Trip Report: Mt. Princeton

Date: July 12, 2015

The snow has finally melted in the high country- it's time for some 14ers!! This is a late start for us this summer, but June was a super busy month for us. The previous day, we hiked up/ran down Mt. Massive with a few friends, so our legs were a bit pounded from 7 miles of downhill running.

The drive up to the Mt. Princeton trailhead was much scarier than I expected- it is a very narrow 1 lane road, with a sheer drop on one side. The road is in pretty rough shape- I was a little worried that my 4Runner would bottom out on a few sections.

We parked slightly lower than the actual parking lot because we were sick of driving. The first part of the hike is to continue up past the parking lot on this 4WD road. The views are pretty, but it's still about a mile of road hiking.

The actual trail that heads up the mountain comes up on your right and is easy to miss. There are a few steps that come down from the side of the road- and that's the trail. Luckily someone was coming down as we were at that point so we didn't miss it!

The trail goes up for a bit on a dirt path through the meadow. Shortly thereafter, the boulder hopping begins, and continues all the way up the summit! The boulder hopping was all quite easy, but if you aren't feeling very balanced, it could be a challenge.

The only other tricky thing about getting to the summit is that the trail you are on for the first part of the hike doesn't actually head to the summit- it goes to a mine. You have to find a trail that heads up a switch back part on your left. I would tell you the elevation and mileage, but my Garmin Fenix2 has decided to completely die :( That part of the trail goes up fairly quickly, where you get to the first ridge line with amazing views

Overall, Princeton was harder than I expected it to be. It may have been the beating my legs took the day before, but I felt like we really earned the summit of Princeton- there were a lot of times I was using my hands to make it up. It was fun!!

There was only one small patch of snow left on the mountain, and obviously, Cody found it! Without this patch of snow, there was no other water on the trail for dogs. I actually had Cody drink from my hydration pack twice- on most other 14ers she can usually find water. So- bring lots of water for this one- it was hot!

This was Cody's 26th 14er, and as usual, she killed it!

Despite the fact that the route was very bouldery/rocky, we still did our best to run down as best we could!

Our overall time was probably about 4 hours, but we don't have any idea because we actually ran watchless (probably like the first time, ever)!

If you are prone to falling, I would recommend trekking poles on this route. Also be sure to have your stickiest/most stable shoes- lots of lose rock and gravel. 

Trip Report: Mt. Missouri

Missouri…misery….sometimes 14ers are hard!

September 28th, 2014

First with the fun stuff. We had an amazing camping spot outside of Leadville, and had a wonderful campfire the night before. Also- Cody loves our new truck!

The last time we attempted this peak was last year, when we got ambitious and wanted to hit 3 peaks in one day- Belford-Oxford-Missouri. However, due to our lack of route finding skills and ability to wake up early, it didn't pan out and Missouri was ditched. At the beginning of our hike, it seemed like Missouri might again allude us. As we flew down Winfield road to the trailhead in the 4runner, the skies above got darker and more foreboding- which rarely happens at 9:00am! However, as we pulled into the Missouri Gulch parking lot, it still wasn't raining, and none of the clouds had that 'thundery' look, so we decided to continue onwards and upwards- saying aloud to each other that it was OK to bail.

The beginning of this hike was familiar, going up a nice switchback alongside a creek/gulch for the first few miles. There were only a few junctures- the first turn at the 'Elkhead Pass' sign to go right (going left leads to Belford/Oxford) -- NOTE- this sign does NOT say Missouri on it -- then a second right hand turn that does say Missouri (to the left is Elkhead pass). So that's 2 rights. We didn't screw that up- yeah us!

As we hit treeline, we hunkered down on some rocks for a bit to watch the skies, and decide if it was worth continuing on. There were a few rain/hail/snow droplets coming out of the clouds, but nothing too terrible, and there was still no sign of thunder or lightning. After watching the skies get dark, then clear up within minutes a few times over, we decided to continue on.

Observing Ryan, observing the skies

Clouds forming and clearing above our heads

I hadn't read the guide book prior to this hike, so I didn't really know what to expect. I remembered reading a while back that this one was trickier than it seemed- with the words 'exposed ridge line' possibly bouncing around in my head….well, good thing the weather was great?! er…

See- the weather was nice for a bit!

After climbing for a while, and getting all the way up to 13,700 feet, it seemed like the peak was just within reach. We then climbed up and over a ridge to get on the other side of the mountain and WHAM- the wind hit us like a ton of bricks. It felt like a friggin' hurricane just blasted into us. OK, no big deal, right? The peak has gotta be like 200 feet away, and maybe a tenth of a mile. Friggin' lying GPS watches and guidebooks. It was all wrong!

Ha- this is when we thought the summit was just right there!

Looking back on the exposed ridge line

As I now look at the internet from the safety and comfort of my home, I see that this saddle point is actually 3/4 of a MILE from the summit! That is a long, long ways, when the wind is ripping at 50mph, you are at 13,700 feet, and there are sheer cliff faces 3 feet to your left, and 2 feet to your right. This was not a very fun moment in time for me (in case I hadn't mentioned it recently, I am actually afraid of heights. As I type, my palms are sweating just remembering this experience).

We began scrambling across this very exposed ridge line as the skies grew darker by the second. Holy shit this was a bad idea!! But man- the peak, it is just.right.there!! There was one more reeeeeaaallly sketchy part, where the trail no longer exists, and you have to careful traverse across some very loose gravel, with a 1,000 foot slope just one slip away. Not deadly- but would probably result in at least 1 broken bone. Oh- and 1 of our group- the one with 4 paws and a low center of gravity- unfazed by the entire thing. She thought the 'breeze' was 'refreshing'.

We finally reached the summit. I just wanted to sit and hide from the wind, but we had to get down before the wind and weather got any worse. But at least we got a few pictures!

Who's scared? Not me!

Clouds kissing the tops of mountains

I would've given anything to have her low center of gravity!

As we skittered across the ridge line once again, there was one more giant gust of wind that caused both Ryan and I to drop to all 4s. I was at a particularly precarious spot and ended up crawling the 10 remaining feet until I could hide from the wind behind a big rock. Ugh.

Once off the ridge line we whooped with relief, ate and drank again (neither of us had been able to even sip water for that last hour or so), and laughed about how scary that was. We then proceeded to run FAST down the rest of the mountain!! The trail is almost entirely dirt and non-technical, especially when compared to Mt. of the Holy Cross!

The end of the hike was so fast and rewarding- and we never even got that wet! Whew- We Won, Missouri!

Garmin Data- Note- for some strange reason, my Garmin Data is wildly inaccurate. It was also very off on the hike up- at one point Ryan and my Garmin were almost a half mile off! This hike ended up being almost as long as Holy Cross, but we finished an hour faster. There was 1,000 feet less climbing, making it more runnable, as well as much 'easier' terrain (aside from that last section of exposure, nothing was overly technical).

Trip Report: Mt. of the Holy Cross

Sometimes you just get lucky, and this weekend we had 2 lucky days in a row.
There are some well known 'rules' to climbing 14ers- one of which is to start EARLY. Afternoon thunderstorms and just general crappy weather happens very frequently in the afternoon (typically after 12), and the risks of being above tree line when the weather turns are generally too high- there's just no where to go. However, we decided to ignore those rules.

September 27, 2014

On Friday night, Ryan had tickets to go see a concert in downtown Denver (Ty Segall). We had decided earlier in the week to head to the mountains afterwards, which meant we left the house at 11:45pm. The main impetus for heading west, besides the call of the mountains, was our newly purchased Forerunner and Scamp trailer!! We couldn't wait to spend a weekend in the mountains with our new adventure-mobiles.

After successfully pulling the Scamp for the first time, including up and over Vail pass, we turned down Tigiwon Road, outside of Minturn. We found a spot to park the scamp within a mile of the highway, but it took another hour for us to get the trailer into position, which included the two of us lifting and moving our 2,000lb trailer uphill. Our muscular endurance runner's physique's obviously translates to amazing upper body strength…or not…so yeah-  we went to bed at 3am. No more moving that trailer without the truck!

Waking up comfortable and warm inside the Scamp was amazing- however this also meant we slept in very late, and didn't end up starting our hike until 10:00 am. Despite sleeping in, our bodies still took a while to warm up- which meant lots of nice hiking at the beginning of our climb.

Mt. of the Holy Cross is different than almost every other 14er we've done because the start of the hike involves a climb of 1,200 feet that then drops back down 1,200 feet, only to begin climbing again for 4,000 feet to the summit. This means that on the way back, you have an extra 1,200 foot climb, rather than the typical monster descent to the car.

As we were hiking up and over the first pass, we experienced some amazing views of Fall colors in Colorado

At the top of the first climb, we also got our first views of the mountains we were headed to!

There's Mt of the Holy Cross!

Cody says- Bring it!

After descending 1200 feet back down to 10,400 feet elevation, we had another big slog up to 14,000 feet. This late in the season the creek crossings weren't a big deal. The trail was extremely easy to follow up until the very last climb. We ended up just clambering the last 200-300 feet up whatever rocks we found- maybe there was an official trail, but it was no longer obvious.

The views at the top were amazing- as always!!

After enjoying the views on the summit we began the descent. Typically we can just bomb down the mountain, running as hard as we feel like- but this trail is a bit more technical than others. There weren't any spots that required too much use of our hands, but plenty of care had to be taken to not twist any ankles, or slip off rocks. For that reason, it took a lot longer to get down than normal. One of us also decided to lay down and enjoy the view:

On the final climb back up those last 1,200 feet, Ryan decided to run the whole section. Show off! I took my time, and enjoyed some wonderful light on the aspens.

The final 1,200 feet/1 mile back to the car was finally runnable and all 3 of us charged down, enjoying the feeling of running down a mountain. Man it makes me excited for ski season!!  Overall this was a very fun, very challenging run/hike. We completed the 11.76 miles in 4:57, logging 5,300 feet of total elevation gain.

Advice:
- Most people take 2 days to do this hike, and I can see why- the distance, elevation and technical aspects of this route make it slower than other 14ers.
- There were more big and loose rocks on this hike than other 14ers, making it harder to run down, so sturdier shoes are smart.
- We put Cody's boots on relatively early, since it was pretty rocky- make sure you look out for your dog's paws too!
- Although the first half was shaded, it seemed like we were out of the trees for a while. Cody needed more water on this 14er than any others we've done this summer, despite the relatively mild temperatures.
- Don't do what we did and start at 10:00- we just got lucky on the weather this time!

Garmin Data: