Did this one from the north, Little Willis Gulch. Long approach/return on this route. For a much shorter (steeper) route, there is the Colorado Trail north through Sheep gulch up to Hope Pass from the south side of the mountain. From the little bit I could see on that side it looked like quite the switchback festival.
Mother's toe was still thwarting her desires to gain some summits, so I needed something with trails and things for her to do while watching Supper on hiking day. Since we had first hand intel on the Twin Lakes area I decided we should head back up that canyon and hit a peak on the south side. She had a rough week and decided to head out with us on Thursday as we began Lindsay's 10 day no work thing. The plan was to camp until Sunday with a hike on Saturday.
The weather that afternoon was terrible from Cheyenne to Pueblo. In typical fashion I was behind by exactly a haircut and a shower. Traffic on Thursday afternoon was sweet. Aside from the storms moving through and some slight aquaplaning, we were cruising up I-70. Around Frisco, the last of the super cells hovered over the direction we were headed. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to take the dogs out and setup in the rain...
(It turns out there was a fatality on Princeton right around this time. Definitely some severe weather with a couple inches of hail still lingering around the grassy areas.)
After Leadville the weather began to clear, and by the time we got to a suitable site it was mostly sunny. Cold though with the recent water chilling the air.
With an entire day ahead to just relax we setup the necessary things, had some drinks and went to bed. On Friday the dogs slept in until 6:30am and for most of the day we tweaked and customized our area. Tarps were stretched out between trees and the Kite Lake canopy was deployed for shade duty...
We were in full camp mode by noon just waiting for others to arrive. My initial thoughts of Mount Hope had piqued Brett's interests so we were expecting two more +dog that evening. Jenn got there sometime around the eleventeenth beer and we took a nice little walk through Parry Peak Campground to scout our start for the morning. It was really nice to have that extra day in there to do mostly nothing.
In the process I found the new Big/Little Willis trailhead. Instead of the description I found of driving south to the end of the campground, there are two pull offs on the south side of HWY 82 and a bridge taking you to the trails...
I stayed up late drinking WAY too much waiting for everyone to arrive. By the time we shut down there were eight people, eight dogs and five tents at our site. Morning hit me really hard that Saturday. I knew we were in for a long hike and prepared with a 35 pound pack. Getting the gang going and chasing them down when they run after loose dogs is tough. Maybe a hair on the 5:30 side before 6:00am we were off. And it was warm.
Leaving from camp is sweet. Supper threw a fit but did well with his grandma all day. We followed the road through the campground, passed the gate and met up with first official trail segments less than a mile later...
This route is easy to find and clearly labeled along the way. You just need to know which gulch you're going for. With the Colorado Trail being half of the route, the spur trails are well established and easily traveled. With all of the conversing and early morning tree shade, we made quick time up what seemed to be a pleasant trail. At the CoTrl junction we took a water break and prepared for a push to treeline. Through this area that trail makes some serious gain. It's mostly just a straight onslaught up the gulch to treeline...
There is still snow in them thar' trees...
Between the drinking and the fact that this was the sixth weekend in a row at elevation, I was kicked. Just couldn't muster a pace to save my life. My dogs hiked with Brett, Danielle and Jenn for a while...
Finally after five miles and over 3,000 feet gained we were at Hope Pass...
Tambi made it all this way under her own power. Someone should do the math on her comparative size and distance, I don't want to...
From the pass it looked like the forced route up Hope was going to be difficult with that many dogs. So stupidly, we took Gunny from the other two and headed up Quail (which is still a rugged 900 feet or so in mostly loose sandy scree crap). After a little scare with Gunny breaking off part of a cornice in a full speed romp, we were at the summit of Quail. My dogs were no picnic either. Coco and Ridik kept darting off just below treeline after wildlife. After each incident I took more out of my pack and put it in theirs. Didn't make a damned bit of difference for the hike. This felt like one of the harder earned summits from sheer distance alone. Looking back to the north at the mountain we were camped under put it in perspective. We had a long day ahead of us still. For the time we just rested at the summit and tried to recharge...
Cresting the false summit made the pass look VERY far below...
Laboring down this slope is hard. Rocks will roll to the trail if they get going. So keeping the dogs behind me and under control was a must. Negotiating the snow below the pass sounded much more welcoming than the loose dirt crap we had just come down...
Mount Hope. We have a new plan for this one thanks to Brett and Danielle...
One of the snow crossings viewed from the lake we rested at.
The other two were still high on the ridge to our west and we watched through binoculars for a while. Once they were in better line of sight we started across the bowl to regain the trail and wait for them in the trees...
Stupid Ridik...
Tambi gave out right after the lake. Good thing she's portable...
Oh the hike back was brutal. It was mid 70's and the sun angle had it cutting straight through the trees. Thanks to Piggy's swamp cooler he was able to keep kicking along with a proper pace...
Mud was thick in the afternoon runoff. Try having three of these in your tent...
The "creek" was raging...
The dogs were fully prepared for camp...
One of my mom's pics from Independence Pass...
Here's the Galaxy Tab stats (with about .5 miles and 110' missing from an error in the trees):
Total Distance: 12.3 mi
Total Time: 10:38:12
Moving Time: 5:14:56
Average Pace: 51.9 min/mi
Average Moving Pace: 25.6 min/mi
Min Elevation: 9264 ft
Max Elevation: 13457 ft
Elevation Gain: 4311 ft
Recorded: Sat Jul 02 05:30:24 MDT 2011
We had shooting, beer and hiking all within walking distance from camp. It was perfect and I hope everyone doesn't expect that kind of awesomeness from every camp.
Time to feed dogs.
