Cameron Peak, Medicine Bow Mountains:
I think my phone creates some sort of interdimensional wormhole distorting time and space thus adding WAY too much distance to the stats. It was definitely at least eight miles one way up there. 9.5 miles just seems a bit off to me.
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On this particular trip I had everything ready to roll by noon. It was extremely odd to be locking the door within minutes of Lindsay's arrival home. Google told me our destination was 77 miles away, and HWY 14 always proves a slow ride through the lower portions. Just like every other trip up that road, we spent the first 30-something miles creeping along 15 MPH below the speed limit (and the speed limit is slow for the road). A bit of luck was thrown our way as all three vehicles in front of us turned up a dirt road. The drive was fun after that, and fast. We arrived at Long Draw Road around 5:45pm then promptly began the campsite search. The internet talked about dispersed camping along the road before the actual campground nine miles away. Hoping to just hike from the campsite, I tried the first turnoff and found a spot above two other groups in the trees. By 6:45pm camp was setup and I headed back down to the road to put up some pointless signals showing where we were.
The sign at the road indicated that this area has changed labels. It is now a "recreation area", and dispersed camping is no longer allowed due to overuse and outright abuse. But there are 39 designated campsites along the road with fire pits already established. Then another 25 pay sites near Long Draw Reservoir, finding a place to camp in there shouldn't be too hard. We lucked out and grabbed spot #3 just a half mile from the Blue Lake Trailhead...
Tambi hates setting up. She seems to have panic attacks when we get situated, until the sleeping bags are unrolled. Then she burrows and hides until it's time to whimper about something...
We knew Jenn would be a bit behind us, but we didn't know how hard it would be to find our site after dark. Dinner was portioned out and the sun was putting an end to the day...
Sometime around 9:30pm we started passing out in our chairs waiting for Jenn. The road was just through the trees and headlights were easy to see. For the most part it was a constant stream of traffic as people pulled into the area looking for spots then turning around and heading further up the road. I kept going back to the sign and making sure the reflective leashes were visible dangling from the posts. With my headlamp on it was easy for me to see the leashes shine from almost 50 yards away. But I guess that's because I knew they were there.
10:00pm rolled around and there was still no Jenn. We slowly started shutting down and getting ready for bed hoping that Jenn would find us or the trail in the morning. Just before turning in, cars started pulling in and clogging the wide area at the bottom as they shuffled around to get back on the road. I moseyed down to see what vehicles were there and I heard someone yell out, "Jack!" It was Jenn. The car behind her was trying to get out, and I was walking up to the passenger window shining my light onto her dashboard. "Hey Jenn", I said. Then she proceeded to drive away. That was weird. The guy behind her was lost and I took a moment to show him the map and sign so he could find his party, hoping that maybe he would see the Element and send her back our way. No such luck. I hung out at the road with Ridik for a bit and decided I had better drive up to find her. After that bit of chaos everyone was setup and ready to hit the hay for a 4:00am wake up call.
I'm very slow at that time in the morning with the cold mountain air waking me up in a slightly unpleasant way. Nearly two hours after emerging from the warm comfort of a fully zipped sleeping bag, we were off and hiking the road to the trail. I wish this one was better quality, it would make a nice picture...
Grouping up at the trailhead, I spotted this sign posted about some lost horses in the area of Ute Pass (almost 75 miles SW of where we were). Horses must be able to seriously cover some ground...
The beginning of Blue Lake Trail was super easy. It's a wide old 4x4 road with very little elevation gain for the first couple of miles. During a water stop for Jack and Sierra, I decided to see what kind of pace me and doggies could muster. We ended up clipping along at 5.22 miles an hour for almost 45 minutes. That put us over 20 minutes ahead of the group. So we took a long break...
The tree portion of the trail takes for freakin' ever! It also roller coaster-ed along for well over a mile before we saw the most promising sign up to that point...
Shortly after that sign, the trail breaks out of the trees and alpine tundra takes over. It was a very welcome sight. But also a reminder of how far we had been, how far we had to go and how distant the campsite was...
Whoever measures the trails for the Forest Service had better check their meds or stop smoking whatever it is they're smoking. I suppose it
might be in the five mile range to the lake. If you stop the instant you can see it. We headed to the far north end along the trail and took a nice long breather at the drainage under Hang Lake. Both of our GPS tracks indicated this spot was six miles from the trailhead...
The break helped to regain the energy needed to hike up to the pass quickly. Once there, we assessed what we could see of the weather (Clark Peak was blocking the entire western view) and consulted the map for our options...
Clark Peak was a long almost two miles away with a fairly steep approach to the ridge. Cameron won by default. So forging onwards and upwards we went...
This stupid dog. He carried the full 14 pounds of weight all the way up the trail and STILL had boundless energy running around the tundra...
Somewhere around a third of the way up the hike was catching up to us. We were in 30 steps then rest mode...
Pack behavior seems to be setting in with Jenn's two. Tambi is almost safe in their presence...
Clark slowly emerging behind the massive east ridge...
Just below the ridge I took Jack and tried to catch up with Matt and Lindsay. Hiking a mountain this size takes effort for some reason...
Within a few short minutes we hit the false summit and raced the last few yards to the actual summit. SUMMIT!!! (12,127 feet)...
West-southwest look at Clark and the southern Medicine Bow Mountains fading into Rocky Mountain National Park...
More Clark. That makes three attempts and three different approaches we've taken to try that peak. Now I have the much needed perspective to judge the mountain correctly, having seen it from all sides. If State Forest didn't charge a fee that would be my preferred route. But since they do, I have one more idea...
When I took this picture, I was feeling nervous about the upcoming hike...
We spent almost 30 minutes on the summit. Sometimes the best hikes are the ones you initially think you're "settling" on, and most of the time they're not a 14er. This mountain is situated in such a unique way compared to the hills that make up the range. It's on a separate spine that juts out to the east just far enough that you can see the entire range in which it sits. The views are incredible from Wyoming to Boulder and Grand counties. A front row seat to the Medicine Bows and from what I can find, a very underrated mountain. I'm glad everyone made the summit and the weather let us hike dry.
It was only the halfway point. There was much hiking to do...
Oooooohhh. Sierra and Jack sans-leash...
Back at the pass we ran into a group of people hiking the full 16 mile trail to Tunnel Campground from HWY 14. Ouch. I had plenty of beta and tips for them on the way down. Over the two summers I've done the whole loop except the summit of Clark (yargh). They were kind enough to take our group shot. Something I think we've never done up til now..
One last big break before the lake and we headed off into the trees. The clouds had moved in and the trees would cast no shadows. Shadow angles help me see that the sun is in fact moving and I am slowly making ground. Gray skies made for a nice temperature for hiking, but also made for one LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG hike. It felt like it would never end. Turn after turn after turn...
At the highway again we found out how far we had ran. Yup, ran. Don't know why, don't remember much about it. I just remember waiting 20 minutes for Jenn and her aunt before heading to camp.
By then I hadn't seen my mom and Ridik in nearly 40 minutes. She had three hours of sleep before hiking and wanted to rush back to set up her stuff before she passed out. I was more concerned with the weather. Clear sky was visible in patches, but overall it was getting gloomy...
Almost there. Running 1/4 mile up the road was torture. We must have been on some weird depleted energy rush. I was excited to get back to my summit reward I bought on that Friday...
Then we ate. Pretty much constantly too. One thing after another was put on the table and it was consumed. 17-18 miles used a lot of calories...
Then it rained. It started out as sparse drizzling with clearing skies. Hiding in a mountain valley can be deceiving. What we couldn't see was the storm heading straight for us. Once the hard rain started it lasted well into the night. We were so spent that bedtime came promptly at 8:30pm. About 1:00am the storm moved out and the wind moved in. Corners of the tent had un-staked and folded inwards, and the sound was intense. But it did have one significant benefit... everything was dry in the morning. That made packing up a breeze. Jenn was super fast and took right the 'F' off, my mom was almost hitched to her bumper and we left much much later. Still made it home by noon that day...
Pulling away from the campsite, we got one last clear view of Cameron Peak. That one felt like an accomplishment...
Now for Jenn's take on it.
