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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.
Note, my successful climb of Tuckaway can be found here.
This whole Coronavirus thing is crazy, and it’s driving me crazy. Half the states are closed to outdoor recreation, with the other half open. Our county is open for hikers (with restrictions to social distance), others in the state are closed (and there seems to be no consistency) so I chose to social distance close to home today, getting in 14 miles and 4300’ of elevation gain on a trail that hasn’t been used much, if at all this winter. I didn’t pass a single person all day.
My intent was to hike Tuckaway Mountain. It’s located off North Cheyenne Canyon well off the beaten path but at a popular trailhead. I arrived at the trailhead at 6am, the first vehicle in the lot. Right behind me was a car full of runners: they parked and immediately started running down the trail. I envied them their lack of gear.
I’ve explained this hike several times so I’ll just paraphrase: I took the Seven Falls Trail (622) to the junction with 677 and then 622A to Loud’s Cabin. This part of the trail was snow free but I wore microspikes because there was ice in areas.
Once at Loud’s Cabin the trail ended, but it wasn’t supposed to. I ended up backtracking a bit and finally finding a trail! The only problem? They obviously didn’t want anyone using this trail.
Hmmmm. In the past few years they’ve done a lot of re-routing trails here. This must be one of the ones they closed off. I knew which direction I was supposed to go, so I decided to leave the old trail and bushwhack my way towards another trail I was sure would be ahead of me.
After crossing a stream
I just aimed west, keeping the snow filled gully to my left.
I hiked like this for about 2 miles, until guess what? I found a trail! It was obvious this trail hasn’t been used all winter.
I followed it north and held out as long as I could before putting snowshoes on
Just as soon as I put on the snowshoes, the snow stopped. I found myself at another gully, and this time followed it up to the saddle. This part reminded me a lot of Mt Garfield, and there wasn’t a trail.
Once at the small saddle I turned left (west) and once again donned my snowshoes.
After about 200 feet of snowshoeing I could tell I was very close to the summit, but unfortunately the snow became impassable in snowshoes (I could have done it in skis). Every step I took I sank up to my waist. The snow was just too sugary and warm for snowshoes to be effective. Maybe if I’d started earlier in the day the snow would have been more firm?
I turned around a couple hundred feet from the summit. This was my second attempt of this peak (I thought I’d summited the first time but was told the summit was actually 50 feet more to the north, so I wanted to go back and see for myself/hit the true summit). I wasn’t that upset about turning back because I was really proud of all the route finding I’d done. Also, I have a friend who wants to hike this mountain with me, so I knew I’d be back no matter what. Now I just have more accurate route information.
From here I could see my path back down the canyon. Yep, I now know these hills like the back of my hand. Who needs a map?
I made my way back down the gully to the trail, and followed my footsteps back
To where I’d written I the snow where I’d bushwhacked in from so I knew how to get back
Back down the mountain I went, keeping the snow to my right this time
I was thrilled when I made it back to Loud’s Cabin. This had been a great day! This is also where I got the idea to summit Mt Kineo, just to say I’d summited something today. I’ve summited Mt Kineo several times, and it isn’t a difficult summit. I didn’t need a map or directions to get there. I hiked back to the 677/622 Junction and left the trail to hike up the Kineo mountainside
At the false summit I had a pretty good view of Tuckaway Mountain (the mountain I’d attempted that morning). It didn’t look snow-filled, even though it had been.
There was actually more of a trail this time up the mountain than I’ve ever seen. The first time I hiked here there was no trail, but now it’s a clear path.
The views from Kineo don’t disappoint!
The hike back was uneventful. It was weird not seeing anyone on this part of the trail: the last 1.5 miles is usually teeming with people
I made it back to my truck and the lot was about halfway full. I was glad people were getting out and enjoying the sunshine while they can. The cool thing about our trails being open is they self-regulate. There are only so many parking spaces at the trailheads so only so many people can be allowed in.
Here’s a copy of my track
The day before we got the stay at home orders from the Colorado Governor, I took a couple of my Girl Scouts to local grocery stores to deliver Girl Scout Cookies. The idea was to leave cookies in the break room to thank employees for dealing with cranky customers and keeping the shelves stocked.
We went to all the stores what allowed our girls to sell cookies, as well as the two Costco’s in town; my mom works for a Costco in California and said they would love it if we left them cookies. I have to say, the Costco employees gave us the warmest response! Two of the Walmarts we visited couldn’t take the cookies (but the other 7 could). Since a few of the Walmarts said ‘no’ we stopped by one of the girls’ favorite Safeway and gave some to their employees. We also passed some cookies out to firefighters at the store buying food and some people experiencing homelessness downtown.
Next we headed to a local truck stop to deliver cookies to truck drivers. Lots of hand sanitizer and social distancing was applied. Most of the truckers were sleeping in their cabs, so we just left cookies on their stairs with notes.
It was a well spent afternoon and when we were done the girls were happy with what they did. In the next few days the outpouring of gratitude from the truck drivers was amazing! Many found us on social media and posted ‘Thank-yous’ to my girls. We felt kind of weird getting thank-yous because we wanted to thank them, but it was great seeing the girls faces light up as I read them the responses. Have you thanked a truck driver (or other essential employee) today?
I took the girls to Red Rocks today to get out side. While they are fond of staying inside and playing on their phones (etc.) I suspect they’re beginning to get a bit of cabin fever. The parking lot was full when we arrived, but the nice thing about trailheads is once the parking lot is full, no one else can enter, so social distancing takes care of itself. There were signs asking people to practice social distancing
Because of where we ended up parking we decided to do the loop backwards, starting instead by the pond.
We continued past all the rock climbers and did a bit of scrambling ourselves.
I took the girls to see the landfill. I’d never really mentioned it to them before and they were curious as to why the city would pick it’s most beautiful location to dispose of trash, but on the bright side it looks like they’re trying to clean it up.
Next we hiked up the quarry
and then made our way back to the truck. There were a lot of people on the trails today but social distancing was no problem at all with the wide trails and lots of open space. I think we need to make hiking as a family a bi-weekly thing as long as we’re still allowed to be outside… I fear it won’t be long before our parks and open spaces are closed as well, which is truly a shame because it’s how I keep my mental and physical health…
We got in about 3 miles and 750′ of elevation gain in today.
4861’ – Spruce Knob, West Virginia
3662’ – Backbone Mountain, West Virginia
3360’ – Hoye Crest, Maryland
3213’ – Mt Davis, Pennsylvania
445’ – Ebright Azimuth, Delaware
415’ – Point Reno, Washington DC
It’s been a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out hiking. I’ve had several failed attempts (due to the partner I was with or the forecast conditions being off… and one failed summit was due to an area that had too much avalanche activity for me to feel safe).
This trip had been planned for a while; we were going to arrive 2 days before the conference, drive around and hit a bunch of highpoints before the conference began, and then during the day I’d be at work and Steffen would see Washington DC (I’ve been there several times and didn’t feel I’d be missing out). At the last minute my organization cancelled the conference due to the Coronavirus.
I cancelled our flights, and as I was doing so Steffen asked what the cost was now that everyone was cancelling. Hmmmm. I looked it up: $45 to fly to Washington DC. We were intrigued. I’ve never seen a fare to Washington DC so low, especially during the Cherry Blossom Festival and Spring Break. We discussed the pros and cons of travelling right now. To be fair, there were a lot more cons than pros. We figured the plane would be pretty empty, and I checked out DIA’s policies and changes due to the Coronavirus. My main concern was social distancing and not interacting with other people. In the end we decided to book the flights, but not a hotel room: We’d rent a car and drive and sleep in the car, limiting our exposure to others.
Our flight left at 5am from Denver. Side note: on our way up to DIA someone was stalled in the right lane in the GAP project, and I was very, very close to hitting them. In my defense it was dark and there are no lights in this section, but it was super scary to be inches from hitting him, and the same with the semi behind me.
We parked at The Parking Spot and took the shuttle to DIA. We were the only ones on the shuttle except for the driver. She was very nice so I double tipped her (I’m sure she relies on tips and the lack of travelers must be hitting her hard). The airport was almost empty. There was no one in line at security and we breezed right through. Everyone was practicing social distancing, from standing in line waiting for the trains to sitting in chairs at the terminals.
There were only 15 people on our plane, so social distancing here was pretty easy.
The flight attendants were overly nice and kept asking us if we needed anything. They were only allowed to give out water and snacks (no other beverages) and the water came in a can? The pilot came on and thanked us all for flying, and asked us to let our friends know they’re still open.
Social distancing was again easy as the shuttle driver left as soon as we boarded so we were the only ones on the shuttle. So far, this trip was a total social distancing success! We picked up our rental car after a slight mishap (we took one in row 2 instead of row 3 and had to return it). It had a bunch of bird droppings on the side and it smelled a little like cigarette smoke, but we were ready to roll!
Our first stop? Walmart to pick up food so we wouldn’t need to go inside gas stations, etc. We were taken aback at how fully stocked the shelves were and how no one seemed too concerned about things like toilet paper. Wow! Nothing like Colorado Springs, where we’re all out!
Peanut butter, jelly, cheese and crackers later we were finally ready to start highpointing. Our first stop was Spruce Knob, West Virginia. This was an easy drive up to the trailhead on a paved road
Even the cars were social distancing
We hiked less than a quarter of a mile on a well maintained dirt path to a tower.
We didn’t see a summit marker, so we decided to climb the tower. No summit marker there either, but it sure was windy!
We headed back down and searched for a bit and finally found the summit marker (in the dirt)
We hiked back to the car and were on our way to the next highpoint: Backbone Mountain. Turns out we had directions to the WRONG Backbone Mountain, but it was still a highpoint (in West Virginia, not Maryland). We drove up a sketchy road littered with fallen trees
And parked at this abandoned building.
We went around this fence
This is what the summit looked like
Can you believe it? We actually found a summit marker at this place!
But it clearly wasn’t the right one. I pulled up my Peakbagger app and realized we were almost 8 miles away from the correct Backbone Mountain (this was Backbone Mountain WV, not MD), so we got back in the car and drove north.
We were unable to locate the correct trailhead, so we decided to hike the dirt road… until it passed right through some houses where people were eating their dinner and could obviously see our flashlights out their windows. This was private property and we were obviously trespassing so we retreated back to the car.
We sat there and pulled up a GPS track from AllTrails and saw we were close to the actual trail, about a quarter mile or so. So we decided to bushwhack through the trees until we made it to the trail
Success! Once on the trail is was an easy trek to the highpoint
We weren’t able to find the summit marker, but it was obvious we were there
Steffen signed the trail register and we were off, bushwhacking again through the forest.
All I could think about were ticks: we were not following a trail and were constantly pushing branches (etc) away from us as we went. I just kept telling myself it was too early for them to be out. Right? I should probably be more concerned about Poison Oak/Ivy…
Next up was the Pennsylvania Highpoint. This one took us through Amish Country. We could tell because the houses had no lights and there was laundry hanging from the front porches. Tons of laundry, and all white. We drove in and out of the fog to a parking lot with this sign
It was colder than we’d anticipated, so after parking we quickly followed the trail about a quarter mile to the overlook, which we assumed was the highpoint.
We climbed up and down the frozen metal, realized there was no view at night and started looking for a summit marker. We found plaques and a highpointing bench
And eventually realized the summit marker was on top of this rock
I climbed on top and got a picture for good measure, and we booked it back in the cold to the car.
When we got there my phone dinged and I had a message from the airline, telling me our flight was cancelled and to rebook. Argh! I called and my wait time was about 2 hours to speak with a representative, so we went online and found another flight. It left earlier than we wanted but it was a flight home, and we figured that should be our first priority at this point. We did some math and realized we no longer had time to hit the New Jersey Highpoint, but we could still drive to the Delaware one.
So we did, and it was quite anticlimactic:
It looked like they cut out the sidewalk for the marker. To be fair, it’s a pretty low highpoint… 455’
Next we were off to Point Reno. I’ve already been to this one so I knew exactly where to look for the summit marker (it’s a bit hidden, sandwiched between a middle and high school)
What to do now? Our flight didn’t leave until 4pm and it was only 7am. We decided to go find some coffee. I had several Starbucks cards with me I intended to use. However, when we got there we discovered they were closed. Bummer!
Steffen had never been to Washington DC before, so I decided to be his tour guide. I’ve been here many times and took him to all the best sites. There were tons of people outside, all social distancing together. I LOVE when the cherry blossoms are in bloom (I even bought a cherry tree and pink magnolia once to remind me of them) and I was so glad he got to experience this. Here are some highlights:
When our touring was done we were tired, so we drove to a Walmart parking lot and decided to get a few hours sleep before our flight. Note: at this Walmart everyone was wearing masks, and not surgical masks, but full on gas masks. It seemed a bit overkill. I set my alarm for right before we needed to leave for the airport and we both fell asleep in the front seats of the car. When my alarm went off I glanced at my phone and noticed I’d received a notification 20 minutes ago stating our flight was cancelled. Oh no! Time for damage control! Steffen drove me to the (abandoned) airport and I went straight to the ticket counter. Now I was worried we weren’t going to get a flight home, since they kept cancelling them. (No worries seriously though: we had a rental car and could have driven home if necessary). I politely asked what we should do, and was informed since we were at an international airport and international flights had been cancelled our best option was to go through Regan National instead. He booked us a flight leaving at 5:20pm out of Reagan, and gave us each $200 vouchers to use at a later date. Nice! That’s more than we spend on this entire trip! We drove to Regan National, returned the rental car (and gave the lady checking us in a box of Girl Scout cookies). There were more people here than at Dulles, but it was still pretty sparse, and everyone was maintaining proper distance. Even the restaurants only let people sit at every 4th seat.
We once again got canned water and snacks on this flight, which brought us to Houston. There was a restaurant open in the terminal and we were starving so we decided to check it out: Papas Burgers. They were also expensive so we shared a burger and fries (this worked since I really only wanted the fries and Steffen didn’t want fries). Steffen insisted I try the burger, and let me tell you: this was the best hamburger I’ve ever had! The fries were pretty amazing too. They maintained social distance here as well, closing the restaurant once 1/3 of the seats were full so we could all maintain social distance.
We breathed a sigh of relief when we took off towards Denver. Once again we had canned water and snacks, and this time got to watch a thunderstorm from our seats!
Ok, gross alert: halfway back to Denver I felt a bump on my neck. I was worried it was a new mole (this is valid, as I’m quite moley) and pulled at it. It didn’t budge, so I dug my nails in and pulled harder. It came out, and what I expected to be a mole ended up being a tick! Yuck! I’m pretty sure I got it while we were bushwhacking though the woods of Maryland/West Virginia. I was not happy with this, but I was glad I’d gotten it out. Now I just need to wait a few days for the head to come out…
In the end, I’m very, very glad we took this trip. I don’t plan on travelling again until this whole Coronavirus thing blows over, but I have no regrets, and I’m really glad we decided to go anyway while doing our best to stay safe.
I’ve already summited Mt Bierstadt in winter, so I’ll just post a few highlights. It was cold and windy and beautiful and I was the only one on the mountain that day, practicing social distancing the best way I know how!
I absolutely needed to get above treeline today: the past few weeks has been a whirlwind cookie season, limiting my availability to hike, and the weather hasn’t been cooperating on the days I’ve had available so I’ve been highpointing instead closer to home. Also, today is a leap day and I’ve never had a leap day summit. So I did what I always do and checked the weather forecast for about 10 peaks and chose the one with the best forecast.
The road to St Elmo is mostly dirt and (thankfully) well plowed. A 2WD vehicle could easily have made it to the trailhead.
I arrived around 4:30am and drove through town looking for a parking space. No luck. The streets were plowed but because of the snow there was nowhere to park, so I ended up turning around (twice) and parking near the east end of town in a lot that looked reserved for trucks pulling trailers. I was the only vehicle in the lot when I arrived.
I gathered my gear and was on the road by 5am, turned and headed back to make sure I’d turned off the dome light in my truck, and started off again. Almost immediately a Bobcat ran across my path, doing it’s best to run away from me as fast as it could. I considered it a good omen. It was a bit eerie walking through a ghost town at night, and with all the snow you could tell which houses were occupied and which ones had residents who went somewhere else for the winter. Every building had a sercurity system flashing a red light every few seconds or so.
At the end of town I turned right onto 162E and then left after the bridge and followed the signs towards Tincup pass. It’s 6miles from here to the pass.
The road was nicely groomed and looked like it had a lot of snowmobile activity. I spent my time hiking fantasizing about the new truck set up I’m working on for Spring/Summer (same truck, new setup). Embarassingly I jumped a few times at noises in the night, just to realize it was the sound of an invisible (snow-covered) creek or a tree about ready to fall. My original intent was to leave the trail and summit Point 13,050 and traverse the ridge over to Tincup Peak, but it quickly became obvious that wasn’t going to happen today: the snow wasn’t going to cooperate. There were several sections where I could tell snowmobiles had gotten stuck in the snow and had to be pulled out after leaving the road to head north (the way towards 13,050). So instead I followed the road slightly southwest for 4 miles, until I came to a trail junction. I could also tell the weather wasn’t going to be as sunny/calm as originally forecasted. The winds were only supposed to be 5-10mph here today, yet I could tell by the sounds the trees were making the wind was much more intense. Several times I heard wind that scared me into thinking I was hearing an avalanche. Tons of fun!
I continued straight (northwest) and followed the trail until I made it out of the trees.
From here I followed orange poles to Tincup Pass. Here’s the basic route:
At about this time I couldn’t feel my toes/feet anymore, and it felt like I had two half-dollar sized rocks under the balls of my feet. I wasn’t cold, I was just having a Raynauds attack and decided to just keep pushing on: they usually only last about half an hour or so, and as long as I keep moving everything ends up fine. Here’s the last section up to Tincup Pass
It’s steeper than it looks but honestly short and not too bad. Tincup pass is located at 12,154′
I turned right (east) and headed up the side of Tincup Peak. Here’s the route I took, doing my best to avoid the areas covered in snow (after postholing too many times to count):
About a quart of the way up the wind picked up fiercely. I hadn’t put on a balaclava this morning because it hadn’t been windy when I’d started, and now the wind was so intense I couldn’t get it on (well, I might have been able to, if I took off my gloves). The winds were forecastd at 5mph, but there were several times when I had to turn my back to the wind and brace myself to remain standing. Not for the first time I told myself that when the forecast looks too good to be true, it probably is. I made it to the top and took a look around what I thought was the summit: there were cairns and a windbreak.
The wind was extremely intense here. I still couldn’t feel my feet but I wasn’t cold, and I knew taking off my gloves would be a terrible idea in all this wind, but my face was starting to hurt from the constant abrasion of the wind. I crouched down behind the windbreak and clumsily put on my balaclava wearing just my glove liners, and then hastily put my gloves back on. It was here I noticed I was not at the summit of Tincup Peak. The sumit was actually to the north about another half mile or so.
Ugh! It didn’t look like to difficult a trek, but that wind was insane! And I still couldn’t feel my feet. I did a mental calculation and decided I wanted to go for it, so I headed north. The wind only knocked me down twice. From the small saddle here’s looking back at the way I came
and at the peak before me (spoiler alert: another false summit)
The snow on the last part here was soft enough to twist an ankle, so I tried to stick to the rocks where possible.
At the top of this hill I was disappointed to find I still wasn’t at the true summit, but determined to press on: I was too close NOT to summit at this point. So I kept going.
This last little stretch was still windy, but luckily not technical in the least. I also had a great view of PT 13,050 and the connecting ridge that I filed away for next time. I was so glad I’d decided against taking that route up today!
I summited and tried to take a summit photo but the wind kept knocking the camera (and me) over. I was finally able to get one shot while bracing myself against the wind
It was a quick decision not to attempt Emma Burr Mountain today: That wind was just too much and I still couldn’t feel my feet (I was getting worried now). I told myself I’d be back to get PT 13,050 and Emma Burr together another time. Here’s looking at Emma Burr Mountain
Time to head back
Here’s the path back to Tincup Pass
It was easy to avoid the cornices
And straightforward to Tincup Pass
The wind didn’t die down until I was in the same place where it had started. I made it to Tincup Pass and decided to take a selfie (my son took one here a few years ago when he was here with his Boy Scout Troop and I wanted a similar one to show him).
Here’s the trek out of the basin. I was surprised I hadn’t see anyone all day, considering it was a Saturday. The basin was empty: There were tons of fresh snowmobile tracks, but they were all from yesterday.
The wind died down as I made it back into the trees, and I was finally able to feel where my feet were. There was about half an hour of intense pain as the blood started to flow again, but I kept walking, knowing stopping to take off my shoes (etc) was a terrible idea.
The 6 miles back to St Elmo seemed long, but as I was just walking on a groomed road not to terribly difficult. Snowmobiles started passing me at alarming speeds, and a few times I had to jump out of the way and into a snowbank to avoid getting run over.
St Elmo was beautiful with the snow, and just as wonderful as in the summertime, except of ourse the chipmunks were now hibernating.
I made it back to my truck at 12:30pm, making this a 14.5 mile hike with 3590′ of elevation gain in 7.5 hours. There were several trucks hauling snowmobiles when I got to the parking area, and it looked like there were a ton of people about to snowmobile into the basin. I counted dozens of snowmobiles and just as many people walking around the town. I totally needed my time above treeline today: I felt energetic and excited and not the least bit tired. Being in the mountains seems to rejuvenate me. Time to head home and pass out come more cookies!
After our misguided attempt at PT 10245 a few weeks ago we really wanted to summit this peak asap, but the weather wasn’t cooperating and my cookie deliveries kept getting in the way. Finally, today seemed like a good day to try it again.
We arrived at the Barr Trail parking lot at 5:30am and were on the trail by 5:45am. The parking situation is the same as last time: $10 via card at the kiosk.
From the beginning microspikes were necessary. We kept them on for the entire hike.
The creek just after the Barr Trail / Incline turnoff was flowing nicely
The ‘cave’ had some snow
Just before the experimental forest, where the path was all ice 2 weeks ago it was now covered in several inches of snow and nicely trenched. This made it much easier to navigate.
We turned left at the experimental forest and continued along the well trenched Barr trail.
Past mile marker 5.5
Here’s where we messed up last time: We had gone all the way to Barr Camp (6.5 miles) and at the advice of the guy staffing Barr Camp took the trail just after Barr Camp, ending up at AdAmAn Peak instead of PT 10245. To be fair, the routes are strikingly similar, and while AdAmAn is unranked, it is taller than 10245 at 10405′. This time we were prepared and looked for trail 671, which is about a mile before Barr Camp. This is where we found it:
I’m sure there’s an actual trail here, but today it was covered in snow and not detectable. We put on our snowshoes and got ready to trench. At the above sign we left the Barr Trail and headed right (north), trenching our own trail, skirting the rock formation to the left
and heading down a small hill, losing about 200 feet of elevation before coming to a creek and turning left (northwest).
Here I was able to pick up the trail again anf followed it around the creek. Please note, this was NOT South Fork French Creek, but a willow filled off shoot.
We followed the ‘trail’ until it seemed to end. We were just about parallel with AdAmAn peak at this point. Here we turned right (northeast) and could see PT 10245
We were going to have to cross an aspen grove to get to the peak. When we were right in the thick of it Steffen said: “This looks like the type of place you’d see a moose” and about 2 steps later we saw evidence a moose had spent the night here. In fact, on our way back we saw moose tracks going over/through our trench, so we must have scared him/her away with our approach.
Once past the aspen grove we were in the willows. I’m pretty sure this is where we crossed French Creek, but it was frozen and covered with snow so all we saw was a marshy area. Trenching here wasn’t fun: I sank up to my thighs several times. Here’s the path we took through the trees to the summit
There were large boulders everywhere, and a band of boulder piles to the right that weren’t climbable. Sticking center left of the mountain seemed to work well.
At several points we wanted to take off our snowshoes, but then we’d encounter snow that made us thankful we hadn’t. The summit was located to the left, at the mountain’s northernmost point. There was a cairn indicating the summit. We sumited at 9:50am
There were beautiful views of Pikes Peak, with AdAmAn Peak below (the pile of rocks in the center of the photo).
We took summit photos
and headed back down, solidifying our trench
back through the willows
and to Barr Trail, where we took off our snowshoes and continued our descent. The trench on the trail was indeed deep in places, and microspikes were still appreciated after the incline cutoff.
We made it back to my truck at 12:45pm, making this a 14.15 mile hike with 4000′ of elevation gain in 7 hours. I got a bunch of pictures on the way back, but unfortunately I’m still learning how to use my camera and it had been stuck on ‘program’ mode for the entire hike down, making my pictures all dark and fuzzy. We gave each other a high-five at the bottom, glad to be able to say we’d actually summited the correct peak this time. Check off another El Paso County Highpoint! Here’s a link to the GPX file, for those interested.
Steffen was interested in visiting Barr Camp, it felt like it’d been forever since I’d been, I hadn’t been aware of and the weather was perfect, so today seemed like a great day to hike the Barr Trail.
I wasn’t able to find a lot of information on this peak, but looking at the Pikes Peak Atlas it seemed to be just behind Barr Camp. I figured we’d figure it out.
We arrived at the Barr Trail parking lot around 5:30am and were surprised the parking situation has (again) changed. As of today it’s $10 to park in the upper lot. Last time I was here it was $40, but it’s been $5, $10, and $20 in the past. The parking app is gone, and the fee machine is back. This is all good news.
We gathered our gear and were ready to go at 5:45am. The guy who parked next to us unfortunately left the dome light on in his truck, but fortunately (maybe?) he also left his truck unlocked so we were able to shut it off for him. He was planning on summiting Pikes Peak and most likely had a 12 hour day; we didn’t want him to come back to a dead battery. Also, he was getting a late start if he truly intended to summit today. We ended up passing him within 20 minutes and let him know about the situation.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time describing the trail to Barr Camp because it’s an easy class 1 hike the entire way. There are very accurate mile markers every half mile, great signage, and as long as you stay on the trail it’s difficult to get lost, even in winter. As we ascended the first 3 miles we had great views behind us of the city lights. Too bad it’s difficult to get pictures at night.
We passed the cutoff for the incline as the sun started to rise
And as soon as we crossed the creek (which is usually dry in summer) the trail conditions changed.
They went from a bit of ice every once in a while to a frozen river of water that would be perfect for ice skating
This lasted until just after the junction with the experimental forest (turn left/southwest here)
This is where the trenched snow started, and also where I scattered wildflower seeds two years ago in memory of my Granny (yes, the seeds were local to the area)
If it were summer you could walk three people wide without tripping on each other along this trail, but today we walked single file.
Around mile 4 we heard a noise and looked up, confused to see a rather young looking squirrel jumping around in the trees. Shouldn’t he be hibernating? The views of Pikes Peak were (as always) amazing today
I stopped for a second because I saw something curious on the ground: it looked like some sort of pollen (which made no sense: it’s February) but upon closer inspection discovered they were little bugs on top of the snow! I could see them jumping and wondered how in the world they got there?
We made it to the aspen grove just before Barr Camp and I took a picture: I have a picture of this grove in every season except winter, and was excited to add this one to my collection.
From the aspen grove it’s a quick jaunt to Barr Camp
We decided to use the restrooms there and then went inside to inquire about PT 10245’
The caretaker didn’t know what PT 10245’ was, but when we looked at the Pikes Peak Atlas he said they called it “AdAmAn Peak”. (Note, this ended up being a different peak altogether). In the summer there’s a nice trail that will get you within a few dozen yards of the peak, but since it was winter the trail was covered in snow. He said to go up, then down, then up again, and then back down, heading northwest. Then there would be quartz rocks on the ground in an arrow showing us where to go (but those would be covered in snow as well). We couldn’t miss it.
Um, ok. Good thing we’re good with a map and compass! We exited the lodge, put on our microspikes, and were on our way. We took the Barr Trail again a little bit southwest (just to the end of the fence) and turned right (north) towards Elk Park on trail 652.
The caretaker had been correct: the trail was covered in snow, but some of the time we could make out where the trail was. We hadn’t brought our snowshoes, so we were having a time getting snow in our shoes (and pants, etc.). Next time remind me to bring gaiters.
We hiked on this trail for almost exactly half a mile, and we did indeed have a great view of the summit from the trail. I started to worry we wouldn’t be able to summit today: I hadn’t brought any rope and that summit looked like it needed rope!
The trick to this summit is to summit from the west. After half a mile we came to a small saddle and decided to turn right and head for the summit (this is how the caretaker should have described the route to us: follow the trail until you come to the saddle, turn right, and then scramble to the summit). Coincidentally, there were blue dots spray painted on the trees here, a good indication that’s where you should turn
There was no visible trail here, so we just aimed for the summit block (east)
Here’s how we summited:
It was a class 3 scramble and tons of fun! My advice is to initially go left up the rocks, but you summit more near the middle of the rocks. The summit was flatter and larger than I’d anticipated
There were some great views!
I’ve never seen Pikes Peak from this angle before…
There wasn’t a summit register (we looked longer than we should for one)
Time to head down. It’s not as scary as it looks…
We followed our tracks back to Barr Camp, and noticed our tracks were filled with thousands of those little bugs already! Yuck! I went home and researched them and apparently they live under the snow until it’s a nice day out, and then they hang out on top of the snow. They were very, very small. So small I’m thinking we were probably breathing them in and not noticing it. Yes, those little black dots are the bugs.
We made it back to Barr Camp and decided to buy a protein bar and leave a donation (hey, we used their bathrooms). I noticed the stream where I usually filter water was just a trickle
The hike back down was uneventful except for the flight for life helicopter we saw making a beeline for Pikes Peak (it never landed). Actually, the hike was beautiful! I’ve hiked this trail dozens of times and I never get tired of it! We kept our microspikes on the entire way, even though they weren’t necessary most of the time. The trail cleared and opened up around the incline junction
We made it back to my truck a little before 12:45pm, making this a 15 mile hike with 4027’ of elevation gain in 7 hours.
This was a really nice trail with decent elevation gain you don’t notice much because it’s so gradual.
We pulled up to the South Mt Elbert trailhead at 5am and were ready to go soon after. There were about 5 vehicles already in the lot, and we were now worried we’d started too late and eager to get started
On our last (failed) attempt of Mt Elbert in winter we took the trail, but this time we hiked in microspikes along the 4WD road/Colorado Trail for 1.75 miles to the upper trailhead. I would recommend hiking the road instead of the trail.
The road was passable for about a mile in 4WD vehicle, and then it became solely a hiking trail. I was glad I’d parked at the lower trailhead.
At the upper trailhead we turned right, crossed the bridge, and continued along the Colorado Trail for another quarter mile
This trail is really well marked, and the trench was nice and solid
After a quarter mile we came to the Colorado Trail/South Mt Elbert Trail junction and continued on the South Mt Elbert Trail
This well maintained trail took us to treeline
Here there was a lot more snow so we decided it was time to put on our snowshoes. The sun was also rising and we could put away the flashlight. Here’s looking back at Mt Elbert Forebay and Twin lakes
From treeline here’s the route up Mt Elbert.
Not long after making it to treeline we passed a hiker and wondered where everyone else was who’d been parked at the trailhead? There were at least 5 other vehicles there, and we only saw this one hiker along the ridge. Seemed curious.
The wind picked up as we hiked up the ridge. The forecast said 15-20mph winds, but we felt they were much higher here
Snowshoes were useful until about halfway up the ridge, and then they weren’t really needed. I kept mine on because the wind had picked up and I didn’t want to take off my gloves to take off my snowshoes. Steffen offered to help, but I was worried I’d need to put them back on again and honestly didn’t mind hiking wearing them, so I kept them on.
This was a simple ridge hike. I don’t do well with breaks (my feet lose function so I can’t stop) and since there weren’t any obstacles I hiked ahead of Steffen at a slow and steady pace while he took breaks as needed. I kept looking behind me to make sure he was still on track. I was excited to see the sign on top, indicating the summit was near.
At the saddle I decided to slow down and wait for Steffen so we could summit together. The only problem? It was super windy. So windy the wind kept knocking me down. So I decided to crouch down behind this rock and take in the Massive view while I waited for Steffen to catch up. Luckily he wasn’t too far behind
When he made it to the small saddle we turned and headed towards the summit together
It was a blue skies kind of day, but extremely windy on top. I’m proud of Steffen: this is his second 14er, and second in winter. It was weird having someone else there to take my picture: I had to crouch down because I kept getting blown over.
We didn’t stay long on the summit due to the wind. Steffen teaches skydiving, and was pretty sure the winds were closer to 50+mph than 20mph. It was nice having someone else there to verify the wind speed and let me know I wasn’t crazy for thinking it was higher than forecasted. The winds lessened as we hiked down the ridge. Here’s the way we took back
Along with the wind came some pretty cool clouds. I took off my snowshoes for most of the ridge descent.
About halfway down the ridge we began seeing other hikers. Tons of other hikers. They were like ants, marching their way up the mountain, and must have been sleeping in their vehicles when we made it to the trailhead.
Once we made it back to the snow we both put our snowshoes back on: we were postholing and it soon became evident the return route would be miserable without them. We were glad we’d started when we did: in a couple of hours this would be posthole city.
The route back was just as easy to follow as the route in, but with the added bonus of sunlight we had some pretty amazing views of the aspens
We made it back to the trailhead at 1:50pm, making this a 13.25 mile hike with 4934’ of elevation gain in 9 hours 40 minutes.
Any time your hike begins in the Piñon Pines and Junipers you know it’s going to be a long day. I arrived at the South Zapata Creek Trailhead after mistakenly being directed to a gated community a few miles away (Google Maps was taking me to South Zapata Creek, not South Zapata Creek Trailhead: I’d suggest putting in Zapata Falls as it will direct you to the campground and trailhead). No worries though, I was free all day and this only put me back about 15 minutes from schedule. The 4WD road to the correct trailhead was a little rough in the beginning with a lot of softball-bowling ball sized rocks, but after the first mile or so it smoothed out. I parked my truck just before the campground entrance and was on the trail at 6:30am.
I followed the trail that led to Zapata Falls for .85 miles
Just past a defunct trail register
And at this cairn left the trenched trail and turned right and headed up the hill.
From here on out I was ‘off trail’. At this point I should have put my snowshoes on, but I tend to be stubborn about such things and kept hiking in just my microspikes. My next objective was to gain the ridge to the south. This ridge was steep and I kept sliding backwards in the snow. Yep, snowshoes would have been a good idea. Here the snow was soft but I was only postholing about a foot at a time. To make things easier I did my best to follow recent game tracks. It looked like there were a lot of deer in the area.
From the top of this ridge I followed the drainage up to a small plateau. Once again, there were tons of deer tracks here and it looked like they’d bedded down in the area last night. I even saw a buck bounding away as I arrived.
I also got my first view of Twin Peaks A
The view was short lived however, as I dipped back into the trees again.
In the trees I came upon an unexpected cabin. It looked old but well kept up. I would have taken a closer look but the snow was really deep here. I broke down and put on my snowshoes.
From here on out the snow just kept getting thicker and stayed sugary. I kept heading southeast, this time through some thick aspen groves. Shout out to the deer/elk that helped me by breaking about 250 vertical feet of trail: I followed their tracks through the trees until they disappeared over the ridge.
This route mainly follows the ridge, but it takes forever to get to treeline. Well, it took me forever because I was trenching the entire time. This was the most challenging trench I’ve ever put together: the snow was deep, unconsolidated, and never ending. Several times the snow was so deep I couldn’t go forward and I had to get creative and zig-zag my route to make it possible to continue. This type of trenching is tiring!
I’d make it to what I thought would be the treeline, only to find more trees ahead of me. Here’s a look at the route from one such area
More trenching through the trees
And I came to an area so thick with snow it was untrenchable. I was exhausted and seriously considered turning back: where was treeline anyway?!?! Last week I’d had to turn back on Rinker Peak due to unconsolidated snow, and I really didn’t want to repeat the same scenario twice. I decided instead of continuing along the ridge to descend a little to the south to see if the terrain was any easier, and it was! I came across a rocky area and easily traversed a little below the ridge and then regained the ridge (to more snow)
I (finally!) exited treeline and had just a little bit more trenching to do before taking off my snowshoes and tackling the rest of the route in just microspikes. Up until this point I wasn’t sure I was going to complete this hike: all that trenching had worn me out and I thought I’d never make it to treeline. Several times I’d thought about turning back, but I’d put in so much work I didn’t want to give up. This clear view of the peak renewed my spirits and I was ready to go.
I could see the summit ahead of me and it was a nice day: warm with no wind. I thought taking off my snowshoes would be a good idea and could also save some valuable time. In the beginning, this was a good idea. I was able to quickly rock-hop up the ridge
After gaining the first bump however, things changed. The snow was no more consolidated here than it had been before treeline. In fact, the snow was 4-6 inches deep: a thin layer over rocky terrain. The snow never held my weight and I frequently postholed in areas where I could easily have twisted an ankle. I was cursing myself for taking off my snowshoes, and would have put them back on except the wind had now kicked up and I was afraid to take off my gloves because of the exposure. I was just going to have to be careful and rock-hop whenever possible.
I followed the ridge as closely as possible, but those cornices were weak. I kept postholing in the shallow snow and my feet were becoming frozen. I wasn’t giving up though: I could see the summit!
Here’s a look at Twin Peaks B (unranked) and Twin Peaks A. There was a lot more snow at the summit than I’d been able to see from below, those cornices are bigger than they look, and once again, hollow. I followed the ridge to the summit.
I took a few steps up the cornice to try and get as high as possible and heard a hollow sound below my foot. I quickly retreated: In no way was I going to climb to the top of the cornice.
I found the summit wind break, set up my camera on top of my backpack, got a (terrible) picture, and decided to book it back down. I wasn’t going to play with that cornice.
I had no desire to climb Twin Peaks B today as well: The cornices were hollow and I would need to go over one just to start, that wind was becoming insane, and I could no longer feel my feet.
Time to head back down the ridge
There were some great views along the way of Lindsey, Ellingwood Point, Blanca, and Little Bear
And also the Sand Dunes
Here’s the rest of the route down the ridge and back into treeline
And a look from treeline up the ridge
I stopped to put back on my snowshoes at treeline and headed back to the trees, carefully retracing my steps and making my tracks into a solid trench. This is more tiring than it sounds.
I followed the ridge and in a small clearing between hills saw what looked like a reverse shadow far ahead of me. Anyone know what this is?
I made my way back to the cabin
And decided to keep my snowshoes on for the rest of the trek back to the trailhead. Here’s the way down the ravine
And down the ridge
Back to the Zapata trail
It had been a long day, and it was starting to get dark. I’d originally wanted to visit Zapata Falls while I was here, but looking at the time I wouldn’t make it there until after dark. I’ll just have to come back when I’m here later this season. The trail was easy to follow from here
Back to the trailhead.
I watched an absolutely stunning sunset as I broke down my gear and got ready to head home.
I made it back to my truck at 5:30pm, making this a 9 mile hike with 4625’ of elevation gain in 11 hours. This was by far the most tiring day I’ve had trenching ever, but totally worth it!
Wild Wanderer 