cathedral lake trailhead – Wild Wanderer

Electric Pass Peak 13,632 & Leahy Peak 13,322

RT Length: 14 miles

Elevation Gain: 4406’

My flight got in late. I’d been in California all week at a tech conference and decided to leave Thursday evening to allow me to hike on Friday morning. This seemed like a great idea but the flight was delayed and I didn’t end up making it to Denver until 1:30am. I jumped in my truck and drove to the Cathedral Lake trailhead, a little upset I was behind schedule but not too worried since it was supposed to be a nice day and I wasn’t on any time schedule.

I’d heard they were closing the road to Maroon Bells today and figured since they were in the same area they’d be closing the road to the Cathedral Lake trailhead soon as well. When I got to Ashcroft I saw the gate was still open but there was a blinking sign indicating the road was going to close on November 15 (today). I was excited it was still open until I noticed it said they were closing it at 7am. Drat! I’d arrived before the gate closure but only by about an hour and a half. Oh well, this only added 3 miles total to my hike. Also, props to them for putting up signs warning of the upcoming closure.

I parked my truck in the parking lot at Ashcroft, gathered my gear, and was on the trail at 5:45am.

I followed the road for a mile and then turned right (west) onto a dirt road.

Here the road became icy. I followed it for another three quarters of a mile to the trailhead

I saw several ropes put across roads that weren’t open, which I thought was a great idea! I was here last May when there were several feet of snow on the ground and following the correct road had been a challenge when everything was white. These ropes would have come in handy back then

The dirt road led me to the Cathedral Lake trailhead.

The trail up to the lake is a well defined, class 1 trail. The trail had seen snow recently but was well packed down. In the morning I didn’t need microspikes, but they were very helpful in the afternoon.

The avalanche area has been well cleared

Just after ascending this hill (after about 4 miles from the start of the trail) the trail splits in two, one going to Cathedral Lake, the other to Electric Pass.

I went right towards Electric Pass

Here the snow picked up quite a bit and the trail became less traveled.

Most of the snow seemed to be directly on the trail. Unfortunately, it looked like one other person had been here since the snow fell and apparently they hadn’t brought snowshoes because they’d postholed with every step. It made my trek that much more difficult.

The trail led me to a basin and from here snow obscured the rest of the route, making this a class 2 hike. Also, here the tracks stopped. It seemed the previous hiker had given up their hike at the basin (probably because they lacked snowshoes). With no visible trail I’d originally planned to hike to the end of the basin and gain the ridge, but as I was aiming for the ridge I came across the trail again and decided to follow it instead. Here’s the route I took

Some parts of the trail were completely dry

But most of the trail was obscured by snow. I’d lose it and then find it again. I decided this was a good time to put on my microspikes.

I just kept aiming for the saddle

Once there I saw a cairn and followed the ridge west

Instead of following the ridge to the summit I followed the trail, which went around to the left

After rounding the corner (still on the trail) I could see the route to Electric Pass

This area was full of loose talus. It looked like some people had attempted to summit this way in the past (there were cairns pointing upwards) but this seemed foolishly difficult and unnecessary.

The last bit was steep and the snow here was soft. I carefully made solid tracks in the snow.

There was a cornice to navigate before gaining the ridge. Once on the ridge I turned right (northeast) and followed the trail to the summit

The summit had a lot of red rocks and a large cairn

I summited “Electric Pass Peak” at 10:15am

“Electric Pass Peak”

The views were absolutely amazing!

From here I had a good view of the route to Leahy Peak

I turned and went back the same way I’d summited

It hadn’t been very long since I was there, but the section of snow just under the ridge had now become slick. This was the crux of the route for the day, going back over the cornice and snow that took me back to the talus

Here’s the route I took from “Electric Pass Peak” to Leahy, doing my best to stick to the ridge and avoid the snow

Side note: look at the difference in snow levels on opposite sides of the mountain!

Here’s the last bit up to Leahy Peak. This really was an easy ridge walk, and if you’re even considering summiting Leahy I’d recommend doing so.

I summited Leahy Peak at 11:15am

Leahy Peak

Time to head back. I followed the ridge back as best I could until I came across the trail again

Here’s my route from Leahy Peak back down to the basin

On my way back I put on my snowshoes and tried to stomp down the postholes along the trail

It was really neat seeing all the animal tracks on the way down that hadn’t been there on my way up

I was almost back at the trailhead when I came across three hikers. They were surprised to see me because they hadn’t seen any other vehicles at the trailhead. They also didn’t have proper gear to be out hiking, especially on all this ice. They seemed upset with me when they saw I was wearing microspikes because they hadn’t brought any.

I was surprised they’d parked at the trailhead.
Me: “Weren’t they supposed to close the gate this morning?”

Them: “Yes, they did. We just used our 4WD vehicle to drive around it”

I didn’t agree with their tactics and gave them a blank look as I let my eyes go wide. Don’t be like them.

I made it back to the trailhead and indeed they’d parked their car in the lot, going around the closed gate to get there.

I followed the dirt road back to the paved road

And followed the paved road back to Ashcroft (and the closed gate)

I made it back to Ashcroft at 2:15pm, making this a 14 mile hike with 4406’ of elevation gain in 8 hours, 30 minutes

I was a bit tired, seeing as how I hadn’t slept in 2 days, but considered today’s outing a win!

Change of Plans… The Cathedral and Hanging Lake Story

After climbing Lackawanna yesterday I drove 4 hours to Ashcroft and arrived at 1pm. The winter closure started here.

My intent was to spend the night, wake up early and attempt Cathedral Peak in the morning. There were tons of vehicles in the lot when I arrived, and groups getting ready to leave for the day.

This is a popular trailhead as a starting spot for many winter activities (mainly skiing and snowshoeing, not necessarily mountain climbing). I asked about conditions and was told the snow was firm in the morning and soft in the afternoon (lol!). I saw some snowshoers with a guide ready to go out for a short trek (dressed in jeans) and several groups on hut expeditions.

The bathroom was open but dirty, so I got out my Clorox disinfecting wipes and quickly cleaned it so I could feel better about using it over the next few days.

It was still early but I decided to make some Mountain House Stroganoff for dinner and go over my notes for tomorrow. There wasn’t any recent information on this peak, and in fact not much information at all, so I wanted to be prepared. I checked the weather report I’d saved on my phone and calculated start times. I wanted to be on the trail no later than 2:30am so I could potentially make it to the Lake by 5am, with a summit between 5-7am to avoid the warming of the snow and avy conditions.

As I was sitting there, all I could think of was how beautiful the mountains were, and how perfect the weather was right now. It was probably spectacular here in the fall. Even though I’d hiked a centennial already today I wanted to be out there hiking again. I gave it some serious thought but in the end knew the snow at this time of day would be too soft, so it wouldn’t be worth the attempt anyway.

The sun was already warming up my truck and I began to feel sleepy. By 3pm I’d decided to try and get some sleep because I was waking up super early to hike tomorrow and needed my rest after this morning’s climb. At 5pm I was woken up by an intense thunderstorm but was able to fall back asleep.

My alarm went off at 1:30am and I woke up to 3 inches of snow outside but check this out: I was warm!

I’ve never been warm sleeping at a trailhead, but for some reason I was this morning, even though it had obviously snowed. I didn’t want to get up but I also knew I didn’t have a large window of opportunity for this climb, so I had to get going. I was on the trail by 2am, following Castle Creek Road. After a little over a mile I saw a gate and a sign indicating I was to take this trail

I exited the road, climbed over a 5 foot tall ice wall and landed face first in the snow. Boy, was I glad no one was here to see me do that! How embarrassing! I picked myself up and in the 3-4 feet of snow (in the dark) struggled to get on my snowshoes. This was going to be an interesting hike!

For the next mile and a half I postholed up to my knees in the snow, doing my best to route find a class 1 trail that hadn’t been hiked in quite a while, buried under several feet of snow. I came to an avalanche area. After a few minutes I found my way around it, but quickly came to another one… or maybe it was a continuation of the first? I’m not sure, but this avalanche was very recent and in the dark I couldn’t find a way around it. This was a 15-20 foot wall of compacted snow with tree trunks and branches sticking out from every angle.

I had 2 options: Wait for daylight to see if I could find a passable route, or cut my losses, head back to my truck and drive to the next trailhead. I knew if I waited until daylight I wouldn’t have enough time to complete or even attempt the climb past the lake, so I decided to just head back. That postholing had sure worn me out! I was incredibly tired, but it was probably due a little bit to yesterday’s elevation gain/climb as well.

I hiked back to my truck as the moon rose over the mountains and in and out of the clouds. I no longer needed my flashlight and wondered to myself if the moonlight would have made a difference in my navigating the avalanche? It was 5am when I made it back to my truck. I stowed my gear and hopped in, intent on driving to the next trailhead for the peak I’d intended to hike tomorrow. For reference, here’s where I encountered the avalanche

My truck wouldn’t start. Drat! I got out, cleaned 3 inches of snow/ice off the hood of the vehicle and popped the hood. After fiddling around with the battery for a bit I was able to get the truck started and I was off. This had certainly been an interesting morning!

As I was driving to the next trailhead I saw a sign for Hanging Lake. This hike has been on my bucket list for years now, but it’s so short and so far away it hasn’t seemed worth the drive. Well, today I was right here, the new reservation system begins next week and I’ll most likely not go if I have to reserve a spot. It seemed my day was already shot and I wanted to turn it around, so I took the exit for Hanging Lake.

I arrived to a half full parking lot at 7am. (I’ll apologize here: My camera was fogged up due to the change in conditions from snow to warm, so the pictures came out a little hazy).

The trail is well marked and easy to follow. I walked along the river on a well kept paved trail for about half a mile

And at the official trailhead turned left

There’s a sign with some rules and information

As you can see from the sign, there are 7 bridges to cross. This hike can be summed up in a few simple pictures:

Bridges:

Stairs:

And signs every ¼ mile or so letting you know how far you’ve gone:

There were a few short sections of snow/ice, but traction would have been overkill

There were also a few waterfalls along the way

And signs of a recent avalanche

After a mile of hiking up 1000’ or so in elevation I came to a steep set of winding stairs and arrived at Hanging Lake.

Wow! Talk about beautiful!

Hanging Lake: Video

I took a selfie to prove I was there

And a few pictures of the lake itself (it has fish!!!)

I saw a sign on my way in for Spouting Rock and decided to see what that was all about. It was a 2 minute walk up more steps to an area just above Hanging Lake.

Spouting Rock is a waterfall.

The hike back down was very quick. The only drawback was navigating through all the people on the trail! This is a very popular hike, and on a Saturday morning the last weekend before the reservation system started quite busy, even for 8am.