don’t go as planned and you have to improvise. Earlier on Friday, Casey had marinated some carne asada and cut up some onion and cilantro for us to make campfire tacos, and of course we had to bring along some of the best salsa ever! I think this was our most adventurous/delicious campfire dinner we have had yet. We usually stick to the basics, like our old favorite mac n cheese with hotdogs (don’t knock it til you try it kids!!) We cracked some beers and enjoyed a nice night of tacos around the fire. The camp area was plenty populated, but we actually enjoyed it this time. Usually, we prefer to be completely secluded, but being in new territory we were happy to have others around us.
That night the temperatures dropped into the low 40s. We had plenty of blankets for us this time and had bought Kato a puppy sleeping back from RuffWear. We bought him the largest size they sell (which is a medium…. Isn’t that weird?) and he kind of fit when he was all curled up. But he couldn’t quite get the hang of staying under his sleeping bag so he got up about every 20 minutes throughout the night and readjusted himself which required me to re-blanket him. Despite my best efforts to keep him warm I still caught him shivering a few times throughout the night (if you haven’t gathered by now, our dog is a princess…).
Day 3 (Sunday): Needless to say, I slept terribly, and when our alarms went off at 6 am our plans once again changed a little. Casey was a total sweetheart and woke up and got Kato out of the tent and let me sleep for a few hours. They finally woke me up around 9 and we dried everything off and packed up to head to blue lakes!
It was about an hour and a half drive to the trail head which is located in Uncompahgre National Forrest.We got to the trailhead and it started sprinkling right away. It took us about 3 hours to make it to the top, with it raining on and off, but the views along the way were breathtaking. We met tons of friendly people and pups on their way down from the lakes which made us feel more comfortable. We had watched tons of videos about people who had run into Black Bears on this trail, so seeing it highly traveled made us (me) feel a little better. As we climbed the last few feet we could hear the thunder and see the storm in the distance. We decided to book it to the lake and try to set up camp before the rain arrived.
Our goal was partially successful! It started sprinkling and just as we started setting up and we managed to get the tent up (no stakes or anything) before the heavy rain. Kato and I waited it out and when it slowed down, Casey finished getting us set up. We headed down to the lake to cook dinner because we read to cook far from our campsite to avoid drawing bears towards it. After dinner, we tied our BearBin full of food up in a tree a little ways away and crawled into the tent. I had brought a mini cribbage board that I attempted to teach Casey how to play on, and honestly, he kicked my butt. It had been a long day so we went to sleep pretty early. Turns out climbing 2,000 feet over 3.1 miles at 10,000 ft above sea level will do that. Kato did a great job at staying in his sleeping bag this night and we managed to get a lot more sleep than prior.
Day 4 (Monday): We woke up, made breakfast and took some pictures down at the lake. After we packed up the majority of our packs and set them inside the tent we set out with just our daypacks to the upper lakes. We made it to the first of the two upper lakes and decided to only go that far. We didn’t leave camp until 10 am and we knew that we still had probably a 2 hour decent and a 9-hour drive back home ahead of us. The views on the way to the upper lakes were absolutely breathtaking. We got back to base camp and a rain shower rolled in (shocking!!!) and we managed to get the tent down and our packs packed and out on the trail by the time it started.
2 hours later and we were down and our long weekend adventure was, unfortunately, coming to a close. We packed the truck and headed out, obviously stopping for Starbucks on the way through Telluride. Our journey was long and we were hungry and the only thing that was quick that we could find to eat was Sonic. It’s funny how good a fast food chicken sandwich can taste after eating freeze-dried meals for 3 days.
We made it back to Phoenix around 10:30 pm and were tired as all can be, but all in all it was a weekend for the books. It’s amazing what a weekend out in the woods can do for the soul. I think we can all use a little time to disconnect with the world around us and submerge ourselves in nature. It was cold, it was rainy, it was beautiful, it was tiring, and I would do it all again in the drop of a hat.
We will be back, Colorado. We will be back.
