Jen and I traveled East of Denver for a backpacking trip that we hoped would be better than the first one.  We took I-70 and ended up in a small town North of Breckenridge.  From there it was a short drive to a trailhead for Boulder Lake (which is where we originally wanted to go.  We never found that trail).  We drove back and forth for about an hour trying to understand our map/directions.  It was pouring rain and we kept running into dead ends and private property signs.  The trailhead was nowhere to be found.  

Finally we headed back to town, defeated.  We found a State Park Ranger Station and talked to them about where we should go, trying not to get mad for all the B.S. directions we'd gotten so far.  They directed us to a reservoir and an easy-to-find trailhead for Upper Cataract Lake.  We found it within an hour (after stopping for a delicious lunch at a local diner/dive spot) and headed out on the trail with thunderheads looming in the distance. 

2.5 miles of fairly steep trail left us tired and ready to stop when we hit Surprise Lake.  We were only halfway to Cataract but the rain was starting to come down and we'd already gotten such a late start that we set up camp here.

Surprise Lake had some beautiful lilly-pads, dragon flies and jumping fish.  It was quiet and peaceful.

On our first night we took an evening hike without our packs.

Jen making a couscous, bell pepper and sausage concoction.  It was extra tasty after all the hiking and trail mix.  We also brought along a couple o' boonts for good measure.

Cleaning my pot...

In the morning we got up and decided to hike another 2.5 miles to Upper Cataract Lake.  The hike was mellow and mostly flat.  We wandered through Aspen and Pine groves, over streams and guess what...NO DOWN TREES!!!!  Imagine that.

We made it to Upper Cataract and we were shocked.  This crystal clear lake sat at the bottom of a mountain peak and had abundant, lakeside grassy camping spots in the trees.  We wished we could have made it on the first day to spend the night here!  It was absolutely beautiful.

After spending some time at Upper Cataract we headed back to Surprise Lake to pack up our tent and head home.  When we got back there were some creatures waiting for us.  Two birds, which had actually been curious about us from day 1, kept flying near us, begging for food and craning their necks to watch us pack.

Snuck up on this guy eating a dragonfly.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera when his buddy was taking a dust bath where we'd had our tent.  He was pulling off some amazing stretching maneuvers.  

 The hike back to the car was easy and the skies were clear.

We got back to the parking lot without getting lost!  The trip had been great.  We would then proceed to sit in 4 hours of Colorado traffic.  Apparently there is really only one main freeway for going East/West between Denver and all the awesome spots (Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, etc.) and we hit it at the worst possible time!  The road bottlenecks in the mountains and we sat in near stand still traffic for hours!  Yay!

We have paid our dues.  Next time things will go smoothly.