Backpacking Trip to Lake Constantine, Holy Cross Wilderness, Colorado

Have you ever gone on a backpacking trip with llamas? I hadn’t either until this past weekend when I did a volunteer trail work trip through Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance (ESWA). To give some background, ESWA is a non-profit organization Mike and I volunteer for through their Volunteer Wilderness Ranger program. This program has us go on patrols as volunteer Forest Service rangers in the three wilderness areas in Summit and Eagle Counties (Eagles Nest, Holy Cross, and Ptarmigan) to educate users on wilderness and promote Leave No Trace and other principles. Several weekends during the summer, ESWA hosts “llama trips” where volunteers go on overnight trips with a U.S. Forest Service ranger and two llamas and help with whatever projects need to be done.

On this trip, we met at the Fall Creek Trailhead with the goal to spend two nights at Lake Constantine. The group was six volunteers and two Forest Service rangers. The forecast was looking pretty iffy with a high probability of rain all three days. Of course we would pick the one rainy weekend of the summer in Colorado to do this!

Meet the llamas

Thanks for carrying some of our gear!

We began our hike in with a plan to stop when we hit 11,000 feet in elevation and install a sign. We were in the Holy Cross Wilderness and in this wilderness, one is not allowed to have a fire above 11,000 ft. Based upon the number of fire circles we found at Lake Constantine later in the day (above 11,000 ft), this regulation was clearly not being followed. This sign specified “No campfires above this point.” This sign makes it pretty impossible to not be aware of this regulation, and I hope it leads to greater compliance.

Installing the sign was a much bigger effort than I would have expected. I now have a true appreciation for every sign I see in a wilderness area. In wilderness, one is not allowed to used any type of mechanized machinery so we had to dig ~3-4 feet into the ground which was 85% rock with shovels and a rock bar to break the solid rock apart. We took turns and after quite some time, finally dug a hole that was deep enough to meet the Forest Service ranger’s standards.

Mike starting to dig the hole for the sign

While the volunteers were doing this, the Forest Service rangers were using a hand drill (no power drills allowed!) to attach the sign to the 8 ft wooden signpost one of the rangers carried in to put in the ground. Once the sign was ready, we positioned the post in the ground and gradually began to fill around it with a mixture of larger rocks, smaller rocks, and dirt until it was packed very tightly so the post wouldn’t move under any conditions.

Me trying to tightly pack the rocks around the sign

The sign after being installed.

Hopefully it doesn’t fall down!

While the humans were busy with this, the llamas were tied up to trees. I learned firsthand that when they don’t like each other, they will spit up stomach contents on each other. Gross is an understatement. One somehow got untied at one point, but wasn’t able to make it too far until the ranger caught up to him. Once the sign was fully installed, we continued on our way to the lake.

We made it to the lake without any further stops and picked a large group campsite. Everyone set up camp and took a little time to relax. Not long after we assembled our tent, we found ourselves in our first rainstorm of the weekend. Thankfully, the Forest Service had brought a large plastic tarp that we were able to string up in trees that created a dry area for all of us to eat our meals and sit together without getting wet.

At dinner that night we discussed what the plan would be for the next day. One volunteer and one ranger were going to stick around the lake and do an inventory of campsites and illegal fire rings and catalogue any findings they had. The rest of us were going to hike towards Fall Creek Pass and perform some trail maintenance, the majority of which would involve cutting back overgrown willows. That weekend I learned that willows can grow to be as thick as small trees and take a tremendous amount of effort to cut back. I have never used lopping shears for an entire day and it made me unbelievably sore in the weirdest muscles the next day! Mike got to cut a tree that was in the middle of the trail. We did this trail work from after breakfast until about mid afternoon when the clouds started getting darker. We were in a pretty exposed area as we approached the top of the pass and had to quickly hurry back to the campsite when these clouds quickly rolled in. We made it back to the campsite without 15 minutes to spare before the rain started again. The rain did not let up for the remainder of the day and came with some thunder and lightning.

Mike cutting the tree that fell across the trail

We went to sleep that evening with the plan to play it by ear the next day. The forecast suggested there might be rain in the morning so we would see how the weather looked and then determine if we would do more trail work or head straight back to the trailhead.

The next morning, we decided to head back to the trailhead after breakfast as it was already very overcast and it didn’t seem like it would be a wise idea to head to higher elevations with less protection from the weather. It started drizzling in the last mile back to the car, and we avoided the downpour by 30 minutes.

Moose at Lake Constantine, Colorado — Morning visitor - Mr. Moose!

Heading back to the trailhead on the final morning

Overall, it was a great weekend where we got to improve some of the trails in the wilderness area and install a sign that would help users respect the ecosystem near the lake. In terms of stats, Lake Constantine was about 4 miles and 1300 ft of vert from the trailhead and could have been done as a longer day hike. The lake is gorgeous and one I would recommend seeing, but due to its ease of access, don’t expect to find yourself alone. The hike to this lake also starts at the same trailhead as the hike for Mount of the Holy Cross, a popular 14er, so expect it to be busy in the summer!

We are certainly looking forward to doing another llama trip next year!