Lindsay was eagerly anticipating her birthday party on the evening of the 20th. It was impressed upon me that the dogs should be tired by the time people arrive. Perfect, that meant there was no reason to rationalize a nice hike to start the 2010 season. I called mother and it was settled, Lookout Mountain in Larimer county that Saturday morning. Hours I spent trying to decipher the various (and scarce) trip reports describing how to arrive at the trailhead. The road maps were cross referenced with the topos and I had a somewhat general idea of where to go. Then it was time to make it happen.



After following the route to the last left turn, it was clear that things have changed since the last time someone put directions together. All of the road signs have been replaced by brand spanking new signs that bear no resemblance to their previous labels. Instead of Rd 44H, we came across Pannock Pass. Had I not looked at the maps thoroughly and seen a "Pannock Pass" on there, I would have kept driving. We headed up this road for nearly six miles before there was finally a road off to the left that looked exactly like the lone picture I found online. But it was labeled Crystal Mountain Rd, not Ballard Rd. That happens to be the name of the sub-summit for Lookout Mountain so we decided to park. Problem was, the previous night's spring snow left behind 18 inches of "you can't park here". MacGyvering anything remotely resembling a shovel, a spot was cleared in no time and we geared up...






Then it was off down the road to meet the trail...


Until the gate labeled with all kinds of "No Trespassing", "Private Property" and "Ranch Land Patrolled By Sheriff" signs. It seemed like the right way, but this was not mentioned and it looked like something legit that shouldn't be messed with. Defeated and holding on to four dogs ready to GO we decided to just walk up the no traffic road...






Nearly four miles up the road things leveled off around 8,400 feet...




Once we crossed into Forest Service land, a ranger station complex signaled the trailhead for the long way. Donner Pass Trail takes almost nine miles one way to reach Lookout Mountain. In those conditions it would be one excruciating journey...


Something to keep in mind for a majority of trails in the area: OHVs are allowed...


The trail through the trees was actually packed down fairly well from previous hikers with appropriate gear...


It took hardly any breeze at all to send the powder on the trees up into the air...




Stupid happy sled heads...




They were loving their off leash play time in the deep stuff...






The snow was a workout. Having traveled four miles to get to the trail, we decided to turn around a mile into the trees. We were out of time and had to get back to Loveland...


Lookout Mountain seen from the Donner Pass Trail head. Now I know where I'm going...


We took a quick lunch break and started the long walk back to the van...




Rounding the final bend before the van, another vehicle was sitting opposite with an old grumpy mountain man sitting in the driver's seat. My first thoughts were this guy is gonna give us grief about parking in front of his private road. After all, the gated area was covered in signs. The dogs were filthy from mud and we started cleaning them off with the abundance of clean snow. Grab a chunk and rub the mud out with it. As I was packing the gear up, this guy walks over and strikes up a pleasant conversation. He was asking about what we do with the dogs since all together we looked serious about something.
We started chatting about hiking, mountains in the area, mountain lion hunting and what brought us up there that day. "Oh, this road?", he asked somewhat confused. "You can drive up that thing as far as your van will take you. There's some private property along the sides for a bit, but after that it's all National Forest. I just put those signs up to keep the riff raff out."...

We were in the right spot after all.

7,518' to 8,576', 1,044' of gain, 9.77 miles and 4hrs 6min round trip. Looks like the hills are about to get the final snowpack. Typically, elevations above 8,000 feet get their maximum snow totals in April. Then we watch the melt and start this hiking thing for the reals.

Fin.

i think you needed your snowshoes for that trip! they were so nice and tired for the night! and not muddy at all.

I don't have snowshoes. Plus, it takes a ton of work and skill to get through that. When the apocalypse happens, I'm gonna need that ability sans snowshoes. Those things take up a lot of space and weight.

You make me want to pack up my house and move :-)!!!!

You should! Colorado is SO great, just wait a few more weeks and Eddy will pack this area with great pics and i will add when im taging along!

Great pics Eddy! Were they off leash the whole time or do you tie them together on the trail or something? The offleash pic was great, but they looks untied to me for the rest of it?

They were off leash the entire trail portion. Their leashes were stuffed in the packs. The road made me a bit too nervous for off leash even though we only saw about five vehicles all day.

We were working on a new command for hiking. I want them to learn that "hike" means line up behind me and in front of the next person. All I had to do was let the pole swing across in front of my legs and they would stay right behind me. Ridik tripped over it a couple of times, but otherwise they got the message within ten minutes. Then I gave them an "ok" release and that's when they were in front for pictures. A few more times out and they might just have it down. I want them to pull less this year to conserve energy for some of the monster traverses we have planned.

Oh okay! Great idea Either way, your dogs are so well-behaved!

so if you're not holding your pack can you handle Sierra and Jack? I need to keep my arm's! I have been working on a halt/stay command with them for when we need to stop and they have been getting it down somewhat! my biggest struggle is my husband! I try to keep it up so they get it and he's like we don't have to do it all the time and it takes up to much time on our walks! ugg he drives me crazy some times.

It's been a long journey to this point. One advantage to the mountain thing is they generalize things to the hills very quickly. I had almost two years of (inconsistent) training done on these idiots before we started this hobby. We still have issues when Sioux and Bubba start whining at other dogs. If they keep quiet all is well, if they make the tiniest noise all hell breaks loose.

Jenn, you need a trekking pole or two and some cut up hot dog chunks. Then all we have to do is shut Gunny up and good to go.

I have been eying the pools at Wal-Mart and maybe online, do turkey dogs work yes we need to shut gunny up! but D is having issues with her leg and might not be doing to many long hikes unless they find out what is wrong. i need to just tease them with treats on our walk to get them to not pull. might start working on that.

Ooh, forgot about that.

¿Pools?

LOVE IT!!! we have a kiddy pool as well. they did not seem to care to much about it last summer.

Eh, I don't really feel like elaborating on these pics. You know, a few bad memories not worth resurrecting. It resumes with some shots from my mom's camera, then the pictures from our second attempt on Lookout. There be some snow in them thar hills...




















Off leash doggies...


























Plugged through some ice and soaked my left foot...




Videos to come later.

Swell parking job!

They call me "Parker Harris".

Looks like a blast! We get snow here in MI, but being in the Southern half, we don't get near as much for quite that long. Seems your dogs are well-traveled and well-behaved. Nice tour. Thanks for sharing......

Oh yeah! Forgot the videos...

Hey we have a video section now eddy!