Colorado Running Loops: Indian Peaks King Lake High Lonesome Devils Thumb

Date of the run: June 28th, 2014

One of the best looped runs close to the Front Range is in the Indian Peaks wilderness area outside of Boulder. With only an hour drive (that does not involve I-70) you can be in a very remote feeling wilderness for a perfect trail run or backpacking adventure.

The start is at Hessie Trailhead which gets very crowded very early during the summer (like 8am early).   The run can be done in either direction, though the climbing is more gradual in the clockwise direction (headed to Lost Lake first). Most people park their car legally along the road (between the signs) near the trailhead. Only high clearance, brave individuals drive their trucks to the actual trailhead- I have always seen the road to the TH under 1-2 feet of water for long stretches. It's about 0.6 miles around these mini-ponds to the actual Trailhead. Elevation at the start is 9,028 feet and the highest point is 12,100 feet.

The Route: The first mile (or so) stays the same for either direction. At the first trail juncture, if you chose the clockwise direction, head to Lost Lake (bear left). The trail gradually ascends at a steady rate for the next 6.5 miles.

Despite the fact that we ran this loop in very late June, we still found ourselves post-holing through a lot of snow. It made for a lot of glissade opportunities though!

After climbing through a lot of snow fields, and up a few switch backs, we made it to Kings Lake. The color of this lake was incredible.

This is HoneyBear- Cody's twin!

Still a lot of ice, even though it was almost July!

After enjoying the view of Kings Lake, we ran up the final pitch to the pass.

It was so windy- Jason had to hold onto this sign to not get blown away!

There was a nice trail to follow along the high alpine pass to make this a loop, following high lonesome trail until it intersected with the Devils Thumb trail. Running across the high mountains surrounded by amazing vistas was, well- a nice photo opportunity :)

There was only one more turn to take us down to Devils Thumb. Our trail was covered in snow, so we ended up sliding down on our butts. We finally got pack to hard packed trail and had a blast running down the mountain.

Tips:

• Arrive early-  like before 7:30am early- Hessie trailhead fills fast, not a lot of parking, and the alternative is parking at a high school and taking a bus in.
• The trailhead is very popular, as already mentioned, but once you are about 2 miles from the trailhead, any crowd drastically thins
• Plenty of water along the way
• Lots of snow well into the summer (at least in 2014)

Garmin Data:

Colorado Running Loops: Indian Peaks Pawnee Buchanan Pass

One running loop that should be on every Colorado trail runners bucket list is the Pawnee- Buchanan loop. The views throughout the run are gorgeous, the trail is technical and challenging, and it is the perfect distance for a great, long training run.

Date Run: July 13th, 2014

The Pawnee-Buchanan loop starts at Brainard Lake recreation area. It is supposed to be 27 miles, but we managed to get a bit lost and our run ended up at 30 miles, with 7,647 feet of climbing. Since it is a loop, it can be run in either direction.

The view down to Lake Isabelle

When Ryan and I ran this loop, we started by climbing up and over Pawnee Pass first, doing the loop in a clockwise direction. However, after completing this loop I would recommend doing Buchanan pass first- so going counter-clockwise. The reason for this is that the backside of Pawnee pass was very technical and steep, and we couldn't run down it- usually we are very strong downhill runners and can make up a lot of time by flying downhill. The terrain didn't allow that, so it took a lot longer to run than we expected. We also got a bit lost going this way, so maybe if we were running the other direction, the trailhead junctions would be more obvious- maybe?

Things to note about this run:

• Remember to bring $10 in cash to park at Brainard Lake Recreation Area (or hitchhike like we did since we never remember cash). If you decide to run the way we did, going over Pawnee first, park at the Mitchell Lake trailhead and head to Long Lake, then follow the signs for Pawnee Pass. 

• A great description of both directions of the loop can be found here (bottom of the page)

• One time consuming part of this run that I didn't know about ahead of time was a very large avalanche debris field that you had to pick your way through. This involved climbing up and over a lot of very large, downed trees. 

• The trail coming down from Buchanan pass was very faint and overgrown, with a lot of bushwhacking. This is also where we got lost- apparently there is a sign for Beaver Creek trail, but we never found it and ended up looping around on some other trail- Red Deer lake- don't go on that one!

• There are plenty of lakes and rivers along the trail, so finding water wasn't an issue. We did use our Sawyer filter, but most of the water was snow run-off. Despite having ran this in mid-July, there was still a lot of snow in sections of Pawnee pass- in fact, the ranger said that we might not make it through the snowfields!

There were a few stream crossings

• Pay close attention to the elevation profile. Even though this run has 2 named passes, I didn't realize that there was one other climb that went up and over 11,000 feet. For us, this was at the end of the run, so it may have been particularly traumatic to me, since we were 4 miles over plan and out of food. And I was very, very tired.

• There were 2 major stream crossings that required getting your socks and shoes completely soaked. I recommend wool socks

• I recommend starting as early as possible. Since there are 2 major mountain passes to climb, one of which inevitably happens towards the end of the run, regardless of direction, afternoon thunderstorms are a major consideration. We hung out around treeline for a while before crossing Buchanan because we weren't entirely sure what the clouds were going to do. We got lucky and there was no rain or lightning, but there was definitely both in the area. Always be prepared with warmer clothes and pay attention to the weather!

With that being said, here are some pictures! Not pictured are the 2 bull moose that we saw- too busy running carefully away to snap a photo!

Lake Isabelle

There was a lot of snow left for Mid-July!

Pawnee Pass- the first major climb is done

The view looking down from Pawnee Pass. Yes, that is the trail.

After going down many switchbacks, we got most of the way down from Pawnee Pass, and here is a view of Pawnee Lake

Technical, steep descent

This is totally staged :)

Gorgeous winding trail through the Indian Peaks wilderness

Pawnee Lake. There were A LOT of flies. 

I guess there's a reason it's called the 'Rocky Mountains'

I wasn't miserable yet

The Avalanche debris field. Nature's amazing power- these were all full grown, normal size trees

In a meadow very similar to this, I thought to myself- wow, if I were a moose, this is where I'd hang out. When I turned my head left, 2 moose were standing 15 feet away, watching me closely. I almost crapped my pants

Trudging up Buchanan Pass, keeping our eye on the skies

Those clouds are totally un-threatening

Looking back from Buchanan pass

This marmot was this close to me. He was so completely unafraid of me, it was bizarre!

Here is our Garmin Data. Note- this was a particularly bad day for me, and we went a lot slower than I had anticipated:

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).