Colorado
July 2025

Dates: June 29-July 5, 2025

People: Mark, Luke, Seth, Dad Witte

Itinerary

• 6-29 (Travel Day)

• 6-30 (Travel Day/Backpack In)

• 7-1 (Lake Ann to Hartenstein Lake)

• 7-2 (Hike Out-North Halfmoon Creek)

• 7-3 (Massive)

• 7-4 (Democrat-Travel Day)

• 7-5 (Travel Day)

SUNDAY JUNE 29

Our trip began with a pretty quick departure after Sunday church. We had a combined service Sunday which got us out at 11am. We headed home for a quick change of clothes. Dad came to our house to do the same and we left from our place. We were driving the Jeep Rubicon with Dad, Mark, Seth.  We were keeping haste on the drive out as Luke was already out there staying with Bob and Joyce. We wanted to get out to get him and start a hike into Lake Ann before dark.

We left the house at 11:30a and decided on the I-94 route across Michigan. Of course in our haste we get stuck behind a slow moving truck on M50 whom we had to follow the whole way to Dundee.  We made a stop at the Arby's in Milan for a lunch-to-go.  We hit a one lane slow down on US 23 and then numerous construction zones on I-94.  When we hit the Chicago area we hit horrendous traffic on 80-94 and in all we may have lost an hour with all the delays.  

We made our next stop at the Loves just east of Morris for gas, bathroom and drinks.  Mark also began driving here. We drove to the Portillos in Davenport. We were able to app order and have it almost ready for us when we arrived.  We took this to go.  Mark continued driving on to the Flying J in Altoona, IA where we stopped for gas and bathrooms.   Dad began driving from there and took us to our stop for the night at the Quality Inn & Suites in Lincoln, NE.  It was 11:35pmC. We were all tired and pretty much headed in to our room and crawled into bed. We made plans for an early get-up and breakfast.

MONDAY JUNE 30

We wanted an early start today to keep moving on to our destination. Breakfast at the hotel opened at 6am.  So we got up at 545a, got our stuff to the car and hit breakfast as it opened.  It was a quick breakfast and we were on the road at 6:15am.  Dad started driving.  Mark was still tired and got a nap in during the first hour. We also had some storms to start the day.

First stop was at the Loves in Aurora, NE for gas at 7:19am.  Dad continued driving and got us into Colorado where we made our next gas stop in Crook, CO at 9:55am mountain time.  Here Mark started up driving.  We made our way through Denver with minimal traffic.  We knew we needed to get some groceries before picking Luke up out in Buena Vista and so we decided to stop in Conifer for groceries and lunch.

We got a bunch of trail snacks and Gatorade at the Safeway in Conifer and then headed to the Subway to grab our lunch-to-go.  Dad picked up driving and we headed out on 285 for Buena Vista.  We made it to Bob and Joyce's house at 2:38pm.  We visited with them for about an hour while packing up our backpacks for the next few days.  We grabbed Luke and we headed out for the trails at 3:54pm.

Lake Ann to Hartenstein Lake Backpacking Trip Report

TUESDAY JULY 1

Lake Ann to Hartenstein Lake Backpacking Trip Report

WEDNESDAY JULY 2

Lake Ann to Hartenstein Lake Backpacking Trip Report

We made it back to the Denny Creek trailhead at 12:30pm.  We found lots of interesting license plates from all over the country at the lot.  We drove back into Buena Vista to get some lunch. We wanted to hit Biggie's but they were closed on Wednesdays.  Most places in town were quite busy. We tried the Subway next but it had a line of 15 people to the door.  We settled on going to Love's to hit Chester's Chicken inside.  They had some nice "Honey Stung" flavored boneless chicken.

We drove down to the waterfront to park for a bit and decide on next plans. We were going to do some more resituating of gear but then decided we should just go and find our camp sport for the night in the Halfmoon Creek area. We began the drive up US24.  We hit a big delay with traffic stopped in both directions.  Probably sat 20 mins.  It finally cleared.  It wasn't 100% clear what had happened other than we saw a massive pile of like 30 or 40 hay bales on the side of the road. It is suspected a trucker on the curve had spilled their load.

We hit the Halfmoon road and drove in with much traffic on the early miles and many people camping along the road in the National Forest.  Past the Elbert and Massive trailheads things cleared. We only passed 2 parties on the 4WD road portion.  About half mile from the North Halfmoon Creek TH there was a difficult slab section on the road. It was mostly a traction issue. Going down it was much easier.  

Our trip plans originally had us exploring the South Halfmoon basin with hopes of hitting Casco-Fraco-French trio of 13ers.  Dad in his research of the 4WD road there found it had a crux that was more than we wanted to hit. So we settled on North Halfmoon and car camping to hit either Oklahoma or Massive from there.

We found a nice meadow camp spot about 200 feet short of the TH around 4pm.  It was a beautiful spot and we parked the Jeep and began scouting spots for the tents.  We setup Dad's tent right away and then put just the ground tarp out for Mark's tent so we could put packs and gear on it to help re-pack.

Mark walked up to the N. Halfmoon trailhead to see what the water crossing was like.  There was a truck that had just gone through it.  The water looked 18 inches deep for the most part but it would still be a challenging crossing for many vehicles.

We spent some time gathering firewood and decided to light that up after supper.  We did supper around 6:40p with freeze-dried meals.  We tried the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet for the first time and it was a hit, everyone enjoyed it.  Little hash brown slivers with scrambled eggs and bits of sausage with some little peppers and other seasoning tasted pretty good.  We also had bags of MH Lasagna, MH Chicken Fried Rice and Dad had another brand of spaghetti.

We had a great fire going after supper and with two nights of fires on this trip was reminded they really help make the evening more enjoyable. We were happy there were only a few mosquitos at this camp even with it sitting in close proximity to the creek.  We sat around the fire til just before 10p.  I wanted a decent bedtime with our early start for Massive in the morning.  The overnight lows dipped down into the 30s.

THURSDAY JULY 3

We were up 5:30am to get ready for the hike. With Dad staying behind he volunteered to take down the tents and pack up the remainder of camp.   The boys and Mark packed up their bags, pads, and personal items.  We grabbed some quick breakfast and were walking to the trailhead by a little after 6am.

Mt. Massive and South Massive Trip Report

We were back to the Mt. Massive Trailhead where Dad picked us up.  He was talking to a guy from the Pacific Northwest who had just moved to Colorado and did ultras. His first was Chuckanut 50K.  This guy was doing the Elbert-Massive double today and just finishing up.  Impressive!

We drove into Leadville and hit the Subway for a slightly late lunch.  We then walked up and down Main St. a bit for some shopping.  Luke picked up a few more frisbee discs while I bought one of the Leadville trucker hats from Two Dog Market, the shop David's friend Joey owns.

We headed out and drove up to Bob and Joyce's house and got there at 4:40pm.  We visited with Joyce and spent time unwinding and showering after our 3+ days in the Backcountry.  We had a wonderful supper with them with salad and lasagna with fruit, cookies, and ice cream.

FRIDAY JULY 4

Today was 4th of July 💥🎉

We were up at 4:35am at Bob & Joyce's to make the drive up to Kite Lake. We wanted to stay ahead of the weather and the crowds today. Joyce was up to bid us good bye.  With some soreness still in my calves I put KT tape on my calves to help stabilize. I also did the same for Seth's right knee hoping this would help with it.

We left the house at 5:15 and made it up to Kite Lake at 6:15am.  The peaks were clouded over and it was quite cool and windy up there. Temps in 40's.

Mount Democrat 2015 Trip Report

We left the Kite Lake TR at 9:30am for the drive home. We were earlier than expected because of cutting the hike short but this helped with the drive home. We drove out to Fairplay and then took 285 into Denver.  The weather improved as we hit lower elevation.  We stopped at the Chick-fil-A in Wheat Ridge getting a lunch-to-go.  We drove on up I-76 and hit a rest area at 12:52p near Wiggins for Mark to start driving.  Mark got the group to Ogalalla, NE at 2:50p where we stopped at Casey's for a gas fill-up.

Dad drove us to our supper stop at a nice big place Bosselman Travel Center.  We hit gas at the Pilot station and they had a bit of a food court inside with Little Caesars, Subway and one other option. We got personal pizzas at Little Caesars.  I was surprised when the bill for 4 of them was only $16.   Mark drove us after the supper stop and got us to a rest area at 9:05p. It was about 5 miles east of the 80-880 Jct northeast of Council Bluffs, IA. Dad took over driving.

We made one more gas stop at the Casey's in DeSoto, IA at 10:10pmC and then hit our stop for the night at the Quality Inn in Newton, IA at 11:05p.

SATURDAY JULY 5

We decided on a 6:30 wakeup today and hit breakfast.  It was a pretty average breakfast with old nasty sausages.  We hit the road at 7:06am with Dad driving.  When we left the GPS says a 4:16pE arrival.

Our first stop was a 10:05a at the Flying J in LaSalle, IL.  From here Luke began driving.  He got us through the Chicago traffic with some slow downs on 80-94.  He drove us into Indiana where we decided on taking the I-94 route through Michigan to get home.  We stopped at the Taco Bell in Chesterton for a lunch-to-go.

Mark began driving from there and got us to the meijer in Jackson, MI at 3:40pE. Dad began driving from here.  He got us home at 4:55pE. We made great time getting home today and it was so helpful to be home at a good hour to visit.