South Colony Lakes – Wild Wanderer

Columbia Point – 13,986, “Obstruction Peak” – 13,812, & “Kitty Kat Carson” 13,980

RT Length – 14.5 miles

Elevation Gain – 5304’

It’s officially High School Football season which means late Thursday/Friday night games. Luckily for me my daughter performs at half time and can drive herself home so I was able to get in 2 hours of sleep before waking up at midnight to drive to the trailhead.

And what a drive it was! This is my 6^th or 7^th time at the South Colony Lakes Trailhead, and the last 3 miles were the worst I’ve ever seen them. The drainpipe was actually one of the easier parts. Because of the rough road I drove a little slower than I normally would and wasn’t on the trail until 2:30am. (Sorry, these pictures are of the easier areas, as I needed both hands on the wheel to navigate the tougher ones).

One side of the parking lot was completely full: I was the first to park on the opposite side.

I followed the South Colony Lakes trail, which starts at the west end of the parking area

There’s a register to sign and then immediately I crossed a bridge and headed left (west) along an old 4WD road that’s no longer maintained.

There were a few mud puddles here and some running water, but nothing that actually got my boots wet.

After hiking for 2.6 miles I came to this junction and went right to follow the Humboldt Peak / South Colony Trail.

Here the road ends and it actually becomes a trail, crossing a few minor bridges and a small boulder area

before entering the South Colony Lakes Basin. Here the willows were overgrown and made the trail ‘fun’ to follow at night (spiderwebs).

In the daylight it’s easy to see where you’re headed: Follow the well defined Humboldt Trail to the saddle of PT 13,290 and Humboldt

Making it to the saddle was straightforward, but here the trail ended. I turned west (left)and continued on towards point 13,290

I followed the ridge to the top of the point

From here you can see the rest of the route up to “Obstruction Peak”, but I couldn’t because it was still dark

This ridge is NOT fun to cross in the dark. I wasn’t able to see much of what was ahead of me, which made route finding tricky. I also couldn’t tell how much exposure there was, which was positive at times. I mentally wished for my helmet and just stuck to the ridge, doing my best to anticipate the proper route and backtracking and trying again when necessary. On my way back I could clearly see a class 2+ path, but in the dark it was slow going.

Here’s the ridge

After crossing the ridge I crossed a relatively flat area known as “Bears Playground” and headed northwest up towards “Obstruction Peak” first over tundra and then rocky areas

It was actually difficult to tell exactly where the summit of “Obstruction Peak” was so I decided to make it to the ridge early and just walk across the entire ridge. I’m pretty sure the true summit is at the most westerly point.

I summited at 6:45am

“Obstruction Peak”:

As I turned and looked east I could see the sunrise

From the summit of “Obstruction Peak” the path to “Kitty Kat Carson” and “Colombia Point” was clear

I hiked down “Obstruction Peak” towards “Kitty Kat Carson”. The ridge down was rocky but stable

Once at the saddle “Kitty Kat Carson” looked imposing, but wasn’t too much of a challenge. There were a lot of cairns here, especially towards the top, which made them useless. I stayed to the right for most of the ridge, and then headed left to summit

The terrain here was classic Crestone: lots of steep, grippy rock

I summited “Kitty Kat Carson” at 7:28am

“Kitty Kat Carson”:

It took me less than 10 minutes to traverse from “Kitty Kat Carson” over to Columbia Point, losing about 50’ in elevation and then regaining it back. This was all class 2+ climbing

I summited Columbia Point at 7:39am

Columbia Point:

There’s a plaque at the summit commemorating the crew of the shuttle Columbia

Here’s looking back on “Kitty Kat Carson”

Time to head back. Here’s the route towards “Kitty Kat Carson”

And down the saddle and back up to “Obstruction Peak”

Once at “Obstruction Peak” I made my way back down Bears Playground and over to the ridge. That had been quite a time in the dark!

I was so glad to be able to see the route in the daylight. I didn’t need to stick to the ridge the entire time, and mainly stuck to the left/north when I wasn’t on top of the ridge. I found this was a rather quick traverse when I could see what was in front of me.

What took longer than I’d remembered was the hike down from Point 13290 and back to the Humboldt Saddle

Here’s the route to the South Colony Lakes area

The hike back was rather uneventful. I saw over a dozen hikers and was reminded how popular the 14er trails are. I stopped and talked to several people intent on Humboldt, and even saw a few friends intent on some of the other 14ers. I was in a rush though: I had to be home by 2pm to take my daughter camping, which meant I had to make it back to the trailhead no later than 11:35am. It was a beautiful day and I wasn’t carrying a full pack so I was able to hike pretty quickly. I made it to the bridge crossing and saw some raspberries.

I decided to try one: it was sour, and unfortunately not as good as the ones from Purgatory, so I only ate one and left the rest for woodland creatures to enjoy. I made it back to the trailhead at 11:30am, making this a 14.5 mile hike with 5304’ in elevation gain in just under 9 hours. The best part (besides making it home at 1:58pm)? No mosquitoes!!!

Marble Mountain

RT Length: 8.8 miles

Elevation Gain: 2540’

I knew I wasn’t going to summit from the time I made it to the trailhead. It was still dark, but through the moonlight I could see an outline of the mountains covered in clouds. So much for those sunny skies and that 20% chance of snow today. Yes, I knew I wasn’t going to summit from the time I made it to the trailhead, but there wasn’t really another hike with better weather anywhere in the state so I made the decision I was going to get in a good hike anyway and just turn around when I felt it was necessary.

It’s been too long since I’ve done a serious hike. Over a month in fact. And by serious I mean something above treeline (Guadalupe Peak had the mileage and elevation gain but topping out below 9K didn’t count). I was beginning to feel like I was out of shape.

I arrived at the Lower South Colony Lakes trailhead at 5am to cars parked in front of the 2WD road in, blocking my drive any further. I immediately questioned their choice of parking spots but soon realized the road was impassable, so it didn’t really matter anyway. And here’s a shock: there was a couple sleeping UNDER their truck. I’m afraid I woke them up on my drive in (sorry guys! I turned off my headlights as soon as I realized you were sleeping!). They rolled over in their sleeping bags and went back to sleep as I gathered my gear and set out, thinking “Boy, were they brave!” It was frigid out here this morning, but you couldn’t beat the view of the stars and full moon.

I started out at about 5:20am carrying my gear, but quickly stopped to put on my snowshoes. Parking at the South Colony Lakes trailhead would add over 4 miles to the hike, but they would be an easy 4 miles along a dirt road.

Well, a dirt road covered in 2-3 feet of snow. Luckily there was a trench already in place.

I followed the trench up to the Rainbow Trail Trailhead, where the trench immediately stopped.

From here on out I was trenching the trail myself. This was my view as I navigated my way around the mountainside

This part was a bit sketchy: I’ve never trenched along a hillside before. Up a hill sure, but never straight across. Here’s a view looking back at some of my fancy footwork (it’s steeper than it looks)

I rounded the corner, hiked a bit up a hill, and found myself at an obvious juncture to turn right and follow the ridge. Well, maybe not obvious (there weren’t any signs or anything) but I could tell this was the ridge and to follow it I must turn right.

This is where the wind started picking up. I was in the trees, yet the wind was howling all around me. I’ve never experienced such wind while still below treeline. There was also quite a bit more snow along the ridgeline than I’d expected. It was at a minimum 4 feet deep, with drifts that went over 10 feet.

No maps or special navigation tools were needed: I just kept following the ridge. The fun part was hiking up and down the drifts, checking for stability as I went.

I kept trudging along and the wind kept increasing. The blustery weather was coming from Humboldt, kicking up snow and flinging it around like little chards of glass. I knew the wind was forecasted to be 20-25mph today, but the forecast didn’t mention sustained winds that didn’t let up. This would have been useful information. Also, I’m pretty sure the winds were higher than 25mph above treeline.

Video: Marble Ridge

The entire hike along the ridge I kept thinking of Sir Edmund Hillary’s quote: It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. That was indeed true. Pushing and overcoming our limits is what makes the experience worthwhile. However, I’ve learned to be a little more cautions when it comes to wind and weather. My fingers are still recovering from Sherman over a month ago, and I didn’t want to reinjure them too soon. Yes, I knew I wasn’t summiting today, but I wanted to at least make it to treeline. On the positive side I wasn’t cold and I could still feel my fingers and toes.

When I got to treeline the views were terrible! There was only a 20% chance of snow today, but the high winds were developing their own weather above treeline, flinging snow and creating clouds as they went. Despite predictions snow was indeed falling on the summit. The wind here knocked me down. I stood back up again and was knocked down again. It was like I was living a Chumbawamba song.

I was close to the summit (I’m guessing about a mile) but from experience knew in these types of winds are too much for my body to bear for the hour or more it would take to summit and make it back down to treeline. I would have turned into a popsicle. The winds were also supposed to increase in the afternoon, so I took a picture in my mind of the route for next time and headed back through the trees the way I’d come.

What’s this? My tracks were completely gone! I’d just hiked through this area no more than 15 minutes ago, yet my snowshoe tracks had been filled in from blowing snow. Wow!

I tried to get a picture of Humboldt, but ended up getting a shadowselfie instead and a peak covered in blowing snow.

Hiking back down the ridge was much easier than hiking up the ridge, even with my tracks gone. Eventually I came back to the trail junction and the wind stopped. Here my tracks were in place, and alongside them another set of tracks. Hmm. That was curious? They just seemed to stop. It looked like an animal had walked out into the open just to use the restroom. Then I looked closer and noticed that wasn’t the story at all: Something had been caught by a large bird and became breakfast!

After crossing the hillside and following my tracks I made it back down to the Rainbow Trail trailhead. Behind the sign is the parking lot I would have used if the road were clear. This parking area is currently covered in a few feet of snow.

As I reached the sign I looked back up at Marble Mountain and was a bit miffed to notice the wind had apparently stopped on the summit. The summit looked calm, clear, and was mocking me at my current position. I started second guessing my decision to turn back.

Just then a big gust of wind began again from the Humboldt side and both mountains (and the Crestones) were clouded in ice again. They remained that way even after I’d made it to my truck and was driving back home.

The 2+ miles back to the Lower South Colony Lakes trailhead was peaceful and quiet in the early afternoon, and getting warmer by the minute. My left pinky toe was hurting something awful, but by now I’m used to this. I saw some fox tracks that I hadn’t earlier

I made it back to my truck at about 9:45am, surprised to notice the ground was now muddy at the trailhead.

I looked at my tracker(s) and saw I’d only hiked a little over 2500’ in elevation. It had seemed like so much more, but I had been breaking trail, which takes quite a bit of energy.

On my drive home I had the opportunity to race a horse drawn carriage. Yes, I’m sure the horse knew we were racing.

I also came along a herd of bighorn sheep in the exact area that has signs indicating they were there. It’s one of the first times I’ve seen such an accurate sign. Only one of the Bighorn Sheep seemed interested in my presence.

OK, so in the end this had been a worthwhile day. No, I didn’t summit, but I did get in a good hike. I saw some wildlife and practiced my “trenching on a slope” skills, so I’m considering today a win. Oh, and also I didn’t get frostbite. Well, at least not on my fingers. I did reignite the frostnip on my pinky toe that had recently healed, but it isn’t as bad as before. I’m sure it will heal faster this time!

Crestone Needle – 14,197

1 IMG_1165

RT Length: 13 miles

Elevation Gain: 4400’

The decision to hike Crestone Needle today didn’t come until late yesterday. I’d had this day on the calendar for this particular hike for over a month, but the fires in the area had me hesitant. I did a lot of online research and was 80% sure the road to the trailhead I needed to take was open. That was a chance I was willing to take. What I wasn’t thrilled with was the possibility of inhaling smoke for the entire hike. The weather looked good, and in the end I chose to take the hike because it’s my last 14er I need to complete the Crestones and I was afraid if I waited too long the fire would expand and I’d miss my opportunity to hike.

I woke up at 12:15am and drove to the trailhead. All roads were open from Colorado Springs South, but there were more deer on the roads than I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming they were displaced because of the fires. Most deer I see when driving at night are female, but these were mainly male deer in the velvet. I was just glad I was the only one on the road so I could drive cautiously and stop when needed.

I turned South on Colorado 69 and saw a flashing sign indicating the highway was closed ahead and only open to residents. I crossed my fingers and drove on. I was able to make it to the turnoff (Colfax) before the road closed. The drive in past the 2WD trailhead was worse than I remember it being back in April (but not worse than last year at this time). The drainpipe was a bit steep.

2 4WD road in and drainpipe

When I arrived at the trailhead at 3am the parking lot was almost full, which I’d expected even though it was a Wednesday morning. After all, it was the 4^th of July! There was a lot of activity in the parking lot as people were getting ready for their respective hikes. I hate leapfrogging people, so to get a head start I jumped out of my truck and hit the trail, grabbing a bagel to eat on the way. There was no smell of fire in the air and I hadn’t been able to see flames the entire drive.

At 3:15am I signed the trail register and was on my way. BTW, the trail log book is in serious need of repair/updating. The pages are mostly loose, and there’s no clear order to signing it. I found a blank page and signed in, but if there was an emergency (say, a fire) and they needed to know who was hiking in the area it would take them a very long time to figure it out.

3 Trailhead register

This is my third time this year hiking in through the South Colony Lakes trailhead. I have to say, it’s much easier and faster without snow to navigate through! It’s amazing how easy the trail was to follow without snow, and how difficult it is to navigate when snow is present. The hike in didn’t take me long at all. I was way ahead of schedule. Last time I was here the creek was frozen over and there was snow up to the footbridge. Today there was no snow to be seen.

4 Hike In

I made it to the South Colony Lakes and saw many tents lit up as people were preparing for their hikes today. It looked like there were dozens of people camping by the lake. I made it up Broken Hand Pass around 5:30am and looked behind me at the trail of lights from hikers taking the pass as well.

5 hikers below IMG_7034

The only other time I’ve hiked Broken Hand Pass it was filled with snow and there was no clear path to follow, so I crossed the slope wearing snowshoes. Today the path was clearly visible, yet harder to hike without traction. I kind of missed the snow here! As I looked around me at the slope I realized back in April I must have been hiking on over 10 feet of snow! What a difference the snow made!

6 Pass no snow

The trail up and through Broken Hand Pass is very well cairned. I now know why those cairns are so big! They looked small (or were non-existent) under the snow.

7 heavily cairned IMG_1162

Last time I did this hike I forgot to put on my helmet until it was too late and I was in a position where it was too dangerous for me to take my helmet out of my pack to put it on, so this time I put it on before it was needed. Here are the first class 3 moves up the pass.

8 Class 3 moves in Broken Hand Pass

I made it to the saddle just as the sun was coming up, and when I looked over to my left I saw a skull that wasn’t there last time, placed on a large stick. Of course I went over to investigate. As the sun rose I made friends with Skully and got a few selfies with my new pal. He seemed to be keeping sentinel over the area.

9 Skully Sunrise

I was way ahead of schedule at this point, but decided to keep hiking so I wouldn’t get cold. I followed the ridge and went to the heavily traveled trail to the right, and realized it cliffed out, so I turned left and encountered more class 3 moves.

10 go left not right IMG_1132

11 First Class 3 after pass

The trail was well marked, although sometimes it split into two parallel trails. They both followed the South side of the mountain and ended in the same place. Here’s a look back at the trails and Broken Hand pass.

12 Two Trails and Broken Hand Pass

After hiking the slope the trail abruptly stops. I knew this was going to happen, but was surprised at how abruptly it did just… stop. I mean, it just ended at a rock.

13 trail stops IMG_7092

I looked up and down and then got out my directions. I needed to hike down about 75 feet, then over to the east gully. Here’s a picture of the route before me.

14 Sun rising behind needle IMG_7058

This is where the fun began! Climbing the gullies is a lot of fun! There was exposure, sure, but plenty of hand and foot holds available. I once again praised myself for joining a rock climbing gym and going weekly. This was child’s play! While this class 3 scrambling should have been challenging, for me it was really just fun.

15 Climbing in the gullies

The route wasn’t heavily cairned, but there were enough cairns in just the right areas so you knew you were on the right path (which I prefer to multiple cairned paths). For me the crux of the climb came at the dihedral, where you switch from the east to the west gully. The dihedral was obvious to find but difficult to cross. It’s much larger in width and depth than this picture suggests, and my task was to climb on top of it, locate a cairn, and cross the rib. There was a trickle of water running down its base, just enough to make climbing up slippery with wet soles.

16 water in dihedral

I’m not a large lady, and while I’m pretty flexible, here my 5’4” height was a hindrance and flexibility wasn’t much help. There were hand and foot holds all over this mountain, except in the dihedral. The rock here was smooth and there weren’t many places to grip. The width was just far enough apart where I couldn’t stretch across (although I’m assuming it wouldn’t be much difficulty for someone over 5’10” to navigate). So I was stuck: I couldn’t climb up the dihedral to cross over, and I couldn’t climb across the gap either. I searched and located the cairn on the rib above me and to the left. I knew that’s where I needed to be, but getting there seemed impossible! (The cairn is in the red circle)

I took a deep breath. This had to be traversable. There had to be a way across, I just wasn’t seeing it yet. I went back to where the dihedral was narrowest and tried again. There were a few stretch moves, but I was able to successfully climb up the wall and back over to the left where the cairn was located. Woot! I’d made it!!!

This is where the real climbing began! I climbed up the ridge and aimed for a notch. Here’s a picture from my way back down when I passed three male climbers heading up (who’d had trouble with the dihedral too, so it wasn’t just me!).

18 exposure after dihedral

The exposure here was real! One of the other hikers told me this part almost made him lose his breakfast. Personally, I loved it! Yes, the exposure was extreme, but there wasn’t much danger from loose rock and there were plenty of hand and foot holds, so as long as you didn’t slip and fall you were fine.

I couldn’t help but thinking how awful this route would be with snow, and once again praised myself for not trying this peak after completing Crestone Peak last April and the waterfalls that were present then. It wouldn’t have ended well.

There were several large gullies to climb, all with the same secure rock and lots of holds.

19 up a gully

At 7:20am I summited! I had a great view of Crestone Peak

20 View of Crestone Peak

As you’ll notice from the video, there isn’t evidence of a fire anywhere

For the first time while hiking a 14er I was able to see the Sand Dunes in the distance

21 Sand Dunes to right

I took a summit selfie to prove I’d summited

22 Crestone Needle 14197

And while it was still early I headed back down because I was only half way through with this hike. It was too early to celebrate yet.

Remember all those steep gullies I’d climbed up? Well, now it was time to climb back down them. They were pretty steep, so I turned and faced the wall and began climbing down, once again grateful for all the holds.

Thankfully the dihedral was much easier to navigate heading down than up. I just pressed my stomach on the wall and slid off and down into the open space below, using friction for balance, knowing I didn’t have far to fall if I did.

I have to pause for a second here to talk about down climbing. I may not know a lot about rock climbing, but I do know I have better balance when I’m facing the wall on the way down. I passed a hiker who was heading down these gullies feet first. He was continually off balance and honestly scaring me.

So I engaged him in conversation: “Have you tried turning and facing the wall when you down climb? You’ll thank yourself for it!”

I got no response, so I figured he must not have heard me. We parted but caught up to each other once again in another gully, where he was once again tip toeing down and sliding feet first.

I tried again: “Do you rock climb?”

Hiker: “No”

Me: “Oh, well if you turn and face the wall you’ll find your center of gravity isn’t off and the gully will be easier to navigate”

Once again, no response and he continued doing what he was doing. All I could think was “He’s going to fall and I’m the only one anywhere near him. He’s going to slip and tumble headfirst down one of these gullies and I’m going to have to rescue him because I’m the only other person out here”. I’d already warned him twice and he hadn’t listened. I decided to just sit and take a break for a while and let him get far enough ahead of me where we wouldn’t pass each other again. This way I wouldn’t have to watch him scare me half to death. I’d just keep an ear out for him falling. (Luckily he never did)

I made it back to Broken Hand Pass at 8:40am. The sun still hadn’t made it over the ridge

23 back to brokenhand IMG_7089

I waved to Skully and got a picture of him with the Crestone Needle in the background

24 Skully and Needle

Ahead of me were Humboldt and Broken Hand Pass. I was completely ready for the class 3 moves back down and got to it.

25 Humboldt and Pass

About 1/3 of the way down I heard a very loud and deep chirp, looked up, and saw a rather large marmot ahead of me skid to a stop on top of a pile of rocks. The rocks then went tumbling down the pass, making quite a racket and causing a rockslide. Wow! That marmot was a jerk! He’d just put about 4 people in danger of getting brained by rocks the size of my fist. I called down to the hikers below me, made sure they were ok, and blamed it (rightly so) on the marmot. See people? Wear your helmet, even if you’re the only person on that mountain!

I passed quite a few hikers on the way out. South Colony Lakes is a trailhead for multiple 14ers, as well as a great place to backpack and fish. Most people I passed who’d been there for a few days had no idea there was a fire or that the roads were closed.

As I hiked the last few miles out I marveled at what an awesome day it was. The weather was gorgeous, the wildflowers were just starting to bloom, the trail was in full summer conditions, and I’d made a quick and successful summit of what’s considered the 6^th most difficult 14er in Colorado. So why wasn’t I jump up and down happy? Well, I kind of was. I took a few celebratory photos once I was back near the lakes.

26 Celebrating

But I wasn’t euphoric as I had been for many other hikes. No fist-bump, high five kind of feeling. This hike had been too easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy hike, but it wasn’t as difficult as I’d anticipated and been looking forward to. Yes, there was exposure. Yes, there was climbing involved. Yes, it was a long hike with elevation gain, but it wasn’t as technical as I’d anticipated and everything I did was well within my abilities. There wasn’t even any snow to navigate!!! I wasn’t tired at all and even considered hiking up Humboldt to make the day a little more aggressive. Maybe I wasn’t tired because I wasn’t carrying all the stuff I’ve needed lately (crampons, ice axe, snowshoes, extra jacket, etc)?

I know the conditions were awful when I hiked Crestone Peak last April, but that seemed much more difficult than today’s climb of the Crestone Needle, and this was supposed to be harder. I didn’t feel challenged. Hmmmm… So I came to the conclusion these hikes are indeed tough, I’m just advancing in my skills. What scares me is I enjoy a challenge. I enjoy being tested and learning new skills. That’s something I’ll seriously need to spend some time considering.

I made it back to my truck at 11am, making this a 13 mile hike/climb in 8 hours. This also means I was home by 1:30pm, in plenty of time to wake up my kids (yes, they’re teenagers, with nothing scheduled for today they were still sleeping when I got home) and grill some steaks for the 4^th of July!

27 mileage IMG_7099