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Author: Laura M Clark
Laura has summited over 500 peaks above 13,000' solo, including being the first woman to solo summit all of the Colorado 14ers, as well as the centennials. After each hike, she writes trip reports for each one and publishes them on her blog, which is read by fans all over the world. Author of Wild Wanderer: Summiting Colorado’s 200 Highest Peaks, which is available to purchase on Amazon.
It was COLD when we woke up this morning, but thankfully, the heater did it’s job.
However, unlike yesterday when I woke up and got up with my alarm, today I decided I needed another hour of sleep. So we didn’t make it to the trailhead until much later than we’d wanted (we got the last spot in the parking lot).
The trail was well marked and easy to follow. Every time there was an option (junction) we turned left, following the mountain and heading up.
We even encountered some nuns. At first I thought they were hikers dressed as the grim reaper (hey, it’s been going on with this whole Coronavirus thing). They told us to have a blessed day.
You hit a kind of saddle after 1.6 miles. Here’s a basic overview of the rest of the route
The tricky part is knowing when to veer off trail. After hiking for 2.1 miles along this trail you turn right and bushwhack northeast up the mountain, or use one of the several of available game trails. All are equally steep. We took a different one up and back so we’d have a couple of good gpx routes.
At the top you’ll come to a boulder, and yes, this boulder is the highpoint.
There’s a class 4 chimney you need to climb to get to the top (towards the left… the boulder on the right isn’t the summit).
Some people might consider this class 3, but to anyone under 6 feet I can assure you, it’s class 4 and requires commitment.
There was a summit register at the top with tons of cool stuff inside.
We headed back down a slightly different way to the main trail
And easily followed it back to the section 16 trailhead
Note: the elevation gain was constant and more difficult than anticipated, especially for such a short hike. Here’s my topo of the route:
Turns out this one’s illegal. We knew once we arrived at the trailhead and saw what was before us our chances of summiting were slim, but we decided to try it anyway.
The gate was unlocked so we passed through and started our way up the road. It was supposed to be a quick, 1 mile hike on a road and then a short distance to the summit. We walked about a third of a mile and turned right
And headed up a wide, rocky road
We had a great view of Big Bull, the mountain we’d just climbed a few minutes ago
As we were walking along the road we heard a loud rumbling and saw a dump truck the size of a house drive past us, full of rocks. We were on an active mine, and immediately began to worry we were going to get in trouble for being here. We saw a water truck drive by, and then after hiking along the road for eight tenths of a mile we saw a white pickup truck with lights coming towards us. We asked the man in the truck for directions to the summit, to which he very politely told us we weren’t allowed to hike here and asked us to turn around. He said we could try to summit another way, on the other side of the fence (but we knew that wasn’t possible because the fence went all around). He actually offered to drive us back to the gate, but we declined. He sat in his truck and watched us hike the entire way back. I’d wanted to take more pictures, but figured he wouldn’t appreciate my doing so.
We had a gpx file for this route, and that person either a) made the file on CalTopo and never actually hiked it, b) hiked it illegally, or c) somehow got permission. There are no trip reports on this hike with more information. I’m thinking b is the most likely option, but I’m not going to name names.
We made it back to my truck and pondered how we were ever going to hike this ranked summit? Legally that is. I’m sure this mine is operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There was a phone number listed on the gate. I’m going to try to call that number and get special permission to hike. I don’t have high hopes that will work, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.
RT Length: 2 miles
Elevation Gain: 828’
The start of this hike was a little fuzzy. I parked my truck at the dead end of Independence Avenue, near an old, boarded up house.
We started out by going through an unlocked gate and just heading up the mountain, hiking southeast. In fact, the entire hike to the summit you just need to continue heading southeast and you’ll make it there at about a mile’s distance.
There’s actually a drainage here that makes the path easy to follow
We headed up the mountainside through grass and into some aspens. Here we found a mule deer antler!
As we entered the pine trees the snow became thick and we needed to put on our snowshoes. I was glad we’d brought them, as from the truck the hike looked clear of snow.
The pine trees ended up becoming very thick with young growth. So thick it became difficult to find a hiking route.
Eventually the pine trees gave way to a flat ridge less dense with vegetation
We wanted to remember our exit point, so I brought out some of the surveying tape I’d pre-cut for just this purpose and we marked a tree
We followed the ridge east now until we came to a wide cairn.
It was difficult on this flat mesa to figure out where the true summit was, but we figured the cairn was a likely indication. There was no summit register, and we’d forgotten to bring one, so we just took a picture
And headed back the way we came
It was surprisingly easy to find our yellow marking tape, and from there we just followed our tracks in the snow back down (we removed the tape, as we didn’t think it would be useful to anyone else and were practicing leave no trace)
We made it out of the trees and back into the grass. From here we could see my truck, so it was an easy exit
I kept looking for another deer antler, but unfortunately didn’t come across one. This is the first deer antler I’ve ever found on a hike, and I do a lot of hikes!
This was a quick, 2 mile hike through some soft snow and densely wooded areas. Our third summit of the day, now we were off to attempt our fourth! Here’s a topo of the route:
*If you plan to do this hike, please get the appropriate permissions before potentially roaming onto private property.
I know these peaks are NOT named Covid and Corona, but they don’t actually have names, and these seemed appropriate. Also, I don’t expect these to become permanent names, as I know naming a peak is a process.
The story of these peaks actually begins a few months ago, when I ordered a topper for my truck. I ordered this topper weeks before the stay at home orders, but due to the Coronavirus scare it was slow to arrive. Very slow. Finally, this week it came in and I was able to have it put on. I spent the next few days sprucing it up, adding a mattress, blankets, pillows, and storage containers with necessities (food, cooking gear, toiletries, etc.). I added the curtains and lights. I was pleased with the setup.
We made it to the spot we planned to spend the night early, and had elk sausage and baked potatoes for dinner, heated over a fire.
We found a grub in some firewood. I wanted to eat it, but it slipped into the fire…
We cleaned up and waited for the sun to set. And waited. And waited. Steffen dug out some rhyolite rocks with my ice axe and I just relaxed and waited for the sun to set.
But it just didn’t seem to want to set! I wanted to see the city lights before going to bed. It took me way too long to realize we’d be getting up in the dark anyways, and I’d see them soon enough. I decided to err on the side of sleep and see them in the morning.
Lessons learned during the night:
• 4 blankets/sleeping bags aren’t enough for 25* weather
• Wear a hat and jacket and gloves to bed
• The metal on the side of the truck is cold
• Set out everything you need for the morning before you go to bed (clothes, food, toothbrush, etc)
OK, so it wasn’t as warm as I’d anticipated, but that’s why we were doing this the first time close to home, to figure this kind of stuff out.
My alarm went off at 4:30am and I didn’t want to get up. It had snowed a bit overnight. I wasn’t warm, but I didn’t want to give up the covers either. Eventually the need to pee won and I got up. We decided to drive to the trailhead with the heater running in the truck and warm up, then have breakfast/coffee in the truck before heading out for our hike. Oh, and the lights were indeed beautiful!
We made it to the Mason Reservoir trailhead, parked, and made breakfast. We were on the trail by 6:30am. To be fair, the drive took us over an hour (Old Stage Road is in need of repair!!!)
We did not head towards the reservoir but instead went west
Crossing a creek and heading up the mountainside to the ridge
In the beginning it looked like there might actually be a trail, but we soon lost it in the snow
At the ridge we turned right (north) and followed the ridge to the end
The snow ranged from non existent to several feet deep. We were able to get away without using snowshoes all the way to the peak
We just kept aiming north, towards the peak
The summit of the peak wasn’t obvious. There was no summit register or cairn or anything indicating we were at a summit. I figured that was because this peak was so obscure. So we decided to leave a summit register and name Peak 11,749 Covid Peak.
We left the summit register where someone would find it and were on our way
We followed the ridge northwest down, immediately needing snowshoes
The snow was very deep and we were both glad we’d decided to take this hike in a clockwise direction: this would not have been fun to hike up! At one point we saw a well defined (but old) trench that was pretty large and looked like a human trench but weaved through the trees without breaking any branches. We realized it must be a trench from a large animal (thinking mountain lion, not bear). This area was very steep
At the bottom of the ridge we came to a marshy area and headed east towards our next peak
The marshy area had what looked like water gates
We crossed a dirt road, and then just headed northwest up the ridge
Snowshoes were needed here. We came across some recent orange flags and figured they would lead us up the peak. They led us about ¾ of the way, and then disappeared
The actual summit of this mountain was difficult to surmise. We weren’t sure if it was on the north end or the south end of the mountain, as both points looked equal. We hiked all the way to the south end and found this rock.
It felt like the highest point, so we climbed on top and I took a reading with my altimeter. It’s a serious class 5 climb, and we used the tree as leverage to get to the top.
Then we hiked back to the north side (about 1/10th of a mile away) and I took another reading with my altimeter. This point was anticlimactic and measured 10 feet higher. I was kind of disappointed the summit didn’t require a class 5 move, but it made the summit more attainable for everyone. There wasn’t a summit marker/register/cairn, etc. so we made one, naming 11,510 Corona Peak.
We left the summit register in the middle of a pile of snow at what was the highpoint
Making this a loop we set out again towards the south side of the mountain, passing the large boulder and heading down the south ridge towards the reservoir.
We made it back to the road and followed it around the reservoir
We found a frozen drain and Steffen had fun trying to break the ice with my ice axe
The road was easy to follow
There was a major cornice forming off the reservoir
We made it back to my truck without incident and headed back down the mountain.
Here’s the topo:
Oh, and that truck that was off the side of the road last week? It’s still there…
We were now on our way to Cow Mountain. This took us further down Old Stage Road, and through a tunnel.
Unfortunately, we met up with some unanticipated locked gates and private property, so we had to change our plans. Scott’s Ranch blocked our drive with a locked gate. On the positive side, we saw a flock of turkeys
RT Length: 6.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2520’
Thinking this would be an easy hike I got up at 2am and worked out on the treadmill for a while before heading over to Steffens house at 4am. His truck is lifted and we wanted to see how it handled as compared to mine on the 4WD dirt road (pretty similar actually). We started from Frosty Park, the same place we began last week. Rain was predicted by 1pm so we wanted to be on the trail early. We started at 6am when it was just light enough not to need flashlights, crossing a fence and hiking east along a faint trail.
I was immediately a bit upset, as one of my microspikes had broken. I could still wear the spike, but the chain was loose and it made an irritating clanking sound every time my foot hit the ground. Mental note: get new spikes before my next hike.
We turned right onto trail 672 and began retrenching an old trench, following the mountainside and losing elevation as we went.
After 1.5 miles of hiking we turned right (south) onto 673 and encountered a lot of snow.
In some places an old trench was visible so we tried to follow that whenever possible, but at other times we just made a new trench. Snowshoes weren’t needed this early in the morning.
There was a windswept area
And then more snow.
Last time I summited Mt Rosa I summited from the south side (same trail at this point) but this time the trail wasn’t visible, so we just went straight up the north side of the mountain
The summit was windswept and clear.
We took a summit shot and stayed for a few minutes, since it was such a nice day
There was no summit register so we left one, and built up the summit cairn while we were at it.
Mt Rosa:
Heading back down was a breeze, as we just followed our previous tracks
Ok, time for the next peak. It takes so long to drive out here and the summits are so short it’s worth it to try to get multiple peaks in in a day. We drove back down 379, noticing there weren’t nearly as many people out as there had been last week. We only passed 1 vehicle, and last time we’d passed dozens.
Turned right onto Old Stage Road, we then followed the road for a few miles to 376, turned right again, and drove for 1.9 miles before parking on the side of the road.
We started out by bushwhacking east, following a gully up the mountainside.
This gully had more snow than we’d anticipated, so we stayed to the left of it. There was a little bit of snow here, and a lot of fallen trees.
We made it to about 10250’ and decided to cut across the mountain and head southeast towards the saddle. Once again, no trail, and lots of downed trees. We came across another gully that led towards the saddle and decided to mark our exit so we’d know how to make our way back. We found this cool root that looked like a bighorn sheep skull and used that to mark our place.
We continued east up the gully on what kind of looked like a trail
Things changed when we hit the saddle: snowshoes became necessary
We donned our snowshoes (thank you Steffen for fixing mine!) and started up the ridge that led to the summit.
The snow just seemed to get thicker and thicker the further we went, and several times I thought we’d need to turn back, but we just zig-zagged our tracks and kept pressing forward.
To the right of the snow is a rocky area. The summit is at the southwest point
And check this out: there was a summit marker AND two summit registers!
Unfortunately, the views of Pikes and Almagre were interrupted by trees
The clouds were forming quickly so we didn’t stay too long on the summit. The snow was helpful on our way back, as we just followed our tracks back to the saddle
And then we followed our makeshift bighorn sheep cairn across the mountainside and back down the gully. There was less snow here, and we were surprised every so often to find our tracks!
Following the first gully back down was easy: we just stayed to the right of the snow
This led us back to the road and Steffen’s truck.
Here are the topo maps for the hikes
Rosa:
Rain Benchmark:
I’m not quite sure on the time for this hike, and to be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention because about halfway back to Old Stage Road we were stopped due to a tow truck blocking the road.
We parked the truck and got out to see what was going on. Apparently someone was driving too fast on the dirt road last night; his truck launched and hit trees before going over the edge and landing in the creek. Check out how high those tree marks are!!! The driver was alone and miraculously unhurt. He spent the night in his vehicle and climbed for help this morning. We hadn’t come across him because we’d decided to hike Rosa first.
We sat and watched them try to remove the truck for about half an hour.
Eventually they decided their tow truck wasn’t large enough and they’d need to come back with a bigger vehicle. Stay safe out there driving my friends!
Oh, Old Stage Road, where the speed limit is 20mph but you can’t go above 5mph because the road is so full of potholes. Old Stage Road is a 2WD dirt road connecting Colorado Springs with Cripple Creek, and as of late is becoming increasingly difficult to drive. OK, not difficult if you drive slow, but then it takes forever! We made it to Old Stage Road at 5am and didn’t make it to the trailhead (Frosty Park) for over another hour. The last part (after turning onto 379) was very much 4WD, and fun to drive! There was snow and ice on the trail, and a few deep puddles to navigate.
Eventually I came to a place where there was a layer of snow/ice on the road that I didn’t want to navigate with my truck, so I parked a third of a mile before the trailhead and decided to walk the rest of the way. This was an easy walk along the 379 dirt road, and in fact, we stayed on 379 for 3.5 more miles
The road conditions varied greatly, but after the first mile snow was present along the entire route. The road followed the Ring the Peak Trail to Deer Park
At Deer Park we left the Ring the Peak trail and turned right onto 379A
We continued to follow the road, steadily gaining in elevation
Snowshoes would have been a good idea, but we were too stubborn to put them on.
After 5.25 miles we came to a locked gate and skirted around it
This brought us to the defunct Stratton Reservoir.
It’s hard to imagine this reservoir ever held much water. Almagre is to the north of the reservoir. Here’s the path we took
Stopping to get a shadowselfie on the reservoir
Following the road up to the saddle
And then heading northwest to the summit
There was a lot of wind here, and firm snow we were able to easily navigate with just microspikes
We summited at 9:40am to quite a bit of wind
There was no summit register, so we decided to leave one we’d brought, crouching down behind the solar panels to get out of the wind
The wind was a bitter cold so we didn’t stay long on the summit. We made our way back to the saddle
And got a good view of South Almagre Mountain (the microwave towers)
We headed back the way we came
And only stopped for a bit to re-apply sunscreen. Then we were starting the ascent of South Almagre. While we simply followed the road, the road was covered in snow/ice and was a bit tricky in places. I went first to kick in steps
The road didn’t look passable after the first set of switchbacks, so we decided to just head up this wall of snow and straight towards the microwave towers
As we neared the towers we heard talking, which was confusing since we’d made our own tracks and hadn’t seen anyone all day. Turns out there were some workers up in the towers adding connectivity and network bandwith due to increased demand during the Coronavirus.
They’d tried to take the road we hiked in but their vehicle wouldn’t make it, so they instead turned around and hiked in from Elk Park. This is the initial way I’d summited Almagre a few years ago.
Being at the top of South Almagre we weren’t sure if we were indeed at the highpoint. Looking directly east seemed to be just as high (or higher) than the point we were at now, so we decided to traverse over to this pile of rocks
While it was fun scrambling, our altimeter showed this area was actually 10 feet lower than the towers had been.
Satisfied, we decided to head back, following the route we’d come in
The snow section below the towers was a little steep, but we’d done a good job kicking in steps
We followed the road back to the gate
And with the increased temperatures were a little worried about avalanche danger here
We gingerly crossed this area, and as soon as we were confident we were out of avalanche danger we put on our snowshoes for the long slog back down through snow, ice, and mud.
The snow on the roads was now mush, and once we got further down we started seeing tire tracks
And more and more and more vehicles. I started to get worried we wouldn’t be able to drive out on this road because so many people were driving in.
We made it back to the truck at 2:30pm, making this a 14.5 mile hike with 2936’ of elevation gain in 8 hours. I have to say, the hike felt shorter with more elevation gain, but that may be because I was tired from my hike the day before.
I decided to follow a few vehicles back to Old Stage Road, and this ended up being a fabulous idea: There were dozens of vehicles in the half mile back to the road all trying to go the opposite way. I applaud them for social distancing and still getting outdoors!
RT Length: 9.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 4600’
After binge watching Stranger Things this week I was a little worried about hiking alone for miles in the dark but decided to go for it anyway. It was snowing at the trailhead but I could see stars in the sky so I figured the snow wouldn’t last long. I arrived at the trailhead at 5:15am and was on the trail by 5:30am. The parking lot was empty when I arrived (two other vehicles were there when I got back.
It was apparent after the first 20 feet or so I wasn’t going to be spooked hiking solo in the dark. I’ve done this hundreds of times before and still felt comfortable. In fact, I was a little upset I hadn’t started earlier. From the parking area I walked west to the Rainbow Trail
At the Rainbow Trail I turned right and headed northwest for 8/10 of a mile
The trail here was covered in fallen trees and snow, but was still manageable
I crossed dry creek (yes, it was dry) and continued to just past a meadow,
before turning left onto an unnamed trail that would lead me to the summit of Horn Peak.
Right about now the sun was starting to rise, and I got my only scare of the day: I heard a strange noise coming from behind me to the left and jumped a bit before realizing it was a turkey gobbling. Must have been because day was breaking. I saw some turkey tracks here too
I followed this new trail southwest to a trail register
Signed the register and was on my way. The trail was easy to follow, but kept going up, up, up for about a mile and a half
The snow here was soft, and I could tell I’d need my snowshoes on my return. I got my first view of Horn Peak and saw it had a light dusting of snow
I was able to wear microspikes until I came to the gully that crosses over from one side of the mountain to the other. Here I donned my snowshoes to traverse the small gully. I’m not sure I could have made it without them
Once past the gully the trail conditions kept changing. The trail could be dry, covered in snow, or a mixture of both. I kept my snowshoes on, even when unnecessary.
I made it to the ridge after hiking 3.3 miles
Here I turned left and followed the ridge to treeline.
I saw 5 or 6 ptarmigans and some ptarmigan tracks. The birds were quick to fly away when I startled them, so no pictures of the actual birds. I was surprised the ptarmigans were already brown, figuring they’d still be in their winter whites
There was an old trench I re-trenched to treeline, which was slow going but it was nice not to need to route find.
At treeline I stopped to take off my snowshoes, as I could see they wouldn’t be needed for the rest of the hike to the summit. Here’s the route I took to point 12665
It’s actually much steeper than it looks
Once at point 12665 I turned left and started hiking the rest of the ridge to the summit
About halfway along this ridge I saw some bighorn sheep. I noticed them before they saw me, so I got to see them startle when they saw me. They jumped a bit, and then walked away. Here’s one of the younger ones
Bighorn Sheep
At about this time I started keeping a close eye on the weather. Clouds were forming around 13K. Not big clouds, but it was supposed to snow after 3pm and the clouds seemed to be forming pretty fast. It was neat to be eye level with them
The ridge was full of loose rocks the size of toaster ovens so I was careful with my foot placement
In no time at all I found myself at the summit!
Here I saw the Bighorn Sheep again
The views of the Crestones were absolutely amazing!!!
Here’s my summit photo
Summit Views
I wanted to stay on the summit forever! There was no wind, the weather was perfect, and the views were amazing. It wasn’t lost on me how lucky I was to be here right now. But, watching the clouds forming I realized I should get going, so I turned to head back down the mountain
Here’s the route I took back down the ridge
Point 12665
And the ridge back to treeline
I could see a small grass fire starting in the distance. I think they put it out quickly because I saw a fire engine leaving the site on my way back
Once back below treeline I put on my snowshoes. The snow was indeed soft and progress was slow going as I kept postholing in slush. On the positive side I could follow my previous tracks when there was snow, and the trail when there wasn’t
I kept watching as the sky kept getting darker and darker, and then as little snow flurries began to fall. Hmmmm. It wasn’t yet 1pm and it wasn’t supposed to snow until after 3pm. I was glad I’d left the summit when I did, as it was now covered in snow filled clouds. I made my way back to the trail register and signed myself out. Then headed right (southeast) on the Rainbow Trail
I made it back to my truck at 1:30pm, making this a 9.5 mile hike with 4600’ of elevation gain in 8 hours. Slow going, I know, but that’s a lot of elevation gain for such a short distance!
For those interested, here’s the path I took
Disclaimer: Due to Covid-19 concerns, before attempting this hike I contacted the County Sheriffs department to see if I could hike in the area. In fact, I contacted several different counties, and when they told me their trails/cities were closed I just went on down the line, looking for an open place to hike. I was told by this county the trails and trailheads were open but they weren’t openly endorsing/encouraging people to hike. I was asked to not stop in town for gas/food/etc. and was notified the bathrooms would be locked (as they usually are this time of year) and if I was in need of rescue it would take extra time for SAR to be deployed. I was ok with all of these stipulations and decided to hike. I didn’t see another person all day and was glad I’d made the decision to head to the high country.
RT Length: 12.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 4220’
Partner: Steffen
Third time’s a charm! For so many reasons…
I’ve attempted this peak on 2 other occasions. One time a few years ago I thought I’d summited (more on that later) and last week I turned around due to deteriorating snow conditions. Today I’m glad to say I had a successful summit!
I drove to Steffen’s house at 4:30am and we made it to the North Cheyenne Mountain gate by 5am, but unfortunately, the gate was locked. I guess it didn’t open until 6am? Oh well, we had a plan B, so we drive down Old Stage road for about 45 minutes, intent on Frosty’s Park and hiking Mt Rosa or Almaghre (or both). About 5 minutes from making it to the trailhead Steffen realized he’d forgotten his hiking boots. Drat! We would have to drive back and get them. As I said, third times a charm, and we arrived at the (now open) North Cheyenne Canyon Trailhead at 7am and were on the trail by 7:20am. It was already light out and I had serious doubts we’d summit today due to warm snow, but at least we’d get in a good hike.
We wore our microspikes the entire way, even though they weren’t always needed. I’ve done this hike several times, so I won’t go into a detailed description of the route to Loud’s Cabin, but you can find it here
I basically took the 7 Bridges Trail (622) to 677 to 622A to Loud’s Cabin. Here are the pictures:
Along the way we saw some curious tracks in the snow. They were about 5-6 inches long and distanced about a foot to a foot and a half apart. It took us a while to figure out they were turkey tracks. It would have been much cooler had they been emu or velociraptor tracks or something, as they seemed too big to be turkey tracks…
Once at Loud’s Cabin things once again got tricky. I’d made a GPX file from CalTopo with the way we were supposed to go, but the trails were no longer there. We decided to ascend the hill above the cabin and head west. It became apparent almost immediately we were on the wrong ‘trail’ but we were on a trail and headed in the right direction and felt committed… until it ended.
I noticed a few cairns so we followed them for a bit until they ended as well. I’m guessing the cairns were indicating an alternate route up Mt Garfield.
We weren’t interested in hiking Mt Garfield today, so we left the cairns and aimed northwest along the side of the mountain, making our own trail as we went. This included some fun scrambling over rocks and fallen logs. Be careful: those rocks and logs move!
Also, here we saw the first near tracks of the season! I’m thinking mama and cub
We had great views of Tuckaway when the trees cleared (which wasn’t that often). The frustrating part? We didn’t seem to be getting any closer. In fact, it felt like the mountain was always in the same place (well, it was, but we weren’t making much progress).
This was our view of Tuckaway most of the time
Finally we made it to the top of a rock formation at about 10,400’
Here’s the view looking back at the way we’d circled Mt Garfield
And a look at the route before us towards Tuckaway
There were tons of ways we could have traversed over to Tuckaway, and we actually went back and forth while we were hiking as to the best way: there’s snow you cannot see in a lot of areas that would make certain routes lousy. We’d initially wanted to just hike across the ridge, but instead this is the path we took:
I got a picture because the view was great
And we were off, deciding to initially descend this spot to the north (where we came across a mine not listed on the map), and then head west down some snow covered boulders. The scree here was really soft and felt a bit like quicksand.
There are no great pictures here, as we were just in the trees headed towards the saddle just before Tuckaway. When we reached the saddle it was time to don our snowshoes. We trenched a trail from the saddle to the west and came across my tracks from last week.
My tracks eventually ended and we had a time sinking up to our waist in the soft snow, but we were stubborn and took turns trenching: we could see the blue skies above indicating a ridge and were determined to summit today
We made it to the ridge and to our immediate left was a cairn. This is where I’d stopped a few years ago, thinking this must be the summit (cairns like this usually indicate a summit).
It certainly looked/felt like the summit, and indeed, from here you cannot see a higher spot. However, I’d had someone (not so nicely) comment on my blog that I hadn’t reached the true summit; that it was in fact further to the west. So today I was here (again) to see if he was right. We decided to follow the ridge west, through several feet of snow (I love snowshoes!!!) gaining and losing elevation as we went.
After about 2/10ths of a mile we came to a point I wasn’t convinced was higher than where we’d been before but was definitely the spot I’d seen in other one person’s picture as the summit. There was no summit register here either and no cairn indicating a summit.
We decided to climb the rock, which took careful footing and a leap of faith. Here’s Steffen heading back
Here is my summit photo
And some of the amazing views from on top of the rock
We took a summit selfie
And I got another shot of the way back down
Side note: As I said earlier, I wasn’t convinced this point was any higher than the point we were at before, so once I got home I put the route up on CalTopo. It showed the second point was indeed 3 feet higher than the first, but I hadn’t climbed to the top of the first rock like I had the second. In other words, I think both places are of similar height, and in fact, while the rock was difficult to climb I’d say the route I took the first time was more challenging than the one I took today. In any event, either way, we summited because we made it to both points. I think either point should count on its own.
We decided to descend the way I’d trekked last week, and followed our snow tracks to the saddle
And back down the gully to the trail I took last time.
What’s frustrating here is the trail that’s on ALL the maps, GPX files, etc. is a trail the forest service doesn’t want you to take. They’ve made it extremely difficult to follow because they don’t want people hiking there. They’ve essentially tried to close this trial.
I totally get this, but the problem is they haven’t established new trails/produced proper GPX files, etc. of new routes. This is the best they give, which is a poor excuse for a map and doesn’t include topographic features or mountain names. It’s like they want you to get lost
I’ve been in this area several times and their new trails are terrible and are meant for dirt bikes, not hikers. It’s really frustrating: I’d set out today to follow proper (new) trails and provide a GPX file for others interested but was unable to do so due to lack of information. In my topo picture at the end it shows I followed the trail on my return, but that’s the one they’ve blocked off, so it isn’t actually a trail. IT was however, my safest option.
We encountered a lot of snow on the trail on the way back, and instead of complaining about how we kept on postholing we decided to make it fun. Here’s Steffen trying to get across the snow without sinking by running fast (spoiler alert: that doesn’t work)
We made it back to just below Loud’s Cabin, linked back up with Trail 667, and followed it back to the parking lot
We were surprised to find when we made it back to the lot that it was overflowing with cars!
What was disturbing was about a third of these vehicles were from out of state. We’re supposed to be staying home and hiking only in our respective county, and I’m doing my best to abide by those rules (before they get worse). It was extremely frustrating to see so many out of state cars, and they just kept going and going and going: the lot was overflowing and cars were parked along the side of the road for miles as we exited. There were more cars here than I’ve ever seen in the summer. It must be Spring Break in other states and they’ve decided to still take their vacations.
We made it back to the truck at 3:30pm, making this a 12.5 mile hike with 4220’ of elevation gain in about 8 hours. It was a perfect day to go hiking!!! I’m so glad we got out and got some fresh air!
It doesn’t look like much, it’s always windy and it’s in the middle of nowhere, but this is a fun and easy family hike. Rebecca is a night owl, which means she sleeps in every morning. Today I woke her up at 2pm (yes, 2pm) to go hiking with us. She was grumpy and didn’t want to go, but I promised her she’d feel better once she was outside.
When we got there the parking lot was full so we had to park on the side of the road. No worries about social distancing though, as the trails are wide and even with a full lot we only passed people a handful of times.
The goal today wasn’t to get in mileage or elevation gain, but to just get outside. You aren’t supposed to scramble on the rock formations (to preserve them) so here are some highlights we were able to get without damaging the structures:
And some pictures of the landscape
We got in about 2.5 miles of walking and 300’ of elevation gain. Oh, and it took about half an hour of hiking, but eventually Rebeca’s sour mood turned upside down and she enjoyed herself!
Afterwards we went to Big R looking for chicks, but they were out (and so is everyone else). So we drove home and I sent the girls to Raising Cane’s for dinner while Steffan and I put the skid rack back on my truck: The girls love Sweet Tea and I’d never had their food before, so it was a win/win.
Rt Length: 10 miles
Elevation Gain: 3499’
Partner: Steffen
Winter and spring summits tend to be all about being flexible: snow is usually present but the ability to hike through it is unpredictable. We started out wanting to hike some highpoints along Rampart Range Road, but when we got to the road it was closed (but looked to be in great shape, so I’m not sure why it wasn’t open?). So we sat in the truck for a bit, trying to decide where to go. We had chosen these peaks today because Steffen’s knees were hurting him and he was looking to hike something short. The only other peaks I’d done any research on in the area were Sheep and Mary’s, so we decided to go there. Please note, I hadn’t done much research on them, but I had a map…
We parked at the Barr Trail Parking lot as all the other parking lots in the area are closed due to the Coronavirus. We were the only vehicle in the lot when we arrived, but when we got back there were a few more cars.
I paid the $10 to park and we were off
We backtracked down Hydro Drive to Ruxton and followed Ruxton west
Crossed a small bridge over Ruxton Creek
And made our way up to the cog railway tracks (which are gone now because they’re re-doing the tracks/cog/cars).
Signs told us we were on National Forest Land
We followed the tracks for 3 miles. Let me tell you, this is much, much steeper than it looks! I kept expecting the road to even out a bit, but it just kept getting steeper and steeper. There were some neat waterfalls and rock formations to see along the way
They also have materials to start setting new tracks
After 3 miles we were supposed to turn left to head up the side of Sheep Mountain, but the snow here was several feet deep and Steffen didn’t have his snowshoes. We considered continuing up the cog tracks but there was a “no trespassing” sign and even though the cog is obviously not running it seemed a bad idea to continue hiking on private property. So I got out my Pikes Peak Atlas and noticed we were at the junction to 706, what looked to be an ATV route. It looked like it would eventually hook up with Barr Trail, so here we turned right and followed the trail.
We hiked across a bridge carrying a water pipe over Cabin Creek that kind of freaked Steffen out a little (he’s not too fond of heights)
And continued following the trail around the mountainside.
It was a nice path, and there were several places along the way I thought would be great backpacking spots (I can see hanging a hammock here for the night)
The trail eventually led us to the Barr Trail, where it intersects just past the Experimental Forest, and right where I distributed flower seeds in memory of my Granny a few years ago.
We turned right (east) and followed the trail to the Experimental Forest Junction.
At the junction we decided to summit Mt Manitou today, just to say we’d summited something. So here we turned left and followed the road north, past the Experimental Forest
And up the road to its highest point, where we left the road and headed north to the summit of Mt Manitou.
It was rockier than I’d remembered, and further from the trail, but an easy trek. The views of Pikes Peak are wonderful!
Oh, this is the ‘summit’ of Mt Manitou
It was windy so we headed back to Barr Trail and followed it for 3 miles back to the parking lot. It ended up being a good hike, with decent mileage and elevation gain. As an added bonus, I found a way to connect the Barr Trail with the cog. I filed that information away for later use.
As we were getting ready to head home we had a squirrel come up to the door of my truck. It moved back and forth a few times and looked like it wanted to jump into my truck. I’m guessing he was hungry: he stole one of my Do-si-do Girl Scout Cookies!
This little guy obviously didn’t understand social distancing so I closed my door and we drove away. I didn’t want to take a squirrel home with me!
Here’s the route we took today
Wild Wanderer 