snowshoeing – Wild Wanderer

Boss Lake

RT Length: 4.64 miles

Elevation Gain: 1260’

This year we rented a cabin up near Salida for a few days before Christmas. There wasn’t ny internet/cell service, so we spend time cooking, baking, watching movies, and putting together a puzzle.

We were supposed to leave early Christmas morning, so we pretended Christmas Eve was Christmas day. After opening presents we went sledding on a nearby hill, which was actually a street. It didn’t matter though: the girls had fun!

We were done sledding around 10am and the girls wanted a nap, so I decided to go hiking. It was too late to climb a peak, so I decided to hike to Boss Lake instead, a lake at the base of two prominent 13ers in the area.

I’ve hiked past the Boss Lake Trailhead a couple of times, and was told the lake was only about .3 miles from the trailhead. Spoiler alert: It’s actually closer to a mile. On my way up 4WD road 230 I saw some skiers heading down. They told me they’d just come from the hut. I didn’t know there was a hut in the area? Next time I’m going to have to try and find it.

The trail was nicely packed down along the road, but as soon as I came to the trailhead that ended and it was time to put on my snowshoes. It was 1.5 miles from the parking area to the trailhead (Boss Lake Trail 1420). I trenched all the way to the lake in snow at least 2 feet deep.

It was nice to be on another section of the Colorado Trail. It seems there’s also a new hostel in the area that caters to thru-hikers

I crossed the bridge and trenched a mile to the lake, where the snow suddenly stopped

I was hoping to find a nice, frozen lake, but instead I found a large pond covered in snow. There was a cool building next to the lake. It was locked.

I took a selfie to prove I was there and headed back

The trek out was easier than the trek in, as I just followed my trench

I met some nice people along the way, who were snowshoeing for the first time with their Sheba. They were thankful for the trench, and I told them to try hiking for a bit off trench, just to get a real feel for snowshoes.

I made it back to my truck and felt the day had been too easy, but at least I’d burned some calories, and this was vacation after all.

10th Mountain Division Hut

RT Length: 9.06 miles

Elevation Gain: 1456’

This trip started out as a summit attempt on Homestake Peak, but it ended with an unexpected trip to the 10^th Mountain Hut.

Weather all over the state either had high avalanche danger or high winds, so I settled on hiking Homestake Peak today, with a frigid forecast but only 5-10mph winds and no cloud cover. Or, so I thought. I arrived at the trailhead and put on my gear, including snowshoes, inside my truck.

There were some cool signs in the area

I was on the trail when it was still dark, and noticed tracks coming towards me, presumably made earlier in the night. I’m guessing they’re coyote

I followed the well-marked trail, using the blue diamond route

And then following the route to the 10^th Mountain Hut (still blue diamond/arrows).

Here I was following the Colorado Trail. It was just a for a short time, but still kind of cool to be back on the trail for a bit.

The trail was easy to follow until I came to a meadow. I was supposed to take the route outlined below, but the snow was too soft in the willows.

I ended up zig zagging back and forth, trying my best to follow deer/elk tracks. I kept falling into invisible streams covered in several feet of snow. At one point my phone froze and I was unable to unlock the screen to see where I should have been going. My stylus wasn’t working in the cold either. Several times I sank up to my chest in snow, and after the third time getting my snowshoe caught in debris that immobilized me I decided to call it and head back to the trail. I wanted to try to find another way to summit: the conditions in the marshy area were just not safe. I could see myself twisting an ankle or breaking a leg on this route. Here’s my route out of the willows.

I didn’t want my day to be over, so I decided to follow the tracks to see where they led. They continued to follow the blue diamonds.

Right about now the sun was beginning to rise, and I could see it wasn’t going to be a cloudless day. The clouds made for a beautiful sunrise though!

As the sun rose the wind picked up. I could see snow swirling all around me, which was pretty cool. I also knew I needed to be more to the southwest if I wanted to attempt Homestake Peak today, but every time I tried to cross the snow and head southwest I sank up to my chest in the snow. That snow was seriously deep, and sugary. I’d need skis to attempt a safe crossing (I don’t own skis).

I could also tell the clouds were increasing, and by looking at how fast they were moving, they weren’t going 5-10 mph (more like 40mph or so). Here the well trenched trail ended, but I could see a faint line of where it had been a few days ago and decided to re-trench the trail to see where it went.

I came to a small sign, stating no snowmobiles were allowed past this point, and continued heading northwest.

Just after the sign I came to the 10^th Mountain Hut! So cool!

I wanted to take a look around, but as I got closer I could see people moving about inside and decided to leave them be. They looked like they were packing up to head back out. They must have trenched in on Friday, and I’m sure they’d be excited when they noticed I’d re-trenched their way out.

Heading back was easy, as I just followed my tracks

I made it back to my truck at 9:15am, making this a 9.06 mile hike with 1456’ of elevation gain in 4 hours

Here you can see my intended route (bottom) and the route I actually took (top)

As I drove home the winds became more intense. There were semis parked on the side of I70, waiting out the wind. Yes, it had been a good idea to switch directions today. While any day out hiking is a great day, I wasn’t happy with today’s stats, so after making it home I hopped on the treadmill.

Colony Baldy – 13,705’

RT Length: 13 miles

Elevation Gain: 5100’

The roads on the drive in were insanely icy all the way from Colorado Springs to the trailhead. This was unexpected because it hadn’t snowed/rained lately: the ice was all due to a low lying and heavy fog. This was serious ice too! I didn’t even really notice the ice until I narrowly avoided sliding into a mama raccoon crossing the street with two of her babies. From then on I couldn’t drive faster than 35mph the entire way, which meant I didn’t make it to the trailhead until 5:30am (I should have been there around 4:30am). Luckily today was one of those rare days when I didn’t have a serious schedule or need to be home at a specific time, so I took it all in stride.

Besides being icy the road to the trailhead was a paved 2WD road. There was about 3 inches of snow in the parking lot and no other vehicles. The bathrooms are locked for the season.

There was snow on the ground so I decided to just put on my snowshoes in the car so I wouldn’t need to later. I kept them on the entire hike. I started at 5:40am, following the mud, rocks, ice, and snow that today was the Rainbow Trail. Despite what you may think by the name of the trailhead, you actually turn left at this sign and take the Rainbow/Macey Trail #1336.

There are two creek crossings on this hike. The first is Horn Creek. Cross this bridge and take the trail to the left (Macey Lakes Trail)

The trail weaves around the mountainside, so it varied from mud and rocks to 2+ feet of snow, depending on which side of the mountain I was on at that point. I decided it wasn’t worth taking off and putting my snowshoes on every ¼ mile or so, so they stayed on. I hiked in silence, all except for the sound of ice crunching underneath my snowshoes.

The sun was beginning to rise, and with it the low-lying fog.

The second bridge is over Macey Creek. It is very similar to the first bridge.

Here I got my first view of Colony Baldy

At the Macey Creek bridge the snow was deep and from here to the summit I broke trail. Once you cross Macey Creek you’ll follow the trail down to the bottom of a long hill, losing about 200-300’ in elevation (thinking WHY?!?!? the entire time). Just before you get to the bottom of this hill there’s a path to the right. I was unable to see it as the path was covered in snow and I had to backtrack and look for it, knowing from my topo map it was there. If you see the drainage you’ve gone too far.

On my way out I noticed the path is directly opposite of this sign, and I took a picture of my GPS coordinates

This is where the trail ends. I followed the drainage west through a heavily forested area until I came to a small clearing.

From here I could see Colony Baldy, and turned south (left).

I was supposed to follow the ridge to treeline, but the trees were so dense it was difficult to see anything, let alone a ridge

Instead of following the ridge I followed the drainage, which was a great idea since I couldn’t see the ridge: all I could see were hills and trees. The drainage didn’t have water, and didn’t look like it ever held water, but it gave me a nice, stable ‘V’ to follow up the hillside.

From the small clearing to treeline was the most difficult part of this hike. The snow was about 3 feet deep and like cotton candy: I’d take a step and sink to my knees, sliding backwards. Every step was like this, and as I made it higher up the mountain my steps became deeper and the snow became softer. The snow also made the angle I was climbing much steeper.

It seemed to take forever to make it to treeline! Each step was exhausting. The angle of the slope is much steeper than these pictures suggest. Many times my snowshoes would slide backwards as I tried to take a step forwards. It was like climbing on a treadmill at elevation that isn’t turned on.

I made it to the bristlecone pine trees and was only halfway done with the hardest part of this hike. That bristlecone pine area is a good half mile of very steep elevation gain.

This was the largest dispersion of bristlecone pines at treeline I’ve ever encountered, and it all goes straight up. Just when you think you’ve made it to the top of the bristlecone pine area you encounter more. Once again, the steepness of the slope cannot be stressed enough, especially with the added snow. I was using tree branches as handholds to keep myself from sliding backwards.

This is also where the wind picked up and didn’t stop. It was only about 20mph, but it was a steady 20mph with no breaks between gusts. On the plus side it was beautiful to watch the snow get thrown into the air and fall back down.

I put on my goggles and pulled my balaclava up over my nose and kept climbing until I was finally out of the bristlecone pine area and just needed to finish gaining the ridge. I kept looking back at the route I’d taken thinking to myself how it all looked the same: There were so many tree covered hills at seemingly equal elevation below treeline. I seriously hoped the wind didn’t cover my tracks with snow or I’d be using my map and compass to find my way back as well.

Once I gained the ridge I had a great view of Colony Baldy

And the route before me

From here to the summit it was an easy hike over rocky tundra. Easy, yes, but it took me forever to complete. The hike thus far had completely worn me out. I haven’t been this tired/slow going on an alpine hike in a very, very long time. I’d take 50 steps (yes, I’d count them) and then reward myself with a rest to breathe for 10 seconds. And all the false summits! Here’s the first one

And the second one

I gained the second false summit after a battle of wills with myself. I was exhausted. The wind coming straight at me and the intense elevation gain up the ridge and through the bristlecone pines had seriously worn me out. I kept telling myself it was almost over and I just needed to gain this one last hill and I’d be done. I promised myself I’d take a break once I’d summited and rest a bit. Imagine the words that went through my head when I gained the ‘summit’ and was met with this

Argh!!! Nope, I didn’t stop, even though my legs were screaming and I was having a difficult time catching my breath (something else that hasn’t happened on an alpine hike for me in quite a while). I kept going: 50 steps, 10 seconds to breathe. 50 steps, another 10 seconds to breathe. And you know what? When I finally gained that last hill to the true summit it was all worth it: I was met with the most fantastic view of the Crestones I’ve ever seen!

The downside? It was freezing cold! And windy. I took a summit picture

And a quick video before my cell phone went from 49% battery down to 7%

VIDEO:

I plugged in my cell phone to the charger and it immediately went back up to 15% and just stayed there, so I put my cell phone back in my pack and headed down, as my hands were starting to burn inside my mittens.

Here’s a look at that long, wonderfully ‘easy’ ridge. While it looks flat, it’s really just an easy slope.

The best part about hiking down? I was using different leg muscles and now I wasn’t tired at all. Each step downhill it became easier to breathe and I started picking up the pace (being careful not to trip on the rocks poking out from between the snow with my snowshoes). At the end of the slope I turned right (northeast) and followed the slope back past a small outcropping and to the bristlecone pine area. My tracks were all still (mostly) visible. Woot!

This is where I decided to have a little fun. The trench I’d made on my way up was steep and I kept slipping and sliding forward on my way back down because the snow was really, really soft. So I decided to just glissade on purpose because I was doing it by accident anyway.

I ended up doing this almost the entire way back down to the meadow. The path I’d taken was steep enough for me to slide down the entire way, but the snow was deep enough not to let me go too fast (an ice axe wouldn’t have been much help in this snow).

I made it back to the meadow and turned right and headed back to the Rainbow Trail. The 3.5 miles back to the trailhead seemed to last forever. It still wasn’t worth it to take off my snowshoes for the help they gave me in the shaded/snowy areas, so I kept them on. Wearing them included the added bonus of not needing to carry them. I didn’t see anyone else all day, and my tracks in were still the only tracks I saw on my way out, so I’d been alone all day today on the mountain.

I made it back to my truck at 3pm, making this a 13 mile hike with 5100’ of elevation gain in approximately 9.5 hours.

Here’s the relive video of the trek : https://www.relive.cc/view/1972846660

I made it back home at about 6pm and when I went to jump out of my truck my entire body groaned as I touched the ground. That soreness is something else I haven’t experienced for a long time, and an indication of a fabulous hike and a day well spent!

Organ Mountain 13,808

RT Length: 9 miles

Elevation Gain: 3500’

My hiking days got switched this week due to mandatory Friday dentist appointments. (Side note: anyone know of a great dentist in Colorado Springs that’s open nights and weekends? I love my dentist office but their hours stink!!!). I was willing to give up my hiking day this week for dental hygiene but when I asked my kids what they wanted to do this weekend one was gone and the other wanted to sleep until 4pm (she’s a teenager, this is doable for her) but she wanted me to take her to see the school play at 7pm. Woohoo! This gave me a Saturday hiking day, and I could drive further since I didn’t need to be home by 3pm.

So I changed my schedule and took a nap Friday night and woke up at 11:45pm and drove the 6 hours to the Eddiesville Trailhead in the San Juans. The weather wasn’t supposed to be spectacular (0-29* at the summit, with wind chill making it 0 to 10*) but as I was driving down the dirt road my heart sank as the temperature dropped to -5* and held there for a bit. I got excited when it rose to 7* (I know, crazy to be happy about 7* weather) and disappointed again when it went back down to 0* and then held steady again at -5*. With my Raynaud’s I was seriously worried a hike wasn’t going to happen today: I’ve never hiked in such cold weather and had my doubts.

I’d seen a report from earlier this week stating the trailhead was still open (woohoo!) but that it was icy. Let me tell you, they weren’t kidding! I’ve never experienced this kind of ice before. Granted it was -5* outside, but the dirt road was covered in 2-4 inches of ice and there was no way to gain traction on the road. This is the very first time I’ve ever experienced my 4WD Tundra slip in the 6+ years I’ve been driving it on ice and snow. It caught me off guard, but I straightened it out and kept it under 5mph until I reached the trailhead. Those steep hills with tight curves were a killer! I could tell by tire tracks several other vehicles had slid into the drainage on the side of the road in the past few days. There was a pretty good rut going for tires which was nice, but would have made passing another vehicle a nightmare. Here are pics from my drive out. The creek crossing(s) were fun, especially the second one that had a thick layer of ice at 5am I got to break through with my truck: My truck was happy!

There were tons of animal tracks along and through the road. Very cool! Hopefully I’d see some wildlife today. I saw some of the biggest white rabbits I’ve ever seen. Seriously. They reminded me of the jackrabbits we had in Arizona, the ones the size of racoons. I arrived at the trailhead at 5:30am to -5* weather and snow everywhere and a gate preventing me from driving further.

I’m still learning about winter condition hiking and where my limits are, so I’d decided before even arriving to give it a try and turn back if needed. I’d driven all this way, hadn’t I? I might as well use this as a learning experience, -5* weather or not.

So I put my snowshoes on in the truck and bundled up for the cold weather with multiple pairs of gloves, my balaclava, knit hat, etc. I opened the door and was greeted with intensely cold air, but luckily no wind. I took a deep breath: I could do this! (Probably).

The trail actually had signs, which was an unexpected treat.

I followed the trail through a gate and to the left (southeast) for about 150 yards

until I saw this post and turned right. There was supposed to be a trail here, but it was invisible in the snow.

My fingers were burning. Seriously burning from the cold. I stopped and took off my felt gloves that were under my mittens and just wore my mittens. My hands were instantly warmer, but I was giving up finger flexibility: I would no longer be able to take off my mittens to actually do stuff (like adjust my snowshoes, take photos, look at my phone/gps, etc). (Another side note: Someone seriously needs to invent better gloves. I need actual gloves with finger casings for dexterity, but unfortunately they don’t keep my hands warm enough. I need mittens that have small fingertip holes made with thin weatherproof fabric that retract inside the mitten but you can poke your fingertips through when necessary. Someone please invent these. But I digress…

Now that my hands were warm my hike instantly looked more promising, despite the cold weather. The lack of wind below treeline helped too. The trail varied from large amounts of snow to just a little on the trail. It was easier to just keep my snowshoes on, so I did, even when they weren’t necessary.

As the sun started to rise I got my first good look at Organ Mountain (this isn’t the summit).

Did I mention the animal tracks? It was obvious no one had been on this trail for quite a while. Well, no one but our 4 legged friends. I saw tiny prints from mice, fox prints, and the biggest rabbit prints I’d ever seen. Oh, and the deer and elk and moose prints were everywhere. This is how I knew they were moose tracks…

The animal tracks were super helpful for finding the actual trail. There was a trail here, but it was invisible with all the snow. Luckily the animals knew where it was (mostly). When the animal tracks obviously veered off the trail I just followed the creek. This trail follows the Hondo Creek all the way to treeline, so as long as you parallel the creek you’re fine.

And check these tracks out! I instantly knew these were mountain lion tracks and got excited!

They followed the trail for over a mile and were headed in the same direction I was. I found it fun the lion didn’t always stick to the trail, but sometimes hopped onto logs and traversed them seemingly for ‘fun’ and then jumped back along the trail again.

Then all at once the tracks veered off in another direction. I decided to follow them for a bit to see if they paralleled the trail I was on or went another way. While these tracks were hours old (I could tell by traces of elements left by the wind) I still felt it prudent to see which direction the lion had taken so I knew whether or not to be on the lookout. Imagine my surprise when the tracks led me to its den no more than 50 feet off the route I was on! With no tracks leading back out I quickly retraced my steps and continued my hike (sorry, no pictures: I want to keep the kitty safe!).

I continued following Hondo Creek until treeline and got a great view of the route before me.

My research said to take a route to the right, but to me the left side of the mountain looked easier: Give me quick elevation gain over the long way any day! So, despite my map and trail directions I decided to go up the left (south) face of the mountain. It just seemed safer, especially since avalanche danger is more prominent on the north/east faces right now. Not that there was much snow to worry about. I was worried about the wind.

This was a steep climb and would have been easier without the traces of snow, but the rocks were semi stable and I didn’t need to worry about causing an avalanche/rockslide below me. I kept my snowshoes on for stability. I was able to gain the ridge in about half an hour and could see the rest of the route before me. This is where the wind picked up (25mph) and took the 0* temperatures to new negative levels. But I was dressed well, and as long as I didn’t take off my gloves I was ok.

This is the route I took.

And looking back down from the ridge at the route from my truck to this point

There are several false summits on this mountain. After gaining the ridge I was on a small plateau that gave me a break from elevation gain (here’s looking back at the plateau)

But there were still two other points to gain

I stuck to the drier areas and just followed the ridge up to 13,400’ where there was a small rock wall and a lot of wind. It wasn’t too steep and as long as I didn’t stop I didn’t get too cold.

From here I dipped down and climbed the approx. 400’ to the summit or Organ Mountain. Sorry, but I don’t have many pictures from the summit. I couldn’t take off my gloves and my DSLR camera was doing that fun thing where it takes 50 seconds to take a picture, and I was, well, FREEZING! That wind was brutal! I got out my cell phone to take a video and it went from 40% battery to 9% and turned itself off before I could even start videoing, let alone take off my gloves to start the process. Great. I’d made it, but my camera(s) hadn’t. Here’s the one terrible picture I got from the summit before my cameras failed. I summited at 9:28am.

I didn’t stay long because I was cold and on a mission to get home before 6pm so I could take my daughter to a play tonight, so I turned and booked it back down. When I made it to point 13,400 again the wind died down for a bit and I was able to plug my phone into the solar powered battery charger I’d brought. The phone turned on again, but my route had been lost.

I made it to the ridge and had a great view of the way I was supposed to gain the ridge to the plateau but hadn’t. No regrets!

Time to head back down! (Those tracks aren’t mine… I’m guessing Mountain Sheep/Goat)

Here’s the route I took. I just headed for the basin. Yes, it’s steeper than it looks, but the rocks are relatively stable, especially with snowshoes on.

I made it back to the basin and followed it back to Hondo Creek. At the top I found the remains of what’s most likely an elk/moose, and probably the source of a few of the mountain lions’ meals (or had been this past spring/summer: the carcass had been picked pretty dry by this point). It was the right distance away from the lion den to be its food source, and it had been buried at one point. There weren’t any tracks here, but I didn’t stop to investigate much either.

Now I was racing against the clock. Luckily, I had my previous tracks to guide me back down the mountain. Knowing I just needed to follow the creek I took a more expeditious route and stayed to the north of the creek, instead of dropping down into the creek as I had on the way up. This made the trek much faster.

As I descended the temperature warmed up and I was much more comfortable. I made it back down to my truck at 12:15pm, still the only vehicle in the lot. This was a 9 mile hike with 3500’ of elevation gain completed in approximately 6.5 hours.

I immediately changed out of my gear and switched my snow boots to sandals for the drive home.

The drive out was much easier than the drive in, but I was more careful as well. There weren’t any vehicles parked at any of the trailheads. I passed a truck with a trailer full of wood who didn’t seem to mind driving on the snow to get around me, and a large tractor with the biggest tires I’d ever seen wearing chains crunching down the road. And I didn’t die from exposure! Woot!

Wheeler Lake – 12,168

I got my new ice axe in the mail yesterday, but unfortunately I didn’t get my crampons, so I was at a loss as to where to hike today. I spent a LOT of time researching potential hikes, and maddingly there just weren’t many posted trip reports, so any hike would be a gamble. I decided to just pick a hike I knew would have a little snow and go for it. I wanted to summit something, but didn’t necessarily have to. I also wanted to practice self arrest with my new ice axe.

The trailhead (Montgomery Reservoir) looked easily accessible, and there were 3 potential 13er summits, so I chose to try Clinton Peak.

It was cold this morning! The road in was an easy 2WD dirt road, closed at the 4WD trailhead.

2 Trailhead

As soon as I started hiking it became apparent I’d need snowshoes. I didn’t take them off until I made it back to my truck. I was also glad I had my GPS because there was a lot of snow and the beginning of the trail was at the beginning of 2 other trails as well. I’m pretty sure I’d have chosen the wrong one. The correct trail goes past the old mill…

3 Mill

This mill was non operational and looked like a small gust of wind would take it down any minute. There were beams missing, nails exposed, and supports splitting in half. There was a sign telling people to “Enjoy but not Destroy” their Colorado history. I thought it was lacking more safety notices. I high tailed it out of there before the mill collapsed on me.

As soon as I passed the mill the trail was lost. Kind of. You see, this is what it looked like:

The snow was so deep you couldn’t see the trail! This trail was supposed to be really easy: just follow the 4WD trail for 3 miles to the lake, but the snow was so thick it obscured the road and everything else. There was no road! That meant a lot of GPS’n and Guessin’

5 Trail

This part of the hike was an exercise in patience. What I thought couldn’t possibly be the road actually was, and what I thought was obviously the road wasn’t. I kept looking at my GPS and altering course. That took up a lot of time and a lot of battery. And I was post-holing pretty deep. Here’s a picture of a typical part of the trail. Yes, I was supposed to hike over that snow berm and around it to the right.

Luckily I’ve found it’s usually difficult to get lost in a basin, and this basin was no different.

7 Down the Basin

Unfortunately, basins are formed by wind, and this basin gave me an in depth tutorial of how that happens. Luckily the wind wasn’t too intense (20mph). It was cold however, and the weather on top of the peaks looked nasty (so much for no snow predicted today!) At this point I realized a summit wouldn’t be likely.

This hike was long. And windy. I was breaking trail and confused as to where the trail was most of the time, but learning a lot in the process. I loved looking back at where I’d been (most prints were quickly filled up with blowing snow). Also, I need a solar powered cell phone charger battery pack thingy.

8 IMG_8855

Of course once the sun came up I took a snow shadow selfie because I could

After trudging along for about 2.5 miles I went back through some trees (off course, but not by much, and honestly, my route was better anyway) and then came to the hill below the lake. This looked like it should have had an established trail, but once again the snow covered it, so I just hiked the lane of snow parallel until I reached the top. Have I mentioned I love snowshoes?

This was a long trudge! Snowshoeing actually takes a lot more energy out of you than hiking does (especially when post holing in wind). I’d expected to see Wheeler Lake when I finally made it to the top, but it was covered in snow and ice.

This drastically changed my plans. I was supposed to skirt the lake and find a trail to the left, but that obviously wasn’t possible in these conditions. I didn’t know where the lake was, how deep it was, how thick the ice was, etc. and I couldn’t see any trails on the other side.

This was supposed to be an easy 13er… one I should be able to just walk up, but with the snow obscuring everything it changed the difficulty. I briefly considered going for it and just hiking over the lake, but just as quickly dismissed the idea as being idiotic. I didn’t have enough conditions information and I wasn’t sure about the snow I’d encounter on the other side. I’m sure others would have done it, but I’m just not ready to take those kinds of chances.

So I took a lake photo to prove I’d made it this far and was off

The hike back down was a bit disappointing and took forever! Disappointing because I didn’t summit anything today. I made a lot of snowshoeing progress, and learned how to carry my ice axe comfortably, but I wasn’t challenged at all. (besides route finding). I wasn’t even tired! Turning back was absolutely the right decision, but it made today’s hike too easy (no intense elevation gain).

And that trip back! Those 3 miles kept going and going and going! I was able to (mostly) follow my tracks back, and the trail was much easier to figure out hiking towards the sun (the shadows helped me see where the road was). I corrected my path several times from the way in (just to make a more accurate trench, assuming my tracks stayed).

I was hot because of the mileage, but also because it got warm. I mean really arm. My balaclava and goggles and jacket and snow clothes all became too much, but I didn’t want to stop to take them off, so I kept trudging on in the heat. (OK, so I really just didn’t want to put on sunscreen… It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d just made it back to the truck already!!!)

The weather cleared up from the cold and windy morning, and I was able to get a few pictures of the mining equipment

the ice flows on the hillsides

and the reservoir I’d passed in the dark on the way in

I hopped back in my truck, found out my son needed a new car battery (long story) and headed home to assist. I only stopped briefly at the 9/24 junction when I saw a herd of bison. I actually turned around because I didn’t want to miss the shot… Colorado is amazing!!!

16 Bison

All in all, a great (if a little disappointing) day. It’s always a bummer when you have to turn back, but I don’t do it often and only when I feel it’s absolutely necessary. Hey, any day above treeline is a great day!

… I’ll be heading back to hike this route again. Without snow.