Bald Mountain A - June, 2024

 Cami and I had a weekend away while our kids were visiting family in Nebraska.  Time to climb a mountain! We settled on Bald Mountain near Breckenridge thinking it would be a good warm up for the summer.  We weren't sure of the snow conditions, but figured because it is a west facing route, that the snow would be mostly melted.  This turned out to be the case and made for a pleasant hike.  The night before we took some shots of Breckenridge for kicks, then headed up to car camp at Hoosier Pass for some restless tossing and turning. 

Breckenridge at Night - Prints Avialable

Sunrise on Quandary

The gate was closed heading up to the summer trailhead which added .7 miles to the hike both ways on an easy dirt road.  The hike to reach the ridge was straightforward with just enough snow crossings to bring out a little complaining from Cami :).  Once we gained the ridge, the route became progressively more challenging leading up to some exciting little talus hops near the summit.  The wind was pretty strong for the entire time above treelike.  Cami ran out of steam and motivation before the summit, but made it quite a ways up there.   

This mountain had the perfect view for a panoramic image of the entirety of the Tenmile Range.  I put together a poster with all the peaks labeled with their elevations:

Tenmile Range with Peak Labels - Prints Available

Mt. Guyot

Mt. Silverheels

14ers

And the 360 panoramic summit video...  It was hard to keep the camera steady in the winds:

Twin Sisters - June, 2023

 

Needed a warmup hike before our backpack to Snowmass Lake next week so I did a quick hike up 11er Twin Sisters Peak.  Tried out a new backpack and got some elevation in.  I took hwy 7 (peak to peak) on the way up:

Well... Road closed.  (photo taken with Cami's camera that I don't know how to use).  I took 36 instead.  Here's another photo of the rock slide from CBS news later that day:

Photo dump from the rest of the hike:

Longs, Meeker and Mt. Lady Washington

The Mummy Range

Lake Estes

Freeloaders

Twins Sisters from back at the trailhead

Snowshoeing Lake Isabelle - Winter 2023

 

Tim and I went on a snowshoe up to one of our favorite local winter spots.  The Brainard Lake portal is closed in winter so you have to park a few miles away at the Gateway Trail.  I'd done this same hike about a decade ago, but I'd forgotten how far it was.  I was thinking about 8 miles round trip, but with the whole thing including a few detours, we ended up snowshoeing over 13 miles or something like that.  I always like hiking with Tim as he, being an electrical engineer, naturally takes detailed stats of our hikes including time spent hiking, average pace, distance traveled, calories burned, and years added to our lives due to exercise.  

Sunrise on the Indian Peaks on the drive in

Brainard Lake

The hike to Brainard is all on a snow packed road and pretty eventless.   Once we reached Brainard we decided to skip Isabelle and go hike up a ridge and hike a 12er called Niwot Ridge.  It didn't look too far from where we were anyway.  So we left the trail around Long Lake and started ascending up the hill. Soon the trail disappeared and we started trudging through thick powder.  Woah!  This was taking a lot of time and energy.  Oh also I forgot to mention that I forgot ALL my food.  I left it in the fridge back at home.  Tim is such an amazing guy that he just shared his rations with me throughout the day.  So as we're halfway up the hill toward the ridge, we realized we didn't have enough food or energy or time to attempt this summit.  We'd bitten off more than we could chew.  See what I did there?  Back to plan A... head to Lake Isabelle.  No problem there.  This is one of the most scenic lakes in the Indian Peaks wilderness and a worthy destination.   

Post holing

Lake Isabelle - Prints Available

sastrugi

There were a number of parties that day that brought ice fishing equipment up there.  One of the groups made it as far as Long Lake and were actually catching some trout.  That is definitely being added to my to-do list in the future!

Sunrise from Handies Peak - July, 2020

Sunrise from Colorado 14er Handies Peak - Prints available

This weekend, was kind of a cool 14er reunion for James, Brad and I.  The three of us used to hike 14ers together often when we were in our 20's.  So it was cool to catch up and relive a little of those experiences.  Jimmy and Lindsey joined us this time for a hike in the dark to catch the sunrise from the top.  We started at 2AM on the trail.  Yes... waking up is the hardest part.  In the dark, we lost the trail a couple times near Sloan Lake and had to backtrack using our GPS, but had just enough time to reach the ideal height to see the show.  The sunrise was cloudless, but the sky turned all colorful.  We were wondering if we'd be able to see the NEOWISE comet, but I think it was on the horizon behind the mountains while we were on our way up.

Mt. Sneffels in the distance

The Vermilion Group in the distance

Half Peak left of center (I think)

Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn

Surprisingly, there were a few other parties up there for the sunrise.  I suppose even the more remote 14ers are gaining popularity.  The hike down was leisurely and we got to "frolic" in the wildflowers which American Basin is known for.  The flowers weren't as lush this year as I've seen in the past, but still good. 

Sloan Lake

Jimmy decided that he's not a fan of heights on this hike, especially as we drove along the shelf road with hoards of 4-wheelers passing us along the way.  We stopped in Lake City for the best burger ever at the American Elk Grill and Inn before our long drive back home.  It was a lot of driving and hiking and not a lot of sleeping.  Man, that seemed like it was a lot easier on your body a decade ago. 

Hiking Sky Pond, RMNP - June, 2020

Sky Pond, Rocky Mountain National Park - Prints available

This past weekend we did a "warm up" hike to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This has got to be one of the best hikes in the whole Estes Park area.  The lake sits at the base of rugged spires known as the Sharkstooth and 13,000 ft. Taylor Peak.  In early June, there was plenty of snow to cross with an exciting scramble up a waterfall to reach this high glacial lake.  Marmots and other critters weren't afraid of people up here. One even walked right up to our feet!  A good day with great friends and a "manhandler" at Smokin' Daves for lunch is always a worthy prize for such a workout.

The Loch

Lake of Glass

The Sharkstooth

...And here's a relaxing set of video clips from the hike:

KD's First Mountain - August, 2019

Our daughter hiked all the way to the top of an unnamed peak at 12,812 from Independence Pass.  The trip was about 4 miles and 800 ft. of elevation gain.  She was a TROOPER and never complained once.  We were so proud of her!  One of the ways she was motivated to keep going and get to the top was the hope of finding "gems" under the rocks at the summit.  She found a couple along the way on the trail (carefully placed there by unknown mountain creatures) that kept her excited to get to the top, but also slowed her down as she was searching for more along the way :) 

Sunrise at Twin Lakes before our hike

Unnamed 12,812

La Plata in the distance

Anderson Peak

Keeping with tradition - Victory pepsi