the heavens are silent

this is from may.

one of these days i’m going to take a weekend and not hike. just chillax at home. maybe vacuum. hit the mexi-joint. take a nap. watch a movie. sounds like a great night but i’m just obsessed with this whole hiking thing. currently it’s all boulder, all the time. i did as many foothills as i “legally” could, leaving 3 to figure out when i have the time. all that remains are 28 peaks on or near the continental divide. these are the big boys and they show no mercy. the few that i've done have been juggernaut days to say the least, and i've only done the easy ones! there are a few other easy ones i can do now, but they will come and go quickly. if the snow doesn't melt soon then my weekends will consist of ice ax and crampons, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. the two on this weekend’s agenda would not require such gear. coney island (11,580') and meadow mountain (11,632') are just a stone’s throw from the CD and south of longs peak. i walked right by meadow a few years ago before i started this conquest. now it beckons my return.

i left work and met the boys at TP’s for a few, then headed home to pack and finish the bizarro futuristic movie “brazil”. pretty trippy, not funny, sappy, dated, bad acting, decent special effects, not worth seeing. woke up nice and early, and made it to beaver reservoir between nederland and ward by 5:30 am.

now entering, colorado paradise

bb and the beav

first up would be the longer and tougher coney. the good news is that 95% of the bushwhacking in boco  is behind me. coney starts out north of the private reservoir at a spot that bb and i are familiar with. i parked and made haste on the old 4wd road. funny how so many hikes start out that way. i hate hiking over all the loose rock but anything’s better than fallen trees and snow. also the slope for about 75% of the way was very tame. a light rolling road through the forest for miles.

a ro-ad to the mountains

eventually the road turns into trail, which happened to be about where the snow on the ground started to become a problem. early morning wasn't so bad when the ground was somewhat frozen, but in the afternoon it was a post-holing sob. but that was later…i still had to climb the thing.

crunch, crunch, crunch

chomp, chomp, chomp

coney island can be seen up to the left,
even though the arrow says to go to the right

it was windy from the get-go and partly cloudy. the clouds were working overtime west of the divide as my mountains finally came into view. light snow started to blow and the trail turned to crap, with pools of water 20 and 30 feet long. ditching the trail into the forest meant going up to my knees in snow. i pressed on and crossed coney creek and the indian peaks wilderness boundary. the snow was deep and i lost the trail at times. my gps kept me on track up a gentle ridge that lead right up to the summit in maybe 1.5 miles. i put microspikes and balaklava on and put one foot in front of the other.

coney island and sawtooth sticking up from behind

hikerE

the views of sawtooth and audubon were diminishing as i straddled the narrow ridge and gained elevation. soon i was in the clouds on a flat plateau with the summit finally in view. i reached the top and was enveloped in a misty cottonball. the winds had thankfully subsided but the views were nil. a plastic summit register was about to blow away before i caught it and signed away. took some pictures and i was off.

easy walk up to coney

good place to search for ptarmigan

i sort of got lost down there once. in the end i found myself.

five hours up to hike 5.5 miles, 3 hours down. 8 hours and 11 miles; saw no one.

weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

sawtooth in the middle, coney to the left, red deer to the right

drove 15 miles east to lyons for dinner at that margarita bar that had crap service last time. thought i’d give them another chance. and they succeeded, but only because i have a different server. tonight i’ll drive back to allenspark, up the notorious ski road, to the TH, and into my sleeping bag in the back of my car. might get some rain tonight. maybe some grauppel. i hear it’s all the rage these days. tomorrow, meadow mountain, chocolate malt at the meadow mountain café, lunch/dinner at el mirador, swap movies at blockbuster, start watching some of it, sleep. sleep. looking forward to it.

hiking around the trailhead

it's awesome the things you'll find
just by taking a stroll

later the next day…

now if only my luck with mountains extended to the ladies. i feel like i've never had much with them. being an open book now limits the pickin's even more. i've pretty much established that the mexican joint’s ladies are either all spoken for or fresh out of high school. there might be hope though. today i had another adventure in boulder, this time hiking the saint vrain mountain trail. or was is the meadow mountain trail? either way i slept in the back of bb and set off at the booty crack of dawn (4:45).

booty crack of dawn

it was in the low 30s and there was just enough light to go without my headlamp, but i was hoping to catch a glimpse of eyes; creatures on the prowl or resting in a pasture. no such luck of course. just wasted battery juice. the trail is very well maintained, with switchbacks and steps of boulder to give the weary hiker a break from the steep grade, and even handrails for balance. just kidding. through a couple miles of forest i gained elevation over fairly level terrain. the silence of the forest trail was broken by a heavy flowing creek that poured fresh snow melt off saint vrain and meadow mountains. the sky was awash in every brilliant shade of pink, peach and orange as the sun transitioned from a peep show to full on frontal. the wind began to pick up as the warm air settled.

be love

the full monty

all this, just as the long and steep switchbacks began the climb up to the meadow/st. vrain saddle, which is also when the snow on the trail started to appear. the trail would be going along, snow free, la-la-la-dee-da dee-da, then suddenly there would be a 4 foot wall of snow covering the trail for 20 feet. there was a very faint trail of a previous hiker but half the time it would fade to nothing on the snow. being early enough in the morning, the snow was nearly frozen solid, so post-holing wasn't an issue. i post-holed maybe 5 or 6 times to my ankle or calf on the way up; not a problem. staying on the trail was, however. it was slow going, climbing up and over so many snow berms, always spreading my weight out over my poles to avoid dropping through the snow and into the occasional stream under said snow.

stupid trail. this got really old, really fast.

i eventually made my way out of the trees and finally off the snow. leaving my microspikes on a rock, hoping they wouldn't get picked up by some idiot thinking they were dropped by someone, i turned right on the saddle, leaving the trail, and made a direct heading toward meadow over the rock and hearty yellow alpine plants. the tundra abruptly turns to talus for the remaining couple hundred feet of climbing. the wind comes and goes but i leave my hood up the entire time above tree line.

other worldly

i don't see any meadows yet

i push hard to the summit and am happy to see a big windbreak waiting for me, along with sick views of everything! there was a solar panel powering some antennae. i believe it was pointed toward twin sisters peaks. i spent a few minutes exploring the summit and taking awesome photos. i thought of that person i used to hike with. she would have liked it up here. and i would like to take the time to report an observation: i don’t understand two people who go to a restaurant, sit across from each other, say a few words, and spend the remainder of the time plugging away at their cell phones. why are these people even together? i’d be so much more engaging than a cell phone.

meadow mountain summit. longs & company to the rear.

southern view

pikes peak!!!

there was no register. it was good to know that the duration of the hike i was on completely legal land. roosevelt national forest, to indian peaks wilderness, to rocky mountain nation park. it doesn't get any better than that.

i flew down the talus slope, over the tundra, onto the snow fields, back on the trail, and sat on a rock.

i sat on a rock

a cute lady and her dog rolled on by. she asked if it was pretty snowy ahead. she lacked any spark or life in her, and i could only think back to the last time i met someone on the trail. i remember that spark like it was yesterday. how did i get so lucky to be sitting there alongside the CT, at just the most perfect moment? what a time to sit and purify my water. the stars were aligned and the heavens blasted forth their trumpet song. but that’s ancient history now. this lady and her barking dog continued on the snowy trail toward the mountains as i stopped for a quick rest. i run to the mountains to clear my mind, but there she is all about. the breeze over my skin and the frozen ground below, she lingers and i can’t escape. i don’t want to, but i need to. what choice do i have? for whatever reason, it ended. all of it ended, and that i can’t understand. i quickly made it back to the car and drove into town for a chocolate malt at, none other than, meadow mountain café. they were packed to the brim but were quick to get my malt. also ordered a cinnamon roll and it was nearly to die for.

after climbing meadow mountain, how could i not stop here??

i was back in northglenn by 1:00 pm; plenty of time to make happy hour. i don’t know what i can really say about my life right now, other than that i’m doing the best i can, making the best of it, and trying not to dwell on the past. (ha) i have these fantasies that i think could happen in the immediate and long term futures. hahahaha. i kid myself. i’m delusion to think i could find my way back to her on the trail. not unless the stars align and heavens blast forth their trumpet song again. could such an event happen twice in a lifetime? off to blockbuster.

the heavens are silent