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Category Archives: Colorado Trail

Stories recounting my 2011 hike along the Colorado Trail in reverse Chronological order and later hikes.

Ouray

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 4 Comments

perimeter

To celebrate thirty-three years, Karen and I hit the trails in Ouray.  What could be better than taking in air from the top of the world?  We spent day one exploring the Perimeter Trail that rings the box canyon.

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We drove up to Molas Pass on day two and hiked between the lakes.  The weather could not have been more perfect with the cooler temps I’d been dreaming about in Texas.

blue lakes 2

We discovered our favorite trail on day three when we hiked the Blue Lakes Trail.  The forest road is a bit long, about eight miles, but drivable with a low clearance car.  The trail runs mostly through gorgeous pine and aspen.  It breaks just around tree line for the first lake, catching snow melt in the basin.

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We stopped by Khristopher’s Culinaire one day to say hi to Khris and Janet.  They said the crowds have been great this summer.  I agree, the trails had a healthy number of hikers.  People were pretty good about either wearing a mask, or stepping off the trail if they didn’t.

rob

I had time one day to hike around Molas Pass with my buddy Rob, who drove up from Durango.  We began on the Colorado Trail and bushwhacked our way up to a high point offering tremendous views of the San Juans.  I also ran into a work colleague in Silverton eating lunch with his family.  We work together almost daily, and had never met one another before.

We ate at several good restaurants in Ouray.  Red Mountain Brewery was good, along with Brickhouse 737.  My favorite dinner was at Bon Ton.  These were my first restaurants since late March.

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A hiking vacation might not seem very romantic to celebrate over three decades of marriage, but we know what we want these days.  This was one of the best vacations ever.

 

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Lily Mountain Trail

23 Saturday May 2020

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Britt&Eric, Colorado Trail, Covid-19, covid-noir

≈ Leave a comment

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After my Keurig run, Karen told me to enjoy the Keurig one more time, then pack up.  The Covid’s comin’.  Gear up to hit the trail.  We got as far as Estes Park where we thought we could get some grub.  We were greeted with signs like this, reminding us of just the other week when it was that way at home too.  We were happy with the takeout from Bird & Jim.  And they had a better sign.

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The girls took our flight in stride.  One more road trip for old times, I heard one of them say.  Ellie Rose will go off to the Colorado School of Mines this fall, leaving Karen and me to discover our new normal as empty nesters.  Ellie Rose should be safe in the mines.

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Estes Park did have good food, but we found ourselves surrounded by the Colorado Mountain elk herd that’s been ranging these slopes for eons, or at least since 1913 when the then extinct herd was reintroduced from Wyoming.

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We waited for the elk to fall asleep and made our escape under the cover of darkness.  With the next morning’s sunlight, we found ourselves on the Lily Mountain Trail.

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Karen told us this trail would lead to a new world.  A place free from the horrors of 2020.  She told us we would be happy in this new place.

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When we got there, we saw this.  We knew this hike was the right choice for the Memorial Day weekend.  Karen was right.

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New generations will blaze new trails up here in Karen’s woods.  Summer is coming, calling all of us outdoors, hopefully not like sirens to the rocks.  Wear a buff on the trail.

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Argentine Trail

06 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Pavilion Point, Silver Plume

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The word Argentina is derived from the word silver, which in Latin is Argentum.  This is also why Ag references silver on the periodic table.  Argentina was initially called Terra Argentea for the land of silver.  But the Argentine Trail that rises out of Silver Plume was a trail of gold today, buried under the golden aspen trees that grace the forest along I-70.  If not for the history of silver mining in the area, I’d recommend renaming it Aurum Trail – gold is Au on the periodic table.

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Jen, one of my running mates, joined me on the trail today, along with her husband and kids.  We ran this, mostly to see the aspens, but also because it’s a fairly gentle grade, rising 900 feet over three miles.  Of course, it starts at close to 9200 feet.  And Jen shot off from the trailhead like a rocket, so I had to beg her to walk a few times on the way up.  My cardio is not up to Jen’s level.

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We made it to the top, which is called Pavilion Point, where a fireplace is all that remains of an old miner’s home.  Despite the elevation, this trail is very runnable.  The grade is so gentle because it used to support a narrow-gauge railroad that hauled the silver down into Silver Plume.

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I’d be remiss not to add a senior photo of Ellie Rose, that her good friend Chase took of her in the fall colors.  I would argue it’s Ellie Rose who makes the fall colors look good, but it’s just a great time to get outside.

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Mount of the Holy Cross

22 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

hiking

Kirby Cosmos

Rob and I met up at Kirby’s Cosmos BBQ, Friday in Minturn, a few miles past Vail.  We later dispersed-camped in the Holy Cross Wilderness.

rob

We woke early and hit the trail at 6:30 am, when there was enough sunlight to hike without headlamps.  We first drank coffee under the moon and stars, unfiltered from the light pollution of cities in the clear 35° air.

rob 3

Saturday’s objective was to summit Mount of the Holy Cross, a fourteener south of Vail.  The twelve mile, roundtrip trail started at the Half Moon Trailhead.  It consisted of two hills, the first was a thousand foot climb, the second was a three thousand foot ascent.  The aspen were just turning bright yellow.

aspen

We passed by two tired women descending almost as slowly as we were climbing. This section of trail resembled a steep staircase.  One of them called out, “It’s easier in the rocks.”  Most everything above tree line was a boulder field.  I can’t explain why she said it, or what she meant by it.  When is hiking through the rocks ever easier?

rob n ed 2

Near the end of the hike, we saw a couple of hikers stopped on the trail ahead of us, apparently talking.  As they saw us approach, they departed, going separate directions.  The one hiking toward us turned back around and shouted to the other, “You should also look into the Ten Commandments.”

As he neared us, I saw that much of his outfit, including hat, sunglasses, scarf and shirt, were all sporting a red, white and blue striped pattern.  And he might have been wearing make-up.  Very eye-catching.  He looked as if the clown in Stephen King’s It made babies with Uncle Sam.  There was something off with this guy.  He was either going to start preaching the Bible to us, or shred us with an AK-47, but he passed without incident.

rob n ed

Hikers, in their trail reports, generally describe this as an exhausting hike.  It was.  It was six miles of vertical in each direction, with about 5500 feet of elevation gain, and took us close to nine hours.  There’s camping at the trailhead, but an even better camping spot along a creek after the first hill.  That would make reaching the peak before sunrise more doable.  Incredibly beautiful views and a memorable hike.

 

 

 

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The Wedding Hike

01 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Britt&Eric, Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Estes Park, Flattop Mountain, loveatfirstwright, RMNP

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Estes Park was an ideal wedding venue for out-of-state guests who enjoy the outdoors, because the town is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Eric’s father Doug, and my niece Jessy’s husband Bryan, went fly fishing.  No doubt, some of the most gorgeous fly fishing in the world is in RMNP.  I took four Texans on a massive nine mile hike to the summit of Flattop Mountain.

You can see how well-groomed the trail is here at the start.  The Bear Lake trailhead was packed with over 100 cars, but very few hikers took our trail up to Flattop Mountain.  With 3000 feet of elevation gain in the 4.4 mile distance, it’s one of the park’s more challenging adventures.

Steve

I extended invites to the two dozen or so friends on our private wedding FB group, and I had four takers – all from Austin, Texas.  I was confident these four could do it.  My brother Steve, pictured above, was the oldest in his low 60s, but he’s a Mahoney so I knew he was up for it.

Steve C

Karen’s brother Steve, pictured here above tree line, still rocks Austin with his band the Rite Flyers.  He lives for epic stuff like this.

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An avid athlete, Laura doesn’t shy away from adventure.  She is so fit, I don’t think she noticed the altitude rise from 9400 feet at the trailhead to 12,200 at the summit.  She did comment on the cold winds up top, but then she had just left 105° in Austin.

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Laura’s seventeen-year-old son Zac is so fit, he appeared to climb this hill sitting down.  I’ve been on trails with him before and he’s an experienced hiker.

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With Longs Peak as a backdrop, Laura clearly won an August snowball fight with her son.

Laura n Zac

Laura and her son were naturally the first to summit Flattop Mountain.  The two Steves and I maintained a more gentlemanly pace.  Other wedding guests still enjoyed the outdoors by wandering around Estes Park and some of the nearby trails.  The five of us will remember Brittany and Eric’s wedding for this epic hike.

 

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Flattop Mountain

14 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Britt&Eric, Colorado Trail

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

RMNP, wedding

bear-lake-map

Don’t you think this is an easy enough route?  On paper, it’s fairly straight-forward.  Park at Bear Lake Trailhead, as big and well-groomed a thrailhead as you will ever find.  This trailhead presents numerous options for more pedestrian hikes to various lakes.  I took the less-pedestrian trail that runs above treeline to merge into the Continental Divide Trail in a photopunk moonscape of alpine flowers.

flattop-mountain-elevation-profile

I drove through the ranger gate at 6:15am, and it was open for free.  Rangers have told me before that parking fills up by 7am. There are other trailheads along the drive, but this trailhead is a great place to start so many hikes.  The difficulty of the hike depends on which direction you go onto the Bear Lake Loop Trail.

You take the left trail—the epic hike ends, you see pretty new lakes every mile or so after cresting shallow hills. You take the right trail—you climb this hill, and I show you Colorado from the top. Remember: all I’m offering is the truth.

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The trail hits treeline about half way up, time and distance-wise.  Treeline is also about two-thirds up the 3000 feet of vertical.  The rocks are covered in alpine flowers here that should still be around in late August.

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This section of trail, just before cresting Flattop Mountain, is convered by snowpack still. I suspect some of this will remain in late August too, but it’s passable.  I’ll have a few pairs of trekking poles for those who want them.

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The top is surreal, like Mars with grass and flowers.

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The views were great the entire hike.  At the top here, you can see Longs Peak behind me.  There is an awesome view of the Keyhole and the Ledges on the northwest side of Longs Peak.

I know Nancy, Steve, my brother Steve, and really, most of you could make this hike.  It took me a little under four hours.  Expect five.  Like this post if you’re interested Sunday morning.

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Two Girls Eating

30 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Ellie Rose

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

RMNP, Sandbeach Lake

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The only two things a girl needs when hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park is water and her smartphone.

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This is what we saw at the end of our hike in Wild Basin.  Sandbeach Lake is considered deep at fifty feet, and it has a deep-blue reflection.

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Two girls eating a sandwich, after a couple of hours of hiking, is basically the goal of hiking.

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Sky on Fire

16 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bulletproof, CDT, Colorado Wildfires, continental divide, hiking, Never Summer Wilderness, RMNP, Willow Creek Pass

Never Summer

La Plata and I rejoined for a second hike this summer along the Continental Divide Trail.  We met at the Bowen Gulch trailhead off Hwy 34, inside the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We left my car there for our finish and drove through Granby for Hwy 125, which took us up to Willow Creek Pass.

The yellow and burnt orange aspen were much thicker here than in RMNP.  La Plata said the colors were incredible between Durango and this valley.  Their color was echoed by the sun setting under plumes of smoke from the Kremmling fire as we drove up the pass.  The smoke filtered blues on top of hot pinks, mirroring the inferno below, telling the story of our summer with the sky on fire.

Willow Creek Pass

We set off at 6:30am and tracked forty-five minutes of fast-paced progress before I discovered I’d left the keys to my car back in La-Plata’s car at Willow Creek Pass.  This added ninety minutes to our twenty-two mile trek, and a good four more miles.  Today would be a marathon.

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I discovered a new 200 calorie snack bar that I highly recommend – Bulletproof.  I ate their lemon cookie for breakfast.  Yum.  I doubt there is anything else on the health food market anywhere close to this tasty.  The Kremmling fire smoke is in the picture below – those aren’t clouds.

Bowen Pass 2

Hiking with La Plata is like trail running with anyone else.  Fortunately, the section of the Continental Divide Trail between the Willow Creek trailhead and Bowen Gulch near Grand Lake is mostly below tree line.  My breathing seemed good despite the altitude and La Plata’s torrid pace.  He schooled me with this unyielding pace for the earlier blunder with the keys, not slowing down until we crossed Bowen Pass, our high point a little above treeline.

Bowen Pass

Can’t thank him enough.  Always the coach, and actually a personal fitness instructor, this training will serve me well for the three days of trail half marathons in Utah and Arizona next month.  I did have to run at times to catch up with La Plata in the early going.  I took advantage of downhill sections of trail.  We maintained a strong two mile per hour pace.  That’s good for high altitude mountain trails.  Standard walking pace is about three miles per hour.  I don’t expect the Trailfest to be nearly this challenging, except that it’s three days in a row for a total of thirty seven miles.  Recovery will be paramount.

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I missed the photo-taking for Ellie’s homecoming dance.  The kids looked good.  The first photo is with Ellie and her boyfriend Will at Chautauqua.  The second is the group shot.

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Mount Evans

15 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Chicago Lakes, Guanella Pass, Mount Bierstadt, Mount Evans

Ed on Guanella Pass

The best hikes begin with camping.  I’m pictured here at dusk beside my one-man, Big Agnes tent, perched about a hundred yards from the upper parking lot on Guanella Pass. Signs posted in the parking lot say “no camping”, but the guidelines aren’t clear.  A reasonable person would believe that to mean within fifty yards.  We weren’t alone.

It’s been about a year since I’ve been camping and I will tell you that I enjoy it as much as the next day’s hike.  It’s mostly the stars that I find so special.  Absent the ambient city lights of the Denver metro, the night sky is absolutely stunning.  The first stars to become visible are actually planets, first Venus, the evening star, followed closely by Jupiter and then Mars appears as a red twinkle.  I have thoughts watching their light emerge from the darkness of early man viewing the same night horizon thirty thousand years earlier and maybe learning to count to three.  Soon after the arrival of Mars, too many stars flood the night sky to count.

mountain goats

We woke at 4:30 and hit the trail an hour later, after packing up and enjoying trailhead coffee.  The upper parking lot was filling up and the lower parking lot was completely full, with fifty or more cars parked along the road.  If you’ve hiked Mount Beirstadt, then you know how crowded that trail is.  With the pass sitting above tree line at 11,669 feet, Mt. Bierstadt is one of the most attainable 14ers in Colorado.  But Rob and I didn’t take the trail up to Bierstadt.

Still in the willows, we turned left at the creek crossing.  There’s a faint, unmarked trail that follows the banks, until it disappears in the willows.  The trail existed on some map Rob studied before our hike.  A map he left at home.  Having a map would seem wise when entering the forest and mountains of Colorado, but we knew where we were and about where we wanted to go.  We shuffle parked our other car at Echo Lake, on the other side of the mountains that lie in front of us, roughly thirteen miles easterly from Guanella Pass.

Rob on Mt Evans

I can tell you the trail didn’t exist on the map I studied before hand.  It’s safe to say, there is no trail, so we bushwhacked our way through the cold, wet mud and willows in a pointed direction to the saddle that sits north of Mount Bierstadt.  Trails did emerge at times, animal trails no doubt.  Rob’s general tactic when having lost the trail is to proceed upwardly toward higher ground.  There was no debate, up was where we wanted to go.

We encountered climbers at the top of the saddle.  Rather than presenting a trail down the far side, turned out the other side of the saddle is what climbers call the black wall, a sheer cliff with a thousand foot drop.  Our trail was another quarter mile uphill and to the right.  It’s actually a loop and we continued up Mount Spalding, and eventually to Mount Evans itself.  It’s not an easy trail, at times more of merely a route marked by cairns.  The climb was exhausting.

Ed on Mt Evans

Of course, you don’t have to hike for miles to reach Mount Evans, there’s a paved road that allows visitors to park a hundred or so feet below the massive pile of rocks that form the peak.  As far as we know, we were the only hikers atop Mount Evans who arrived via the unmarked trail from the Guanella Pass direction.  This is a rare mountaintop that is reachable by paved road.  I very much recommend it.  Visitors were taking pictures of mountain goats as they stood in line for the restrooms by the observatory.  Where else would you find that experience?

Our descent was just as brutal as the climb up.  The first thousand foot drop from the peak contained switchbacks as tight as a staircase, and the steepness continued for several thousand more feet, hammering my thighs and quads to where I still can’t descend the stairs in my house today without holding onto the railing.  We reached the Echo Lake Trailhead after thirteen miles and nine hours.  Another epic hike in the books.  Can’t wait to get back out there.

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Buffalo Pass

07 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

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Tags

CDT, Continental Divide Trail, magic mushrooms, Moose Watch Cafe, Rabbit Ears Pass, Steamboat Springs

buffalo pass THI continued my hiking with Rob on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) near Steamboat Springs this past weekend.  We’ve been hiking northbound generally but the most efficient car shuffle for this outing suggested a southbound route.  We hiked two sections southbound, first 15 miles from Buffalo Pass to Rabbit Ears Pass on Saturday, then 24 miles from the Three Island Lake Trailhead to Buffalo Pass on Sunday.  For Rob, this leaves the section of trail between Grand Lake and Rabbit Ears, and the 50 miles of trail south of Wyoming, for him to complete all the CDT within Colorado.  He also he completed the northern half of New Mexico.

moose watch cafe

Saturday’s adventure began at the Moose Watch Cafe for a breakfast burrito and a few donuts.  I ate one of these maple bacon delights, along with something cream filled.

Wyoming Trail

It might be hard to read this sign but it says the Wyoming Trail.  Whenever we were in doubt, and the CDT is nothing if not poorly marked, we followed signs for the Wyoming Trail.  Apparently the section of CDT between Rabbit Ears Pass and Wyoming, is also known as the Wyoming Trail.

moose

Early in our hike, as we stopped to adjust our gear, this cow and her calf sprinted up behind us.  They stopped and acted a bit startled after spotting us, before continuing their trot deep into the woods.  Moose are really just super large deer.  They’re somewhat spectacular to see up close in the wild.

 

lakes

This section of trail consisted mostly of alpine meadows and lakes.  Everything, even the tundra above tree line on day two, was lush and green, like these high mountain daisies I’m standing in here.

parry primrose

I’m not totally certain what these flowers are.  My best guess is Parry Primrose.  Could be fireweed.

Rabbit Ears Pass

Saturday’s hike ended at Rabbit Ears Pass, just south of Steamboat Springs.  We saw a decent number of other hikers, and even more mountain bikers.  Even a few fishermen headed up to those alpine lakes.

butcherknife amputator IPA

To heal our sore muscles after the 15 mile trek, we dined in Steamboat and quaffed a few of the local Butcherknife Amputator IPAs.

camp fire

Despite the very wet ground, we got ourselves a camp fire for the night.

3 island lake TH

We started out the next day at the Three Island Lake Trailhead, 50 miles south of the Wyoming border.  Sunday’s hike was mostly above treeline, but the ground was still more soggy marsh.

first snow

The melt off these snow fields accounted for some of the sogginess, constant afternoon rains for the rest.

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The photo above captures what much of the top of the CDT looks like, fields of alpine flora with very little signs of an actual trail.  You just walk between the drop offs.

snow fields

Other times, you look for the next cairn to guide the path, when the trail is under near permanent slow fields, or like below when there’s not enough foot traffic to carve out a path through the fast-growing grass.

no path

This sign points to a spur trail, Grag’s Trail, that runs behind me.  You can’t make out a discernible trail in the grass, but you can spot the cairn over my shoulder pointing the way.  Our trail in this photo, is the Wyoming trail running horizontal, also without any visible path.

fly agaric top

There were so many photo perfect moments on the trail but for the most part, I simply experienced them without taking pictures.  Like when the team of elite mountain pixies came running past us.  Spaced over a 20 second spread, four unbelievably attractive runners ran by us at maybe a 7 minute pace.  Clearly under 8 minutes per mile.  At extreme altitude.  While they were wearing different racing outfits, you could see they were a team by how uniformly they maintained form, like a peloton in bike racing.

fly agaric profile

Either Rob and I really were passed by a quad of beautiful elite trail racers, or we took a bite out of this hallucinogenic Fly Agaric mushroom growing alongside the trail and imagined it.  After 8 hours, we completed Sunday’s 24 mile trek, this time entering Buffalo Pass from the north, satiated for that moment, hungry now for the next opportunity.

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Thirteener

15 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

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Tags

Brainard Lake, Mt. Audubon

Brainard LakeWith Zach up from Austin, we thought he’d like to see what Colorado looks like, from the top.  So we hiked up 13,223 foot Mt. Audubon today.  The trailhead starts near Brainard Lake.  That’s Mt Audubon in the upper right of this photo as Zach, Ellie and Brit sit on the bridge rail overlooking the lake.

flowers

The girls tended to stop to smell the roses often enough that the 9 mile round trip took us over 5 hours.

apine buttercups ellie

This photo above shows how close Ellie gets to the flowers for a pic, as she lies among the Alpine Buttercups at over 12,000 feet.

group

The group consisted of Ellie, Brit, her friend Tabitha, and of course Zach – doing his impression of Michael Nesmith from the Monkees.

Brit n Tab

Tabitha’s a hoot.  Tabitha and her sisters are all named for characters from the TV show Bewitched.

backs

This was Zac’s highest climb ever.  He and Ellie contemplated the achievement looking west at 13,000 feet.

splash

As we returned to Brainard Lake, Ellie tried walking to this rock without getting wet.

rock 2

Zach joined her, demonstrating some impressive balance as he walked across the submerged rock path.

rock

Amazingly, they made it without too much water getting inside their boots.

Ed

Pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves on this hike.  I would say I had the best time of all though.  This was my first big hike in the mountains this summer.  Hope to hike more.

 

 

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Zion

20 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

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Tags

Capitol Reef, Dixie Forest, hiking, Kiva Koffeehouse, petroglyphs, trails, Utah, Zion

narrows-11

Half way between California and Colorado is Zion. So Brit and I booked a night at the Cable Mountain Lodge near the entrance to the park.  We rose before the sun to squeeze in a hike through the Narrows.  The first mile was paved.

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The trail disappeared with the sidewalk.

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Surely, the trail will pick back up around the next curve in the canyon.

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Brit wades deeper.  The trail guide did say something about expecting to get wet.

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And to guard against hypothermia.  The sun is slow to warm up the canyon.

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We hiked up the Virgin River for maybe a quarter mile.  The cold, deep water didn’t turn us back.  The canyon walls drew us in like sirens to the rocks.

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But we had to get home to Colorado by nightfall.  We’ll return for sure to Zion when we’re not just passing through.

sandstone

We skipped the high speed Interstate for Hwy 9 through the park, connecting later with highways 89 and 12, traversing Escalade, Boulder, the Dixie National Forest and Capitol Reef National Park.  A virtual lifetime of vistas.  Barely out of Zion, just past the tunnels, we saw a rock that had to be climbed.

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Brit preferred walking the sandstone barefoot to her sandals.

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She finally made it to the top, after me.

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Brit celebrated her climb with a namaste.

pride-rock

I just did my best to keep my balance.  I don’t have words to describe the splendor of our remaining drive through Utah.  We saw flaming orange aspen in the Dixie Forest and petroglyphs in the cliffs of the Capitol Reef rocks.  If you get a chance to drive between Colorado and California, do yourself a favor and skip the Interstate. Take the scenic byway.

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Colorado River Headwaters

10 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

CDT, Charge, Cloudbuster, High Lonesome Trail, Knights Ridge Trail, Monarch Lake, NoBo Through Hiker, Peak Brewpub, Red Dog Saloon, SoBo Through Hiker, Squeaks

Berthoud Pass

This weekend’s fifty-four mile backpacking hike along the Continental Divide begins at Berthoud Pass at 6am.  The early start required a 3:30am wakeup from our stellar Shadow Mountain Lake beachside camp site in Grand Lake, where we leave one of our cars because that’s where this trek will end.

berthoud pass weather station

1100 feet of elevation gain later, Rob stands atop Mines Peak, the first of so many peaks that I lose count.  I didn’t capture stats with a Garmin, but traversing the Continental Divide Trail above the headwaters of the Colorado River likely included well over 10,000 feet of vertical on just the first of our three days.

mt Eva 1.jpg

My legs are so spent by the end of day one, I’m near tears when Rob tells me we have to scale yet another giant boulder field to avoid having to glacade down a scary snow cornice that covers the trail over Devil’s Thumb Pass.  We need to get around this snow to camp on the east side of the pass.

avalanche

We end day one having trekked twenty miles in thirteen hours.  Not a strong pace but considering 30 pound backpacks and terrain, we’re impressed with ourselves.  Thousand foot climbs followed immediately by thousand foot descents.  Boulder field after scree field after boulder field.  For this final scramble, I use my bare hands to steady myself against the cold, abrasive granite on each step.  I no longer trust my fatigued legs to land without buckling.

ridge

This photo of Rob above shows the typical tundra we walk across from Mines Peak to Devil’s Thumb Pass.  No trail for much of it, just a route for us to keep between the edges of East and West.  The Cairn at the top of this hill leads the way.

alpine flowers

The tundra isn’t all moonscape, alpine flowers are lush from this season’s strong snowfall.  I’ve never seen so many alpine daisies.

alpine daisies

Camping over the pass near Devil’s Thumb Lake offers us not just water to resupply, but the softest high mountain meadow grass to pitch our tents.  I go to sleep fearful I won’t wake with the strength needed to climb back up that pass to continue on the trail.  I credit the meadow with my recovery.  We wake to see Elk streaming across the mountainsides, crossing fields of melting snow.  I climb back up that 1000 foot pile of rocks, and for the most part, the rest of the hike is downhill.

squeaks

We meet Squeaks as we descend the High Lonesome Trail from Devil’s Thumb.  She looks to be about 65 years old.  She’s a south-bound (SoBo) through-hiker backpacking from the Wyoming border to New Mexico.  We’ve met other NoBo through-hikers, Charge, and later Cloud Buster.  She tells us about the rough blow-down we’ll face on Knights Ridge Trail.  Blow down are dead trees, some Aspen but mostly Lodgepole Pine, that fall from strong winds and block the trail.  Squeaks also tells us about the three or four family members who have joined her for sections of her hike.  I figure her pack weighs forty pounds.  I mean, look at it.  No idea how she can do this.

Monarch Lake 1

Day two takes us below tree line, where we remain the rest of our hike.  The downhill direction and the oxygen that comes with each downward step help us to complete over twenty miles in twelve hours.  Cooling off at Monarch Lake helped as well.

Monarch Lake 2

Shortly after Monarch Lake, we stumble across the world’s smallest bar, the Red Dog Saloon.  The bartender Lee, qualifies his boast of the world’s smallest bar by excluding Malaysia, where he says they have smaller bars.  Rob and I polish off a six pack of ice-cold Ranger IPA, a Colorado brewed 6.5 ABV thirst-quencher.

Ranger IPA

Rob considers renting a teepee for the night, but I convince him there’s yet more hiking before night fall.

teepee

We end the night at the southern tip of Lake Grandby, on a sandy beach.  This is the view from my tent.

Lake Grandby

We start out day three earlier than the others, at 5:30, and hike the final stretch alongside Lake Grandby, the Colorado River, and Shadow Mountain Lake.  Much of this is down near the water, some miles are up in high mountain meadows.  On our first climb, we watch a moose take a bath in a marshy pond.  He shakes the water off like a dog, sending shock waves across the meadow from the force of his hooves.  The prettiest flowers in these meadows above the Colorado River are these Columbine.

Columbine

The headwaters to the Colorado River are dammed up to form a sizable lake, although the northern end flows like a river.  I refill my LifeStraw water bottle, given to me last Christmas by my sister-in-law Susan, at a point where we need to cross a creek streaming into the river.  This water bottle filters untreated water so that it is safe to drink.  Worked awesome for me.  At another creek crossing, either the water is too high or the bridge is washed away, so we cross over the top of a beaver dam.  One of our more dicey creek crossings.

East Shore TH

We complete the twelve remaining miles on day three at the East Shore Trailhead after six hours.  A total of 54 miles, 20 above tree line, and 31 hours spent on the trail.  We celebrate this truly epic hike at the Peak Brewpub in Winter Park.

Peak Brewpub

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Mt. Bierstadt

19 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Georgetown, Guanella Pass, Mt. Bierstadt, Silver Plume, Silver Valley B&B

silver valleyBrit and Ellie drove up with me Saturday evening to Silver Plume.  We spent the night in the A-Basin Room of this modest B&B, the Silver Valley Bed & Breakfast.  Surprisingly nice place on Clear Creek, a few miles past Georgetown.  Above is a photo of their backyard, from a wooden porch swing.

creek crossing

The first mile of  our 3.5 mile climb included this creek crossing.  Brit demonstrates here how not to cross the fast flowing snow melt.  She said her feet were numb the rest of the hike.

alpine seating

We took our time hiking up, stopping here about half way, to smell the alpine flowers and eat some grapes.

sisters

We summit the peak in about 3 hours.  Ellie’s first 14er at age 14.  Pretty special.  That’s Grays and Torreys to the right of Brit.

Brit yoga

What is it with girls and yoga poses?  Pretty funny, after our deliberate pace up to the ridge, Ellie nearly sprinted up the final pile of rocks to the peak.

Ellie yoga

I’m not sure which view I like most from Mt. Bierstadt, east or west.  It’s an awesome view of Mt. Evans to the east.  Actually, you can continue on across a knife-edge ridge to Mt. Evans.  I’d like to do that some day.

Bierstadt photo

You can see Mt Evans in the upper left of this photo above.  There are some lakes below, that add to the view.

 

fathers day

The western views contain the most snowcapped peaks.  Brit and Ellie enjoyed sliding down a long snowpack on our descent.  I was impressed by their bravery, they simply thought it was fun.  The link takes you to the video on YouTube.  Overall, I had an awesome Father’s Day.  Got my long run in on Saturday.  Even installed a garbage disposal without having to make additional trips to Lowes.  Great weekend.

 

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I Just Want to Run

16 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

father's day, Mt. Bierstadt

race photo mile 2c

All I want to do for Father’s Day is go for a nice long run.  Doubt though my new InSinkErator garbage disposal will install itself in the kitchen sink.  And Ellie wants me to take her camping.  Why is Father’s Day rarely about Dad?  This photo is two miles into the 2016 Bolder Boulder – Memorial Day where I had an hour in the morning to myself to run a storied 10K.  I recall having to return quickly from the race to grill burgers for Brit’s band, who was performing in the neighborhood.  How much you want to bet, I’ll grill dinner for Father’s Day too?

Bierstadt

I think my plan will be this.  Install the garbage disposal Saturday morning.  Celebrate that victory with a run in the afternoon.  Then travel up to a B&B in Silver Plume for the evening to position us for an early morning climb up Mt. Bierstadt.  I tried to reserve camping spots but they are either taken or not yet open.  I could risk camping at first-come, first served camping spots, but if I’ve learned anything as a father, you don’t take such risks with kids.  So the B&B is booked for a sure thing.

This entire hike is above tree line from the trail head.  It’s 3 miles up to the peak, with the first mile through a wet marsh.  Should be frozen in the morning.  The next two miles are steep.  This will be Ellie’s first 14er.  Brit is going too.  Wish us luck.

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