Red Pine Lake

We just got back from our overnight backpacking trip up to Red Pine Lake. The trailhead is about 3/4 way up Little Cottonwood Canyon and sits at the base of the Pfeifferhorn Mountain. The hike was gorgeous, with a steep incline at the end and loads and loads of wildflowers. The temperature dropped 20 degrees from the day before we left so starting out it was about 65 degrees. But as the night when on it dropped to the 40s. Justin's toes almost froze because he wore his chacos.

Our sleeping bags were toasty warm. Justin tried out a Big Agnes sleeping bag that he borrowed from work. Those bags are sick! They have a sleeve on the bottom that your thermarest slides into and has no padding/down on the bottom because the thermarest insulation keeps you warm instead. That way, you don't slide around at night because you're attached to your sleeping pad and it provides extra room that most mummy bags lack. I recommend them to anyone. As we were going to bed we discovered my year old thermarest had a leak in the stitching. LAME!! So although I was set on insulation, I had no cushioning and I woke up with a stiff back. He also borrowed a lightweight tent from work by Sierra Designs. The tent SUCKED it big time. The engineer who designed it probably only read about camping because it had a weird design, it was awkward to assemble and the stupid fly didn't even stay attached. Lesson learned: Stick with Big Agnes tents and bags!

Besides a few gear malfunctions, the view was gorgeous. I was obsessed with the wildflowers and I probably drove Justin nuts with how many pictures I took. At one point on the way up it actually snowed on us for 5 minutes. In August!!

Here is Red Pine Lake, where we camped. And here is our friend the pot gut. And of course, a few jewels of the Rockies. My little "wee wee" toe had a really long nail that kept digging into the toe that didn't have roast beef. Without toenail clippers I had to improvise. And this is us on the way back down.