Trip Report: Mt. Evans

Date: June 21st, 2013. Trailhead: Echo Lake

     Another weekend, another 14er! We were able to leave early-ish, and got on the trail by 8am on June 21^st. The weather was looking perfect, once again, and the three of us were in great spirits. Rather than make the trek easy, we started at one of the furthest trailheads, at Echo lake, knowing the route would be about 16 miles. We also didn’t learn our lesson from the last hike, and didn’t bring any trail guides with us in case we lost our route. Such Newbies!

Echo Lake

            Ryan, Jon, Cody and I did some run-hiking for the first 5 miles. Anytime we start above 10,000 feet, I’m happy to maintain a 10-11 min mile, since I still hadn’t adapted to altitude. The trail was gorgeous, taking us through some pine forests, and meadows with stunning lakes.

            At around the 5 mile point, we began the really big ascents. We followed the trail that switch-backed up the side of the mountain. As we stopped to catch our breath, we realized that a herd of big horn sheep were hanging out on the hillside, watching the silly humans try to ‘run’ up a mountain. Cody was amazing- she didn’t show any interest in the sheep (she must not have seen them!).

There really are sheep in this picture- they just blend in so well!

This is the trail. It was steep. Cody didn't even notice.

Chicago Lake

Looking down on Chicago lake from above

            We took a food break at the Summit Lake parking lot. We hadn’t seen a single other hiker from Echo lake to Summit lake, so it was interesting to pop out of the trail, into a parking lot filled with people and cars!

Summit Lake

Looking down on Summit Lake

            Finding the next part of the route was a little tricky, and we spent the rest of our time navigating over lots of rocks, trying to find the route. Here’s where having a route description or guide would’ve been helpful, because we started to summit something that was not Mount Evans. We finally got used to looking for cairns, and managed to keep making progress on the correct trail. Cody was a champ at the rocks- this time, we really had to climb up, and in a few spots, she needed a boost.

Cody- part dog, part mountain goat

Route finding

            After what seemed like hours, we eventually made it to the actual summit. Again, after seeing only a few other hikers for the last hour, we emerged at 14,000 feet into a huge parking lot, with REAL bathrooms, cars and motorcycles. The final 300 foot climb to the summit was like a Disneyland route, but I was happy it exists, because it allows people who aren’t as able-bodied to see the incredible summit of a 14,000 foot peak.

View from the top

Summit Dog!

The saddle trail over to Mt. Bierstadt

            After enjoying the views and the steady wind on the summit, we went over to see why everyone was hanging around this older building. Turns out, mountain goats live there! There were some baby twin mountain goats and their parents hanging out, posing for pictures. We went to check them out, and Cody was amazing again- completely ignoring the wildlife. The little baby mountain goat got a whiff of Cody, and got nervous, scrambling up the rocks and away, until his Mom let him know it was OK.

Crying for his mom!

            The scramble down the summit was a lot harder than our previous descents. We didn’t have any snow to slide down, and the rocks were slippery. We also had been up past 14,000 feet for almost 2 hours at this point, and all 3 of us humans were starting to feel loopy and uncoordinated. Ryan and Jon had run out of water, so we had to stop at a mountain stream for them to fill up.

Running down from the summit

Mr. Mountain Goat, posing on a rock

            By the time we got to an area that was more runnable, my legs were exhausted and I was low on fuel, so we couldn’t quite run back as hard as we would’ve liked to. Finally, we made it back to the car, after a vicious 300 foot final ascent. This was the first hike that tested our limits a bit- from the difficult route finding, to the additional time spent at higher altitude, we were pretty happy to be done. Our expectations were that this was supposed to be ‘easy’, but maybe now we’ll finally learn that there is NO easy 14er!!!

Overview:

If you start at Echo Lake, you can get a lot of good trail running in for the first 5-6 miles. If you’re a beast (like Ryan and Jon), you may even be able to run up to 7 miles- but it’s really steep. The remaining climb gets a bit technical, and requires more scrambling. I'd suggest wearing cheap gloves that you don't mind running, to help protect your hands when scrambling over rocks.

Details

Total time: 7:09

Moving time: 5:09 (18:19 min/mile). Again- a TON of time taking pictures!!

Starting elevation: 10,409 feet

Max elevation: 14,304 feet

Total ascent: 5,571 feet

Elevation Profile:

Gear

My essential Brooks LSD lightweight running jacket, Salomon Speedcross and my Nathan hydration vest. Ryan wore his Ultimate Direction Wasp vest and his Salomon sense Ultras.
Cody wore her UltraPaws boots to protect her feet on the hike, and rocked her Julius K9 harness.

Trip Report: Mt. Massive

Summit Fever continues- Mt. Massive, June 15th, 2013

This time, we add the next necessary component to our adventures: camping. We found a nice campsite near the Mt. Massive trailhead, outside of Leadville, CO. The drive from Denver to Leadville on a Friday night wasn’t too bad, and it took under 2 hours to pull into the site. Setting up camp was easy, and soon enough, we were off to bed.

            After a relaxing morning and a full breakfast, we headed to the Mt. Massive trailhead at around 9:00am, without really reading any route descriptions. That was a mistake. For whatever reason, we had it in our heads that the route was only 6 miles, so when we had only climbed 500 feet in 2.5 miles, we convinced ourselves that this was the wrong trail. We were on the Colorado trail, and we knew that this was part of the route, but from where we started, the trailhead sign didn’t say ‘Mt. Massive’, so we were never sure this was actually the right way. We also didn’t encounter a single other hiker out there, which given that it was a Saturday, was pretty odd. At 2.5 miles, we turned around and headed back to the campsite to check our guidebook. Low and behold, that was the correct trail, so after refueling on potatoes and cheese, we headed back out. Yay for an additional 5 miles!!

Gorgeous Colorado Trail

            Back on the trail, we covered the familiar 2.5 miles quickly, and realized we were 0.2 miles from the sign that says ‘Main Massive Trail’. From there, we quickly began ascending, passing through a gorgeous meadow that gave us a sneak peak of the mountain ahead.

Too little, too late

Could this look any more perfect?

Cody rockin' her trail boots

            We quickly made it passed treeline, and began the rocky ascent. Unlike our previous 2 hikes, we still hadn’t gone through any snow. Following the actual trail, with solid ground underneath was a pleasant surprise- who knew it would be easier to hike in something other than snow?! The trail was really steep at this point- I had a lot of hands-on-knees moments.

Steep and Rocky

Ryan had to wait like 5 minutes for me to catch up and take this picture

            As we got closer to the top, we found ourselves in some snow, and the footing got a little sketchier. This trail was more exposed, and was on more of a ridge, compared to Bierdstadt, Grays and Torreys, so hiking in the ever-moving snow made things more exciting.

Exposed trail on both sides- exciting!

Navigating the rocks

We made it to the pseudo-summit without climbing up too many rocks. After that, we could see the final summit, and despite not having to climb much higher, it was a lot of rock scrambling and route finding to get there. The snow just added to fun! We hadn’t been on any big rock scrambles yet, and Cody navigated everything like a champ. Rather than blindly follow her humans, she would assess our route, then determine if she saw a better way. She always picked the smarter route- less climbing, better footing.

Cody picking her best line. See those tiny dots, far away- that's where we had just come from

Summit Shot

The summit was stunning. After working so hard to get there, the view just looked more amazing. 

Yay!!

Cody's 4th 14er!! She always gets up there and enjoys the view!

A rare picture of Cody looking at me, while on the summit

     We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with our friends, and did another smaller hike on the Colorado trail the next day.

Hiking on the Colorado Trail

The best shot I could get of all 4 dogs

Overview:

The route is supposed to be 13.5 miles, but with our turning around, we added 5.3 miles, for a total (from the campground) of 18.9 miles. The first 4 miles are relatively runnable, then it gets really steep and technical for the last few miles.

I restarted on our second attempt, so for 13.6 miles:

Time: 5:44

Moving time: 4:12 (18:32min/mile)

Elevation Start: 10,058 feet

Max Elevation: 14,375 feet

Total Climb: 4,577 feet 

Elevation profile:

Gear:

My essential Brooks LSD lightweight running jacket, Salomon Speedcross and my Nathan hydration vest. Ryan wore his Ultimate Direction Wasp vest and his Salomon sense Ultras.
Cody wore her UltraPaws boots to protect her feet on the hike, and rocked her Julius K9 harness.

Trip Report: Grays and Torreys

The addiction continues- summit fever has set in. Trip Date: June 7th, 2013

After such an awesome time climbing Bierstadt, the next weekend we couldn’t wait to climb another 14er. After looking into our options, we discovered that we could do 2 at one time! Even better! This time we started a lot earlier, getting on the trail at 7am. The drive up was exciting- Jon navigated the potholes and rocks like a champ, in his Pacifica ;) We had to park down the road a bit, due to a recent avalanche/rock slide.

            The trail was runnable for about a mile, then was covered in pretty deep snow and we got our first real experience with ‘post-holing’, where you are walking along on top of the snow just fine, until one step sends your leg down into the snow, sometimes up to your hip. It’s a little unnerving, and makes it harder to run. Cody is lucky- she rarely post-holes! I just try to follow her little footsteps as best I can- she always picks a great line.

Are you guys coming?!

            The weather was a bit more overcast, and we wore a few more layers compared to Bierstadt. Cody continued her antics in the snow, playing, rolling and sliding down the hills. I swear, if she had a say in where we lived, we’d be in Alaska!

Wishin' she was a husky

Could she be any happier?!

            On the climb up to the summit, we followed the snowprints of the people who hiked before us. They went straight up! Now that I’ve done a few more 14ers without snow, I realize that this probably wasn’t the original trail- it was most likely supposed to be a switch back, but instead, we climbed what basically looks like a snow ladder!

Snow ladder

Seriously Steep

Aren't Ryan's glasses amazing?!

            Our first summit was Torreys. When we arrived at the top, a group was putting on their ski equipment and getting ready to ski down. I had no idea people did this, and I was fascinated. Ryan and I have always enjoyed skiing in the backcountry- but this was REALLY back country!! They hiked up almost 3 miles with ski’s strapped to their backs, for one long, steep, crazy descent. I can’t wait to try it!!

Cody's Second 14er

Skiiers in the background

They're going to ski down that?!

            After some food and pictures on Torreys, we went back down the ridge and started the summit to Grays. It was a lot harder to get to that second summit- my brain and legs were not thrilled with the prospect of that burning climb, once again! Luckily it was only a few hundred feet of climb, and another glorious view at the summit. 

What a friendly little cloud!

Headed to Grays

14er #3!! Summit dog!

To make the day even better, Ryan and Jon did a little performance at the top!

Running back down the snow was a lot easier than climbing up. Jon demonstrates how to glissade…or not…



One of my favorite pictures of all time:

Summary: 

With the Garmin continuously running, our total Mountain time was 5:04 (30 min/mile), with a moving time of 3:23 (20min/mile). We spend a lot of time taking pictures, eating, and singing silly songs!
Starting altitude: 10,848 feet

Peak Altitude: 14,273 feet

Total climbing: 4,069 feet

Distance: 10.15 miles
Elevation Profile:

Trail Overview:

Grays and Torreys are probably great trail for running, if the snow is gone (I haven't gone back during the summer to try though)

Gear:

Salomon SpeedCross/Fellcross. Running packs- Nathan, Salomon and Ultimate Direction, Brooks LSD jacket.