July 24th, 2010This was yet another hike that was supposed to be a Holy Cross attempt. Watching weather every hour for weeks on end helps a little, but there's still no way of knowing what area is going to get the actual rain storm. A recent post online by a NOAA meteorologist shed some light on the % subject. He said that when you see "20% chance of rain", it means that 20% of the ground in that region should see measurable rainfall. I'm still not sure what "region" entails, but knowing that and the way forecasts tend to be tailored for population centers clears up some of the confusion I had. When the NOAA site predicted 60% chance of t-storms for the Holy Cross area it was a simple, if not difficult, decision to make. Once again we were on the backup list.
Plan 'B' was another multi-peak loop on lower mountains with enough mileage and gain to give us a good idea on what we would experience should we ever get to that stupid mountain southwest of Vail. I had read about this little traverse in some of my winter research and thought it sounded like quite the hike. These are yet more peaks that I've seen regularly my entire life, but never thought I would actually summit.
We left Loveland at a decent 4:00am and arrived at the first hairpin turn on Berthoud Pass around 5:45am. This is where you turn off of the pavement and follow the dirt road and signs towards "Urad Mine". Just opposite of the building complex is a gated 4x4 road with a large sign on it. At 6:08am we started up this road...
Somewhere around a mile up this road, a small clearing opens up and a steep gully comes into the eastern view. I never found the landmarks that were described online, so this gully looked like the most obvious way up Engelmann Peak...
This approach was among the steepest tree hiking we've ever done, and no distinct trail made things tougher. Even the dogs had a hard time sitting because of the angle. Being morning, it was possible to just rush them up the slope while it was still cool in the mountain's shadow...
Western pano from the slopes of Engelmann...
After wrapping around to the north side of that ridge, a trail emerges in the rock and the rest of the way up Engelmann Peak is quite straightforward and easy. The trail hugs the west side of the ridge and there is an excellent view of the entire gully we used to get up...
Mother and brother working up the trail...
The views were classic Colorado treeline views. Berthoud Pass, one of the best hard driving roads around these parts. Just make sure to rally it on a weekday, a fun drive just by itself...
For the second time this year, the ocean of clouds obscuring the plains east of the Front Range...
A view across the way towards the first mountains we took Jenn on...
Just below the first summit, we found snow!...
Shortly after 8:00am we had one mountain done...
What an odd item we found in the registry jar...
The rest of the traverse really didn't look that bad from the first peak...
We took a few minutes to rest and then headed straight on to Robeson Peak, an unranked 13er and the next lump along the ridge. The weather was perfect and no one hesitated in continuing the journey...
Sleds on top of Robeson Peak...
Hardly taking even one minute for pictures, we continued on towards Bard Peak at a snails pace...
Turns out gaining multiple summits is hard work. It took us nearly three hours from Engelmann's summit to reach the final push up Bard Peak...
While Coco, mom and Matt were trudging up the slope, boy sleds and I reached what would end up being the final summit of the day...
Looking across the way at Parnassus made it apparent that decisions needed to be made.
The cloud formations just one valley south of us only intensified the need to figure out our options...
We debated and scoured the map for alternatives to our position. Only three options were present. One, have my mom and brother take the Malamutes down the south side of Bard and to I-70 on the opposite side of where we were parked. Two, have everyone suck it up and complete the additional three peaks back down the other side of Ruby Gulch. Three, the whole party returns via our ascent route. 40 minutes later we were full of lunch and ready to follow our route back down to the van...
Going down was intense, but at least we could avoid Robeson Peak and only have to re-summit Engelmann on the way back...
These views can NEVER get old...
Square Top Mountain, our first summit back on Memorial Day Weekend...
The aptly named "Red Mountain". Not sure how long that thing will last before all of the molybdenum is scoured from it's mass...
Despite trying to round the first summit and avoid unnecessary elevation, we found ourselves on top of Engelmann Peak one more time that day...
180 degree pano facing west...
The only other person we encountered wanted nothing to do with us...
The clouds at this point, were making sounds that made getting down paramount...
On the final descent we were all feeling it. That was one hard hike and we barely made it half way around the loop! There's some serious endurance involved in gaining multiple summits above 13,000 feet. We tried to hook our way back down to the van's parking spot. But bushwhacking through fallen trees on such a steep slope proved suck. Half way down, a deer stood staring at us in the trees and he stayed there until Ridik had walked up to within five feet of it. Then the damn buck took off through the forest with Ridik trying his best to catch him. Not 30 seconds later, Ridik comes barely hobbling up the hill back to me. Idiot. Even though we were all kicked and spent, the descent was kind of fun and we exited the trees less than a quarter of a mile from the van...
ZzzzZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZzzzzZZzzzZzzz...
Coco despised going up anymore, so much so that she took a wrong turn...
We'll have to be back. There's still three more summits up that trail...
What a workout...
13.11 miles
4938 feet vertical gain
9 hrs 2 min
The dogs did so well that I decided to get them some Burger King on the way home. Sioux was the only one who knew what to do with a cheeseburger. The other two spent almost five minutes licking at them until they decided it was edible. Stupid sled dogs.
i need a new camera! 