All it took was a few warm days and a 70 degree'r to get us thinking "hike". Getting one in early helps me get back on my game, since I usually forget things. The problem with the Larimer County trails is that there is little information and it's hidden deep within the web. But they are popular places that most people know about when mentioned. Digging around for Storm Mountain stuff I found a recent page on summitpost with good information and pics. By searching the guy's flickr photos I stumbled upon where most of the info is hiding. Off road forums. It had never occurred to me that the hills around here are covered in 4x4 roads, even though that's what we've been FREAKIN' hiking!

The next step is something that is going to pose a problem for me this year. Supper. We really didn't have a sitter confirmed until the day before. He's not going to be able to hike our hikes this year, and asking people to be available at 3:00am or earlier is tough. I need to figure this out soon.

With all of that out of the way it was time to head out with Jenn in tow...



Getting There:
From Loveland, head west on HWY 34/Eisenhower towards Estes Park. Just a few miles past Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park is a little town, Drake. Turn right on County Road 43 and watch for the first right over a narrow bridge. This is Storm Mountain Drive. The road is rough but not bad compared to other places we've been. The way to the National Forest access is clearly labeled all the way up. Mostly on hand made signs with arrows. Getting to the gate is no problem.

We left the house at 8:15 and got to the trailhead at 9:05. Storm Mountain Dr takes up nearly 20 minutes (driving carefully in our recently fixed van). The gear up was fun as the dogs and I were obviously rusty with the routine. They ran back to Jenn's ride and made a mess of her work to get Jack and Sierra ready. We herded Sierra around for a minute, finished gearing up and hit the snowy trail. (Oh, I forgot a coat! But I did have the backup still in my pack from last year.)


Android Stats:
Total Distance: 10.11 km (6.3 mi)
Total Time: 3:30:23
Moving Time: 2:13:33
Average Speed: 2.88 km/h (1.8 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 4.54 km/h (2.8 mi/h)
Max Speed: 13.38 km/h (8.3 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 2623 m (8605 ft)
Max Elevation: 3007 m (9864 ft)
Elevation Gain: 849 m (2786 ft)




For the most part the snow was about shin deep and the top layer was soft enough to plow through with little effort. I was very nervous the whole time from letting go of the sleds' leashes. It was just too much work with them going every direction but forward with me. If it wasn't for such deep snow in the trees, I wouldn't have done it at those elevations.

Anyway, the pics...

Still holding on to sled heads...


Storm Mountain in view at the beginning...


Still not sure I want to try Jenn's method. I'm thinking about making a harness for ME that would put their combined pulling power closer to shoulder/chest level...








Posers...




Once you get through the meadow and into the trees, the trail gets a little steeper. But it never gets any worse than that...






Yakkity Clak, That be Jack...


Coco was locked onto the moose tracks in the road. So I had to muster up holding her until they veered into the trees...












The road was deeper than the terrain directly adjacent, but I tried to keep all of our hiking there...


By the time we reached a meadow in Foggy Park, we were feeling it...




The 4x4 road gets within yards of the summit. In clearer conditions this would be a very easy hike...


Here is a view of the summit from the end of the 4x4 road. You can literally throw a rock OVER it...


The divide was covered in a high wind wave cloud that was slowly creeping down towards the lower hills. Summit shots!!!












The conditions and Ridik's cracked pad had us headed down swiftly (I forgot the dog boots). Our trench from the ascent provided a much faster descent...










Finally back and ready for beer and food. Just the driving home part to deal with...


There. Thread recreated.

Jenn is next...

Great pics!
I think I'd like to do this with the new guy once more snow melts off to help get him (and me) in to shape and shed some pounds...

i will start by saying i wish i had my snowshoes!!! Living in Colorado you just never know what you will find and what i find is that im never packed for everything even if i might own it! my husband says i pack to much and i never think i have enough. in the back of the E i had a full range of clothes to put on in case i needed it but we lucked out and the weather was great for a hike! i got to try out my new hiking boots that kept my feet dry so i was happy with that but my yak traxs failed me! on the last hike with Claudia and JD they started to go and by the end of this hike i had one on my foot and the other strapped to my pack, the rubber broke, the coils came undone and they kept folding up my toe and heal, i was not happy with them. oh and my "new" craigs list poles i have used 2 other times broke, the one will not stay tight and kept shorting on me so found on this hike i need new poles and snow traction foot gear but its better to find out on a small hike then on an all day hike! i also tried out my modified hiking belt that Eddy put some padding into because on the last hike it bunched up on me and killed my back, this time it still moved up to my waist but did not hurt my back as much. i am in talks with Adanac sleds who i got the belt from to try and improve it, as well as maybe getting better lines made that jack can not eat right through and will not shred on the rocks. and yes we all most lost Sierra as she backed out of her pack as i was un-clipping her leash to put on the pack! I swear if its not one its the other causing issues! because i spent most of the hike fixing these things i did not take many pictures, but here are the ones i did take so enjoy!
Eddy leading the way


Hey wait get back here!


jack came and sat right next to me like hi mom i love you




yeah, i don't trust my 2 as much!








Summit!


whos a happy boy!


Eddy went up to the "true" summit!




heading down in lighting speed


wildfire years ago


whos a tired boy!

Love that pic of Jack that you posted last...
I should've showed you what I got from snowtrax...we tested them out hiking Beaver Creek a couple of weeks ago - they're awesome!

Great pix!!!!!!!!!!

This looks like loads of fun! Illinois is so boring for hikes.

Looks like it was a great workout for you, and the dogs.
Man, do I hate post holing!
Have you ever tried ski joring?
With three, you'd be up there like a shot.
Of course, you'd be taking your life in your hands when they got going...

I tried it on the streets once during a big snow when the city didn't plow. In high school I was a top 20 cross country ski racer in all races across the state. Turns out it's kind of like riding a bike. Without poles I was able to skate on no wax classics fast enough that the dogs were running and not pulling. I would absolutely love to get into it seriously. But the money. Hopefully now that we have almost everything for the summer stuff I can focus on that for winter. Problem is I'm gonna want the really expensive stuff.

And I thought it was gonna be vet care and food that took all of my money having dogs.

Old skis are fine. Slow, old skis are fine.
Just no metal edged skis.

My rule is to start out on a wide, open space.
Starting in tightly spaced trees is bad!
The first half mile is just hold on for your life.

I had three pair and sold them on craigslist. Oops. Dang, I would need another Husky too. The Mals don't do high speed the same way.

I'm thinking of trying skijoring next winter. Hopefully by then, Storm will be in good enough shape to run some...

Gots me a lot of snowboards which I think I should sell to help pay for the cost of used skate skis, boots and bindings...if used exists.

I skijor often with my two. I started out just buying used skate skis. Its so much fun. Great pics. Makes me want to go on a long walk. Don't really have any mountans to hike up where we live!

GORGEOUS! I need to convince the hubby to take a road trip out to the Rockies one of these years, haven't been in YEARS! These pics make me so jealous!

With so many sled dogs, have you guys considered hooking them all up to work as a team pulling a real sled?

Love love love the pictures. It looks like so much fun. I miss mountain views. South Florida is way too flat.

I'll puppy sit when I move! I may not give him back though. I need to get a list of places to go hiking when I first move since I know I probably can't tackle any of the big guys right off the bat!

It's so gorgeous though, I can't wait to experience CO hiking myself!

Heather - I don't big hikes anymore, so you're more than welcome to do the day hikes with me!

Hmm. Maybe my perspective is a bit skewed, but all we do is day hikes. Sometimes the inaccurate/guesstimate numbers put us on a 12 mile round trip hike for eight hours. If the weather holds, we've been known to spend near 12 hours on trail.

The biggest thing with our hikes is the part after the trail ends. Maintained paths only get us to our final approach in most cases. So if the thought of tedious crawling and dog coaxing through furniture sized chunks of granite sounds intimidating, we have enough plans to skip any of that. I already have five mountains picked out that are walk ups the whole way. Still tough at elevation, but it's all on tundra with no rock hopping.

Well eddy, claudia has a bad need I think and heather needs to get used to the elevation for sure but I think with some of our smaller hikes they can do it.and ladies if not u just turn around no worries. I think what scares them off the most is the 330am wake ups! Hell I don't even like that but I love to hike so I do it!

I just can't do the mountain storm chances with anything later. You see how close we get sometimes still! My dogs won't do anything over 70 degrees, so that's a lot of what got us so high up there so damn early.

Elevation takes just a few days in a row, and if she's down south like someone mentioned there's a lot of 8k-11k stuff to get used to it. But I'm committed and this is about all I do. Every weekend. Starting Memorial Day. Stupid snow.

I do have a bum knee which makes it hard coming down. Otherwise, an 8 hour hike is fine. My knee just won't hold up for that long especially if there's a lot of elevation gain. Maybe I should've said 'longer hikes' instead of 'big hikes'. I did find a knee brace that seems like it'll help stablize my knee from hyper extending coming down. But I also have to get in better shape...and now that I have Storm, he won't be going on any strenuous hikes at least for the first couple of months until he gets into better shape and has lost a few more pounds. Hopefully by then, I'm also in better hiking shape (lungs and legs).

3:30 am wake up? Ok...
...but I think I want to get into better shape before I join you guys on a hike...