the bear necessities

when shit hits the fan, i head for the hills. i’m trying to avoid people, situations, circumstance, police, traffic, life. the first chance i get to be in the mountains, i’ll be there. a peer from work flew in from coudersport, pa and had an extra night to kill. he asked if i’d take him into the mountain and i happily obliged. after waiting an hour at his hotel for him to finish chit-chatting with folks at work, we finally headed nw toward rmnp. the ride was nice. i took him on a scenic and nostalgic route to boulder, passing by my high school neighborhood, my employer for the past 6 years, alongside trails i’ve walked countless times, past the trailhead i called home for 2 weeks, under the boulder mountain group that started it all for me, around my university, and into the heart of the county i call my home (despite the fact i don’t technically live there). we headed into estes park and like a recent college grad, the world seemed to be at his fingertips with nothing to stop him from grabbing hold. this fella is considering moving to colorado for work, and i can’t encourage him enough. a quick drive into estes and rmnp outta do the trick (and i think it may have!). trained in botany, mathematics, and IP, he seemed impressed with our geology and wildlife. pretty well-rounded guy. we drove through lyons and on into estes, with the immortalized stanley hotel perched high as our beautifully creepy welcome. we’ve already encountered a number of elk along the highway and soon enough we see a handful of mule deer. we drive into the park , hoping we’ll make it to the summit house and back to broomfield in time for me to meet with the trusty cpa to check the damage on this year’s taxes (made it back in time to get the damage - capital gains tax suck!). we drove through the “toll booth” and noticed the “trail ridge road closed for season” sign for all to see. damn. i didn’t anticipate that given the dry winter season. either way, we made it in about 5 miles and got in some great views. we looped around back into estes and onward to allenspark, the place i’d love to move (retire) to. lyons until then. well, i guess golden first. gotta get out of northglenn before anything. anyway, it was a fine time and i hope his appreciation for colorado (everyone has it) has grown immensely. (come to co john. be my friend! =))


the next morning i picked up katie and bought her some new hiking shoes. what a pain to have to buy new hiking shoes every year because of the rate of foot growth. regardless, i’m happy to get her on the trail, and she’s happy to be there! and holy cow, does she love hiking and bouldering! we made it to boulder along flagstaff road, west of green mountain, where she saw 3 mule deer for the first time ever. we were going to take the west ridge trail up, which is about 2.5 miles rt. i figure 1/2 mile for every year old she is, so this is perfect. and what a mountain to climb!! it starts out pretty tame and goes through some snow patches and mud. she wasn’t having the mud on her new shoes. regardless of my pleas to lnt and walk through the mud, she wasn’t having it. along the way i tried to teach her the principles of leaving the place as you found it, but to no avail she’d still walk around the snow and mud, which i was fine with. i also tried teaching her about which side of the mountain would have the most snow, some on how to use her compass, lichen, the benefits of stretching, and who knows what else. i’m sure she’s forgotten and so have i. there weren’t many folks on the trail, aside from the occasional trail runner heading up without his shirt, which katie would point out every time. the trail is easy but does go downhill, meaning uphill on the way back. this would tire katie out a teensy bit heading back to the car. she was strong though. we’d take breaks here and there, but when she was on the move there was no stopping her. i lead half the time and her the other half. with the summit in view, it gets a little steep (for a 5.5 year old). she plowed through while i acted the tourist and snapped pictures of my beautiful little mountain girl. she is as beautiful as god’s great mountain itself. and what a hiker! her choctaw blood flows strong. as her dad huffed and puffed up the large stone steps built to assist the weak, she plowed to the summit like a true warrior.

quick rest

green mountain and katie

nice wink!

there were about ten other folks always coming and going on the summit. this is busy mountain indeed. we soaked in the rest and views, and feasted on a cadbury cream egg left by the “boulder easter bunny”. i can’t believe i pulled that off. the true summit is actually a giant 20 foot tall block, with a crack that runs up the middle to climb. we practiced some scrambling on the east side and she was all set to summit. after a quick scramble, we were there! great views all around, a register “built” into the mountain, a dial to identify the mountains around, and stale, green pools of water. nasty.

official summit portrait

time to summit!



kaite and the continental divide

green mountain - 8,144'

the trip back was uneventful, aside from stopping to climb every pile of rocks taller than 5 feet. she is a natural and i can’t wait to see her on tougher terrain. who knows what she is capable of! she could one day solo-hike the americas. bb was patiently waiting and whisked us away back to denver. maybe 3 minutes into the drive, little hiker princess passed out. she was awoken to the delicious smells of chipotle.

  

her mom would probably not approve



zzzzzzz


now that the touristy excursions were out of the way, i could turn my attention back to my list. point 6,446’ had avoided surrender two weeks ago when i attempted her during a snowy mid-day. maybe i’d have better luck with an early start and no snow. i didn’t exactly know there’d be no snow on the ground so i brought my spikes just in case, which proceeded to stay in my pack as dead weight. good workout for the back and shoulders though. also along for the ride was my new gps (with no maps downloaded yet) and new pants/shorts, replacing my old trusty pair which were eaten last year in a freak battery acid mishap. a willing sacrifice. you win some, you lose some. gaining these items and the memories of 6,446’ far outweighed losing my lvlt knife on the hillside. more on that later.

a 4:20 am wakeup call got me to the empty heil ranch parking lot by around 6:00. there’s no snow on the ground so i leave my gaiters in the car, however i keep my microspikes thinking there might be sections of ice once i get into the wild. wrong. never stepped foot on snow or ice. it’s amazing what a couple weeks of sun and wind will do to a snowy mountain landscape. the wonder of spring is upon us. the soft morning light shown the way up the wapiti trail and i make quick time to the bench and then stone cabin remains. off a little ways i hear the morning chatter of the wild turkyes in the area. the trail winds through the trees and sections that have been cleared for fire mitigation. my eyes drift into the clearing just before the stone remains and i notice around 5 mule deer having breakfast about 20 yards away. after a quick stop for photos, i continued on to the cabin while they continued on with their organic breakfast of champions.

wapiti trail

morning mountain affection

alone by the fire

i took a quick break at the cabin and set off 5-10° nne toward red hill. this portion of the day’s off trail experience wasn’t that bad by any means. the trees were interspersed such that i had no trouble hiking through, and the ground for once wasn’t littered with large rocks and fallen debris. only two things keep me from sticking to my bearing. the first, about 50 feet away, is a large dark figure moving around a tree and then turning away from me before darting down the hill. the sunlight shines its way through the trees and occasionally lights up the golden brown backside of the beast as it runs on all fours away from me. the second, stretched its limbs and climbed the tree where the other had been. this little guy, who was not little by any means and seemed as tall as me when it unveiled its full size on the tree, stared me down for a good 30 seconds while i fumbled with my camera trying to zoom in on fozzy. before the first had run off, i realized both looked small and that mama could be anywhere. my eyes scanned over my shoulder and around the immediate area, while being careful not to lose sight of the two that were within talking distance. i quickly realized i was in the middle of their stomping grounds. their markings were all over the place and right behind me was a nice canopy of pine that they were obviously using to chill out under. the only thing missing were the stolen picnic baskets and mama. although as far as i know there could have been 2 bears that ran off. but at the moment it’s just me and the cub in the tree. he eyes me, as my camera lens attempts to eye him, and his pointy ears stand straight up, capturing all of my slightest movements. i didn’t bring my bear spray on this adventure, considering this to be primarily deer and mountain lion country. my whistle is in my pack, however i still have my knife at this point and trekking poles in hand. he starts to move down the tree and i start to back up, completely unsure of his intentions. luckily for the both of us, his intention was to high tail it with his sibling. the large cub turned and ran like the wind away from me. i was in awe with how fast he was able to run down the slope through the trees. there would be no chance in hell of out-running him had he challenged me to a foot race. bending down i could see the two bears 150 feet away and getting farther. a part of me wanted to stay on their trail and observe them more and maybe get some more pictures. are you crazy man?!? you’re not jack hannah. get out of there and count your blessings, which is exactly what i do.

mama or sibling cub running and cub up in tree

he's just a cute teddy...

...with large claws, teeth and appetite

just before red hill, i came upon, or i suppose we came upon each other, a beautiful elk. just as i was focusing my lens, she ran off into the rocky red ravine. climbing in and out of the ravine revealed a long valley with a dirt road stretching lengthwise. even though i saw no signs or fences at this point, i thought that i probably wasn’t in a place i should be, so i made haste and avoided the road by skirting red hill and ascending to the nearly 2 mile ridge line to 6,446’. there were few trees for cover but plenty of thickets to tear and rip at my body. i was lucky to occasionally find game trails wide enough to accommodate my manly frame, but usually i was bushwhacking in every sense of the word. in fact, the bush must have whacked my pocket knife clean out of my pants and i’m surprised that’s all i lost. it was tough going, accompanied with the fact that i was paranoid some rancher in his ford would come up the road any minute and spot me, then proceed to blow me to smithereens with a shotgun. that didn’t happen, although i did hear gunshot for a couple hours maybe a mile to the east. i danced around the abundance of cacti and made it to 6,446’s little brother to the south, almost summiting it until realizing this wasn’t the right hill. making my way around and continuing north, i realize i’d have to drop about 300’ before climbing again to 6,446’. lame. who designed this?

6,446', the slope to climb, and cliff band to climb down

i climbed the slope and was soon standing on 6,446’. the views of longs peak and meeker were excellent. i could clearly see rabbit mountain to the ne, a place where life shone and time once stood still. the rabbits have all now died and gone. to the south i can see boulder and accompanying mountains, including mine and katie’s green mountain. the trees block the view of most of the plains but don’t prevent me from gazing at the many mountains i’ve climbed and the many more still to go, including coffin top, button rock, mt. meeker, and mt. lady washington. those bad boys must wait, for right now the moment is with 6,446’. she was mine but now it was time to give her back.

a rock with a view

boulder, co and mountains. katie's green mountain is a peak on the right with snow

rather than taking the easy slope down to 6,446’s little brother, i took the shortest route which would be its ssw facing cliff bands. fun! it’s fun when you can live to tell about it. and rather than climb the little brother and walk the ridgeline again (with the threat of mr. shotgun wielding ranch hand), i went around the hill through the thickets. this was very tough going (worse than before) and i heard some folks coming up the dirt road. i quickly got to some trees and passed by more deer. they were chilling at the fence line between bcop and the elk mountain ranch, where i suppose i had been.

oh deer, a fence

back on the right side of the fence, i made my way closer to the road and discovered it was actually the single track of picture rock trail (a mountain biking wonder). the voices i had heard were just folks enjoying the thrill of biking the hills; my paranoia all unfounded. i walked the trail for a while, expecting it would eventually meet back up with the wapiti, which it did. i chose the trail over walking through an incredible looking dry canyon with walls that looked hundreds of feet high, and i’m still not sure if i made the right decision to forego this little side exploration. it would have added an extra 45 minutes and additional risk of rock fall and ethan fall when it came time to exit the canyon. oh but think of the pictures i could have got! another day perhaps. i went back off trail to try and make my way to the stone cabin. i had marked the bear sighting as a waypoint on my gps, so knew i wouldn’t be going through their immediate area again, even though i wanted to and had seriously planned on it, had i not met back with the trail. i was on a time crunch though, having to be in denver later in the evening to meet a friend. after seeing more deer, a large cottontail, and an abert’s squirrel, i promptly made it back to bb just in time for the park ranger to be walking by. he listened to stories of my wildlife sightings and was happy to report this was the first bear sighting this season! i was happy to show him my pictures but also very careful not to show too much. he didn’t need to know i started my hike before sunrise (no-no), hiked off trail where i did (no-no), climbed 6,446’ (no-no), and tried to ride the bear up the mountain (no-no). at least i had my handicap placard hanging, which he actually asked me about. granted, i don’t look handicapped and just came off a mountain with a full pack, but still, why does he have to harass the public like that? give me a break man, i broke my leg, and was first to start the day so i can park where i like. not sure why there’s even a handicap spot. it doesn’t seem like the trails can accommodate someone with a real disability. so yeah, i’ll email ranger joe my pics and gps cords, and call it good.

lunch time

6,446' in the distance, little brother on the right

all in all, 7.2 miles, 1,600’ vertical gain, 37% of all ranked peaks, mountains, and hills climbed in boulder county. i made it back to denver to drink and feast at the usual hot spot, and then saw a friend i hadn’t seen in many a year. all in all, not a bad weekend. i’d even go on a stretch and call it impressive.



they will see us waving from such great heights
come down now, they’ll say
but everything looks perfect from far away
come down now, but we’ll stay
-rabbit mountain

the arisen

it’s 9:34 pm, easter eve, and i finished the last episode on the walking dead dvd from blockbuster. nyqil down the hatch and time to bed down. a 2:20 am rise, followed by a 3:20 am departure time to summit county, colorado, followed by a quick morning salutation to my friend, allowed me enough time to arrive at the trailhead before any other. however it didn’t take long before the throng of vehicles began to pile into the lower winter parking lot i was in. eager hikers fumbled last minute by headlamp with their gear, food and marijuana. donning my snowshoes and saying a prayer, i was first to head into the 7° F, luna-lit forest. no batteries required on this trip. the waxing moon was enough to light my way along the short trail and onto the road, but lacked the luminance to tell me where the trail verged left from the road. i passed this “turn-off” shortly after the summer TH and ascended up the road happily snapping predawn pictures, when i finally realized after about 10 minutes that i’d probably missed the turn. a quick backtrack got me to the trail where i observed a pair of snowshoe tracks heading up.

view from road, past the trail into the forest

view from road, headed back to trail into forest

finally on the trail, one zig-zags up through the forest for less than a mile. a few short and steep sections brings you out of the trees onto quandary peak’s snow blown east ridge. from here it’s a straight shot to the summit. if only it was that easy.



leaving timberline



i stowed my snowshoes on the ridgeline’s first tundra knoll and replaced them with microspikes. in all honesty, i could have done without the snowshoes in the forest. the trail had a few spots where a boot would posthole a foot or so, but it was mostly packed tight by the daily traffic. a third of the hikers had snowshoes, a third microspikes, and a third mountaineering boots. the wind began to pick up at this point, but luckily came and went on certain sections of the ridge. i pulled my sweaty mid layer off and the sweat on the puffy immediately transformed into ice crystals.



still had my hat

crossing some short flat sections were nice breaks from the steeps, but the flats had some of the windiest and coldest conditions i’ve ever been in. there were times when i was about 4 feet from the south face and nearly lost my footing into the abyss. the quandary link above shows the dropoff. that’s where you’ll find my explorer/indiana jones/st. thomas hat. the blowing snow started to sting my eyes and i knew i couldn’t summit if left unchecked. i crouched in a small depression in the talus, facing the abyss. quickly i put my balaclava completely over my head, covered my eyes in goggles, and put my explorer hat back on. a split second later the wind snatched the hat off my head. it seemed to suspend in the wind just long enough for me to contemplate jumping onto it and saving it from doom. had i done this, i probably would have landed on the cornice and i’d be lying with my hat right now on the frozen blue lakes. but at least i’d have my hat back.



at least it wasn't a whiteout

i pressed on and the wind picked up. i’d estimate a conservative 45 mph and it maybe got up to 15° F on the tenmile alpine this morning. my trusty wind chill chart puts that at -9° F, and my fingers were feeling it. i had my summer hiking gloves on and not my typical mittens and shell. those SOBs are enjoying life out in summit cove. though i was prepared enough to bring a different pair of snow gloves, they were stuffed down in my pack and i didn’t have it in me to stop again in the wind and cold. luckily the winds came and went, like i said above. i thought i was going to lose the tip of my left middle finger, but no dice. i’ll save that experience for another day. it was a long and hard trudge up. it felt like being on a himalayan expedition, not that i have. us three mountaineers, and a steady crowd of tourists bringing up the rear, could sometimes only take maybe ten steps at a time before resting. at one point i may have only taken five before stopping to catch my breath. the other two were in the same boat. as tough as stopping was, the views made it all the better. north star mountain is prominent to the south during much of the climb. mt. silverheels rises proudly to the east. however only once you gain the flat summit line do the views really punch you in the teeth, with the pacific and fletcher (done) peaks and the rest of the tenmile to the north and northwest. the elks and gore are also very present, to the west and north, respectively. the sawatch range to the south is peaking out, and of course that pesky mosquito range (democrat, cameron, lincoln, bross) is right in your face to the south/southwest. i’m so high that i bet i could throw a rock into the wide expanse of south park. i didn’t try. i bet i’d get close. grays and torreys are, as usual, always lingering in the background. also to the northeast i can see the back runs at keystone i’m guessin’. i can nearly see, among a few other locations from recent awesome life experiences, the spot where i broke my tibia in december. hi keystone mountain workers. thank you for your help that day and what you do every day. even the marketing surveyors get props.

the summit, usually being the most exposed spot on a mountain, was brutally windy. my pack had to come off to get to my which-wich bag but i wasn’t worried about the wind picking it up. i was worried about my trekking poles however, which i did see one scoot about a foot before grabbing it. i positioned my camera on my tripod, tripod to my pole, pole against my pack, and secured me my free sandwich. all in all, i was on the summit for about 3 minutes. there was the standard 14er summit register container but i was not about to fumble with it in the existing conditions. this is the first time i’ve forgone proudly adding my name to the sacred cmc rolls. it just wasn’t worth it. my ass was cold! and my luck all the papers would go flying out of my hands down to meet my hat. i had had enough of this mountain.

one hard earned "free" which-wich sandwich, coming up!

 

north star mtn to the south, wind blowing to the east

quandary's tenmile companions



the descent was slow because of my recovering leg. the other two guys practically ran down the steep and snowy slope, which i would have done back in my heyday (a new heyday is dawning though). i had my ice ax and wanted to glissade, but again, the damn leg. i cruised back to the road and bb, and was ready to call it day. all in all, 5 hours, 7 miles RT, 3,450’ vertical gain, 39/58 14ers climbed. i loaded up on the carbs at jj’s chinese cuisine in silverthorne with his $8.50 lunch buffet, and then was back in 70° F denver with my shirt off, playing water games with katie. from 7° to 70° in seven hours. gotta love colorado.

what's next you ask…

well in the short term was supposed to be the long trail in vermont in august and september. a loose idea was drawn last year with fidg to partner-up and tackle the nation’s oldest long trail, however circumstances partnered us down before stepping foot on a plane together. so instead i’ve decided to put that off until next year perhaps. there’s always the john muir trail, which will be outstanding to hike and see my family in bishop, ca, but i’ve sort of lost the desire to hike long(er) trails without partnering up. same with the remainder of the colorado trail i have to complete. for that one i might wait a few years before starting off in durango and making my way to where i left off (foose creek TH). so what is a mountain man to do? climb, climb, climb. up, up, up i go. i count 19 14ers left on my docket, which equates to 8-9 “trips out”, about 10 overnighters, a couple weeks of pto, and the durango & silverton narrow gauge railroad. six of the 14ers remaining are considered “very difficult”, whatever that means. i’ll also try to make it to utah to climb mt. timp with john. and who knows what else!! i’m open for anything. once i’ve climbed the entire gamut of 14,000 foot mountains in colorado, i’ll set my sights on the rest of the centennials in the state, and then start focusing my attention back on boulder county. i have further plans beyond this, but this should be enough to keep me busy for a few years. oh, and of course there’s kili and ancon. fine, throw in all the peaks in rmnp, a grand canyon r2r hike, some sort of yellowstone thru-hike, and the tenmile traverse, and i’ll have enough to do for the rest of my thirties. who’s with me?? churp..churp. oh well, i’m excited.

my face is cold now.

quandary peak - 14,265'