Into the Woods

We awoke in the morning with the sun rising colorfully below a blanket of clouds, and it was overcast but clear all day on Saturday. Early, the sun shone briefly onto pointed Homestake Peak, high above the hut. The hike to the Continental Divide Hut, located deep in the forest, was relatively straight forward. The Sunday hike out was a short mile through the evergreens under bright sunshine.

A Long Day in the Snow

We knew before we began Friday would be a long and difficult snowshoe from Uncle Bud’s to the 10th Mountain Hut. Beyond Uncle Bud’s Hut we worked to find the way through the deep powder. Under clear blue skies we navigated along the route of the combined Colorado and Continental Divide trails looking for the widely space metal, blue diamonds that had been nailed to trees. We stopped to admire the distant views from a ridge and then descended steeply, stumbling through the wonderful powder down into Porcupine Gulch. We all enjoyed the slide down. We followed blue diamonds down into Longs Gulch, and after lunch left the Colorado Trail following diamonds towards the 10th Mountain Hut.

We climbed over two more ridges before descending to the North Fork of West Tennessee Creek. At approximately 3:00 PM, we crossed the wide, willow-filled floodplain, and lost the trail. After searching unsuccessfully along the edge of the floodplain for the trail, we plotted the northeasterly course towards the hut and began to climb through the forest. Fallen timber slowed us as we climbed, and before we reached timberline, it grew dark. In the first steep clearing we reached, we found a blue diamond but could find no more. Using GPS and Ryan’s map reading, we plotted a course, and Dave navigated uncannily to a large meadow where we finally saw the hut at approximate 6:00 pm. There were lights on in the hut so we spotted it easily. It was a fine adventure and everyone in the group performed well. We turned off our headlamps and approached the hut across the snowy meadow in the moonlight.

Thanksgiving Hut Trip

On Thanksgiving Day, ten of us set off from Turquoise Lake, just outside Leadville, on Ryan Ross’s annual hut trip. We would spend one night each at Uncle Bud’s Hut, the 10th Mountain Hut and the Continental Divide Hut. The first day was an easy hike in the sunshine to Uncle Bud’s Hut where we enjoyed the bright, clear views to Mount Massive, Mount Elbert, Garner Mountain, and the Arkansas Valley. That evening we enjoyed a full Thanksgiving dinner with the turkey again provided by Gaye.

Cathedral Spires

Yesterday, I climbed to the top of Cathedral Spires above the Platte River in the foothills east of the Lost Creek area with a CMC group. The climb started with a short but very steep hike to the saddle below the spires. From there, we scrambled to the top, over and under boulders and through tight places. From the top there were views to Mount Evans and Pikes Peak and to the closer granite domes and spires.

Mount Evans

It snowed a great deal this week, and yesterday, Buddy and I snow shoed up the Mount Evans road that runs to the top of the 14,240 foot mountain. The road is closed to vehicles for the winter. High on the road the snow was mostly melted, and the wind had blown the snow off some of the alpine meadows. We climbed to above the tree line where the ancient Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pines are located.

Flat Top Mountain

Yesterday, I was the substitute leader for a hike up Flat Top Mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The day was bright with a brilliant blue sky. High on the mountain there was a great deal of snow. We achieved the viewpoints that were our destinations. We could see down to Emerald Lake far below on the south side. Majestic Longs Peak dominated the scenery throughout the hike.

Forest Lakes

Today, Buddy and I hiked to Forest Lakes in the James Peak Wilderness. We had skied on this trail last winter. It is very different in September. A cold front is coming in and it grew increasingly overcast as we hiked.