Golden Gate backpacker 2005

Here are two trips to Golden Gate. Our first planned backpacker there was canceled due to bad weather, but I went anyway. We rescheduled it for later. What a difference a month and a half makes! This was our final training backpacker for Philmont. Bryce Dunn, Collin Dunn, Daniel Kim, Greg George, and Kevin Phillips were there with me.

Starting out. The snow doesn't look that bad...

I stayed at one of the nifty backcountry shelters.

Fun with the automatic timer.

The shelters contain notebooks with hundreds of messages left by visitors going back a few years. They make for interesting reading.

I nearly killed myself hiking 10 miles in one day through snow that was frequently thigh-deep.

Kicking back at Dude's Fishing Hole.

These are the same old buildings seen above.

What a great picture!

More relaxation.