·The trail was pretty much free from snow, even after Monday’s storm. Microspikes were not needed.
· This would be a great first class 2 hike: it’s easy to follow, relatively short, and not too taxing
· If you’re looking to spend the night on a 14er summit, this would be a good choice
Uncompaghre, or “Uncle Padre” as it’s affectionately referred to, wasn’t supposed to be my hike today. We had a storm come in on Monday, blanketing the entire state with snow. So I’d gone on the Colorado Webcams page to see what the conditions looked like in different areas of the state.
I was specifically looking at peaks in the Crestone area, and the webcam made it look like there was surprisingly little snow. I was thrilled! That is, until night fell and I looked at the web cam again, and it still showed daylight. It was then I went on the forum and someone said there was a lot of snow on the Crestones, and I concluded the webcam must have been broken. It was showing the correct time/date, but the image was obviously wrong. UGH!
No worries though, I had about 5 different 14ers I was interested in, so I just went down my list. I wasn’t 100% sure the conditions weren’t great at the Crestones (I asked for clarification from the poster and never got any), but the webcams for Lake City looked promising. I gave it some thought and did a pro-con list. The Crestones were closer, the hike was longer, and I’d get 2 14ers in tomorrow, but I didn’t know for certain the conditions. Uncompaghre was a lot further (6 hours), the hike was shorter, and I’d only get in one peak (I really wanted to hike it with Wetterhorn). But my knees still weren’t 100% from my falls last week (I’d say 80% on one knee, 85% on the other) so a shorter hike was probably a good idea. Also, Uncompaghre is affectionately referred to as “Uncle Padre”, and it’s my Uncle’s birthday today, who pretty much was like a father to me growing up, so I saw it a sign of good luck and just went for it. Uncompaghre it was!
I woke up at midnight and made it to the trailhead at 6am (remember, I don’t sleep well at trailheads, so it’s just easier for me to drive and hike). There’s an obvious sign telling you where the trailhead is. If you don’t have 4WD, park here.
The drive up is definitely 4WD. My directions indicated I’d cross 2 streams, but I crossed 3, and was delighted to do so! My whole face lit up when I saw the first one: I love it when I get to drive my Tundra through streams!
The only downside to this road is it’s pretty narrow, and a bit bumpy in places. There were 3 turns that were tight for my Tundra, and I had to back up and reposition my truck to make the turns happen.
There was also a lot of ice on the trail (which I’m assuming is gone now). In fact, there was a lot of snow on the entire drive up, starting at about 8000’. This seriously worried me for the hike ahead! I had microspikes and snowshoes, but would rather not carry them if not needed.
The trailhead had parking for about 10 vehicles and was pretty open.
The weather forecast for the area today was a low of 22 and a high of 44, but as I drove I saw the temperature drop to 19 degrees, and stay there. Lovely. There was a half moon, and I could see there wasn’t enough snow on the mountains for snowshoes (woot!), but I brought along my microspikes anyway. I bundled up and began my hike at 6:15am. There were two Park Service trucks at the trailhead, but I never saw people on the trail. The trucks were still there when I left.
The beginning of the trail had a bit of ice in the creek areas
I hiked through a basin, and about a mile in there was a little bit of snow on the trail, but it was easily avoidable, and this was seriously the most snow I saw on the entire hike.
As I came to the trail junction for Matterhorn Creek and Uncompaghre Peak the sun and the temperature began to rise. This is why I’d woken up at midnight! The sunrise was amazing!
I turned around to take a look at Uncompaghre. Wow.
The entire trail was well maintained and very easy to follow. It was almost too easy, it didn’t seem as if I were hiking a 14er.
The Alpine glow this morning was fabulous against the blue sky! I hiked up some switchbacks to Uncompaghre’s south ridge.
This ridge gave me amazing views! I had fun taking pictures
At the top of the ridge I turned left and went behind the mountain
I followed the trail and looked for this rock tower.
You can either go to the left of it or the right of it. I chose the right
The hike up until this point was very much a class 1 hike. However, at this point there’s about 30 vertical feet of hand and feet climbing. Woot! My favorite! I took a picture and put away my camera. Here’s why this is considered a class 2:
This is what it looked like from the top
The rest of the hike was pretty straightforward. I just followed a trail to the summit.
The summit was a wide, flat, barren summit. If you were looking for a 14er to camp out on for the night, this would be it (if you don’t mind wind). I summited at 8am.
I turned to look around, and all around me there was snow! I’d picked the only peak in the area without snow! Amazing!
I took a summit photo to prove I’d summited
And as I looked over the edge, I saw there was snow on the north face of the mountain. What a drop!
I didn’t spend long on the summit, but turned around and started back down. As I was descending the class 2 part of this hike I stopped to take in the view.
I thought to myself how this was the perfect hike for today! I didn’t get in Wetterhorn, but there are several 13ers in the area I can partner with Wetterhorn and take my time on instead of rushing to get them all in. I was glad I’d chosen to hike Uncompaghre solo for today.
I didn’t see anyone else on the hike until I was just about to exit the basin. It was a couple hiking together. I didn’t see anyone else the entire day, and luckily didn’t pass anyone on the drive down.
I made it back to the trailhead at 9:55am, so I hiked 7.5 miles in less than 4 hours, with 3000’ feet of elevation gain.
I’d planned on taking an off day today instead of hiking. I’ve hiked 5 fourteeners in the past 6 days, and I’d thought I’d accomplished a lot this week. I wanted to take my kids to see the fall colors, but when I asked them all about their schedules two of my kids had to work and one was going to a slumber party.
So suddenly, at 7pm, I had the opportunity to hike the next day. This was wonderful! This was terrible!
I have the goal of hiking all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers, and when I set a goal I tend to aggressively meet that goal. It’s an added bonus I love hiking so it’s not much of a challenge to get me to hike a peak. But today I was supposed to rest! I knew from my hike yesterday and listening to the forecast on the way home most of the high country was getting snow this weekend. I’d already done a snow hike this week and that didn’t sound like a fun repeat. But I had an idea: I looked at the weather for Blanca and Ellingwood, and it was predicted to be 44 degrees, sunny, with 20mph winds all day! Great weather! I don’t think I’ve had a forecast yet this summer that was “sunny” all day.
I quickly put together a pro-con list for hiking (or not) in the morning:
Con:
·I’ve only had 15 hours of sleep total this week (due to working nights and hiking days)
·I hate hiking on Saturdays. There are just too many people!
·I still haven’t found a “hiking buddy”
·Gas is expensive
·I’ve hiked 5 peaks in the past 6 days and should let my body rest
Pro:
·I get to hike
·The weather was predicted to be great (for fall)
·I’m running out of good weather hiking days for the year (winter is coming)
·Hiking these two peaks would put me at 29 total 14ers (halfway to 58!)
·I just got new off road tires on my truck, and I’d get to try them out on Lake Como Road
·Although I’ve done a lot of hiking lately, I’m not physically sore
Darn it, I’m going hiking!
I woke up at 2am and made it to the trailhead by 5am. (That’s making really great time driving). No problems this time with directions/etc. I only took my truck about 3 miles up the road because that was what was suggested, but after hiking in a ways it was obvious my truck could have made it at least 4 miles, if not 5 up the road. The only problem I’d have would be finding a parking spot big enough for my Tundra that far up. There are a few parking spots at some of the switchbacks, but they were all full, and there wasn’t a place to turn around if needed.
Here’s what the road looked like driving in
When you see this sign, it’s a good place to park. Most good clearance 4WD’s can make it further, but there’s no space to turn around once your vehicle can’t make it anymore.
If you’re wondering if your vehicle can make it up this road, then it can’t. Here are some pictures of the Lake Como road. Yes, it’s insane.
This road continued until past Lake Como, and just gets worse as it goes on. The road itself is intense for vehicles, but not so bad for hikers. Not fun, but not bad/tough. Yes, it’s a long hike in, but I’d compare it to the Pikes Peak trail to Barr Camp. It wasn’t as bad as I’d been told it would be.
I made it to Lake Como at 7:20am (about 2 hours of hiking), and was surprised to find most people still sleeping and a few people fishing around the lake. I didn’t know Lake Como had fish?
This is the type of vehicle that can make it up Lake Como Road.
There were a bunch of signs indicating bear activity, but bear activity wasn’t obvious (no prints or damage). I did like seeing all the bear bags hanging from trees though!
The trail continued around the lake and around many more small lakes before coming to a small basin.
The trail was well maintained with plenty of cairns.
Here you can see Ellingwood (left) and Blanca (right).
The rest of the trail was easy to follow, but not very pretty. It was gray and rocky. Very, very rocky. But at least there were a lot of cairns marking the way.
I talked to several hikers along the way, asking if they knew where the cutoff to Ellingwood was exactly? Most of the directions I found indicated a general area, but said it was difficult to find. No one seemed to know for sure, but they were all interested in completing both Blanca and Ellingwood today as well. Everyone had an opinion on the cutoff though: Some thought the trail was above the snow left on the mountain, some thought under, some thought further up the ridge.
The weather was just as predicted. Kind of. It was beautiful. Everywhere except for Blanca Peak. I felt as if she was staring at me as I was hiking the basin.
Blanca Peak was covered in a thin layer of snow, ice, and a very small cloud. As I approached it got colder and the wind got stronger. Once I reached the ridge the weather turned nasty. The cloud that was covering Blanca’s peak was full of ice. As I climbed the ridge I was slipping all over the place and had to use both hands to steady myself. Obviously I put my camera away and trudged on.
I couldn’t see where I was going because the cloud covering Blanca was so thick. The exposure was such one false slip and I’d slide off the peak, so it was slow going as I made sure I was steady before making my next move.
The last push seemed to go on forever, until I was finally at the summit! I was frozen and couldn’t talk, but I’d made it!
What’s “funny” is the weather was perfect in every direction, except for directly over the peak. Heavy clouds were forming about 20 yards from Blanca’s peak, and the 20mph wind was rushing it over the peak. Then the cloud disappeared once it had gone over Blanca. It was maddening! The only bad weather in sight was directly above me!
I had to get back down from the peak quickly, as I was becoming a popsicle. Even the cairns were full of ice!
As I descended I kept telling myself Ellingwood was in the sun, so that hike would be warm. But as I descended Blanca the clouds descended as well, and started to envelop Ellingwood too. Ugh!
Descending Blanca was beautiful (and clear)
I really wanted to hike Ellingwood, but I was very, very cold, and it didn’t look warm on Ellingwood. I was seriously worried I’d need to come back at a later date to climb Ellingwood. This was NOT something I’d wanted to do, but was prepared to do if necessary. I just hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
Added to that was the fact I didn’t really know where the cutoff was for Ellingwood. I knew where the trail was on the ridge, but with all the ice it didn’t look safe to take that route. I’d thought the cutoff for Ellingwood was at a cairn I’d seen earlier with a pink ribbon around it. Call me crazy, but this seemed like a sign. When I made it back to this cairn after hiking Blanca I brought out my GPS, and guess what? The cutoff was right where I was, at the pink cairn.
Once I found the trail it was really easy to follow. There were tons of cairns leading up the side of the mountain and to the left. The rock was loose but I never felt like I was going to slip or fall. And the sun came out! Woohoo! I felt like the hike up Blanca was more difficult than the hike up Ellingwood (due to the wind and ice, I’m sure it would have been cheery on a warmer day).
The only down side was the false summit, but it was really close to the actual summit, so it was ok.
There were 3 or 4 people on the summit already, and one offered to take my picture. I pointed out Mt. Lindsey in the background. It was 11:15am.
And then I was off on my way back down. I knew I had a long hike ahead of me, and I wanted to get started.
The hike down was long but uneventful. I wasn’t very tired, which surprised me, especially after my other hikes this week. The trail was well maintained, which made it easy to follow
I’m pretty sure this is the cutoff for Little Bear
I saw several modified jeeps (etc.) headed up Lake Como Road. I saw them in groups of 3-4, and passed no less than 4 groups. That’s a lot of vehicles headed to the lake! I just hoped no one was trying to drive back down…
I made it to my truck at 3pm, making this a 15 mile hike with 5800’ of elevation gain in 10 hours.
Oh, and you know what ROCKS about this hike? I’ve now summited 29 unique 14ers: I’m halfway to 58!
·
If you’re thinking about making Redcloud and
Sunshine a loop and it isn’t winter, don’t.
·
Don’t do the loop unless you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
gullies (I don’t love gullies)
·
If you do decide to do the loop, wear a helmet
and crampons (for the rocks & scree, not snow)
·
Don’t do the loop
Since I’m not a fan of sleeping at trailheads I woke up at
midnight and drove five and a half hours to the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek
trailhead. I missed a turn (I blame the
lack of signs) and ended up not making it to the trailhead until 6:30am, which
meant I didn’t start until 6:45am. This
is the latest start I’ve ever had on a 14er.
Yes, I was pretty mad at myself.
In any event, here’s what the rough 2WD road to the trailhead looks
like:
There were a few bumpy spots, and a lot of puddles. Unless your car is lowered, it can probably
make it.
OK, so I started at 6:45am, which meant the sun was already
out. Here’s the trailhead
parking/bathroom situation.
As I was leaving my car I saw a man rushing down the
hill. Apparently his friend was visiting
from out of state, and he’d forgotten the beer at his car. Luckily they weren’t too far into the trail
when he realized his mistake, and he was rushing back to get it. I wished him luck, and silently thought to
myself it would probably be a better idea to enjoy the beer after successfully
making it back to the vehicle. I any
event, I appreciated his enthusiasm.
The trail up was very well maintained
And the aspens are just starting to change color.
The first part of this hike follows the Silver Creek. It was absolutely beautiful in contrast to
the red rocks.
For reference to those of you who do choose to do the loop,
here’s where you either turn right to go up Sunshine first, or where you come
out after making the loop. It wasn’t
obvious, as it just looks like a trail to the creek. Note the placement of the mountains in the
back.
The trail did include a lot of scree
Once I reached the basin the trail evened out for a bit,
then climbed up to the right.
Here you can see Redcloud
It’s important when you get to the saddle to turn
right. A lot of people were turning left
to head to a beautiful 13er, but it isn’t on the trail to Redcloud.
Here’s a look at the trail up Redcloud. As you can see, it has a false summit (right)
and true summit (left).
And once again, a view of the false and true summit
From the saddle the final push wasn’t too bad
I took a shadowselfie because I do that type of thing
And a picture of me at the summit.
I had the summit all to myself. The pair of guys hiking behind me was about a
mile behind me at this point.
I turned and looked south to Sunshine Peak. It was a good mile and a half to this summit.
It looked like another double summit was
in order!
Take note here for those of you who wish to make this a loop
instead of crossing back over Redcloud to head back to the trailhead: The topo map shows this as a blue line above
#3,
but when I passed the place this intersects I saw this sign
indicating it’s NOT a trail and not to use it as such (14ers.com states the
same).
The hike up Sunshine was long but steady. Here’s my summit photo.
Here I got out my maps and tried to decide which route to
follow. I knew not to go down the saddle
from Sunshine, and I really didn’t want to go back over Redcloud (that 1.5
miles and another summit climb didn’t sound like fun).
When I have the option I try to make my hikes a loop, and
that seemed like an option when looking at my map (I took the loop below the 3). It included a gully, which I’m not fond of,
but it looked like a doable trail. I
brought up my GPX file and looked at the pictures. Yes, it looked doable as a difficult class 2. So I headed down the Northwest Face of
Sunshine. It hugged a ridge, and was
FULL of exposure, rock, and scree
When I made it down the ridge this is what I saw. It looked like a pretty easy way to hike down
Until I hit the top of the gully. This is what it looked like from the top
I noticed several cairns indicating several different ways
to go down the gullies, but I wanted to stick with my GPS route. So I did some investigating, looking over and
around as much as possible. In the end I
decided to go with the GPS suggestion.
I put my camera and hiking pole in my bag and took a deep
breath. This was going to be an
adventure! I slid more than I hiked, but
I was careful and made it down my gully of choice without stopping/getting
stuck. I carefully close each
step/foothold, and hand placement, and thought to myself how one wrong move
would result in my sliding down a rocky slope for several hundred feet. It was very slippery and a bit scary but it
was obvious this was how I was intended to complete the trail. Here’s what it looked like from the bottom.
This is the route I took.
I can’t imagine hiking up this!!!
I was deposited in a basin and could see the trail I needed
to connect with further ahead, so I just started walking towards that
trail. There were cairns, which was
helpful, but not needed on the way back because I could see where the trail
led. Here’s a picture looking back at
the gullies
And a picture of the hike ahead.
I came to the stream where two men dressed in camo, along
with their black lab, greeted me: “You
must have some big ovaries to have hiked that!”
I was a bit confused until they told me they’d seen me climb
down the gully. They had binoculars,
heard a few rocks drop, and thought they’d be seeing a rockslide. Instead they saw me descend the gully and
were quite impressed. Their exact words
were that I “seemed in control the whole time”. They also said two guys came down behind me,
or at least they think they did. They
saw two guys looking at the cairns and trying to descent to the right. I mentally thought about those two guys
behind me and the beer. Ugh. I hope they made it!
I smiled, wished them luck, and tried to quicken my
pace. I still wanted to get in one more
peak today if the weather allowed.
Almost immediately it started hailing from out of
nowhere. It was cloudy but didn’t look like
hail. The hail/rain came down quickly,
and was over in 5 minutes.
At this point I connected with the Silver Creek trail and
headed back down to the trailhead.
I’d started at 6:45am, and it was now 12:30pm. The hike had taken me almost 6 hours, 12.25miles,
4669’ elevation gain.
Now I had a choice to make.
Should I hike Handies Peak or spend the night in my truck and try to
hike it in the morning? I was
exhausted. I mean really, really
tired. My lungs hurt and so did my
calves. I hadn’t eaten all day (besides
some beef jerky and dried bananas along the trail) and I was running on 3 hours
of sleep. And it looked like a small
storm was going to roll through. The
only thing keeping me from stopping and getting some rest was the thought of
sleeping at the trailhead. I know from
past experience this never ends well.
Although I try I’m never able to sleep, and I’m always really, really
cold. I have Raynauds, so I’m overly susceptible
to the cold, no matter how much I bundle up.
It makes for miserable trailhead camping experiences. I did not want to get up at 5am freezing cold
and try to start out on a hike. It takes
me forever to defrost!
I decided I’d attempt Handies. I knew I could always turn back, since I didn’t
really need to summit today. If the
weather got too bad or I felt I couldn’t go on I’d just head back to the truck,
sleep, and try again tomorrow.
So I grabbed my new maps and headed up the Grizzly Gulch
trail, crossing a bridge
The aspen trees here were also beginning to turn
I was hiking slow. I
mean, really, really slow. I usually
hike around 2mph when hiking 14ers, rarely stopping to do much but take
pictures. However, on this hike I found
myself stopping every 50 feet or so to catch my breath. This wasn’t normal, especially for such an “easy”
hike. I was embarrassed for myself, but
explained it away: I’d hiked Mt. Lindsey
yesterday, and Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks this morning. That’s a lot of mileage and elevation gain/loss
in under 24 hours. I was allowed to be a
bit tired, right? I was still upset with
myself. Breathing only got more difficult.
I continued on, rounded a corner, and I saw her: A beautiful mama moose! I knew she was a mama because I could hear
her calf braying in the bushes somewhere like a donkey jumping in circles. It was an adorable sound! However, Moose are dangerous and known to
charge, especially mamas protecting their babies. She was really close on the trail so I gave
her a wide berth and didn’t make eye contact.
I took this one picture from behind a tree and hurried on. She kept her eyes on me the entire time I was
in view. It was a bit daunting, but
really, really cool. I usually expect to
see Moose in meadows, so seeing on in the trees, and so close, caught me off
guard. In fact at first I’d thought she
was a horse. In any event, cool
experience! I was already glad I’d made
the decision to hike Handies today.
Then I heard the thunder.
Great. I looked up, but the
clouds didn’t look threatening. I exited
the trees and came into the basin and caught my first glimpse of Handies.
I saw a quick flash of lightening and began
counting/mentally calculating my options.
I looked up at the clouds again.
Hmmm. Now I had a choice to
make. The clouds really didn’t look
threatening, but I’d heard thunder and seen a bit of lightening. Thunder was rumbling in the clouds but there
was no more lightening after that one bit (it didn’t hit the ground, but stayed
in the clouds). The wind was moving to
the Southwest of me (I could see the clouds moving) and behind the peak I could
see sunlight. I was hiking very, very
slowly. I decided it would probably take
me longer to summit than it would take those clouds to pass, so slowly I
continued on. At this point I knew I was
the only one on the trail (I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me and no one else
was signed in the trial register. I’d
also passed someone who told me they were the last one up today).
I continued on at a slow but steady pace. By now I was stopping every 25 feet to catch
my breath. I wanted to cry. This was an easy peak, and yet I hadn’t been
this tired/sore/exhausted since climbing my first 14er (Pikes Peak 26 mile
route). It kept sprinkling off and on,
so I kept putting my jacket off and on.
It was a nice excuse to stop and still be “productive”. I kept my eye on the sky.
I was about ¾ of the way through the basin when I looked up
and saw sheets of ice raining down from the direction of Handies. It looked like it was going to hail again,
and here I was, 2 miles above treeline, with no place to go. I’d known this was a possibility when I’d
started this hike, so I pulled up my hood, turned against the wind, and braced
myself. I knew these storms usually only
last a few minutes or so, and this one was over in about 5 minutes. It left me with a wonderful view! Check out that layer of hail/snow (graupel?)
This was cool! It was
beautiful, and just as I’d predicted, there was sunlight after the brief storm. I stopped to take off my jacket and heard
what sounded like a loud clap, then tumbling.
The brief storm had caused a rockslide!
I couldn’t see where it was coming from, but I could hear a steady
stream of rocks tumbling down. I tried
to get it on video, but due to the wind didn’t come out very well. For the rest of the hike I heard rocks
tumbling. Geological time is now people!
The last mile and a half seemed quite steep. The elevation gain seemed more here than I was used to, but it was a short hike to the summit, so I guess I needed to make up elevation somewhere.
Did I mention I was hiking slow? I mean really, really slow? After the storm my paced slowed to hiking 10 steps, stopping to breathe for 5 seconds, and continuing. I was hurting all over, couldn’t breathe, and even this pace seemed to be killing me. I was mad at my body, but kept going. I knew the storm threat had passed, and I could see the summit. I was going to make it: Just give me a second to breathe.
At this point I looked down at my feet saw a rock shaped like a skull. It was about the same size too. This took me back for a second, but I decided to do the obvious thing and take it as a good omen and continued on. No pictures of the rock (it seemed morbid and too much like negative foreshadowing). The peak was once again in the clouds. Weather changes quickly on 14rs!
The last quarter mile was steep scree, with loose rocks wet from the recent storm. Read: slippery. I had to hike even slower, but I enjoyed it when I got to the rocky part because it meant using different muscles in my legs. Climbing was easier than hiking. This was actually a lot easier than it looked (besides being slippery).
Woohoo! Another false summit! That’s three for three for today!
I turned around and looked back on the basin I’d hiked, with Redcloud and Sunshine in the background. Pretty awesome!
I made it the final push to the summit winded, out of breath, and with a frozen face and fingers. I couldn’t smile because my lips were frozen, but I’d made it!
I was super proud of myself, but ready to hike back down. My body seemed to enjoy hiking down as compared to up (I didn’t need to stop/rest/catch my breath). The clouds continued to swirl around the mountain
After I’d hiked about a mile down the sun came out and birds/pikas/marmots started chirping. The rest of the hike was uneventful (I looked but didn’t see the moose again). I was very, very proud of myself for making the decision to hike when I did. It was probably the most exhausting hike I’ve ever done. I started at 12:45pm and didn’t make it back to my truck until 5:30pm. That’s 5 hours for an 8 mile hike. Ouch!
When I made it back to my truck I was hungry and tired, so I made some Mountain House Lasagna, thinking I’d eat the entire serving and still be hungry. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t even able to finish half the meal. I sealed it up, put it away, changed my clothes, and hopped into my sleeping bag, exhausted. I pulled out Roach’s book, and looked up my Sunshine descent today. His notes: “Avoid this route of Sunshine’s West Gullies are snow free”. SMH.
This is the most fun I’ve ever had climbing a 14er! This hike is the hike I’ve been waiting for,
I just didn’t know it meant I’d need to hike a class 3 to get it.
I have a very Type A personality, so I do a lot of research
before going out on a hike. I usually
have no less than 3 maps (one on my phone and one in my backpack, another in my
pocket) a compass and altimeter on my phone and a manual one in my daypack, and
multiple versions of directions/checkpoints (including a GPS).
I’ve been trying to do this hike for a while now, as I
thought I was “ready” for a class 3, but the weather and my schedule wasn’t
cooperating, so it got pushed back. Last
night when I looked at the weather it said 30% chance of showers until 1pm and
winds at 9-13mph. That was by far the
best forecast I’d seen on a day I was able to hike, so I chose this one for
today (that and the forecast for Tour de Massive called for snow today, so that
was out).
My research told me the Longs Peak Trailhead fills up FAST
on weekends, and if I wasn’t there by 3am I might as well forget it. This is Labor Day weekend so I woke up after
a quick nap at midnight and drove to the trailhead. I’m not a fan of crowds, especially when I’m
hiking. It’s totally worth it to me to
wake up early to avoid seeing dozens of people on the trail. Not to mention I knew some parts of this
trail got bottlenecks when there were too many people hiking. I didn’t want to experience that.
When I got there at 2:45am there were about 10 cars in a 50
car lot. Did I mention it’s a Friday on
Labor Day weekend? This was not what I’d
expected, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The weather was warm (about 60 degrees) and it looked like I wouldn’t
run into too many people on this well trafficked route. This was turning out to be a wonderful hike,
and it hadn’t even started!
I got my gear out of my truck and was on the trail by
3am. I hiked all the way to the Keyhole
in the dark, so the only picture I have is this one from just above
treeline.
Much of this hike is above treeline. I have pictures to share but that will have
to come later in the post as I took them on the way back down in the
sunlight.
As soon as I hit treeline the wind picked up and the
temperature dropped. The wind was icy,
and not the 9-13mph winds as predicted, but 30mph+ gusts of cold air that took
forever to pass. I was miserable, and
put on my snow gloves and hat. Twice it
almost knocked me over and I had to brace myself on a rock.
All of my directions were great, but in the end not really
needed. The trail was heavily marked
with new signs all the way to the boulder field. I kept checking my GPS just in case, but I
was always right on route.
Until I hit the Boulder Field. This is where things got iffy. You see, I was hiking faster than I’d thought
I’d hike, and I’d made it there when it was still about an hour from
daylight. The trail kind of ended and I wasn’t
sure what to do. I knew I was supposed
to walk towards the Keyhole, but in the blackness I didn’t know where exactly
it was (or where I was in the boulder field for that matter). By this point I’d passed everyone else on the
trail (I knew this because I couldn’t see any more flashlights shining in front
of me) and those behind me chose to sit and wait for daylight. That was going to be over an hour away and I
didn’t want to wait that long.
I looked around for some cairns. It took a good 5 minutes, but I found one! Lucky me!
I hiked toward it, stopped, and looked for another one. I kept doing this and one by one they led me
to the campsites in the Boulder Field.
Everyone was still asleep. I
continued on, and soon I could see enough to tell I was at the base of the
Keyhole, so I just climbed up towards it and through to the other side. That was much easier than I’d
anticipated. And I’d done it in the
dark!
This is where the hike got REALLY FUN!!!
The wind died down a bit, but now I was surrounded in
clouds. This ended up being a good thing
because it minimized my perceived exposure.
I put on my helmet, looked left, pointed my flashlight, and followed the
bullseyes. This was surprisingly
simple. I’m all about LNT, but I’m sure
these bullseyes have saved lives.
About 10 minutes after passing the Keyhole the sun had risen
enough for me to turn off my flashlight, which was a good thing because I
needed two hands to scramble on the rocks.
There were a few really tough places, but mainly because of my
height. I’m about 5’4” but I really
could have used 2-4 inches of height to climb in many areas, but I found if I
stopped and looked around, sometimes I could find footholds behind me to help
me out.
The part of the hike that was stated as the most difficult, “the
trough” was actually where I found the most satisfaction: I was so ready for this climb! My upper body strength was way better than I’d
anticipated, I didn’t need to stop to catch my breath/take breaks, and I was
being creative and learning with my climbing.
And I was doing it! Yes, there
were bullseyes to point the way, but I was doing this on my own, without
someone there to help me (and felt confident with my directions I could have
navigated through the trough). I was
climbing a class 3!
The narrows weren’t scary or difficult, but I also had cloud
cover blocking the drop, so I’m a bit biased.
The Homestretch loomed before me and I took a deep
breath. It looked just like the picture
I’d seen online, but being here in person I could visibly pick a line and just
go with it. So I did. I didn’t follow the bullseyes here, but the
route I felt most comfortable climbing. I
just have to say, I was so lucky I had decent weather today. In no way could I have done this if it had
been raining (look at pictures to come).
It would have been a waterslide the entire way down and I don’t mean
that in a good way! I have great hiking
shoes, but rock climbing shoes would really have been helpful here. When my shoes got wet they slipped on the
granite.
I kept putting one foot in front of the other, and before I
knew it, I was on the summit! I was
immediately overwhelmed. You know that
feeling you get when you’re so happy you want to cry and you start taking
really quick-deep breaths and your heartbeat races and your eyes start to tear
up? That’s what happened to me (all
except the eyes tearing up part). I was
overcome with emotion, and immediately on cloud 9! I’d done it!
I’d actually done it! For the
first time I’d climbed a class 3, and I’d done it all by myself, without
someone to follow or help me along. I was the first one to summit that day (it
was 7:05am) and had the summit all to myself!
This was fan-freaking-tastic!!!
The only downside were the clouds: they were moving in and out and obscuring the
view. They were really cool to watch
though.
I was surprised at how flat the summit was.
I took some pictures and got to thinking: I’d really wanted to do 2 summits today: Long’s Peak, and an unranked peak referred to
as Southeast Longs that was really close to where I was now, but required a
different route. It was my intention to
make this a loop, hiking up the Keyhole route and down the Loft route. However, it’s not much fun to hike in the
dark. All you see are the shadows cast
from your flashlight, and those can be a bit scary. I wanted to see what I’d missed seeing on my
hike up. I’d seriously enjoyed this
hike, but I didn’t have any pictures to show for the places I’d been because I’d
hiked them in the dark. In my excitement
I decided I’d enjoyed this hike so much I’d come back and do Southeast Longs on
another trip, going up via the Loft route.
In other words, I was going back down the way I’d came.
I didn’t want to stay too long on the summit so I gathered
up my stuff and headed back down. I knew
I’d only completed half of the climb. I’d
need hike down what I’d climbed up. Here
are the pictures from the way down:
Here’s the homestretch
And the narrows
The exposure was blocked by clouds for parts of the route
Shadowselfie (because I do that kind of thing)
I didn’t see anyone until I was on my way down the narrows,
and no one I saw had a helmet. This
disappointed me. It was really easy to
accidentally kick loose rocks onto climbers below. It would suck to get hit in the head with one
of those rolling rocks!
The trough was really exciting!
When I hit the Keyhole the sun came out through the clouds
and I was able to see the Boulder Field. Holy Smokes!
I’d hiked through that in the dark?
How did I EVER find my way?
As I climbed down I realized something that made me
laugh: There were cairns EVERYWHERE with
no particular purpose. Throughout the
Boulder Field, dozens, if not hundreds of cairns had been placed in obscure
positions, as if someone just had a hobby of making cairns. This morning I’d followed one cairn to the
next and eventually they led me to the Keyhole, but in reality they shouldn’t
have! I must have been looking in the
direction I thought the Keyhole should be, and found cairns to validate my
theory.
I passed the tent sites in the Boulder Field, which are
really just large areas surrounded by rocks to break the wind. There’s a bivy here too.
The Boulder Field seemed to go on forever. I kept looking back to get a picture of Longs
Peak, but it was constantly surrounded with clouds.
That is, until I was just about to the place where I’d lose
site of the mountain. That’s when the
clouds lifted and Long’s Peak waved goodbye.
The trail from the Boulder Field back down was very well
maintained.
This is my absolute favorite 14er hike ever! I felt my abilities perfectly matched the
mountain. I was challenged just enough,
and in shape to handle the physical challenges.
If you’re reading this and wondering if you are personally
ready to hike this mountain, please don’t take my above narrative as making it
sound easy, because it wasn’t. I’ve been
training years to complete this type of a hike.
I’m not trying to brag here, or compare myself to the amazingness of
trail runners (who are pretty much trail gods BTW, move over for them because
they are awesome!!!), but I’ve been running 5-10 miles a day with a minimum of
4000’ of elevation gain every day for the past 8 years. Every day. No breaks (unless I’m hiking a
14er, and I’ve been known to hit the gym after one like Bierdstadt or Evans). I also do an hour of Yoga a day, and this is
my 21st 14er this summer (33rd overall). I did the 26 mile route on Pikes Peak 12
times last summer. I’ve been training
both mentally and physically for years, and this hike fits me perfectly. It may not be the best hike for you,
especially if you don’t have a lot of experience. However, at this point, I want to hike more
class 3’s!
Oh, and for those of you keeping tally, I started at 3am,
summited at 7:05am, and was back down at my truck by 11am. I asked the park rangers there how long they
thought the trail was (because I’ve seen it listed as anywhere from 14.5-16
miles) and they said 15 miles. So I did
15 miles, with 5100’ elevation gain, in 8 hours. This includes stopping to take lots and lots
of pictures and stopping to talk with everyone I passed on the way down to make
sure they were doing ok.
·The info I had said there’s usually snow until mid-July, but I hiked this August 18 and there was still quite a bit of snow.
·Ladies, this entire trail is above treeline andthere are no restrooms at the trailhead. Plan accordingly.
Trailhead info:
I drove my Tundra all the way to the 11,160’ trailhead that intersects with Pearl Pass, but if you can make it that far you can make it to 12,800’ (as long as you don’t mind the elevation decreasing). The road actually got EASIER after I’d parked but I didn’t know this until I’d started hiking. The only dicey parts would be if you had a long vehicle and needed to turn around. You wouldn’t be able to. (pictures later). Here’s a short video of the hardest part of the 4WD trail, just to give you a visual. Note: The sounds are not rocks hitting the underside of my car truck but the stuff I have hanging from my mirror making noise.
I woke up around 1:30am to make it to the trailhead by 6am. I don’t live close, and I don’t like to sleep at trailheads if I can help it (I’m better rested this way). This trailhead was not difficult to find, but it is 4WD.
Just after I crossed the creek I saw a group of 4 hikers. I passed them, then I got to thinking about how they had almost 2 miles to go, and I had an empty truck. There were storms predicted this afternoon, and I could save them at least an hour on their hike, valuable when storms are possible. If I was hiking and a vehicle passed me I’d want to be picked up (Como anyone?). I stopped, got out of my truck and asked if they’d like a ride to the upper trailhead.
I wasn’t sure they’d take the offer, mainly because some guys are big on making and bragging about mileage, but surprisingly they were thrilled with the opportunity. This made me feel good. Two sat in the cab and two sat in the bed of the truck. They were all very nice. We chatted for a bit as I drove up the 4WD trail about my truck (Tundra) and how well it was handling everything the road threw at it. They were from Kansas City on a guys trip to hike a few 14ers. Apparently they do this twice a year. Cool!
I parked at the Pearl Pass junction and we parted ways. Here are some pictures of the rest of the 4WD trail.
By the time I’d hiked to this junction at 12800’ I couldn’t see the hikers I’d picked up. I never saw them again on the hike, but I hope they summited! They had great attitudes!
Here the trail split in two and I went left to follow the trail to Castle Peak.
I crossed a small stream and then came to the first snow of the hike. It was easy to cross and hard-packed, if a little slippery (hey, it’s snow).
I took a shadowselfie with the snow because I do that kind of thing.
From here I could see Conundrum Peak to my right. You can hike this peak first, but I’d recommend hiking the higher peak first.
As you can see from this wonderfully edited picture, the trail zig-zags with switchbacks up the left side, and then follows a straight path across the mountain to the right.
This is what you see when you reach the top of all that wonderful scree.
Here is where the fun begins! There are several difficult class 2 scrambles on this route. I found several gullies that didn’t lead anywhere but up. Just know if you keep to the low right you should be able to find an easy route. If you’d like a challenge (and your party has helmets) by all means have fun going up the gullies. I did. Snap, Crackle, Pop!
Here’s a look back at what you’ve accomplished.
And a view of Conundrum Peak (notice it has 2 summits? The “true” summit is to the north).
Picture proof I summited
I was the only one on the summit and couldn’t see anyone on the trail behind me. I took several pictures of the mountains all around. Maroon Bells anyone?
I started my decent and immediately found a feather. I feel a Game of Thrones reference is valid here. I’ve never actually watched the show, but I have seen memes about sending a raven, and since I was on Castle Peak and all….
Moving on.
The feather parallels Conundrum’s ridge. I get to climb that!
But first I had to descend to the saddle, which included more fun scrambling.
And then going up another ridge.
I stopped to take a picture of the pond/small lake below. Anyone know the name of this pond, or is it just considered drainage? I looked (quick search of my topo and Roach’s book) and couldn’t find any info.
Here’s looking back at the ridge I just descended from Castle Peak. Notice the red rock at the bottom right of the ridge? That’s where the trail picks back up to head back down. It’s important…
Most of what I saw on these mountains consisted of rocks, but at least they were pretty to look at.
When I got to the top of the ridge there was a long flat section that was easy to cross.
Then there was a descent, and another ridge to climb. This wasn’t difficult.
Once again I was the only one on the summit (but I could hear hikers and their scree-valanches snap-crackle-popping from across the ridge).
Picture Proof I summited:
Now to head back down. I went back the way I’d hiked in, and at the saddle saw another hiker. He was surprised I was on the mountain (he thought he’d be the first to summit).
He didn’t know me, so he asked me how much faith I had in my abilities? He said the trail drops off into a gulley and leads out to snow. It’s full of scree and can get pretty dicey. I told him I had a helmet and gloves, but I’d think abot what he said and decide when I saw the trail. I knew no one was in front of me, so I didn’t need to worry about hitting anyone below me with scree, but he’d be above me.
I thought over what he’d said. How much faith did I have in my abilities? Well, I’d just summited my 20th unique 14er (and 31st overall). I’m now about 1/3 of the way done with the 14er challenge. I’ve climbed a few difficult class 2’s and I’ve hiked in the snow. How would I know my abilities if I didn’t challenge them? Looking down the mountain I could see where I needed to go. Even when I lost the trail (which was going to happen because there wasn’t a trail) I knew which point I needed to hike towards.
I decided to go for it. Here’s a picture of what it looked like when I started
I was pretty much on my butt with my feet sideways the entire time. Rocks were falling at a rapid pace below me and I was sliding fast. Luckily near the snow the rocks were wet and more packed. I was very thankful I was the only one on this part of the mountain. Anyone below me would have been hit in the head several times. This picture shows what’s below me and what I’ve just hiked. This is what it looked like after about 300 feet of hiking through incredibly loose scree.
I kept going and went directly down the gulley. As promised, it turned to snow. There was no good trail since I was the first one hiking today, but I could see where others had traversed in the past. I sat down, put my feet in front of me, and took a deep breath. And a picture.
Knowing what I had to do I started out slowly inching my way down, trying to get a feel for the density of the snow. It was hard packed but soft due to the sun. I didn’t have an ice pick (hello, August?) so I tried to slow myself by directing my feet into a “V”. That seemed to work pretty well. I didn’t want to go too fast and slide out of control since I didn’t have anything to stop myself if that happened.
Things started progressing pretty well and I got into it. This was fun! I made a great trail all the way down the mountain. When I stopped in front of the lake I thought to myself “This would make an awesome picture!” and reached for my cellphone.
It wasn’t there! It had fallen out of my pocket somewhere on that slide! Drat!
So I did the only logical thing: I hiked back up that mountain, praying inwardly the hiker I’d met and promised to wait for me didn’t start his descent until I was done. As luck would have it, I’d lost my phone at the very top of the slide. Wonderful. At least I was able to find it!
On a positive note I got in extra elevation on this hike, and since I’d already made a pretty good chute to slide down the first time, the second slide was much easier than the first. And since I had my phone I decided to take a quick video of the fun
I got up, knew I was supposed to hike left but hiked right instead because it meant traversing less snow and I knew it led to the Castle Trail back down.
When I got past the lake I turned around to look at my route. I’d started in the gulley (upper left) and slid down the entire mountainside. Twice. Awesome!
And my butt was wet
Now to hike back out. It was pretty simple, as I just followed my hike in. Funny thing: I never did see that hiker who gave me the advice? I didn’t see him go down the gulley or on the entire trail back. And you could pretty much see everything on that trail for about a mile in either direction. So he either spent a LOT of time on the summit, or took a different route down. Or we just missed each other somehow? There were about 5 cars at the 4WD trailhead when I got back down to my truck. I remember a 4 Runner but forgot what the others were.
In any event, this was a great hike! I was singing the entire way down, which means it was fortunate I was the only one on the trail. I always love new adventures!
I picked Mount of the Holy Cross on purpose as my 14th
14er (Golden!). I’d heard a lot of crazy
stuff about people getting lost, never being found, etc. so I wanted to kind of
turn my perception of this mountain around.
Oh, and the weather looked like it would cooperate in the morning, so I
went with it.
This trailhead is 3.5 hours away from my house so I needed
to get up at 1:45am to make it to the trailhead with enough time to hike before
the weather set in (storms after 11am).
I know what you’re thinking: Why
don’t I just drive to the trailhead the night before, park, and sleep in my
truck?
Several reasons. I
don’t sleep well at trailheads, so unless it’s 4 hours or more away I drive up
the morning I’m hiking. I wake up at 4am
to go to work every morning, this was the end of my workweek, and the night
before this hike I had a meeting until 10pm.
I’d much rather get a good night’s sleep in my own bed, wake up warm and
to a fresh pot of coffee, and then head out to the trail. The only downside is I’m a bit sleepy driving
(but not as much as if I’d gone the night before). Coffee helps.
This trailhead (Half Moon Trailhead) was easy to find. It was about 8 miles off a dirt road, but it
wasn’t too bad to drive. I’m confident
just about any 2WD could have made it (but I put my Tundra in 4WD just to be
safe). There were probably 20 other
vehicles there when I arrived (picture at end of post). There was a bathroom but the lock didn’t work
and it was out of toilet paper. No
worries: I always bring my own.
I made it later than I’d have liked (6am), and the sun was
already beginning to rise. I usually
start about half an hour before sunrise, so I needed to get a move on! I got out my maps, checked the maps at the
trailhead, verified my route, and was on my way.
The beginning of this hike was quite easy. It gained a moderate amount of elevation on a
well-worn path.
I saw several aspen trees that had been visited recently by
deer.
After about a mile and a half I came to Half Moon Pass. At this point I was going to LOSE about 1000
feet in elevation, just to make it up again later. This was ok with me though, because I’d
rather hike up than down. I regularly
hike uphill (5-10 miles a day) so muscle memory would kick in.
I ended up hiking down a lot farther than I thought I
would! Then I rounded a corner, and
BAM! There it was! Mount of the Holy Cross. My jaw dropped! Woot!
I was going to hike this?!?
Awesome!!! I was super excited
this was the mountain I was going to climb today! This looked so freaking fun!
While not it’s namesake, I found a cross in the upper right of the mountain. Though not quite as prominent as it would have been last month with
more snow.
Cool fact: When there’s
snow Mt Shavano has an Angel on its East slopes, and Mount of the Holy Cross
has a cross on its North Face. Mt
Shavano is the furthest South in the Sawatch Mountain Range, and Mount of the
Holy Cross is the furthest North. It’s
like an angel and cross hold the mountain range together.
At this point the trail got really steep going down (which
meant extra work on the return trip), but I honestly didn’t care. This hike was going to be amazing!
The downhill part stopped at Cross Creek. I crossed Cross Creek and began regaining lost
elevation.
I just have to say, this
trail is very well maintained. It’s
almost impossible to get lost because it’s so manicured. I’m not sure if this was done after all the “incidents”
or before, but either way it’s appreciated.
The only way I could see someone possibly getting turned around is at
these campsites, but they’d need to be missing the indicators of the hiker
would need to be extremely naive.
Cairns. There were
tons of cairns, just in case the pathway of rocks wasn’t enough (which I know
it wouldn’t be in the snow).
Mount of
the Holy Cross is to the left, the path is to the right.
The only difficult part of this hike was the last quarter mile,
and it was only difficult because of the sun.
It just so happened the time of day I was hiking was right when the sun
was coming up over the mountain, casting an intense yellow glow directly in the
path I was supposed to take. Sunglasses
did not help. I just aimed for the top
and kept hiking upwards. Most 14ers don’t
have much of a trail the last mile or so anyway.
I summited at 9:20am.
I looked around, noticed all routes down looked the same, and placed my
hiking pole in a position to indicate which way I’d come up so I knew which way
to head back down. This is really the
only way I could see someone getting lost:
taking the wrong trail down from the summit.
I took a picture to prove I’d made it
One of the summit marker (I was so excited this summit had
one!)
And a few of the amazing views! Check out those lakes!
Then I was off back down the mountain. I looked for the ridge I’d followed coming up
and was glad I’d indicated with my hiking pole: there were 3 “similar” ridges.
Hiking down was pretty easy.
I once again looked for ways to get lost and had a hard time finding
any. In fact, I found a trail I assumed
went to the lakes but it wasn’t what anyone would take instead of the main
trail (it was overgrown and didn’t look used).
I also met a few guys searching for a 13er route, but that trail wasn’t
visible either (I’d looked on my way up too).
Oh, I saw a grouse…
And check out this tree:
how did that happen?!?!?
I made it back down to the trailhead at 12:45pm. So I hiked 12 miles, 5600+ feet in elevation
gain in 7 hours. Not a great time, but I
stopped to take a bunch of pictures, and I spent a lot of time at the summit,
so I’ll take it!
I’m pretty sure this is my new favorite 14er (besides Pikes
Peak: That will always be my favorite as
I’ve hiked it 12+ times and it holds special memories). I loved how it went uphill both ways, the
flowers were beautiful, and that mountain:
majestic!!! This was much of the
trail:
Oh, and when I got back down the trailhead was FULL of
cars. Full. That line goes for about a quarter mile.
Notes:
I saw no less than 8 Park Service Rangers (2 installing a sign
at the summit and 6 hiking to the lakes)
There were a lot of people on this hike, but it didn’t feel
crowded.
I saw a nun hiking (she had on a hiking skirt that went to
her ankles and a nuns scarf). She didn’t
start until 11am. I hope she made it
before the storms set in.
I can see how someone could get lost below treeline because
you can’t see any of the mountains and lose sense of direction, however above
treeline the trail is pretty easy to follow.
Descending from the summit is the only plausible way to get turned
around.
I had another guy follow me today. Once again nothing creepy, but there has to
be a better way? Guys: do not follow 5,10,15, or 20 yards behind a
woman hiking alone. You may think you’re
respecting her space but it’s just creep!
Several times I either walked faster, stopped, or encouraged him to pass
me. The time I asked him to pass he said
he was just about to stop for a blister, and when I went faster so did he (and
slower was the same). I never felt
threatened (he seemed like a nice guy) but it’s creepy just the same. I felt like his pacer. Guys:
Stop and give some distance or pass us.
Video from the summit:
The Mt of the Holy Cross summit sticker can be bought here
My alarm clock went off at 2am this morning and I did NOT
want to get out of bed. I was
exhausted! After a very full week of
work, and Emily’s softball game that lasted until 10:30pm last night, I’d
gotten very little sleep this week (and only about 2.5 hours last night).
Luckily my gear was all ready in the truck. I turned on the coffee, thanked myself for
prepping it the night before, and started pumping myself up for the hike
today. I’ve NEVER regretted a hike, no
matter how much I didn’t really want to go in the beginning. I had set a goal of hiking all 14ers, and
there was no way I was going to achieve that goal if I was “too tired” on the
opportunities I actually had to hike. By
the time I got in the car I’d changed my attitude. Woohoo!
I actually had an opportunity to hike today!
I chose this hike because it was relatively close (2.5 hours
away) and moderate on length (9.5miles).
I wanted something a little challenging, but I had a 4:30pm appointment
for an oil change I needed to be back home for, so it couldn’t be too intense.
My directions were spot on, all except for the last little
bit. I had two forms of directions (I do
this because the trailhead is often hard to find, on dirt/county roads with
multiple local and state names that differ).
One of my directions said to go 12 miles down this road, the other said
11.2 miles. Well, at 11.2 miles I saw a
bear! It startled me, and in fact at
first I didn’t realize it was a bear because it was way too small to be a
bear. I thought maybe it was a very
large raccoon: it was about 4 feet in
length, and I only saw the back ¾ of the animal as it finished crossing the
street and headed into the trees, but it didn’t have a tail. It did have a rather brown, pear shaped
bottom though. That’s when I realized it
was most likely a cub, and mama was probably close. Since
I was the only one on this road I tried to stop to see it better but it was
hidden in the shadows. Oh well, it was
still cool!
The trailhead ended up being 13 miles down the road, which
may not seem like a big deal, but it really is when you’re in the dark looking
for a trailhead that might be hidden. In
any event, I found the trailhead full of cars.
Several had people getting ready for the hike today. I gathered my gear, turned on my headlamp,
and asked two ladies getting ready in their vehicle if this was the correct
trailhead (there weren’t any signs). We
were all here for the same hike so I thanked them and was on my way.
I got out my directions and they were pretty correct. Let me emphasize here I was hiking in the
dark. There wasn’t a moon to guide me
today, and I’d just seen that bear a mile down the road. I knew there were a lot of other people who
planned to hike this trail today (I could see them in the parking lot) but I
didn’t know if anyone else was on the trail.
I’m not a fan of hiking in the dark without a moon, but on a day like
today it was necessary.
I only strayed from the trail once. It was at this crossing. I thought NO WAY am I supposed to cross
this? It was completely dark at this
point, and this didn’t look like the right way (across the river). So I followed a trail to the left for about ¼
of a mile that looked like a good trail but ended up being just a way for
people to look for another crossing. It
didn’t lead anywhere, and when I discovered this I backtracked and crossed the
river. In the dark. Balancing on the wet logs and shuffling
across. I had no idea how deep the water
actually was because my pole didn’t reach to the bottom. But I made it and didn’t fall! Woohoo!
I’d have to do this 3 more times and 3 more crossings (but only one more
was in the dark).
Just after the sun came up I stopped for a bit, and at this
point a couple hiking caught up to me. I wish I’d never have stopped because we
stayed 10 yards apart from each other for most of the hike up (and down). I tried to either go faster or stop to get
distance, but they always mirrored what I did.
It was not fun listening to their conversations. When I hike I like to hear nature… oh well!
Most of this hike was in the shadow of the mountain, which I
was happy with because otherwise it would have been hot! Luckily there was no wind so it was a
comfortable hike. Look at what I get to scramble!
I needed my directions for the first 2 miles, but after that
the trail was a piece of cake to follow.
Especially the ending ½ mile that was full of cairns. FULL OF CAIRNS.
That’s ok though, because it was pretty rocky.
I’d started hiking at 5am and summited at 8am. Not bad!
4.25 miles in 3 hours, uphill, with 4300’ in elevation gain!
The view was absolutely beautiful! You could see over 30 14ers from the summit.
When I got there 3 camp counselors from the Salida Boy Scout
Camp were there, hiking on their day off.
We chatted for a bit about scouts, and then I was on my way back
down.
The only downside to the way back down was that couple who
followed me back down. At one point I
saw this mushroom, decided to stop to take pictures, and they passed me and I
never saw them again. It was
wonderful!
I crossed the streams again a few times on the way back
down, this time in the daylight.
There were a lot of people hiking up as I was hiking down,
but for once everyone seemed prepared and started at a reasonable time.
I made it back to my truck at 10:45am and was headed
home. Just under 6 hours for a 9.5 mile
14er.
Wild Wanderer 