#TBT 

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Continuing with my 'throwback time' series of re-edit older videos, this is a fresh look at my second Colorado backpacking trip, the South San Juan Wilderness in July 2012, with my son, Christian, and our dog, Jaden.
I recently published a long-overdue video of our first Colorado backpacking trip, the 2011 Zirkel Wilderness trip, and though that trip was a bit of a disaster from a planning and logistics standpoint, it did provide us valuable lessons that made the 2012 Colorado trip much more successful. We ended up doing about 40 miles over 5-days with a two day side-trip to take in the summit of 13,150-foot Conejos Peak. Along the way we had an excellent off-trail, bushwhacking day on the Continental Divide plus more 'off-trail' hiking on the way to Conejos Peak. There was also fishing in Blue Lake and the usual amount of camp and campfire fun.
This video is a great example of our early 'learning' trips, in which there was every bit as much fun and excitement as actual backpacking knowledge (perhaps more!). I really enjoy watching these early trips because at this point we had never experienced any 'lessons' that teach you that things can actually go wrong on backpacking trips in the Rockies! The learning was coming at us in 'firehose' fashion at that point, and that knowledge paid off in a big way in all of our later trips. But on this trip we were both basically Colorado Rockies backpacking newbies.
This trip was a long time ago and I had forgotten what an incredibly beautiful and special place the South San Juan Wilderness is. It takes some work to get there, but after watching this video I'm guessing you might just give some thought to adding it to your trip 'bucket list'.
Equipment / Gear List:
Still and Video Camera: Nikon Z6 amzn.to/3dHJvni
Lens: Nikkor 24mm f1.8 Z-mount lens amzn.to/2QZqNOo
Tripod: Sirui T-025X carbon fiber tripod amzn.to/3bH3Rvg
Camera shoulder clip: Peak Designs Capture clip system amzn.to/2wRdusp
Video Editing Software: Vegas Pro 16 amzn.to/2X5dKyu
Pack: Zpack Arc Blast 52L (me), Exped Lightning 45 (Christian)
Tents: Nemo Meta2P, Zpacks Hexamid Solo-Plus
Sleeping Bag: Zpacks 20degF Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Pad: Therm-A-Rest NeoAir X-Therm amzn.to/2yjrUlj
Sleeping Pad: Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XLite amzn.to/39zju6v
Pillow: Exped Air Pillow UL amzn.to/2WYE5hZ
Stove: JetBoil Flash amzn.to/3azKRi7
Stove: MSR PocketRocket 2 amzn.to/3dPtOL5
Pot: MSR Titan titanium 0.9L kettle amzn.to/3bF1RDB
Headlamp: Black Diamond Spot amzn.to/2R0JvoW
Buff: Merino wool Buff amzn.to/3dCYHSC
Recharging Battery: Anker 3500mAH ‘lipstick’ charger amzn.to/2URI7G3
Camp Chair: Helonix Chair Zero amzn.to/2xzbwgh
Camp Shoes: Xero Shoes Z-Trek amzn.to/3bA3X7I
Wet Wipes: Survivorware Wet Wipes amzn.to/2JwbQ2e