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.