13026 – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 12.96 miles

Elevation Gain: 2979’

Day 3 at the Eddiesville Trailhead, and I really, really didn’t want to get out of bed. It had been between 25-30 degrees the past two mornings when I woke up, and this morning it was going to be even colder. There had been a thunderstorm last night, and I knew there would be a thick layer of frost on the ground. And it was cold. I mean really, really, cold, and I had a creek crossing I knew I was going to have to get through. I have Raynaud’s, so this is actually something rather dangerous for me to attempt, especially in cold weather so far from communication. And all I had to wear were yoga pants and a thick jacket. The weather forecast had called for warmer weather, so I hadn’t brought my warm snow pants. I stayed under the covers for about 15 minutes, contemplating if I should even go out. I mean, I didn’t even know if the route I was going to attempt ‘went’. Then, all of the sudden, something clicked. I started asking myself if it were really worth it, and immediately my attitude changed, and I shot out of bed. No, I love mountaineering, and that comes with being uncomfortable sometimes. This was all mental, and I needed to get myself out of this funk. I never regret a hike, and I was just being silly. Once I started hiking, I’d warm up. I had to just rip the band aid off and go.

I was on the trail at 4:15am. The trail starts off at the south end of the parking area.

I followed the Colorado Trail south and then southwest for 5.4 miles. This is a well maintained, class 1 trail, easy to follow, even in the dark.

After hiking for about 5.4 miles, I came to a clearing, and to my left I could see an avalanche runout. It was my plan to climb up this runout and see if I could summit the peak this way.

I left the trail, and sat down on a rock to exchange my hiking shoes for my stream crossing shoes. The creek was too big to pole vault across, and the water level was too high to rock hop, so even though it was 5am and freezing cold out, I was going to cross the stream and get my feet wet.

Imagine my surprise when the water was warm! Well, not warm exactly, but warmer than the 25-degree air I’d been hiking in. It was an easy stream crossing, with the water coming up to just above my knees. I exited the stream, changed back into my socks and hiking boots, and was on my way.

This is the route I took up the avalanche drainage

And some step-by-step photos. This ended up being about 2000’ of elevation gain in 1 mile.

Eventually, the terrain gave way to tundra

Once I made it to the ridge, I turned right, and followed it southeast to the summit. The terrain here was still all class 2, starting out as tundra and then changing to rocky.

I summited 13,026 at 7:45am

13026:

And now, to head back down. I just retraced my steps back to the avalanche runout, heading northeast

And then made my way back down to the creek

I crossed the creek again, and headed back to the Colorado Trail

I then took the Colorado Trail northwest back to the trailhead. I’d been on this trail 3 times in the past 3 days, and this afternoon I noticed bear tracks along the trail. A bear must have come through last night, as these tracks hadn’t been there before.