This was a total bonus hike for the Labor Day weekend. After Longs Peak that Friday, I wasn't sure about my endurance for a big Sunday hike. We wanted something kind of close and not epic in approach. Remembering the multi peak festival that we crapped out on half way, I decided to head back up to Ruby Creek for the other three mountains.
We left a little late and arrived at the big hairpin on the south side of Berthoud Pass around 7:00am. The only part of the forecast that had me thinking was "windy". Down in the bowl below six mountains we were sheltered and encountered almost no wind (for a while).
The familiar gated road across from the mine was our starting point and we hiked the old road bed for most of the day. Instead of veering left at the big gully on Engelmann, continue on the road/trail and take the right fork when the road splits. After a bit the mountain views begin to rise amongst the trees...
Since the hike begins immediately on a wide clear surface, it fools you into thinking you're cruising along. It's actually much steeper than it looks, especially at the beginning. We took a few breaks where the creeks crossed the trail...
I suspect this is a highly secretive shrooming spot. There was so much fungus everywhere! People need not worry about my presence there, wild mushroom ignorance will keep me from picking/eating anything I find in the woods. All along the trail I would see things that looked out of place. Sticks leaning on trees and rocks, rocks turned over and little spots the size of a softball that looked burned. These areas all had something else in common besides being out of place, they had faint trails into the trees heading towards the creek. There was also a lot of trash, but I didn't take pictures of that. Mushroom, MUSHROOM...
The sun finally rose above the gulch and helped to stabilize the layering frenzy up to that point...
After crossing the creek for the final time, the "road" turns more trail like and the path up reveals itself on the east ridge of Woods Mountain. One last break before the elevation fun begins...
Parnassus was looking far on this day. Our pace was off, the dogs' pace was off and we had yet to see what things were like on the ridge itself...
We took a wrong turn on the way up and had to bushwhack our way back to the trail. When the road bed continues up and there's the creek on the right with a rusted section of pipe, cross the creek and pick up the trail a few short yards later. Back on track we made quick work of the east face before the ridge...
Even 1,000 feet below the other hills, the views were still classic...
The dogs didn't get enough of a workout up to treeline. They were acting just a little different off leash this time. Lots of wandering at distances they usually don't get to. Still, we plugged along sans leashes...
Unknown hiker nearing the summit of Parnassus...
Then we crested the ridge. Holy crap it was windy. And by windy I mean lose your footing windy. It didn't take long for a consensus to be reached. Parnassus was out of the question. The approach would have us directly in the flow of air for close to 1,000 feet and over half a mile. Now way. Instead we set our sights on the unnamed Point 12,790 from which we would take another look at Woods Mountain. Pettingell Peak in the distance...
Hiking with dog; Mount Parnassus, Colorado. Was a busy area on the I-70 side of the hills...
Wind blown monster...
12,790 came and went FAST. Woods didn't look too bad but stopping in the wind wasn't really an option. We just kept moving barely able to breath, speak or hear. Consequently, very few pictures from the summits on this day. There's a few, but I still have to stitch the panoramas together...
I brought the wrong map this trip. When we got to what looked like the top of Woods, I saw another high point separated by a small saddle below. Since I had no idea which of these was the summit I left the dogs with Lindsay and Mattt then headed off to see what the GPS said...
Ugh, from the adjacent point my GPS showed that I was at least 10 feet lower than where the group stood. Back across the scree and dust trail I went...
Not even 60 seconds later we headed off down the east face and searched out a good spot sheltered from the intense winds. Once a spot was found we took one helluva long break for lunch...
The dogs pigged out with over three cups of food each. So we hung out for an additional 20 minutes before heading down. The trip down was self explanatory and much more pleasant out of the wind...
Even though we had traveled up during daylight, the trip back down felt twice as long. I was done hiking but there was just a little more to go...
Finally. On a normal day this would be a super easy fairly quick hike. But with our off day and the wind it ended up taking over six hours. The terrain is not difficult, there's water for the dogs until treeline, the climbs are not that steep and the distance between the two points is short. A good hike for warming up to elevation and conditioning dogs. I'm sure we'll be in this area again...
I-70 drama. This person backed up the highway for several miles all on their lonesome...
Oops, forgot to upload the stats. I'll do that later.
