Alpine Tunnel

12 Saturday Jul 2014

Tags

CDT, Colorado Trail, continental divide, CT, Hancock Trailhead, high school reunion

Our final morning begins with a short hike, couple of miles maybe, back to the trailhead and La Plata’s truck. We lighten up our packs since we won’t need tents or sleeping bags for today’s hike. We then set out on our first northbound direction toward the Alpine Tunnel. This is what remains of an old rail line that supplied miners back in the day. The trail itself actually follows the old tracks, although only a few timbers remain.

There is a surprising amount of snow on the trail. Probably because the trail appears to be on the east side of a hill. And we are just under treeline as you can see in this photo. Each of us brought along our trekking poles in case we need them, which we do later. Initially though this trail, following an old railroad grade, is fairly pedestrian. Discounting the extreme altitude.

We also brought along head lamps thinking we would need them to walk through the tunnel. We were wrong. That’s the east portal of the tunnel behind us. Nowhere are there any signs or clues that the tunnel has been caved in for years. Maybe the west side is open but we don’t go there. Instead we hike up over the ridge to Tunnel Lake. This is where the trail becomes challenging. Snowfields are quite large. One forces us to bushwhack across a boulder field which is arguably more dangerous, albeit quicker to navigate.

Mike and I turn around at this lake while La Plata sprints a few minutes further to capture the pass as part of his CDT quest. Maybe Mike is trying to get to DIA early for his flight but he leads the return at such a torrid pace I am unable to keep up. He must have gotten in shape on this trip.

And seriously, what a week. Every day was simply amazing but at the same time, the week was totally exhausting. We are all ready to return home to our families, while talking about our next hike. La Plata wants to train us with some snow and ice skills. Mike wants to get his three boys up here. I want a shower. We clean up again at the Mount Princeton Hot Springs which is located on the drive off this mountain. Three hours later I drop off Mike at DIA. There most definitely will be a next time.

Cottonwood Pass

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CDT, Collegiates West Loop, Colorado Trail, CT, high school reunion

The Cottonwood Pass segment of trail had me more excited than any other during our planning phase because it begins at over 12,000 feet and stays there. It snakes back and forth between peaks from the east to west to east sides of the Continental Divide. Of course, with this season’s deep snow pack, it’s questionable how much of the trail will be passable. Almost immediately, we find ourselves bushwhacking off trail around glacial snow fields.

We plow over the easier snow fields, as Mike demonstrates here. It’s early morning so we don’t post-hole into soft snow. We do have to dig our boots into the snow pack though to gain our footing. This is a slow process. Fortunately there aren’t too many of these snow fields to navigate. It’s cloudy with strong winds. We suspect a storm is moving in so we keep a strong pace. Atop the first big hill we find a man-made wind break and tuck in behind the rocks for a spell. You find these rock walls on top of peaks occasionally.

We turn around after an hour or so once the trail becomes too buried under snow. We rush back at an even faster clip to beat the storm. Not that it’s raining or lightening, but because the wind is brutal – easily a sustained 25 mph. It’s almost comical when we pass another hiker, seemingly from some Monty Python skit, with a net chasing alpine butterflies. Seriously. Our hike south of Cottonwood Pass was short by our standards, but presented us with some spectacular views. I intend to return to this trailhead someday. We’re not done though. We move on to our next trail – Hancock Lake.

For this destination, we pass through BV again on our way south. This might actually have been the day we lunch at K’s Diner. I think I said it was yesterday in my previous blog post. The days are starting to run together in my memory. Next time I’ll take notes. I generally use my photos for a digital record. Unfortunately I didn’t take as many pics these days. I did get some of Mike’s pics this week though after he shared them on dropbox.

We scout a decent camping site along the trail up to Hancock Lake and snag it by dropping off our packs. The lake and Hancock Pass are not that far up the trail. Mike stops at the lake while I follow La Plata to the base of the pass. He’s running and I finally give up to rest at the bottom. La Plata is trying to hit a good point, such as the top of the pass, because he will return later from the south to hike there again from Monarch Pass. This is part of his goal to complete the entire Continental Divide Trail in sections.

This is our last night camping. La Plata builds his most admirable flame of the week. This site isn’t as devoid of dry wood as most. We recount our experiences from the week. Climbing a peak. Water rustling. Skinny dipping. Post-holing in snow. La Plata and I are so incredulous of Mike’s determination to tough out this altitude. We consider our favorite gear. I have several; my hiking boots, my puffy jacket, my sleeping pad and my water purifier. All winners. At 11,000 feet, the temperature cools down dramatically with the dropping sun so we retire to our tents with the coming darkness. Tomorrow will be our last hike, to the Alpine Tunnel.

Tincup Pass

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Asian Palate, Buena Vista, BV, CDT, Collegiates West Loop, Colorado Trail, CT, Deerhammer Distillery, high school reunion, Mirror Lake, Tin Cup

We sleep in to almost 5:40 this morning. Today is a recovery day. We breakfast again at the Roosters Crow Cafe because it was that good the first time. I keep it light and only order one plate this time around.

First stop after breakfast is the Mount Princeton Hot Springs near Nathrop – a few minutes south of BV. This hotel and spa is located along Chalk Creek and sits only two miles east of the eastern loop of the Colorado Trail. Once there we acquire day passes to the spa. First order of business is a shower and shave. This spa is a little oasis in the wild. We receive big fluffy towels and robes, razors and combs, and libations. After we clean up, we spend the morning lounging in multiple hot springs of various temperatures and drinking Bloody Marys. The bartender runs them through a juicer which we don’t exactly approve of, but drink willingly anyway. Mike and I schedule treatments for mid afternoon while La Plata does laundry.

After a late lunch we drive back over Cottonwood Pass, leaving my car at the trailhead on top and take La Plata’s four wheel drive truck down into Tin Cup. We camp along Mirror Lake for a continuation of our epic adventure. The first photo above is of our early morning rise with the trail off to the left of the lake and Tincup Pass in the background. This photo is at the top of the pass, but we’re not yet done climbing.

We could stop here but instead determine to mount our first peak of the trip. It’s unnamed but rises north of the pass another 1100 feet. The jaunt to the pass itself was about three miles and took us only an hour bearing lighter packs. The climb up this unnamed peak is less than a mile but takes nearly another hour due to a steep slope.

Mike leads us to the top and the views are impressive. This is the Continental Divide and we can see both sides. Crested Butte fifty miles to the west. Aspen’s Maroon Belles to the north. God’s country everywhere. At over 12,000 feet, possibly heaven. The descent is tough on the quads and knees but quick. I leverage my trekking poles for stability. We reach Mirror Lake in another hour and this completes our shortest day to date. We head back over Cottonwood Pass Road for lunch at K’s Burger joint in BV. We run some errands and actually I forget what all we did for the afternoon.

Soon enough, we find ourselves sitting at the bar in the Deerhammer Distillery on Main Street – which is also Cottonwood Pass Road. Lenny serves us their products paired with stories. We learn that whiskey begins as beer mash, but is then distilled. We first drink Whitewater Whiskey which is, well, white. Or clear to be more exact. There is no color because it spends very little time aging in an oak cask. We follow this up with a more traditional oak-aged whiskey. A single malt named Down Time. Our final tasting is of a gin distilled over very unique botanicals. With this knowledge of their stock, we order more Bloody Marys fueled with Deerhammer Gin.

After happy hour, we cross the street to dine at the Asian Palate. La Plata and I have been here before. The three of us sit at the sushi bar to interact with the chef. He relates to us how the finer dining scene in the Arkansas River Valley has pushed north from Salida into BV and might one day reach Leadville. He’s a Vail transplant. We eat our fill while mapping out a strategy for backpacking the next two days. Our plan is for more day hikes like today. The benefit being we are able to leave heavier gear like our tents and sleeping bags in the car. Our packs will easily weigh less than half their original weight, and in fact do. Before dusk, we ride back up Cottonwood Pass Road and find a nice camp spot at a trailhead to an older CDT trail route. We’re learning our way around the Collegiates. Tomorrow, we plan to begin from Cottonwood Pass and hike south as far as the snow allows.

Hope Pass

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

America's Biggest Loser, Buena Vista, BV, CDT, Collegiates West Loop, Colorado Trail, continental divide, CT, high school reunion, Hope Pass, Mike O'Neill, Patagonia, Punky's Diner, Roosters Crow, RRHS, Salomon, Twin Lakes, wieght loss training

Together with two friends, Mike and Rob whom I have known for 38 years, I set out last weekend to hike the Collegiates Western Loop of the Colorado Trail, where it follows the Continental Divide Trail west of Buena Vista. We met up in BV for BBQ at Punky’s Diner. Very tasty. Afterward we camped off Cottonwood Road since we were parking one of the cars here in the middle of our planned route. In the morning we ate breakfast at the Roosters Crow Cafe and began our southbound trek just north of BV at Twin Lakes.

The Twin Lakes are perched at 9200 feet off Hwy 24 and 82. We parked at the trailhead on the east side of the lakes and hiked the East Collegiate Loop CT well over a mile before reaching the intersection with the CDT and West Collegiate Loop. This newly designated trail runs for about three miles relatively flat and then rises through Little Willis Gulch over the next four miles to 12,540 feet, peaking at Hope Pass between Mt. Hope and Quail Mountain. I am pictured here with Rob aside the Twin Lakes with Colorado’s highest peak, Mount Elbert, in the background.

Carrying a 35 pound backpack, the 16% grade up to Hope Pass was exhausting. Despite the cool mountain morning air, I sweat profusely. I rethink my decision to not whack off my hair before this excursion. My three months of preparing for this effort consisted mostly of recovering from my surgery in early April. Walking, then running, and pelvic floor exercises. Man, I should have performed more leg weights and run some hills. My travails are nothing though compared to Mikes’.

Mike weighed 280 pounds when he committed to join us in early April. He lost a little over 40 pounds in his three months of training. Essentially, Mike was carting two additional backpacks in body weight than me up this hill. I wasn’t sure if this hike would be possible for Mike. Boy was I wrong. America’s Biggest Loser could not have pulled off what Mike accomplished. Averaging one mile per hour, Mike completed 12 miles in 12 hours at two miles of altitude. His FitBit reported his progress in terms of stair steps but otherwise lost its ability to accurately record the extreme results.

The trail over Hope Pass was buried under impassable snow. Rob lead us in a path that bushwhacked around the snow field. The Colorado Facebook page warned hikers that the Western Loop was still impassable due to such snow fields. With Rob, trail name La Plata, we were undeterred and ultimately reached the summit.

This was Mike’s first such summit, but only the first of many passes and saddles that lie before us. Despite our initial qualms, La Plata and I put our doubts aside about Mike’s ability to hike this trail with the unrelenting demonstration of will power required to mount this pass. For Mike, the views reinforced his commitment and confidence to continue forward.

We were then presented with a steeply dropping trail on the south side of the pass, three miles through switchbacks along Sheep Gulch – down into Clear Creek which lays between 9800 and 10,000 feet. It’s beyond me how runners of the Leadville 100 run over this pass in both directions as part of that storied ultra. The four mile ascent, nine miles total for the day, left us with very little strength for the descent. Our trekking poles kept us steady despite fatigued knees and burning thighs. Eventually, after a grueling plummet down Sheep Gulch, we reached a restful spot to make camp.

We took stock of our accomplished day as we setup our tents and replenished our water supplies. Mike and I were both quite pleased with some of our recent purchases – namely our Patagonia puff jackets and Salomon hiker boots. Mike was mixed on his collapsible trekking poles – they can be an irritating burden at times. And he didn’t care for the Epic protein bars although I absolutely loved them. 200 calories of tasty meat. Yum. Ending the day exhausted, there would be no campfire. I’m not sure we even made it to campers midnight – 9pm. We retired early and prepared for day two which would include another 12,000 foot pass above Lake Ann.

Collegiates West Loop

21 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AT, Buena Vista, BV, CDT, Clear Creek, Collegiates, Collegiates West Loop, Colorado Divide Trail, Colorado Trail, Coney Island, CT, DIA, high school reunion, Hope Pass, La Plata, Mike O'Neill, PCT, Robert Graham

I leave for the airport in another hour or two. I will pick Mike up this morning from under the Southwest Air Arrivals sign at DIA. His Southwest Flight 4316 from Austin arrives at 10:15am and he should be standing there by 11am.

I’ll bring along a photo album of my 500 mile Colorado Trail hike with Rob from three summers prior for Mike to peruse on the drive to Buena Vista. We’ll take Hwy 285 which I find more scenic than I-70. The two routes are equidistant. I plan to begin telling tales of the danger and pain that Mike can expect over the next week of backpacking. For instance, I’ll inform him, “Trailheads invariably reside along creek beds so that, regardless of direction, you begin hiking uphill. Your calves go numb after a half hour and never really thaw out the rest of the day. Whatever remains of your burning thighs is completely shredded on the subsequent thirty minute downhill. All you will think about for the next eleven hours is dinner to refuel your unsustainable calorie burn.” Mike will no doubt attempt to change the subject but I’ll maintain this dialog the entire three hour drive to BV. I’ll watch for the color to drain from his face when he spots the massive 14ers that will dominate our windshield coming down out of the canyon into BV. I’ll tell him these are the foothills to where we’ll be backpacking on the Continental Divide Trail further west. If Mike begins to feign altitude sickness, I’ll change the topic to dinner. “Want to do Sushi tonight? There’s a place on East Main Street called Asian Palate. They pour a wicked Saketini.”

I would of course only treat a good friend so poorly. I met Mike in 1976. Both our families recently relocated to Texas for jobs. Mine from Iowa. Mike’s dad worked for IBM and they moved down from Poughkeepsie. Nearly everyone’s parents worked for IBM in our high school as IBM was turning off the lights in their New York factories and joining the sunbelt, tech crowd in Austin. We first met on the football team. Then basketball. Then track. We both realized we weren’t big enough for Texas football and joined the cross country team our sophomore year. Running turned out to be our sport as we lead our team to State our senior year. Making state in Texas is like making global in smaller states.

Mike went on to UT but later joined me at Texas State to run Cross Country for a year. I believe he double-majored in either accounting or finance and information systems. Mike, Rob and I got into triathlons after college for maybe a year or two and trained together. Mike soon married, had kids and moved to Atlanta for a job. We went twenty years without seeing each other until my firm acquired an Atlanta cyber security company and I began to travel there.

We hook up with Rob (trail name La Plata until he completes the CDT) in BV. La Plata has solo through-hiked both the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and the Appalachian Trail (AT). He section-hiked the Colorado Trail (CT) with me over a six month period in 2011. This new 80 mile section of the CT that we intend to backpack coincides with the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) along the western side of the Collegiates, so La Plata is killing two birds with one stone. He’ll hike the section south of Monarch Pass earlier today while Mike and I are driving.

Rob moved to Texas his junior year, meeting Mike and me during our sophomore year – on the cross country team. Both of Rob’s parents were IBMers. Ironically, I’m the only one of us three to work for IBM now. Perhaps not so ironic. La Plata was an intense hiker even back then. We nick-named him Trail Master during one of our storied camping trips to Pedernales Falls. La Plata obtained his EE from UT and worked a few years for Lockheed before going back for a masters in education in physical fitness. He married, moved around a bit – Seattle, then Portland – before settling in Colorado. We’ve been hiking together since. We always would say, “We need Mike to join us.”

Mike and I will find La Plata somewhere in BV. We’ll shuffle his car to the trailhead atop Cottonwood Pass and descend back down to BV for dinner. Mike and I will have lunched earlier on the road trip in Baily at Coney Island. La Plata has a stealth camp setup near the Arkansas River where we plan to ensconce for the night. Sunday, we’ll head for the Twin Lakes trailhead to launch an epic backpacking excursion.

Collegiates & Gear

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

backpacking, Big Agnes, Collegiates, Collegiates West Loop, Gregory Baltoro, high school reunion, hiking, jetboil, Patagonia, Salomon, SteriPEN

I begin my 80 mile backpacking adventure along the Collegiates West Loop of the Colorado Trail next weekend. My two best friends from high school planned this reunion of sorts back in April when they thought I was dying from cancer and they might never see me again. Suckers. Whatever it takes man, I’ll play the C card if that’s what it takes to get these boys back in the saddle. The two months of planning though have been brutal. We’ve been emailing back and forth almost daily with anticipation. And praying the snow pack melts sufficiently above 11,000 feet to keep this hike from becoming a snowshoe event. Other than following snow conditions, much of our correspondence has been about gear. Karen and the girls gave me this waterproof, oilskin fedora this morning for Father’s Day. It completes my packing list.

I’ll be packing a ton of new gear. I bought this JetBoil gas burner for a mountain relay event last year that got rained out from the Great September Flood. Everything stores inside the canister for a tight fit. I’m guessing I’ll only need one fuel canister for the trip but I’ll pack an extra in the car. We will park a car half way on Cottonwood Pass to reload supplies.

Yet another cool gadget that I have yet to use is this Black Diamond Voyager Lantern. It was a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law and I’ve yet to go camping since he gave it to me. I’ll use a headlamp too of course because that works so well when setting up a tent at night. But this will work well to light up my tent when getting dressed before the sun rises.

Speaking of tents, this is my trusty one-man, Seedhouse SL1 tent from Big Agnes – an outdoor gear outfit from Steamboat. I used this tent for my Colorado Trail journey in 2011. It’s nice knowing I have some durable gear and that I don’t have to buy everything new for this trip. My sleeping bag also comes from Big Agnes.

My Gregory Baltoro 75 backpack also makes a return appearance from my first backpacking experience on the Colorado Trail. This is a massive pack. I could possibly get by with a smaller pack but I’m not that experienced at packing and don’t have ultra light gear. I’m experienced enough now though that I know how to pack this puppy. That link is to an REI video with tips for loading backpacks. Essentailly, keep heavy gear close to your spine. Consider loading your sleeping bag at the bottom. Put gear such as maps and other items you might need ready access to in a quick side pocket. I’m still trying to decide whether to load a 2 liter or 3 liter camel back water reservoir in my pack. Huge weight difference and I doubt I’ll ever drink 3 liters on the trail.

One item that will save space in my pack is my new Patagonia Nano Puff jacket. This is so light and compressed, relative to my 15 year old, bulky ski jacket. I might not need it during the day but the temperature can really drop at night. And I doubt we’ll escape rain. I also have a rain poncho to go over myself and pack that I got with my swag bag from the Durango Double Ultra last year. This jacket might have been my first purchase for the trip. I got it during REI’s annual sale at 30% off.

Another really exciting new piece of gear to my collection is this pair of Salomon Quest 4D GTX hiking boots. I’m excited because I’ve always only hiked in trail running shoes in the past. I’m hoping these relieve my feet and ankles of the expected fatigue after 12 hours on the trail. I like the freedom of running shoes. I absolutely love trail running. I don’t expect to be running though carrying a 35 pound backpack. My rationale for purchasing the boots was to be prepared for hiking across snow drifts. My experience hiking with Rob is that it’s doable without snowshoes but trekking poles are key. Crossing snow drifts is also much easier early in the day before the sun turns the snow into slush. Plus I typically let Rob lead so I can follow through his post-hole steps.

The puffie and boots are my two big purchases. Got meaningful discounts on both. Food is the last topic area. Might not qualify as gear to some but food is very important to me. I hate most sports/energy food. Porting real food though isn’t too wise backpacking. Not because of the weight so much as that it can attract bears. I began reading Bill Bryson’s Into the Woods last night and I’m suddenly fearful of bears. I discovered these EPIC natural food energy bars recently and they are awesome. Some guy in Austin, Texas makes them. You can order them online, I’ve yet to see them in stores. They offer turkey, beef and lamb along with bison and average a good 200 calories. It’s not easy replenishing calories while backpacking so high calorie foods are important. My girls liked these epic bars so much hiking last weekend that I had to order more for my trip.

I’m going high tech for water purification. Mike bought one of these too. Rob will have his water pump so we’re covered with multiple solutions if this gadget doesn’t live up to its hype. This only works well though for clear water, but I don’t expect to be wading through any murky streams at 12,000 feet. When you are hiking across the top of the Continental Divide, this early in the season with the snow melt flooding every gulch, it’s highly unlikely there will be sheep or cattle grazing above the water supply. I hope to report good results on this SteriPEN water purification tool. I suspect the way I will use it is to leverage a water bottle for collecting water. Use this UV light tool to purify the water. Then pour the water into my reservoir. Shouldn’t be too kludgy a process. I’ll report back on the success or failure of all my gear. I’m writing about it now because I’m organizing and packing this weekend. I don’t expect to be blogging from the trail but I might take notes on my iPhone’s Evergreen app to assist in recalling details.

The Gap

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Buena Vista, BV, Collegiates West Loop, Colorado Trail, continental divide, high school reunion, Hope Pass, Mt. Princeton Hot Springs

Ran for the second day in a row. I dressed in tights and a light jacket to withstand the blowing snow and 38°, but man it felt so good. I can feel that I’ve lost my strength. My speed is back at zero. But I also can sense that I could regain my fitness fairly quickly with enough discipline. Thirty days will not create too large of a gap to overcome before my next big event. Of course, my next big event is no longer the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day – I’ll be walking that with Ellie. My next race is now set for the fall – the Boulder Marathon. I took second in my age division last time around. The goal this year is to maintain pace with my buddy Chris Price and try to win my age group. This photo is of my last event two weeks before surgery – the Moab Half Marathon.

If I broaden my scope beyond simply running, my next big event is really an 80 mile hike along the Continental Divide on the Collegiates West Loop of the Colorado Trail. I’ll pick up Mike at DIA, Saturday morning June 21. He’ll fly out from his home in Atlanta. We’ll drive three hours directly to Buena Vista to hook up with Rob. This photo captures the three of us preparing for a 10K road race 35 years ago in high school. I know what you’re thinking. I haven’t aged much.

We plan to start from Twin Lakes and hike south toward Monarch Pass. This is where Mike and I gain our trail legs. The Twin Lakes Trailhead sits at 9200 feet off Hwy 24 and 82. The trail leads south/southwest and rises through Little Willis Gulch over the next six miles to 12,500 feet, peaking at Hope Pass (pictured here) – which is the highest point of the Leadville 100 trail run. This is an average 10% rise, which at altitude will have Mike and me breathing as hard as if we were running. I only mention me and Mike because Rob is a mountain goat. The trail then drops steeply, three miles through some switchbacks along Sheep Gulch down into Clear Creek which lays between 9800 and 10,000 feet. This 16% down slope should sufficiently shred all our knees. We’ll end our first day either here in Sheep Gulch or a few miles down along Clear Creek and set up camp.

We follow Clear Creek west along the Pack Trail for three miles and veer left (south) at the South Fork. We follow this course and reach Lake Ann after six additional miles. Assuming this is day two, we might rest here at 11,800 feet for lunch. We start up again heading south and rise up to a saddle at 12,600 feet after another mile. We quickly drop back down to 11,000 and bounce along a series of undulations between 11K and 11,200 feet before settling around 11,400 feet along the Timberline Trail. After eight and a half miles, we drop through Prospector Gulch to Texas Creek. This puts us back onto Pack Trail and we follow the creek for another four miles before crossing it. We could camp out somewhere within those four miles. After crossing Texas Creek, we rise up above treeline and continue for yet another four miles, veering onto the South Fork of Texas Creek until we reach Cottonwood Pass which sits at 12,200 feet. One of our cars will be parked here with a cooler of libations.

We’ll shuffle a car down to Monarch Pass, likely adjust our gear, and then eat a real dinner in BV. If we have time, we’ll also squeeze in a bath at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. The second forty miles of our backpacking trip will continue from Cottonwood Pass and end at Monarch Pass. The average elevation will hover at 12,000 feet. Despite it being the end of June, at this altitude there will be snow. The entire 80 mile hike will take either five or six days. We have enough time in our plan for contingencies. I agreed to this get together just after my surgery while still sporting a catheter tethered to my bladder. A boy needs goals. I had no ideal then if I’d be prepared but now that I’m running again I feel fully confident I can hang with these guys. Time to close the gap.