Nearing the end of the week, I decided I wanted to camp on my days off with J since Ryan and E were headed off on their own adventure to camp and rock climb. I was waffling over finding a campground nearby or heading to Canyon Ferry Lake. I even put it out there to rally some moms and had a few takers.

Meanwhile, Ryan and I were discussing winter ski plans and cabin rentals. The Garnet Mountain Fire Lookout popped up, so I checked the calendar out of curiosity and it was almost as if fate that the exact dates I had off that week were open. I thought there’s no way that’s true this cabin was never available! I didn’t think twice and booked it. No plans other than my 19mo old and I were going to go on this trip together and maybe I could convince another mom to try it to. Again, I tried to rally a crew since it has 4 beds. Unfortunately no one felt up to the challenge or I didn’t ask the right people, so I left with just the babe.

On our way out I got notice that my Morrison Outdoors Mega Mo had made it to town. We made a stop at the post office and out went the old bag in with the Mo!! We finally left the trailhead at 12 pm after some milkies and began going up with a 36lb pack, 23lb J, bear spray, and a gun. 63 lbs of added weight. We got there by 4pm and began to settle in.

The sunset and sunrise were so killer on both nights and mornings thanks to the looming thunderstorms. We explored nearby the cabin the next day, bird watched, and ate good backpacking food. I even met a buck on my 3am pee adventure. The thunderstorms never happened but the wind picked up and it was never to hot. We played with dominoes, cards and some dice. Lounged in the sun and took naps, something I never do.

There were lots of visitors throughout the 3 days. Happy birthday to Carly, who was a boss and biked the trail from Storm Castle with her two friends. The solo lady runner who greeted us at about 7 am. Very impressive as she was probably in her 50s. Shoutout to the dirtbikers who found J’s pacifier for us and rode back up to deliver it to her on the first day. That probably saved the trip as she’s a paci queen.

Our days quickly came to an end, so we packed up, cleaned and headed out at 9:15am. We got down to the car at 10:55am with enough time for a stop at The Coffee Pot. It was just the thing we needed on the way home. J grabbed herself a delicious frosted sugar cookie and I got a quiche because I’m doing a 75 Postpartum challenge and didn’t want to cheat.

This is you sign that you can do hard things. Being spontaneous is fun and makes for the best memories even if you go without anyone else. 10/10 would recommend. I added a packing list here. Happy trails!