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:

Trail Review: Indian Peaks Wilderness

Trail head: Hessie
Route: Devils Thumb, heading to Devils Thumb pass

Overview: (see scale description here)

Technical:  Class 1

Surface:  1.5/5

Vert:  2/5

Crowds: High
Views: Amazing- the mountains are gorgeous, and on this route there are 2 pristine lakes

Overall Runability: 1.5/5 - very runnable, even in snow!

Shoe recommendations: I (Alaina) recommend anything with a sticky sole if the weather is wet- there are a lot of sections that when wet, will have slippery rocks (I loved my La Sportiva C-Lites). Ryan says in dry conditions, the trail is easy enough that he recommends Salomon Ultras. 

Video Version:

Here is a video composition of us our running at Indian Peaks (all using iPhone 5s, edited with iMovie). Song: Bright Whites by Kishi Bashi. Mobile version

Trail Report:

On Sunday October 13th we went to Indian Peaks Wilderness for the first time for a trail run. From pictures I'd seen online, I decided we should check out the Devil's Thumb trail. I thought we might be able to go over Devils Thumb Pass and make a loop, but it would depend on trail conditions and the weather.

Because of the floods, route 72 was closed, so we had to take a longer way and drove a lot of the peak to peak highway. The drive was beautiful, but it took 1:20 minutes. Luckily we started early, and there was still plenty of trailhead parking.

I always take a picture of the map, in case we got lost. Too bad it never helps!

After a 0.5 mile trek around the completely flooded road leading to the trailhead, we started running up a very rocky trail section. It started steep and rocky- what a nice warm up! The footing was tricky- the rocks were pretty big, and loose, but after a mile, the trail relented to more dirt than rock. We then went through a gorgeous Colorado meadow, and got our first view of the Indian Peaks.

Gorgeous morning sun

A perfect Colorado meadow

At around 2.6 miles, the climbing really began, and the ice set in. It had snowed a few times over the past few days, but the daytime temps had warmed the trail, so a lot of the trail was either very wet or very icy. We probably could've worn yak trax or micro spikes. Instead, Ryan slipped on the ice, while my La Sportiva's rubber sole handled the icy rocks spectacularly. There were still a lot of runnable sections, and we enjoyed taking videos of ourselves running with the spectacular views. I also got the hang of slow-motion video on my iPhonee 5s.

I swear she knows how beautiful the view is

The trail looked like this for a few miles- ice and snow

At about 5.2 miles we came upon the stunning high mountain Jasper Lake. This of course meant lots of pictures!

Jasper Lake, beginning to freeze over

Isn't that sky amazing?!

What a view!

Taking a break for some Gu Chomps. Cody would like some as well (her favorite flavor is blubbery pomegranate)

Right around Jasper Lake, we got out of the ice, and into the snow. I LOVE running in snow! It was such a pleasant surprise to find so much fresh snow on the trail. Other people had already made a track, so it was easy to navigate the trail through the forest. The amazing morning light continued to make the mountains shine. As you can see from the pictures, the sky was the deepest color blue I think I've ever seen.

Snow!! Snow snow snow!!!

Running in snow!

Ryan trying to keep his feet dry. Ha- good luck with that! Luckily he's wearing his SmartWools, so even if they get wet, his feet stayed warm!

That's the trail! They are patiently waiting for me to take ANOTHER picture

After about another 1.5 miles of running, we arrived at Devils Thumb Lake, and again had to stop for pictures and videos in the snow.

We had to hike through 2' powder to get to this rock. It was awesome

From there, we attempted to follow a very deep, snowy path up to Devils Thumb pass. At some points, the snow was almost up past our knees! We were never cold, though, the temps stayed around 32 degrees and the sun was so warm!

Happy little snow dog

We climbed about 400 feet up the pass, trying to find where the trail might go, but since no one had made it this far, we had no idea where the correct trail was, since everything was buried in snow. The only route that looked correct was completely filled in with snow drifts up to our waist. I really wanted to complete the full loop, but since we couldn't find the trail, we thought it best to turn around and head back down.

Where's the trail? Ryan doesn't know

Cody doesn't know either, but she sure likes the view! 

Photo bomb!

Even though we couldn't find the trail, we had a blast taking funny photos:

Yay for Trail Running!!

Yay for long arms!!

Yay for photogenic dogs in amazing scenery!!

The descent was fun and fast. A lot of the ice had melted, so we had a lot more trail to run on.

The trail had dried up for a lot of the descent

As we got closer to the car, we saw so many people! It was awesome to see that many people out on a slightly wintery day, enjoying nature. The trailhead parking area was completely packed- arriving early has it's benefits! Great morning light, and better parking (Ryan does NOT agree with me :) ).

Details:

Moving Time: 3:24:28 (14:34min/mile)