French Pass Trail

On our way to Fun Valley (near South Fork, CO) every year, Jody and I make the drive on 285, heading southwest. The first part of the drive is over and through the mountains (front range). And then, you crest over the last mountain and see the most beautiful valley before you. In fact, every time we make the drive, my breath catches, and Jody and I discuss - without fail - how we'd love a piece of this land. 

And as we continue to drive, we would see signs indicating National Forest entries and trailheads. Inevitably,  we would say that we needed to get out here and explore some of this land. 

So this summer when we realized that we had a free weekend - incredibly exciting when you are in ministry - we decided to get away. And so I did some research, hoping to find a place out near that beautiful valley just short of Fairplay. I discovered the French Pass Trail, which seemed about what we were looking for (in terms of difficulty, length and frequency of individuals). We decided to go for it. Though the directions weren't the clearest, we did figure out how to get there. 

[As a side note: On our way to the trailhead, we passed a ranch with a sign above the driveway entry. I believe the sign said, "Founded 1876." Yep, so that's when you had to get here to get a piece of that beautiful valley land. *Sigh* It's nice to dream, though, right?]

The French Pass Trail was fun. I don't know that Jo and I made the entire trek, but of what we did do, we loved it. It wasn't too difficult, but it was so beautiful. In the midst of a drought year here in Colorado where everything seems permanently brown, in this oasis of wonderful goodness we saw flowers and an abundance of greenery. Throughout the hike the words of David's Psalm 23 resonated in my heart. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; 

He leads me beside still waters. 

He restores my soul.  (vv. 1-3a)

Truly, time spent in these mountains do restore my soul. The longer I'm out there, the more still my heart becomes. The hustle and bustle of life in Denver fades into the background, and I can finally hear my own thoughts, and I find my spirit is much more sensitive to the Lord. My spirit is quiet, and I find myself drinking in the peace and the presence of the Lord in His beautiful creation. Also, there is something so wonderful about  carrying only a few things on our backs that will sustain us during the few days we're away from 'civilization,' and the only items we have to worry about are food, warmth, shelter... and each other!

I actually love the picture above. Jody's pack is what I'm most often following on a trek and therefore what I find myself seeing the most on an uphill trek. He sets a good pace for me, and I just follow his lead. Love that guy!

It was also fun to use our new camera to capture shots like the one above. While it's only a point-and-click kind of camera, it has a large zoom, and I can therefore capture pictures of animals or flowers out in the wild that are too far away or too skittish to allow me to come closer. So much fun! This little guy was atop a rock munching on something yummy. So cute. :)

And then there was the moment when we came to this point in the trail. An open field. Perfect for frolicking! So I set my pack down and went racing down into the field. Ha! I'd like to say it was as carefree as Sound of Music makes it look, but - alas - what I was thinking as I'm galavanting down the hill was, "I hope I don't twist an ankle. Oh my word, my back is sweaty. My shirt is soaked!" Much less romantic than Sound of Music, I'm afraid. 

But then we came to this lovely spot. So, so beautiful. The water was flowing, and it just seemed so perfect. The flowers were everywhere.... We just didn't want to move!

And so, we didn't. We plopped our tent down about 20 yards from the trail and high above the water. We leveled a spot for the tent in the trees and quickly got our tent up right before it rained. Phew!

It's so wonderful and scary when the weather turns in the mountains. I am reminded of the majesty and strength of our God. Whenever I try to put Him in a box, He reminds me He is not constrained by my understanding. I am so thankful for that!

So, here's what it was looking like when we're getting our tent up... and what we did while we're waiting out the rain...

We ate dried apples made in our dehydrator!

We played Pass the Pigs. Our favorite backpacking game.

The wiener dogs rested after the hiking adventure.

It gets cold when it rains! So, we bundle up in our sleeping bags. 

After the rain stopped, we were able to get out, feed the dogs, make ourselves some warm food. Since the rain had soaked most everything, we decided not to attempt a fire... and so we had a low-key evening. I did, however, catch some lovely shots of the view of that lovely valley from where we were at back in the mountains. Such a lovely spot! 

I also captured the rain clouds!

And then, it was morning, with much adventure to be had! It was time to get up, feed the dogs, get some hot coffee and breakfast going for us. And then it was time to explore! What a beautiful day it was.

A panoramic view of the mountains all around us

Our campsite

Penny & Eu-mi sniffing :)

Gorgeous blue sky!

The token jumping picture of Jo   :)

Jody and I

Happy dogs!

I'm in love.

The beautiful stream below us

I am so thankful for a husband who shares my love for the great outdoors! We thoroughly enjoyed the French Pass Trail, and we're still dreaming of our own spot in the mountains.