hiking – Page 11 – Wild Wanderer

Sky Pond – RMNP

I was invited by Anne on
this hike, and was thrilled with the invite!
I’d initially wanted to hike a 14er today, but the rough weather all
week meant lots of snow everywhere over 14000 feet in Colorado, so this was the
perfect opportunity to get out and hike on a day a 14er wasn’t the best
option.

Once again, I wasn’t
sure if I’d be able to go on this hike until the day before. I felt really bad about my lack of commitment
early on, but I’d hate to RSVP and then later retract it. When I realized I’d actually be able to go I
was stoked! We started out with about 6
or 7 people invited, but there ended up being 3 of us hiking in the end.

I was worried about the
weather. Really worried actually. It had snowed in the region all week. All current weather reports indicated snow
was inevitable, along with cold temperatures and wind. However, the cold weather wasn’t supposed to
set in until the afternoon.

I mentally didn’t want
to hike in the cold, but I also really wanted to make a few hiking friends, and
saw this as the perfect opportunity. I
decided to bundle up and take the plunge.

We met at 3:30am at the
Woodmen Park n Ride. I drove. Actually, I insisted I drive. I really like to drive, and this way if I
ended up bailing due to weather I’d be able to sit in my truck and not feel bad
about using up gas for heat. I was
wearing 4 layers of clothing, but was worried because I didn’t bring a
scarf.

It only took us about 2
hours to get there. I was surprised the
drive went by so fast, even after stopping half way for coffee. We didn’t see any wildlife on the road, besides
the tail end of a fox.

The hike to Sky Pond
begins from Glacier Gorge Trailhead in RMNP.
The parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 6am. Even though this was a National Park, there
was no way to pay at the entrance gate?
Usually there are self pay envelopes you leave when you arrive
before/after hours, but we weren’t able to find any, despite searching. Oh well, we’d pay on the way out.

We began the trail at
6:15am. It was 45 degrees outside with a strong wind (25mph?). I was glad it was beginning to get light
outside because I didn’t have a map. In
fact, I hadn’t done any research on this trail, which is absolutely nothing
like me. Usually I’m uber prepared. The only research I’d done was on the weather. Luckily Anne knew where we were going and had
a map. Both David and I let her
lead. It was a good thing too: there were several trails that intersected at
various points with our trail. It was
easy to go the wrong way if you didn’t pay attention to the signs.

At this point the sun
was beginning to rise and we started seeing a bit of Alpine Glow.

At just under a mile we
passed Alberta Falls, one of the more popular hiking destinations in Rocky
Mountain National Park. This scenic 30-foot waterfall thunders down a small
gorge on Glacier Creek, and is named after Alberta Sprague, the wife of Abner
Sprague, one of the original settlers in the Estes Park area. It was very difficult to take pictures of the
falls, so we didn’t. The next section of trail, between Alberta Falls and Mills
Junction, was rehabilitated by the National Park Service and the Rocky Mountain
Conservancy. The entire trail to this point was easy to hike,
and very well maintained.

This hike was full of
beautiful, small lakes. The first lake
we encountered was Loch Vale, better known as The Loch. It was very cold and
very windy at this lake. This beautiful
subalpine lake is situated at 10,190 feet.

We reached the base of Timberline
Falls, high above the trail. From this vantage point the trail begins to climb
a series of rock steps. In other words, you climb the waterfall. It was still very cold and there was a lot of
ice on the trail, so this is where we stopped to put on our microspikes.

From here the trail
continues up a chute to the right of the falls. This is a fairly challenging
scramble that climbs roughly 100 feet, and requires hand holds and the use of
all four limbs while ascending. The first 30 feet or so are the most difficult,
but beyond that it’s a relatively easy scramble. Just to complicate things a
little more, portions of the climb has water flowing down the route (the
waterfall). It’s nothing exceedingly dangerous, but we did have to take our
time and be extremely cautious. This is the point where many people turn around
on the hike.

At the top of the climb
we reached the Lake of Glass, an incredibly beautiful alpine lake with
outstanding views of The Sharkstooth, Taylor Peak and Powell Peak. This lake is
also sometimes referred to as Glass Lake. And it was WINDY! I was almost blown over a couple of times,
but once we started walking it wasn’t so bad.

From here the trail
becomes fairly rocky and rugged as it travels along the west side of the lake.

We finally reached Sky
Pond, which sits at an elevation of 10,900 feet. The views here are simply
spectacular. The alpine lake fills a cirque basin, and is surrounded on three
sides by sheer cliff walls.

Off to the right are the
granite spires of The Sharkstooth. Against the backdrop of a cobalt blue sky,
the scene makes for an extremely dramatic view.

The mountain directly
across the lake is 13,153-foot Taylor Peak, and towards the south is
13,208-foot Powell Peak. I’ll come back
for those two someday.

Even though this hike didn’t include a summit, we’d
had a great hike. But when we saw the
large formations staring at us from across the pond we knew we wanted
more. So we made our own path across the
pond and towards the large formations.
We looked up at the gulley, decided it was doable, and started to
climb.

It was a bit challenging due to the ice and snow, but
we made it to the top! I loved how
everyone just went for it, knowing we’d all be able to make it (or just willing
to turn back if it seemed too difficult… we had to at least try!).

The views from here were amazing as well!

The best part?
This is when the sun came out! I
was pretty much freezing at this point due to the wind, but the sun was
absolutely amazing!!!

We met a couple of hikers here who had the same idea
we did, but went a slightly different route.
Our route ended up being easier, so they followed us on the way back
down. They were fun to chat with, and
seemed like a couple of fun guys! They
even took Anne’s camera for a couple of selfies!

As we hiked back we looked back on the trail we’d
hiked to get there.

On the way up we hadn’t seen many people, but on the
way down we encountered a steady stream of hikers. This became a bit dangerous on Timberline
Falls, but we were thrilled most of the ice from the morning had dissipated and
it was now just wet in most areas and icy in just a few.

We gave the other climbers some pointers and headed
on. It was really nice to be with other
competent hikers who were sure of themselves while hiking.

We made it back to the Loch and met a couple that took
a fun picture of David, Anne, and I

The colors on the trees had already started to fade,
but there was a little left to enjoy.

When we made it back to the trailhead we looked at the
map of our hike. We’d visited a bunch of
lakes!

We all seemed to get along pretty well, talking and
hiking at about the same pace. After the
hike we all decided to head down to Estes Park for a beer. It was about 2pm, and there was quite a bit
of traffic. We learned we were in the
middle of an Elk Festival, and the town was overflowing with tourists. Funny thing, we didn’t see any elk, but many
people had that morning (we did see them lounging in the RMNP Elk Viewing area
however).

We stopped at Rock Cut Brewing Company for some
excellent beer and some fried food out of a food truck that was pretty tasty
(fries, burgers, cauliflower covered in parmesan garlic and tater tots). There were lots of wasps, and some pretty
good conversations with a bunch of people we met who were staying at the
Stanley Hotel. They’d been friends for decades
and were vacationing together for fun.

The drive home took twice as long as the drive there
due to traffic. There were several
accidents and even a death investigation on the I25, so we didn’t get back
until after 6pm. It was totally worth it
though! I’m pretty sure I made some new
hiking friends, and I had a great time!

Roundtrip Length was about 10 miles, with elevation gain
of about 2000 feet.

Side note: "National
Public Lands Day is being celebrated this Saturday, Sept. 30, across the US
which means you can get in free to all national parks across the country for
FREE. And yes, that includes Colorado’s four national parks as well.“
– we were lucky to get a parking space at all!

Blanca Peak – 14,345 and Ellingwood Point – 14,042

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!

Mt. Lindsey – 14,042 (and Northwest Lindsey 14,020)

I arrived late at the trailhead for 2 reasons:

1: When I got up I
needed to fold some laundry, start a new load, and clean up from the kids’ late
night baking session (the dishwasher was full and needed to be unloaded and
then loaded again).

2: The I25 was closed
for 2 exits and the detour took forever because of all the semis trying to
navigate the downtown streets.

So even though I got up at 2am I made it to the Huerfano /
Lily Lake Trailhead at 6:15am. Here are
some pics of the easy 4WD road to the trailhead.

There were two other cars in the parking lot (which could
probably hold 10 in the immediate area, but there was a lot of room on the road
itself as well). I was on the trail by
6:30pm. It was just beginning to get
light outside.

The beginning of this hike was pretty easy. It followed a creek and a boulder field.

I could tell the views on the way back were going to be
amazing!

I followed a waterfall up a hill and saw two hikers at the
mine. (Side note, I had an epiphany
here: Mine probably came from the word “mine”. Think about it). Anyway, they were on the other side of the
stream and couldn’t hear me, so I waved and continued on.

Here’s my first view of Mt. Lindsey. It’s the peak to the center right.

I crossed this basin and ascended the hillside. At the top I took a shadow selfie, because
that’s what I do.

Here I reached a saddle, and decided to leave my hiking pole
at a cairn, as this was a class 3 hike/climb and it wouldn’t help any when I
needed two hands. I took a picture of
both sides of Mt. Lindsey and put my camera away.

It was here I met a man who stopped me: “Hey, do you blog?”

Me: “Yes”

Man: “Aren’t you
WildWanderer? I’ve seen all your stuff
on the 14ers site. You’re famous! You’ve been rocking out the peaks this
summer!”

I thanked him, argued a bit about the “famous” part, and was
on my way.

We met up again while I was putting on my helmet. I was trying to figure out my route. I didn’t want to hold my map as I was
climbing, so I was studying the picture I had and what I could see in front of
me. I didn’t want to take the gully
(blue line) because I’m not a fan of gullies.
I wanted to take the pink line, as that’s an easy class 3.

I put on my helmet, put away my map, and started my way
up. I’d told myself to just hug the left
side of the ridge and I’d be fine. The
sunlight was blinding, shining directly in my eyes. It was difficult to see any sort of
trail. It took some maneuvering, but I felt
I was doing pretty well. Until I came to
the crux. That’s where the route
diverges into 3 different parts about halfway up the ridge. However, I couldn’t tell that was where I was
at. Looking at a picture/map is totally
different from when you’re actually climbing.
You can’t see much in front of you or behind you while climbing, so you
have to go by memory. I knew I was good
as long as I stayed to the left of the ridge, so I looked up and started
climbing. The easiest route looked to be
the pitch, so that’s where I went. It
wasn’t too hard until I was almost all the way up. This is what it looked like:

I kept thinking to myself as I was climbing: “This is MUCH
harder than Longs Peak. Aren’t they both
supposed to be class 3’s?” My research
had told me Longs was harder than Lindsey.
I felt what I was doing was within my abilities, but why was this so
difficult? And why did this feel so much more difficult than Longs?

By this time the man who’d talked with me before had caught
up with me again. I was doing the route
finding and he was following me. Since I
had an extra pair of eyes I called back to him “Hey, from where you’re standing
does it look like this line goes to the top?”

He said it did, and I was almost there. Great! Except I didn’t fit though the path I
needed to take, and going back down wasn’t an option I wanted to take. I’m not a big girl (5’4”, 105lbs), but in
order to make this move I’d need to remove my backpack and lift myself/crawl sideways
and up through a tight space. Once
again, I felt secure I could do this (without my backpack). I discussed this with the man below me, and
we decided to help each other out: I
took off my backpack, climbed up, and he handed it up to me, then took off his
and handed me his backpack. This worked
great, and we both made it! The entire
time I kept thinking to myself how I did NOT want to go down this way! I couldn’t see what was below me, and even
knowing there was a ledge just beyond my sight I knew it’d be suicide. I needed to find a safer route down.

We separated once again and I was off to find the
summit. This part of the hike was
slippery with a lot of loose rock. When
I finally gained the ridge to what I hoped was Mt. Lindsey I realized I was at
Northwest Lindsey (14,020). Luckily I
could see Mt. Lindsey in the distance.

I thought briefly about taking a picture of me summiting
here, but didn’t deem it as too important, so I pressed on.

The rest of the hike was easy. I followed the small saddle towards Mt.
Lindsey, and then looked back at Northwest Lindsey.

This part of the hike was only about 200 yards, and soon I
summited! I was the first to summit
today!

I got out my map and looked at my options for the way
down. That’s when I realized I’d hiked a
class 4! Check this out: Here’s a picture of what I’d intended to
climb (the pink route)

And what I actually climbed (the red line).

Now everything made sense!
When the man I’d climbed with reached the summit I told him about our
achievement and we fist-bumped. Then
promptly discussed taking the gully back down.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this because I didn’t know where it started
back down. I passed several gullies and
wanted to be sure I was hiking the correct one on my way down. My intent was to hike back the way I’d came,
but to try to find the class 3 route down.
If I couldn’t, I’d load my GPS with different directions and go looking
for the correct gully.

I was off, and on my way back decided to indeed take a
picture at Northwest Lindsey, just because I don’t’ ever want to climb this
mountain again and I wanted proof I’d been here. That class 4 part was really the climb up
Northwest Lindsey, so I felt I’d earned a picture.

Here’s the way back to Northwest Lindsey

And my summit selfie

As I started down I noticed the couple I’d passed at the
mine coming up what I presumed was the gully.
We talked about their route up, and they gave me directions back down
the gully. This seemed like a good
option. All I needed to do was aim for
the red dirt in the middle right of this picture, and then the route down would
be visible.

So that’s what I did.
And this is what that route looked like:

It wasn’t very much fun.
I’m not sure which was worse, the ridge up or the gully down. In fact, as I met hikers trying to make the
decision which route to take I wasn’t sure what to tell them. They were both pretty crummy. I was just glad I didn’t need to do either of
them ever again.

As I reached the saddle I turned and looked back at the
mountain. Can you see the class 4 pitch?

Here it is…

I felt like a badass as I continued hiking back down.

I talked to a bunch of hikers on the way down, but didn’t
see anyone after I reached the saddle.
Except for a marmot in all his glory.

The trail went through a pine forest, which was lovely
except the evergreens are losing their needles for some reason. The ground was littered with green pine
needles, which are extremely slippery.

The trees are just starting to change colors here.

Oh, and I found a patch of wild strawberries by the
stream! I love hiking this time of year
because of things like this!

So, here are my final stats:

Started hike at 6:30am

Summited around 9:15am (I looked but forgot the time…)

Made it back to my Truck at 12pm

Total hike time: 5 hours 30 minutes

Total Mileage: 8.25 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 3500’ (it felt like way more)

Here’s a 360 degree view of the summit

The Mt Lindsey Summit Sticker can be bought here

Mt Antero – 14,269

Trailhead Conditions:

Turn left at this sign and drive for about 2.7 miles up a
4WD road.

This is definitely a 4WD trailhead, but I know that means different things to different people, so here are some pictures of the worst areas. My Tundra did just fine.

If you can make it to the stream crossing you can make it all the way to 13,800’ as the trail gets easier from here. I saw a bunch of Jeeps, 4Runners, Tacomas, a
GMC full size truck, and other modified vehicles there. I parked here because I wanted the elevation gain /mileage. After parking I crossed the stream and headed left.

This was not the hike I’d wanted to take today. I had another one in mind but I had a 4pm meeting I needed to be at, so my plans changed. I needed something close, so now it was between Mt Princeton and Mt Antero. The beta on the Mt Princeton trailhead said a week ago a 4Runner was stuck in the middle of the trailhead, with no further updates. Not wanting to risk missing a hike due to a blocked trailhead I just went with Mt Antero.

As noted above, the trail was a 4WD trail and FUN in the dark! I love watching the shadows play across the road as my high beams light them up. It was a challenge, but fun in my Tundra.

I arrived at 5am. After parking and crossing the stream I headed left and hiked for about 3 miles in the dark. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing when the dome light in my truck went off so I turned on my headlamp.

There are actually 4 grouse in this picture, a mama and three chicks about 3 or 4 her size. I swear they’re in the picture! They blend in very well.

This trail followed the 4WD trail just about the entire way. About halfway up the switchbacks it started to get icy. It looks like it snowed and rained yesterday, and that all turned to ice. That ice was SLIPPERY! I wished I’d brought crampons or microspikes or something as this ice slowed my speed.

I could tell I was the first person on the trail that day because there were no human footprints in the snow. I did see some goat tracks. At about 12,800’ I saw a Tundra parked on the hillside. See, my truck could have made it!

After this area the snow became more pronounced.

I had to really dig in my toes to keep from slipping. At this point I saw new tracks on the snow. The shoes were small and the stride was just about perfect with mine, so I assumed it was a female hiker. It looked like this person was hiking in Keds? What’s up with that? Funny thing, I didn’t see any footprints that looked like the person had slipped. There were also dog prints accompanying the shoe prints.

I continued up the hillside until I came to the end of the road. At this point I could see the rest of my climb, as well as a hiker climbing down from the summit. This is where the real hike begins. The rest was just walking up a road.

I began to see pika prints!

Here’s a look at the last part of the ridge

At this point I met the hiker in front of me. It was a young man (indeed wearing worn in Keds). The white Tundra I’d seen was his. He’d driven up the night before, slept in his truck, and started at 5am. We wished each other well and I continued on.

I got to climb this!
It’s actually MUCH easier than it looks in this picture (this hike is an
easy class 2 in my opinion).

The only thing that made this hike difficult was the snow. After I left the road I had trouble finding a trail (but I knew there was one). Everything looked the same with a dusting of snow.

I couldn’t see where others had hiked before, so I used the
rocks to scramble to the top.

Here’s a look back at the climb to the summit

And a picture of the summit wind wall

Picture proof I summited. I had the entire summit to myself!

I only stayed a few minutes, then it was time to head back down.

The way back down was a bit more challenging than the way up for a few reasons. It was easier to find the trail, but it was covered in snow.

The most challenging part however was the ice. I was slipping and sliding the whole way back down.

It doesn’t look that bad, but most of it was difficult to see. I had to keep looking at my feel to brace myself for the ice. Every time I looked up at the scenery I ended up hitting a patch of ice and flying backwards onto my butt. Not cool.

This ice continued most of the way back down until treeline. I really wished I’d have brought my crampons. I could have hiked much faster back down if I’d had them.

I knew I was almost done with the hike when I hit this tiny
stream crossing

I saw my truck on the other side of the larger stream and breathed a sigh of relief all 4 of my tires were still inflated. I love my truck, but I always worry!

I made it back down at exactly 10am, so it was a 5 hour hike
for me. On the drive back down I encountered a lot of Jeeps and Off
Road Vehicles. It was challenging navigating the 4WD road with more than one vehicle. I moved when possible, but many times I just couldn’t go backwards. It was really nice when other drivers backed up as well.

Oh, and I saw some of the leaves beginning to change. Seems early, but it’s just a little, so I guess it’s ok.

This hike isn’t one I’d do again. It was way too easy (despite the snow) and
not very pretty. No flowers or scenery to look at, just a lot of 4WD tracks.
Such a shame!

Video from Summit

Missouri Mountain – 14,067

I was up late last night checking weather forecasts. I’d put together 6 different itineraries for
6 different hikes, and unfortunately all of them had crummy weather. I’m talking lots and lots of rain and
thunderstorms. Some even called for
snow. Hmph.

So I went to Plan B and looked at some of the other hikes I’d
planned on saving for later. I’d wanted
to hike Belford, Oxford, and Missouri in one day. It’s a long hike and 3 summits, but not
something I didn’t think I could do.
When I checked out the weather for these peaks I was completely
surprised: Just a 30% chance of rain
before noon, and then 70% chance thunderstorms.
That was by far the best forecast of any 14er I’d seen for that
day.

The only problem? I
was sore! I’ve done 15 different 14ers
in the past month and a half, and the Mt. Harvard/Mt Columbia route I took
yesterday did me in! I didn’t want to
attempt doing 3 more summits and stressing about time, etc. Oh, and the storms were supposed to start
around noon. I wasn’t confident I could
make all 3 summits before then starting at 5:30am.

But the weather was great!
I made the decision to just hike Missouri Mountain, and come back later
to hike the Belford/Oxford duo. It wasn’t something I really wanted to do (I
really wanted to do all 3 in one day), but at this point it was my best option
not to miss out on a hike.

When I woke up at 2am it was raining. I
checked the weather forecast for Missouri Mountain again, and again it showed
the same data. It was about 3 hours away
from my house, so I crossed my fingers the rain would stop.

It didn’t. Actually,
it got worse. As I hit Woodland Park it
started to lightning and thundering and pouring rain. I slowed my speed to avoid hitting a mama elk
and her calf, and continued on. I still
had a good 80 miles to go. It was more
storms in Florrisant and Hartsel and Buena Vista, but I kept driving. Anything could happen, right?

As luck would have it the rain let up about 10 minutes from
the turnoff to the trailhead. I could
now see stars in the night sky! Things
were looking better!

I drove down the very easy 2WD dirt road looking for the
trailhead. Long story short, it’s
actually 7.7 miles down the dirt road, and on the LEFT, not the right as stated
in my directions. Oh, and there isn’t a
sign (I was told to look for the sign on the right… there isn’t one and the entrance
is on the left). I made a note of this
for when I came back to hike Belford & Oxford.

There were 3 cars in the parking lot and a vault toilet,
which wasn’t too bad as far as trailhead restrooms are concerned (but not great
either).

I tried to pull up the GPX file of the hike, but I didn’t
have service, so while I could see the route, I couldn’t see where I was on
it. Oh well, this didn’t look like a
hike that needed much route finding. (note, although I tried about every
quarter mile, I wasn’t able to load it until I made it to the summit, at which
point it wasn’t really necessary, but I thought it odd it followed me the
entire way down, even though I didn’t have service? Maybe I need to load it before leaving home
so it can follow me when I arrive?)

I gathered my gear and was off, super excited to see signs
that indicated I was at the right trailhead (but confused a bit as to why
Missouri Mountain was on the map but didn’t show a trail?)

In any event I was off to cross the river and begin the
switchbacks up the hill.

I crossed several streams in the early morning light

And came across an a old cabin (woohoo! This meant I was on the right trail).

Next I came up above treeline and crossed several more
streams along the gulch.

At about this point I had someone pass me. Well, we talked for a bit and parted ways (he
was taking the Belford Route). He
remembered me from last month hiking Mt Yale.

Want to know what I really loved about this route? The SIGNS at the junctions!

Here you can see Mt. Belford to the left, and Missouri
Mountain to the right

The trail was also pretty well maintained.

After the junction from Elkhead Pass/Missouri Mountain I
came to a boulder field. This was actually really easy to navigate as it had a
rock trail the entire way. Cairns weren’t
needed (although there were a few, I’m guessing for the snow route).

I made it to the saddle

And got to walk along the ridge to make it to the summit
(there were 2 false summits first). I
always love walking along ridges! This
one had a bit of exposure though…

Just before the final push this hike became a (fun)
difficult class 2. Basically there was a
lot of scree and the trail wasn’t there anymore, but you needed to climb down
then back up and over the rocks. I loved this! If this is “difficult class 2” I’m
in!

It was cold when I summited, and I could see clouds all
around. It was obvious it was snowing on
some of the peaks, but where I was standing?
Lots of SUN! I was surrounded by
sunlight! This was the PERFECT mountain
to climb today! I smiled at my good luck
and took a summit photo.

I found the summit marker (it was hard to miss)

And too some scenery shots.
Here’s the way I approached along the ridge

And here’s a picture looking back at of most of the trail to
the summit

This rock formation is pretty cool, especially considering
it was right I the middle of the trail and I had to scuttle around it to
summit, and if I slipped I’d pretty much slide all the way down this hillside…

I took a shadow selfie of the amazing view and was on my way
back down the mountain.

As I walked along the ridge I saw three sets of hikers, the
first people I’d seen since leaving that guy at the junction.

As I descended the trail I took a picture of Missouri
Mountain and all it’s scree (which I luckily avoided). The summit is in the middle of this picture.

I took some pictures of the trail on the way back down

And some of the water.
There was a lot of water on this hike!

I saw a deer (the only wildlife besides marmots and pikas)

And lots of waterfalls!

Here’s a daylight picture of the stream at the beginning of
the trail.

And the trailhead parking lot (easy 2WD lot)

Something I hadn’t noticed on the way up (because it was
dark) there was a grave near the beginning of the trail. It was from the 1870s, and the headstone
indicated a 1 month old baby had died of pneumonia and been buried there. Side note:
the Vicksburg Cemetery is adjacent to this property. No, not the one in Mississippi, but there is
a museum and a cemetery to check out at a later date.

This hike was 10.5 miles, with 4500’ of elevation gain. I did it at a leisurely pace, finishing in
5.5 hours. This hike was easy to
navigate, fun, beautiful, and the perfect hike to take today! I’d do this one again.

View from the summit:

#14 Mount of the Holy Cross – 14,005

I picked Mount of the Holy Cross on purpose as my 14^th
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

Mt Yale 14,196

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.

View from the summit:

Grays Peak – 14,270 and Torreys Peak – 14,267

OK, so it says Peaks 10 and 11, but this is really my 22^nd14er if you count all my climbs, it’s just my 11^thunique 14er. And I summited on 7-11-17, which I think is
pretty cool. Oh, and 11+11 is 22 and it’s the 11^th and this is my 11^th and 22^nd peak… ok, I’m reading too much into this.

I am so glad I took this hike today instead of yesterday!

I drove up the 4WD trailhead to a full moon. It was magical in a way photos can’s capture. I always try anyway.

I arrived at the trailhead at 4:30am and was surprised to see so many cars in the parking lot for a Tuesday. I could see two people just starting the trail and two other groups getting out of their cars, so I decided to make a quick restroom stop and be on my way. The restroom was DISGUSTING! It had plenty of toilet paper, but it looked like everyone gave up using the toilet and just went on the floor. There was excrement everywhere. Yuck!!!

I grabbed my headlamp just to be safe, crossed the bridge and tried a few more times to get a good picture of how beautiful the full moon was but failed. It really was amazing! I didn’t need a flashlight to light the path because the moon gave off enough light. I LOVE hiking in the moonlight!

I passed the two hikers ahead of me within the first 20 yards, looked ahead and didn’t see any more flashlights and breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully these would be the only people I’d pass this morning. I walked for about 2 miles before the sun started to light up the sky.

It was really neat seeing the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time, directly across from each other on wither horizon. It was if they were wishing each other a good morning and a good night.

I call this one “Between the Cairns”

The sun fully rose and I tried to get another Colorado Flag picture. This was the best I got. Not great, but not bad either.

And here’s my usual shadow-selfie photo in the sunrise light:

This hike is kind of a loop, but more like an awkward kite. It’s about a 2.5 mile hike in, then the trail diverges into two different paths: one to go up Gray’s Peak, the other up Torrey’s Peak, but they connect over the saddle. It’s not a perfect kite, as you have to hike back down Torrey’s to get back to the saddle, but you get the idea (I hope, if not there’s a picture later). It was at this point where the path diverges I met a couple trying to figure out which way to go. I helped them out (they didn’t have a map) and talked with them for a little while. They were with The Texas Roadhouse. Today over 200 of their employees were hiking Grays Peak. I sighed inwardly. Wonderful.
There go my plans for a peaceful hike.

After talking with them for a bit they told me they’d planned on all
meeting up at the summit at 11am for a picture. It was now about 6am and they had a mile and a half to go. I told them they may want to change their
plans, as storms were supposed to come in today at 10am and even if they weren’t, waiting at the summit for 2-3 hours is never a good idea.

We parted and I continued on. This hike was pretty easy for a 1 mile stretch to the summit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a 14er and still difficult because of all that implies, but I’m not sure why it’s listed as a Class 2? I had absolutely no difficulty finding the trail. It was great because I didn’t waste time route finding! When I reached the summit there were three guys already there, laying in the wind shelter. I asked if one of them would mind taking my picture? I could see right away they were all cold and weren’t up for the challenge, so I quickly said “No worries, I’ve got this, you work on staying warm” and set it up on automatic.

These guys were from The Texas Roadhouse as well. They’d summited early and had set up a go-pro to capture everyone else summiting. They’d
planned on staying until everyone reached the summit. I discussed weather with them, and the fact they were already freezing. Were they really up for sitting on the summit another 3+ hours? I left them to decide, took out a banana from my backpack for breakfast, and ate it as I headed down
the ridge towards Torreys Peak.When I got to the saddle I looked back the way I’d come at Gray’s Peak. Pretty cool!

This summit was easy to find as well. Lots of cairns on this hike. Lots. When
I reached the summit I was the only one up there so I set up my camera to
automatic again and got proof I’d summited.

Then I was off again. I passed a couple of really fit guys on my way towards Torrey’s, and again on my way back down. They were winded and a little embarrassed I’d passed them, summited, and was passing them
again. I did my best to make them feel better (I do this all the time, and I run 5-10 miles a day uphill when I’m not hiking, etc.). They seemed mollified and
I took a look at the rest of the route before me.

As you can see by the picture below, there’s one trail on the left that divides into two. The one on top goes to Gray’s Peak, the one on the bottom is the way back down from Torrey’s Peak. I was headed through that patch of snow on the right and back down to the trail.

Ah, another beautiful view from the saddle! I love saddle views!

OK, here’s the snow patch I needed to make my way through. It was now starting to get warm and thus slippery. It was pretty straightforward though.

The skies were still clear but clouds were beginning to build. I had no idea what time it was (I had forgotten to look when I summited due to the cold temperatures) but I wanted to be back at my truck by 10am to avoid the storms I knew were coming in. At this point I started passing Texas Roadhouse employees. TONS of them. None of them were prepared for this hike with
anything except music on their phones, blasting for everyone to hear. I talked to each of them on the way down. I don’t think any of them had a map, most didn’t know which peak was which, and they all needed help route finding.
Facepalm.

I advised them all to watch the weather. They all seemed confused. None of them seemed to realize the magnitude of what they were undertaking. They all had 2+ hours of hiking left to reach the summit, not to mention the hike back down. The entire hike is above treeline. There’s no place to go on the entire 8.8 mile loop if a storm breaks out. The weather forecasted a strong likelihood
of storms beginning at 10am. Blank stares.

Since I’m sure you all know my feelings on this subject I’ll leave it at that. I headed back to my truck at a brisk pace, intending to make it there before the rain hit.

I saw a few more “new” flowers (I’m thinking these are some type of paintbrush)

And followed the creek.

Just as I crossed the bridge signaling the end of my hike the first few raindrops began to fall. I was at least 2 hours ahead of anyone else on that trail. I wished them luck, downed a beer, and got in my truck.

When I turned it on and looked at the clock I thought that can’t be right?
It said 9:16am. Wow! I thought it must be at least 11am or 12? Woot! That’s a much better time than yesterday. I did this hike in 4.5 hours, despite stopping and talking with all 200 of those Roadhouse people on the way down. Not too shabby for an 8.8 mile 14er hike with 2 summits.

A final view from the road back. These houses always make me melancholy. I’m sure at one time they held hope, joy, and memories. It’s sad to see them left to the elements. But that’s another post for another day.

Views from the peaks:

Mt. Shavano-14,299 and Tabeguache Peak-14,155

Today I hiked Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak,
otherwise known as Shav and Tab to most because no one know how to pronounce
Tabeguache (TAB-uh-wash). Up until late last night I wasn’t sure which
peak(s) I was going to hike today. I’d
planned on three possible hikes for today before I left for Europe, and it
would just depend on the weather when I got back. I really wanted to hike Redcloud, Sunshine,
and Handies because I had 2 days in a row available and I’m 75% sure it would
require an overnight, but when I looked at the weather for the area it showed
thunderstorms all day for the next two days.
Drat.

So I looked up the two
other hikes I had ready, Shav and Tab, and Grays and Torreys. They both had similar weather (rain and
thunderstorms at either 10am or 11am both days), so I decided to make a
spreadsheet. In the end I went with Shav
and Tab because it’s further away (by half an hour), a longer hike (10.5 miles),
and had more elevation gain (5400+ feet). I figured if it was going to rain in
the afternoon both days at both places I’d get the harder one over first when
the rain was scheduled for an hour later and have more time to deal with
weather if it became an issue on the shorter hike.

For this one I was up
at 2am and on the road by 2:30am. I had to do a little work (like, for my job)
before leaving so it took longer than anticipated. I was able to find the trailhead without too
much difficulty and began at 5:30am, at the last-minute stuffing a winter coat
in my backpack just in case. It adds about 3lbs to my pack (which honestly only
has water, some snacks and first aid supplies), but I’ve never regretted having
it on a hike.

I hiked for a bit and
found the register. I signed the date,
my name, Colorado Springs, and continued on.

The sun was just
beginning to light up the sky, waking up the crows, flies, and cows. I heard them all for the first two miles or
so as I walked through a muddy trail.

Then the red glow of
the sunrise. I always LOVE this time of
the morning on a hike. It only lasts
about 5 minutes, but everything is bathed in a reddish orange glow. It’s beautiful.

The sunrise woke up a
woodpecker (I’ll upload the video on Wednesday, sorry!)

I walked over several
small streams those first few miles, then didn’t see any water for the rest of
the hike.

Early on in the hike I
passed a group of three male hikers. They
were glad to let me pass, as they couldn’t keep up. They were taking their time and didn’t know
if they were going to summit both peaks today or not. Around mile 2 I started seeing scat. Lots of it and it looked fresh. Then out of the corner of my right eye I saw
something move quickly and bound up the hill.
I only say the legs, but I’m thinking it was either a deer or a bighorn
sheep. I’m thinking sheep because of the
scat. It even smelled like they were in the
area.

I rounded a corner and saw the Angel of Shavano, or
where she should be. I’ve known of Mt.
Shavano for years, ever since we’ve started skiing at Monarch. She’s the famous symbol of the area. The Twisted Cork (where we like to go out to
eat when we ski) owns the Mt Shavano winery and the Angel of Shavano is on all
their bottles. It’s a pattern in the
mountain when there’s snow that looks like an angel. Kind of like a Native American Angel (hard to
describe, but that’s what she looks like).
The middle of this picture is where she’d be… only half of her is still
here due to snow melt.

This hike goes up, up, up, up, with just about no
leveling out. I made it to the top of
the saddle, looked right, and could see Mt. Shavano, but I didn’t know it was
Mt. Shavano at the time. To be honest most
hikers, no matter how much research they do, aren’t sure which one is the
actual peak until they’re hiking it.
Most hikers today thought it was a peak to the left. Nope, this is it. As you can see, I cross the saddle, then make
my left before swinging over to the right to cross between the two humps, and
then around again to the left to summit.

I came across this sign about half way up that
mountain.

There was no clear trail, but a bunch of little trails
to try and follow. Probably because this
is a popular snow route and it’s sometimes easier to just make it up as you go. In any event, I summited, and was super
proud! Oh, and it wasn’t windy and I
didn’t need my extra jacket! Bonus
points for this peak!

Now to find Tabeguache. I got out my map and figured out which peak
it was, and my stomach dropped. I was going
to have to cross this ridge (there was no trail, I just had to cross it).

Here’s a better picture. I had to cross the ridge to the bottom right,
then go down and left towards a saddle, and follow the snow line to the left to
the peak. I took a deep breath and was
on: I’ve got this!

I met a rather photogenic marmot just as I started
descending Mt Shavano towards the ridge.

As I was hiking I was continually disturbed there was
no actual trail to follow. My mind got
to wandering and I got to thinking about how dangerous it was not to have a
trail to follow. I knew this was senseless
because of the activity I was partaking in, but I felt it anyway. For some reason, I felt entitled to a
trail. Well, there wasn’t one, so I
aimed towards where I needed to go and just worked my way towards it.

As I was crossing the last patch of snow I spied a snowman. So cute!
There was one other hiker ahead of me (I’d noticed him off in the distance
as I summited Shavano), and I’d seen him stop here, but I thought he was just
resting. This was much better!

There was just a little more ways to go. I skirted the snow to the left

And all the sudden, I was there! I’d summited!
I was super proud of myself for this one! I’d hiked for over a mile down one mountain
and up another, over piles and piles of rocks, without a trail, and still
managed to get where I needed to go. It
was now 9:30am and there was one tiny cloud in the sky.

I turned around and saw what I’d hiked thru without a
trail (that’s Mt. Shavano as seen from Tabeguache). I’d hiked just over 5 miles
in 4 hours. That’s a very, very slow
hiking time for me, but I had hiked over 5400 feet in elevation, so hiking 1100
feet in elevation an hour isn’t so bad, right?

I took a summit-shadow-selfie and was back on my way. I don’t like to spend too much time at the
summit.

At the saddle I had a great view of Mt. Antero. I’ll probably do that one soon…

This hike is an out and back hike. So I hiked up Mt.
Shavano, then to Tabeguache, then down Tabeguache, back up Mt. Shavano, and
down Mt. Shavano to the trailhead.
Basically I summit Mt. Shavano twice, which seems awfully unfair since
it only counts as two summits.

As I was hiking back up Mt. Shavano I got to thinking
about what I’d just accomplished. Sometimes
there isn’t a trail, and that’s ok.
Maybe you need to make your own trail.
Set a goal, keep your eye on that goal, head in that direction and keep
putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually you’ll make it. It may not be how everyone else made it, but
you can make it just the same. There’s a
moral in there somewhere…

I summited Mt. Shavano a second time and saw the group
of three hikers I’d seen earlier. They
were impressed I’d already hiked out to Tabeguache and back. I was about 2 hours ahead of them hiking
time. We discussed whether or not they
could make it to Tabeguache. They weren’t
planning on hiking it because they didn’t have a ‘summit sign’. I thought this was a lame excuse, but did comment
on the clouds building quickly. When I’d
looked at the weather last night it had said thunderstorms were highly likely
after 11am, and it was now 10:15am. While
it had been clear at 9:30am clouds were quickly forming. I wished them luck and told them to watch the
weather.

Unfortunately, people just don’t realize how quickly
weather moves in on a 14er. The weather
can turn in 15 minutes and put you in a dangerous position. I saw about 15 hikers as I was making my way
down to the ridge. For some reason, I
feel a personal responsibility when I’m hiking to everyone else hiking the same
trail, since I’m usually the one with the most experience. I talk to them all,
ask how they’re doing, if they’ve ever done a 14er before (or this one), where
they’re headed, etc. It takes time out
of my hike but I feel responsible to advise in some way because I have more
experience.

I told each and every hiker on my way down to watch
the weather. I got a lot of responses,
none of which sounded concerned. Most
said things like “it’s not forming too fast” or “it doesn’t look that bad” or “we
aren’t supposed to get rain today, are we?”.
But I had more information than them.
I knew it was supposed to thunderstorm today. I advised them to watch the weather and if
they couldn’t hike it in an hour to turn back.
None of them did, and I also knew none of them could make it the rest of
the way in an hour. Hmmmm.

I crossed the saddle and came upon an alpine
meadow. I love how these flowers seem to
be saying “hi”.

Then I turned and saw the trail back. Ugh!
This wasn’t going to be fun. The
entire trail was up, up, up (much more than is visible in this photo). While it was challenging to hike up it was
extremely difficult to hike down. I
couldn’t hike fast. There were just too
many rocks in the way and it wasn’t safe to hike down any faster than I’d hiked
up. Oh, and notice the shadow in the
picture? Clouds are beginning to
seriously form above me. I needed to
make it to the treeline as fast as possible.

At least the view was great!

So, I hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked down, down,
down. It was slow going and I really had
to pee, but, you know, I’m above treeline so that’s not really a good
idea. Just as a side note, NEVER pee
directly on a trail. Besides the obvious
‘ew’ factor and LNT and all that, no matter how sure you are you’re alone, you’re
not. Someone WILL come into view as soon
as you drop your pants. This is a fact.

Anyway… about a
mile after I made it past treeline I started feeling drops of rain. Small, icy, cold drops of rain. They started out slow, and then I heard
thunder and it started pouring. Within
30 seconds there was thunder and lightning everywhere and it started to
hail. I quickly pulled out my winter
jacket (Woot! See? I’m always glad to have it) and put my camera
into my backpack to keep from getting wet (so no pictures, sorry). At one point, it was hailing so hard I wasn’t
sure if I was still on the right trail, but I was below treeline and I needed
to keep getting lower, so I continued.

The entire time I kept thinking about everyone behind
me on the trail who hadn’t turned around when I’d warned them of weather. I was absolutely positive they were ALL still
above treeline at this point, right in the middle of that thunder and lightning
and hail. I sent encouraging vibes their
way and continued onward.

Eventually the rain stopped and all that was left was
water slowly dripping down from the trees.
I was roasting in my coat (but dry!) and started looking for a time to
take it off. I came upon this tree,
figured it was something I needed a picture of, stopped and made the switch
(and took the picture).

I saw several pretty flowers on the trials today. Here are just a couple…

The last 2 miles seemed to take forever. I mean, forever. And they kind of did. It took me 4 hours to summit and 3.5 hours to
make my way back to the trailhead when I would have expected it to take about 2
hours to get back down. I found the
register, added #8 and #9 to my name (it seemed bad luck to do so before
actually summiting them) and sloshed my way back to my truck.

I got a lot of good thinking done on the mountain
today. Oh, and I’ve now decided to write
a book.

Woodpecker:

Views from the top:

Mt Vesuvius – 4,203

The hike up Mt Vesuvius wasn’t actually all that long, but it did have 1000 feet in elevation gain And a lot of visitors! Most were ill prepared, wearing shorts and sandals. The summit is only 4203’, but it’s really close to sea level.

There were several snack/drink huts along the way. Yes, you could even have a summit limoncello shot!

We thought we were about half way done with the hike when we rounded a corner and were there! We made it to the top, took a bunch of pictures, and visited the summit shop.

We got a few souvenirs as gifts: a volcanic rock (which they assured me was from this volcano), a volcanic cat and lizard. We bought the rocks instead of just taking them because of LNT.

Half way down we got a lemon/orange ice drink. It was cool to see how they made it with a block of ice and fresh fruit. They were €3 each, for a very small cup, but they tasted great.

The trail was very dusty and dirty from the volcanic rock. Once again, the views would have been great if it hadn’t been for the fire.

Our tour was late getting back so we missed our first train by 10 minutes and are now waiting on the next train (they leave every hour). It’s REALLY HOT and there’s no A/C on the train!