Yurt trip in the Never Summer Mountains, Colorado
I had never stayed in a yurt, but was always curious to stay in one. Back in December of 2020, Mike and I took our AIARE Level 2 class with a mountain school out of Estes Park. On the last day of the class, we ventured out to the Never Summer range to dig some snow pits, work on our terrain selection, and ski. We had never spent any time in these mountains, and they turned out to be beautiful so when I learned that we could rent a yurt there, it was a no-brainer. A few weeks after our class, I booked a yurt that was part of the Never Summer Nordic system for that coming August. The yurt slept 5 so we invited our friends, Kate and Matt, to join.
When that weekend finally rolled around, Mike and I worked a few hours on Friday morning and then began our 2.5 hour drive up to the parking lot for the yurt. We made it to the parking lot without any hiccups where we had to make our first real decision of the trip. Do we just bring a water filter and filter water from the stream 100 yards downhill from the yurt or do we carry in a few gallons of water so that we don’t have to deal with the hassle of filtering water while there? We went with the second option, which in hindsight I probably wouldn’t have picked. The yurt was only 1 mile from the car, which seemed very short so I didn’t think the extra weight of a few gallons of water would matter much. I was wrong - it was the first time I’ve ever had to take a break a 1/2 mile into a hike. I later learned a gallon of water weighs over 8 lbs so adding just three gallons of water turned my 30 lbs pack into 55 lbs, which made a lot more sense why the hike in to the yurt felt like the longest mile of my life.
Once we got to the yurt, we settled in, figured out how everything worked, and took some time to relax and read on the deck. Our friends Kate and Matt arrived a little before dinner. We had arranged that we would be in charge of dinner the first night and Kate and Matt would spearhead the second night. We brought along ingredients for sweet potato tacos, which really hit the spot before our busy plans for the next day.
Home for the next two nights
The next morning we woke up around 7am, made breakfast, and headed out on a 15+ mile hike. We took a break about halfway through the hike at Kelly Lake. We couldn’t believe we were the only people there on a Saturday afternoon considering there were quite a few well-used campsites. The lake was beautiful and it would be a location I’d go back to for a backpacking trip. We saw a few fish, but didn’t have our poles with us so we just watched them swim around from the shore.
Kelly Lake, State Forest State Park
After eating and relaxing for a bit, we continued on our way and headed back to the yurt. On the way down, we did run into one group of backpackers that were excited to hear they would be the only ones at the lake that evening.
After 15.5 miles of hiking, we were pretty sweaty and did a quick dunk in the small creek by the yurt (emphasis on dunk…the stream probably wasn’t more than a foot deep). We then hung out for the rest of the day, ate dinner, and headed to bed.
On the second morning, we decided we wanted to do a hike that required driving to it, so we ate breakfast and packed up our belongings in the morning and “checked out” of the yurt. To say the walk back without 3 extra gallons of water was much easier than the walk in is an understatement.
Our destination for this day was Snow Lake, also in the State Forest State Park. We parked at American Lakes trailhead and began the 4 mile one-way hike in to the lake. The scenery was beautiful and on our way in we passed Michigan Lakes, which were so pretty by themselves that we almost thought about stopping there instead of continuing to Snow Lake.
Ultimately, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see a high alpine lake so we made it up to the lake, and I’m glad we did. We sat down and had a snack and then headed back to the car.
Snack spot at Snow Lake
Hiking back down towards Michigan Lakes from Snow Lake.
What’s prettier? The views or the wildflowers?
On the way back, we saw 5 moose grazing in a willow area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many together and it was a nice treat to watch them from afar for a few minutes.
We made it back to the car without any other stops, packed up, and headed back home. I think we all were pretty ready for a hot shower. It was an awesome weekend full of beautiful views, high alpine lakes, and plenty of exercise. I don’t think this will be our last yurt trip. :)
