Blast from the past

Since I just got the new netbook, and figured out how to make my phone share out my internet access, I get to post and surf the net from where ever I really feel like it now. So, while sitting around feeding my caffeine addiction, I decided to start looking through some of my older pics from last year, and came across the ones from Humboldt Peak. Some are good enough to post, I guess. I'll have to upload them when I get home, because this connection isn't the best for that kind of thing, but I can at least write this thing while I sit here.

This one is from the trail to the campsite near the base of the Crestones, a short walk from the trailhead. I'm sure some of these are repeats of the ones my mom first posted back when Mike and I first went up and did the hike. There was a 1.5 mile hike from where we parked the truck to where we actually camped before heading up the mountain the next day.

Down the valley out towards how we came in:




Crestone:




Crestone covered with something sort of like half-melted hail falling:



The view up the valley towards Crestone, with the ridge over towards...I forget what, over to the saddle to Humboldt:




Crestone again, after the snow-ish hail quit falling and we were after pictures and water:




View back down the valley from South Colony Lakes:




Figured I'd just do a random post with an old hike in it. Just because I could, and because I wanted to see how well this would work out typing and everything else on the new setup. It works pretty well.

YAGP (Yet Another Gear Post)

Yes, apparently I have more stuff I need to list as 'gear' since I noticed I don't have it all in the other posts. That and the fact I've gotten new gear, it's a required update once in a while.

Tent:

Big Agnes Sunnyside 2 - This is my current tent (mine is also gray, not yellowy-orange.) It's heavy. After carrying it for 3 days last time, I was about tired of it. 6lbs (the 'shipped weight' on the box it came in was 7lbs) is heavy. I'm currently researching a different tent that's half the weight. The other issue was the rain. This tent is two parts - the tent body, and the rain fly. Great for keeping out the rain after its started, not so great while setting up. The top of the tent is mesh, so any rain that falls while setting it up will get inside the tent.

The two new tents I'm trying to decide are on the REI Ace SW 2 and the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2. I'm not sure that I want a single wall tent, need to talk to someone who knows more about it and has experience with them. Either of the tents are about half the weight of the Sunnyside 2, which would be a huge reduction overall.

Clothing:

The Mountain Hardware pants have to go back. Some of the seams came apart, so, sort of worthless. So, I found some REI pants I like a good bit (plus they were on sale during their annual sale.)

REI Sahara Convertable Pant - Comfy, though I've burned a hole in one of the zip off legs (well, two holes) while sitting around the camp fire. Whups.

Columbia River Runner Shirt - Very comfortable. Soft as can be, and light. I haven't worn it hiking yet (though I have another similar shirt that I have.) People act like I'm dressed up when I wear my hiking gear. Go figure.

Columbia Silver Ridge 2 Shirt - Just as comfortable as the River Runner shirt, though not as soft. It's a bit lighter, and I was quite pleased with it on the Colorado Trail segments 3 and 4.

Bridgedale Lightweight Endurance Trail Hiker Sock - Wow that's a long name. Great socks though, I cut down to wearing one pair on the 30 miles of trail over Memorial Day, not one blister, feet stayed nice and dry too.

Marmot Afterburner Fleece Jacket - Finally another one I could find at Trailspace. It's windproof and just as heavy of a fleece as my old one. I wanted it for the windproof goodness of the thing. Nothing was worse than getting toasty warm in the other, then getting frozen by the wind that blew straight through.

Other stuff:

I picked up some of the CamelBak Elixir Tablets before the trip out on Memorial Day. A bit expensive, but worth it for a boost and a change from plain water (though filtered water straight from snow melt is GREAT.) I'm just glad it doesn't leave any funky taste in the reservior after I finish them off. They taste pretty good (4 tablets in 100oz. doesn't taste watered down to me, like the one guy says.)

Exped Pillow Pump - Picked this up to be able to ditch the fleece's weight and bulk. That's not to say the fleece won't find its way back into my pack during cold weather, but, this thing is lighter and about 1/4 the size of the fleece.

Tarp - It's a good thing to have. Emergency shelter, extra warmth, rain gear, whatever. It's light and a good cook area under it for one person. 6 ft by 8 ft, any smaller and it'd be too small for what I got it for.

I think that's it for new gear. I can't think of anything else, currently anyways.

Chief Mountain

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, so I'll post about the hike I did with the BCC group a few week ends ago. We went up Chief Mountain on June 6, 2009. It was a fun hike. There's an 1100ft gain in 1.5 miles, but, unlike it sounds, it's a very easy hike.

We left for the hour long drive around 9:00 and got started on the hike around 10:15, crossing the two lane road and hiking up past a forest service road.







The hike started out with tall trees on either side of the trail, giving little to no view of anything. There were a few clearings, however, where previews of the upcoming views could be seen.



We then came to a small outcropping of rocks just off the trail with a great view out across the surrounding lower mountains.



Through all the trees, and up at the top, there were large drifts of snow, some 3 or 4 ft deep. Even though it was a warm day, the wind at the top made it a bit chilly to stand on the rocks at the summit.

We summited at noon, even with all my picture taking stops (I only took about 80 pictures, I was holding back!) Some arrived before us and some a little after, but we were all at the top within a few minutes of each other.



A short scramble up some rocks provided us with quite a reward for climbing this mountain - Mt Evans and Mt Beirstadt to the west, as well as Pike's Peak far off to the south.






Even up on the top of a mountain you see lots of things. This little chipmunk stole an apple core that had been dropped:



And a few flowers were around too:

CO Trail Segment 3 and 4

It's been almost a week now since I got back from the start of my planned two week trip. I started with something rather nasty that just finally started clearing up in the last two days. So with another 30 miles of the Colorado Trail done, I'll make a post.



We set out on Saturday morning for our 3 day weekend of hiking. It's the longest I've spent out before, and it was enjoyable for the most part (the being sick wasn't enjoyable, it made things a good bit harder.) The main part I didn't like on all of Segment 3 was the bikers. It seemed like every 10 minutes we were getting off the trail to let a group of 4 or 5 pass in one direction or the other.





Due to the weather, most of the days weren't worth taking pictures on. I still managed 245, but, some didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. The weather is also part of why I came home early. It rained/drizzled/sleeted for the better part of two days, and rained off and on at night.

We managed to pull off about 9 miles the first day, which was definitely more than I wanted to do, but wasn't too bad. We set up camp near a large rock, and gathered some firewood. This fire was pretty easy to get going and maintain. The wood wasn't too wet, dried quickly and burned nicely.





A while after we'd eaten dinner (which consisted of hot dogs, apple cider, and s'mores, carried up by Mike) by the fire it started to sprinkle again. We got our gear thrown in the tents and zipped them up, and got under the tarp just in time for the three or four minute downpour. Fortunately, the kept going through the rain, and we got to go back out and sit by it again, although the ground was a slight bit wet.

I turned in early that evening, around 8:00 or so. It was starting to get dark, but not quite there yet. This trip I'd decided to try my air pad instead of the one I had been carrying. I woke up a few times during the night, but not nearly as many times as usual on the other sleeping pad, so I'd say this one is a keeper for the rest of my trips.

We got out of camp about 9:30 the next morning, after a breakfast of eggs, cheese and pepperoni. Mike still claims he can't cook, but the eggs were good. We got off to a good start and got most of the way to segment 4 before noon. We ran into some people filling their water bottles at a stream and decided to fill up some for ourselves, and had some pleasant conversation with them.

We started Segment 4 about 11:300 that morning, and it seemed to be all up hill. Probably because it was all up hill the first day. The last 750 feet in gain was the worst for me. We finally worked it out that I could do 1/10th and take a 1.5 minute break. It's really hard to do any kind of work when your lungs are working at half capacity, at best. Add on top of that that it was sleeting and drizzling up through the trees, and there were a few flashes of lightening that got to about a 7 count before the thunder, it was quite miserable.






After we crested the ridge (at about 10,640 ft,) it was much easier. Except for walking through all the rain that had come down, and was still coming down a bit. Most of the time we were walking in a stream that followed the path through the forest. We came out of the forest and off the trail and joined back up to the old logging road we'd followed before. We didn't have to worry so much about the stream anymore, and the rain and lightening had stopped.

It was getting late, pushing on about 7:15 when we finally got camp started, after pulling out a 12 mile day. We put up the tarp and tents, and Mike took my folding bucket (new for this trip, worked great) down to the stream to collect water for dinner and breakfast, while I put the stakes in for the tents. We spent some time gathering firewood, which turned out to all be wet from the rain earlier, and I got a small fire going. It only lasted a couple hours, and didn't do enough to dry our clothes, but it was still a fire.

During the night, we heard the coyotes calling up and down the valley we were staying beside. We'd hear them at one end, then it'd echo the entire distance. We even heard them get a kill that night, though we never saw it the next day.



We broke camp and got out to a little earlier start, around 9:45 the next morning. That day I decided to try the Camelbak Elixir Tablets, and I've got to say they helped me a good bit. I'm disappointed I couldn't get my hands on the Camelbak Filter Adapter I was looking for for this trip. No one seems to stock it anymore, even though they claim they do (Permanent back order status.)



The last day of this trip flew past, it was almost no vertical elevation change (600 ft over 7 miles is almost nothing.) We ran into 4 other hikers that day. All of them had spent the night out in two different groups, both apparently lost, and hiking somewhere different than they thought they were, due to a broken compass. Two of them had seen our truck the day before, and one went with Mike to get it and bring it back for the rest of us.

We got to the end early, at about 2:00, only to find out the directions for leaving the truck were to the wrong spot. Luckily it only cost us about an hour of time to get to the truck.

All in all, it was a great trip. Tiring, but great. I hope to get my two weeks in sometime later this year, sooner rather than later.

Co Trail Segment 2

So Segment 2 has come and gone. Sort of. It's been two days now since we got back from finishing it, and I'm finally posting about it.







It was definitely a fun one, and much easier than the first. 11.5 miles start to finish, and 1981 ft in gain (compared to the 2338 ft of the first segment...trust me, 400 ft is noticeable) The hardest part was having zero water along the entire segment. You start at the South Platte River, and continue up through the burn zone of the Hammond fire from 1996.



We started hiking at about 10AM, a bit later than we'd hoped, but it was plenty of time. We made it in about 6.8 miles to our camp site, and we were there very early. It was a great site, however, with lots of wood in close range for a fire, and plenty of flat area for our tents and cook area.



That day was just as hazy as it looks - it seemed as if we were in a cloud the entire evening. It started to drizzle a bit, and we quickly set our tents up and then the tarp. After that we started gathering firewood and preparing for dinner.









I woke up during the night to the sound of light rain falling on my tent, it's definitely a different sound from anything in the city. I for one, am glad of that.

We started the day with a big breakfast of eggs (Mike carried them all the way up there and didn't crack a single one) bacon, and cheese. Even though he claims otherwise, Mike's quite the cook.



After breakfast, we broke camp and cleaned up our fire pit, we headed out on the trail again. It was almost 10AM when we headed off from camp to finish the last 5 miles of the trail.

The area is almost desolate - very little in the way of trees that survived the fire, but the scorched and burnt trunks and branches of the trees remain.






At the same time, there's life blooming back. Small things, Yuca, cactus, grasses, small wildflowers and bushes are spreading.










And that's the end of the trail! It was tiring, yet fun. Hopefully I'll be able to get down what works and doesn't for my two week trip..coming up in two weeks.

CO Trail Seg 2..the night before.

So the night before the hike is here, and speeding by. Tomorrow's forecast is..well, cool. 44 for a high, 33 for a low, in the general area we're heading. It'll be chilly, but not too bad. 60% chance of precipitation. Which means I had to chase all over to get a rain cover for my pack. I got some last minute food and am ready to head out at about 7:00 tomorrow morning.

With two hours of driving for leaving one vehicle at the end, and going back to the start, then getting the one vehicle back..and going back to get the other. If we could swing someone dropping us off at the start, it'd save about 45 minutes of drive time, but, that's how it goes.

Hopefully it's not too much rain. Wait, I'm supposed to laugh in the face of rain. HAHA!


Thought for the day:

Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.

CO Trail Segment 2

Time is fast approaching for my two week hike on the CO Trail, starting with Segment 3.

So, with that in mind, I'm going out this weekend with Mike and Nathan again to do Segment 2. That's the plan, anyways. We'll see how it turns out, as the forecast says rain and snow. I laugh in the face of rain and snow! HAHA! Well, ok, maybe I don't. I like to think I do, though.

I'll be heading out with all the gear I plan on taking on the two week hike. I set up my tent in the living room Sunday night, and it was easy as could be to do by myself. I'll be using my Big Agnes Sunnyside 2 tent. Depending on how it turns out closer to the time, I may use one of my 20 degree bags instead of the 0 degree.

Anyways, just plans in the works. Which means new pics most likely.

Eldorado Canyon Trail

Well, as it seems, the weather was against me. The forecast called for "Cloudy and 56" but it was actually "Mist, fog, clouds and 40" so I called it off.

I do have some pictures I'll post later on, however.


Said pics promised from before:

And it begins!

My first serious hike of the year has come! I'm going to be doing the Eldorado Canyon Trail tomorrow! I'm not doing the "out and back" just the straight through, however. It'll be my first solo hike, so it should be fun to see how it goes. I'll post a trip report on it tomorrow night or possibly Sunday, depending on how I feel, and how the pictures look.

Random pics, part something

Here's a few more pictures from my RMNP hike with Mike a month or so ago.


Hallett Peak from Dream Lake:



Part of Flattop Mountain near Hallett Peak:




A tree up by Emerald Lake, I'd have taken a picture of more of it, but someone was sitting under it, and I didn't want them in my picture: