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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

Punkys DinerTogether 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.

Mt ElbertThe 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.

scrambleCarrying 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’.

tree climbMike 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.

impassThe 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.

Hope Pass SummitThis 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.

descentWe 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.

Sheep Gulch THWe 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.

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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

oilskin hatI 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.

JetBoilI’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.

black diamond voyager lanternYet 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.

seedhousesl1tent-zmSpeaking 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.

Gregory Baltoro 75My 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.

Patagonia Puff JacketOne 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.

Salomon Quest 4D GTX Hiking BootAnother 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.

BisonBarThe 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.

SteriPENI’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.

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