Minimalist Off Trail Expedition

Our plans began with us trying to take as little gear as possible into the mountains and see what we were really made of. They quickly evolved into us going off trail as well and exploring some country that may not have ever been explored recently. We began on the same trail head as with our other Grey Rock trips; although this one had a far different end point from our previous treks into the region. We went up the Grey Rock Summit Trail; which as always is a great trek. Then at a point that looked good to us we left the trail and forged our own path. About half way to our campsite we began to debate whether or not to turn back for fear we would be looking for a spot off trail in the dark. Luke and I convinced the rest of our group to continue on for another 15 minutes. This lead us to a great discovery of a campsite. We had great views of the mountains and the plains. Once we decided on the exact spot we all set off to work: Luke was starting the fire with flint, Nathan setting up his tent (not participating in our minimalist trip), Tom was gathering wood, and I began building our wind wall. Once we had a luxurious campsite set up we set in to a meal of chili and elk brats. It was a great time. Then we did something that seems to becoming a tradition Tom and I. We set off to Summit one of the nearby peaks around midnight to check out the spectacular views of the city and front range at night. After all of the fun, we set alarms so we could get up and go back to the peak for sunrise. As always, a sunrise in the mountains is a great sight. This was made even better with great company. We then set off to add a few different additions to camp. While all of this was happening we saw some turkeys and Luke took off with his sling to try and get one. He came back with a great story about how he had failed after learning first hand wild turkeys can fly. Everyone seemed ready to stay and go at the same time, but the fact we had very little food left forced us to decide to leave after only one night there. All in all it was a great new experience. 4/4-4/5/2014

Likability 9/10 Area we went was a burned area so it was a little lacking in color, but the company of good friends more than made up for that.