Trip Report: La Plata

August 3rd, 2014

After completing Shavano and Tabeguache the previous day, we decided on La Plata for our 3rd 14er of the weekend.

Our campsite the night before was a pull off about 1/4 mile past the La Plata trailhead. It was a perfect spot!

We were able to sleep in till 7:00 and hit the trail at 8:00am. Someone (named Ryan) was much happier with this 'sleeping in' business. Up the trail we went, following the happy trail dog through a beautiful forest!

The trail started very flat, with a few sections of downhill. We were able to run for the first 10-15 minutes. The terrain was mostly dirt, with stable rocks scattered about. Then the pitch went up. Although it seemed as steep, or steeper than Shavano, the terrain made it feel a bit easier. There was even a section with stairs that seemed to climb 300 feet in 1/10th of a mile!

As we hit tree line, we got a gorgeous view of this valley.

The view of that valley persisted as we climbed what seemed like 50 switchbacks. Since it was such a pretty view, we stopped a few times to fully appreciate it:

Finally we reached the top of the switchbacks, only to realize we were at 13,000 feet. That meant plenty more climbing!

Looking back on where we had come from

And where we still had to go!

At the top there were 2 sections of class 2 rock scrambling. Nothing too tricky- we never needed to use our hands- just some fun rock-hopping!

Another looking back on where we came up

There were some incredible views of other routes up to the top that looked way harder than our chosen route!

People come up that route!

 We made it to the top in 2:05- a very solid effort (including picture taking stops!) At the top we took our time enjoying both the view, and some pop tarts.

My legs felt a lot better about going downhill today, but I still let Ryan bomb down ahead of me. La Plata was just as steep as Shavano, but the terrain was much less technical, making it a faster/easier descent. The steepness sure does destroy your quads!

Overall this was a great, runnable 14er. Most decent trail shoes would suffice, although there are quite a few tight turns with loose dirt. I was wearing my North Face Hyasa Trails, and they were great for everything but the loosest, steepest dirt. Ryan had his La Sportiva Helios and didn't slip on anything.


After a perfect run on La Plata, we hung out on the paddleboard at Twin Lakes, waiting for the traffic on I-70 to clear.

Another perfect day in paradise!

Trip Report: Redcloud and Sunshine

Day 2 (July 5th, 2014)
After a wonderful night's sleep in the Element Camper, we were up early (for us) to climb Redcloud and Sunshine. This trail turned out to be more gradual than Handies. After a short but steep hike through the forest, we quickly hit tree line that opened up into a gorgeous valley.

The trail was busy but everyone we passed was very accommodating and made room on the trail. Sometimes it's like a race out there, we get so many people who encourage us along the way- some exclaiming "Y'all are awesome!".

When we reached the top, the red rock on the summit was amazing -- sometimes it looked like we were crossing the moon or mars!

This is an interesting out-n-back route where you go over Redcloud, down the 500' saddle then up to Sunshine, but you need to backtrack and go up and over Redcloud to get back to the trailhead. I love the view of the peaks up the basin. You can see the ant people on the route the whole way up.

Look- a flat section at 14,000 feet!

Crossing the saddle between Redcloud and Sunshine

Most of the trail wasn't too scary- except for the few spots like this!

Ryan runs up the saddle (for about 20 seconds....)

The summit of Sunshine was even more crowded. It seemed like everyone from tent city at Grizzly Gulch was up on the summit. Sometimes it's fun to be in the middle of nowhere, and be mostly alone all day, but still find those other groups that enjoy the mountains as much as you do.

We ran hard downhill as the dark clouds approached and warned a few folks about the changing skies. I think some people behind us got quite wet as we were pelted with hail just as we reached tree cover. Phew! Another close call.

Safely we made it back to the car, but Cody's poor paws were hurting and she was lagging behind. Tomorrow we'd give the booties a try. We packed up our mini-camp and drove behind a line of cars back down the one lane dirt road, just squeezing by a few Jeeps. 

When we made it back to Lake City for some hot food at Country Vittles restaurant, we discovered that Lake City is essentially little Texas. Boots and cowboy hats and Texas stuff on the walls. Many Texas accents in that joint. Very odd little town- but cute and welcoming!

After we finished a yummy lunch, we headed up to our next trailhead to tackle Uncompahgre!

Summary:

Distance: 12.47 miles

Total Time: 4:29:41

Moving Time: 3:58:30 (19:08 min/mile)

Starting Elevation: 10,415 feet

Max Elevation: 14,030 feet

Total Climb: 4,783 feet

Wolf Creek Pass Backcountry Skiing

Last weekend we took advantage of Ryan's 3-day weekend to head down to the Southern San Juan mountains to go Alpine Touring. There is a great book to help us find back country ski areas called 'Powder Ghost Towns', detailing where old ski resorts used to be. One such area is at Wolf Creek Pass. There is a resort about 800 feet away, on the other side of the road that uses different mountains, but we wanted to explore potentially untouched powder.

For those that don't want to read, here is the video from our adventure! (Make sure you watch it in 1080p- click the settings wheel to change the resolution).




For the long version with pictures:

The San Juan Mountains

On Friday after Ryan finished work, we loaded the car and drove the 4.5 hours down to practically New Mexico. The drive was really easy, with a lot of very straight roads. When we arrived at the Wolf Creek Pass parking lot (where we were camping in our car), the moon was so incredibly bright that we did not use our headlamps outside. I eagerly ran up the side of the mountain to try and take a night shot with my new camera. It almost worked….

The next morning, Cody woke me up far too early to go pee. When I stepped outside, I couldn't believe the sky! What a perfect way to start the day!

Perfect morning sky

The Element Camper on a moonlit morning

Blue bird sky and skiing with my loves- what could be better?

The forecast for Saturday was 30 degrees and sunny, no wind- absolutely perfect. As we got our gear together, we saw some other skiers head into the woods, and that would be the last people we would see until we got back to the car that afternoon.

Ready to Ski!

The first skin up to the top of the mountain was a 1.1 mile gradual climb. The view at the top made it hard to want to ski down!

Gradual Skin up

Gorgeous views of the mountains

Cody enjoys the view before our first ski down

Wolf Creek Pass is a perfect area to explore Alpine Touring because there are a lot of low grade slopes, where the avalanche danger is typically low. Additionally, there is a lot of tree skiing since the forest is not as dense as other areas of Colorado. There were also what looked like endless runs and many faces of the mountain to explore. Since nearly everyone else goes to the resorts to use lifts (hah!) we had untouched snow on every run of the day. It was unreal.

Always making fresh tracks

The first day Cody and I skied 5.5 miles, while Ryan skied an additional few runs totaling 8.5 miles. After a full day of skiing, we cooked spaghetti on our camp stove and watched the sun go down over the mountains.

Winter cooking out of the Element

Sunset

Sunday was our big day. We found an amazing run through the trees that gave us almost 1,000 feet of descent. Every run was different, with a new stash of powder to turn through. Skinning up was long, but it was an amazing workout and we managed to ski 10.5 miles! Cody loved every single minute of it!

Could Cody be any happier?!

Perfect tree skiing

All our lines

Cody also loves tree skiing

Skiing on the edge

I love these skis!!

Monday we still managed to ski almost 7 miles before having to head back home. Every run we did for nearly the entire weekend was in fresh snow. Even though the region hadn't gotten any good storms in about a month, there were still so many fresh tracks if you looked for them. The snow was so soft that it didn't matter to us how deep it was- every turn was amazing!

Camping in the Element wasn't too bad, since we were absolutely exhausted after every day. The temps did get down to 1 degree during the night, so we were happy to have our -20F mummy sleeping bags. Despite wearing multiple layers of clothing, I did wake up cold a few times. Cody slept in my mummy bag with me and we kept each other warm. The other difficulty with winter camping is that everything freezes. Everything- water, milk, beer, even contact solution!! The Element Camper was terrific, but we aren't sure if we will camp in winter again….

Our perfect camping spot

I love this funny little toaster

It was an absolutely incredible weekend- 22.5 miles of skiing with over 10,000 feet of vertical gain in perfect weather. Cody had a blast chasing us down the mountain. She would try to herd us for the first 2 turns, but after that she just ran as hard as she could to keep up. She especially loved chasing us through the powdery snow in the trees. I would caution other dog owners before attempting to ski with their dog, though- crashing into them or cutting their paws with skis is a very real concern. Cody has been running and herding us for almost 7 years now, and despite seeming to get very close to us, she is always very careful and we never once ran into her.

This is what happens after chasing skiers for 22.5 miles

Until we ski again…..

The long road home

Sunset over Colorado