Prior to diving into the Mt. Massive hike I wanted to provide a quick introduction. This is a new territory for myself sharing. Yeah I know weird huh?A virgin to all social media services, I never had any desire to be part of the Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Snapchat experience. Not that I am a hipster who thought himself above or better than the individuals who connect or use these services.

Trip length 8.7 miles + (depends if you continue on to Iceberg Lakes over-look) Elevation gain 2,099 ft to Heart Lake James Peak Wilderness TIP: We set out to do the Iceberg Lakes hike, which includes Rogers Peak Lake and Heart Lake, however, due to inclement weather we stayed at the lake below Rogers Pass and the CDT (Rogers Pass Lake). By the time I got home Friday from work the crew of three was waiting for me: Mike, Sara, and her Pops.

For years now, Justin and I have complained to each other, after the fact of course, that we didn’t do a backpacking trip over the extended 4th of July weekend. Well, this year we decided to change that and really maximize the long weekend. After calling the ranger station in Silverton to get the latest scoop on the conditions, we decided on a 10 mile loop of the Highland Mary Lakes in the Weminuche Wilderness over Ice Lakes Basin due to the latter being mostly frozen still.

With only the bottom fifth of Colombia remaining there was still some adventures to be had in our favorite country. That is if Mitch’s bike (or heart) could handle another spontaneous combustion! Despite our explosive arrival, Popayan brought us some good fortune, and by good fortune we mean GOOD FOOD! From there it was VERY important that we head back north to Cali to experience the so called “Salsa Capital of the World”, the Pacifico Petronio Music Festival, and of course Kyle’s 30th birthday (like we needed an excuse to drink) before heading south to the border through Trampolin de la Muerte.