Spanish Creek Cabin XC Ski

As usual this is somewhat late, but while the adventures are great doing stuff on the computer is terminally boring. So, almost a month after the fact here is what we did for my birthday - a cross-country ski adventure to the Spanish Creek Cabin!

Here is our crew (minus me - Marilyn, and Shelley and Colter) getting our packs together at the trailhead, which is just past Communist sympathizer Ted Turner's ranch. The Spanish Peaks tower in the background. In the summer (and sometimes spring) you can drive on this road up to the cabin and trailhead:


The warm spring sun had started to melt off the snow in some south-facing spots, but there was plenty on the road for skiing:

Here I am looking for a lunch spot for us to stop at:

The road continued on, with once again just enough snow for us to ski on:

A few miles further on in a section with more southern exposure there was no snow at all on the road, and we had to do about a half mile of extreme cross-country skiing. Here my beautiful wife ably navigates the ribbon of snow left on the shoulder of the road:

After some more skiing (about 4 miles total) we finally came to the Spanish Creek Forest Service Cabin, nestled next to Spanish Creek at the foot of the Spanish Peaks Wilderness. There was plenty of snow up there:

After a good day of xc skiing we were ready for some porch time at the cabin with some crackers, cheese, sausage, and of course some red wine and single malt scotch:

That night we feasted on some excellent burgers and veggies cooked on the wood stove, and finished off with some outrageous chocolate and peanut butter pies (courtesy of Shelley). And of course some Guinness:




After a great evening of extreme Yahtzee action (and more scotch), it was off to bed. In the morning we had a great breakfast and of course some backcountry espresso:


Finally it was time to pack up and make the 4 mile ski back to the car. Fortunately it was mostly downhill now and some good times were had making tracks in the snow off the side of the road.

One last pic as we leave the cabin, me and my beautiful wife with the Spanish Peaks in the background. I'll see them close up this July when I backpack up there to some lakes to catch some cutthroat trout:


Good times and a great birthday weekend!