The self inflating pads are nice, but the foam pads are ok. (DH had one.) You need to worry more about the quality of your sleeping bag. Make sure it's rated for the colder temps. Back before we had kids, we used to camp in August right before Labor day weekend. I remember it getting down into the 30's at night. Bring lots of layers of clothes. So you can add more or take some off. We always brought fleece jackets and rain jackets to block the wind and rain. We left the heavy coats home.

The San Juan mountains are beautiful. Dh and I have driven through them and camped a few times at various places. We went through some of the more touristy places, but we got off the beaten path a lot too. We love to tour some of the old ghost towns. What areas are you going to?

Thanks... just want to make sure it works. Can't really test it out in 100 degree weather here... I guess, it'll still be good.. (i.e.-if I lay it down and don't feel the heat :).

I got good sleeping bags, ~0deg one, from last years winter trip. We camped at Grand Canyon during Christmas time... it was about 12F... yes, water freeze right in front of my eyes... it was an awsome experience.

I went up to San Juan's last year. We went through pretty much all the backcountry road between Lake City, Telluride, and Ouray. All the popular routes: Engineer Pass, Ophir Pass, Cinnamon Pass, Stony Pass, and Imogene Pass. We also stopped by Sand Dune and went up Medano Pass. It was a fun one-week vacation.

Well, this year, I got my family to go with me. I think I'm going to hit some of the popular trails again.
But my main objective is to climb 4 14ers in one week.
First three 14ers would be at San Juan - The triple combo - Handies Peak, Sunshine Peak, and Redcloud Peak... It'll test out my body.

The last one would be Mount Elbert...

I think this will be another good trip at Colorado.

We've been through Ouray and several of the passes you've mentioned. We were just back from a trip to the Great Sand Dunes last week. We may go up to Medano Pass next year if we think the kids can handle it. My oldest is 5 yo.

DH and I tried to climb Mt. Elbert about 8 years ago. Big mistake on our part. We were in physical shape for it, but weren't acclimated (sp?) to the altitude. We were living at 300 feet above sea level and tried to climb Elbert within the first 48 hours of getting there. We only made it about 3/4 of the way up. I was cramping on the way up and my knees went out on the way down. I was told I probably should have have eaten some Rolaids and drank more water to have prevented the cramping.

I'm not sure when you're going, but be prepared not to find a camp ground in the Elbert area. A lot of places we stayed at didn't take reservations. The area is swamped until the kids go back to school in august. DH and I did some primative camping, but it was nice to have a camp in a central area and do day trips from there. We camped down in the Buena Vista area, but moved around a lot.

Have fun on your trip!

Thanks for the advice.

I'm planing to do this in mid August 12-18...
Hopefully, people will die down.
I don;t think I will have problem with primitive camping.
Actually, I love to do primitive camping... I want to get away from people... as far away as possible. My 4x4 pathfinder should help me do this.

As far for body shape.... I think I'm in pretty good shape... Currently, training for marathon....
But I have high doubts on my brother and sister... Maybe I will be the only one to summit Elbert.

Hopefully, the first couple of days at higher altitude would help me get use to it... Dallas is relatively low... I hope my body can handle it well.

hello, new member here; just joined tonight! Like the different camping topics here!

I used to backpack when i was a bachelor and bought a Thermo-Rest self-inflating mattress. Have had it for going on 15 years now and it still works great. I'd recommend one of these to anyone. You can also blow it up yourself to save time and can adjust how firm you want it with the air valve .

I stayed in the Collegiate peaks region just west of buena vista in September 1992, with tons of yellow aspens in the area. We also visited Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park while out there (we live in Ohio). beautiful.

If anyone gets too sore from hiking, you need to try out the Mt. Princton hot springs. They have a couple of swimming pool areas where they pipe the hot water in and you can also go down to the creek and try out the spring there. They also have hot showers if you're needing one of those.