On Saturday I found a new respect for the word "subjective". Somehow I'm missing something in all of the information I find online about certain routes. Either everyone is just winging it and guessing mileage and stats, or my phone is adding tons of distance without telling me why. Most route descriptions for the Crags trail say it's 11-13 miles round trip. Definitely on the long end of our hikes, but Square Top was about that distance. Eight hours was the general time frame for this hike, and the NOAA reports predicted clear skies all day giving us plenty of time. I took off with the frantic sleds for a few minutes to go potty before departure...


Feeling comfortable with the weather, we took off a bit late for a three hour drive. At four in the morning the highways are clear and State is hiding all over the I-25 corridor. This makes for a rather dull speed limit tour through the valleys. With just one quick stop in Castle Rock at sunrise, the Pikes massif caught the rays and lit up like the beacon it is. Looked good through an eight year old, cracked and pitted windshield too...


Getting to the trailhead is very simple with only three turns once you're on I-25. This mountain is huge, and all alone dominating the view in the southern front range. After passing Woodland Park, highway 24 enters a spectacular meadow filled valley and the task ahead smacks you right upside the face. Try to start this mountain before sunrise. The route begins at 9,932 feet, about where the mountain tapers off on the right of this shot...


153 miles from Loveland and just shy of three hours we finally parked. Having no pictures to go on from my research, I just assumed the large, orange construction fence lined parking area was the right place. It turns out this is correct as of just the last week or so. The Crags Campground start is no longer an option without a fee to park (10 cars max). Now the start is right behind the newly built toilet facilities not quite a half mile below the old trailhead. It wasn't clearly labeled when we were there, just a piece of paper with size 48 font inside a plastic sleeve nailed to a log. Then we were off...






This new trail is a great warm-up for the legs and lungs. It rises about 100 feet or so in short order and then it drops back down slightly to meet the original trail...


The right fork for trail "664A" is just beyond this shot...




If you cross this bridge, you're going the right way...


Rock formations all over the Crags area. Go figure...




As the trees thin the views begin to open up. But you're still in the trees and knowing the goal is at 14,110' means there's plenty of hiking left...






The dogs were actually better than me at keeping track of the mom and wife. I found myself hundreds of yards ahead several times, but they would stop about every ten minutes looking back down the trail...






Here's a friendly tip you won't find easily online: The last chance for dogs to drink from the creek is where the trail crosses with only rock steps. I suspect this is dry from July throughout the summer...


Glorious treeline at last...




Right on cue marmots start that barking chirp noise that sounds like a Cuz toy when you step on it, once out of the trees...


Friendly tip number two: This trail is well defined and simple. By that I mean the switchbacks are at a minimum and the vertical gain is unrelenting for a person's sixth 14er. Keep your toes and knees in mind here (and remember the term "subjective").

At treeline I realized just how furious the dogs were heading up the trail. We took what would be the first of many 5 minute plus breaks...




Trail goes up...


Still getting stuck in the zone, I followed the dogs up the hill at a good clip...


*Caption Lindsay's comments here*...




I predict this patch of snow is non-existent in 20 days or less...


Cresting the ridge that has been the focus of my progress, I turned around for a quick shot of the folks coming up. Quite a few people on the ascent actually. I think we got passed eight times...


Then I turned around to resume momentum and the single most discouraging view in all of my hiking came in to view. That lump way the **** over there is Pikes Peak...


But that feeling didn't linger. When you crest the ridge and head into Devil's Playground, the views out east over the foothills and plains are adequate compensation for the work...










Tambi pretty much had a two and a half hour freak out being behind the sleds. Up to treeline, she hadn't had ANY water...






10X zoom on the final portion as viewed from Devil's Playground...


Our breaks were numerous and often...


Alongside the road, the wind picked up severely and Tambi was a shivering mess. So into Grandma's pack she went...




This idiot marmot scurried up the rocks within 10 feet of the sleds (Friendly tip number three: Tourists driving up the toll road have never seen marmots before). That got them going good...




People are not supposed to hike alongside the road. But beware this part where the trail hugs a raised overlook spot for the cars. I overheard a man pissed off as we went by, "never mind dear, the fucking dogs chased it off." Later, Lindsay suspected she was spat upon on the descent in this very spot...






Me mum...


It felt like eternity before we reached the final summit push. This was much closer to our Pettingell/Buffalo hikes. Except there WAS a trail here and we lost it straight away...












Don't let this guardrail fool you, the summit is not there...




It's here. Congratulations on reaching one of the most subdued and disheartening summits of all the 14ers. The dogs were practically celebrities up there. We hoofed it up that final pitch like nobody's business. Lunch and rest was had by all. Then, just as I got the rocks positioned under myself for a quick power nap, my mom had to go look at the time. 1:40pm, and she was to be on call at 7:00pm. That gave us five hours and twenty minutes to descend and drive back to Loveland. Oops. As fast as I could move through the crowd and questions, summit shots were taken...






























Cheyenne Mountain, backside...




































The route back down looked like hell. There was also no way to tell since my phone's battery died about 13.600 feet...


Sucking it up and just heading for van...












At this point water was running low and it was obvious that the trail was longer than we thought. I let the sleds stop whenever they wanted to..


Off the summit, but the trail is still far and away. It heads over the ridge where the snow ends on the right...


The wind was sandblasting everything. Tambi was scooped up by grandma and she enjoyed the ride...




Finally reaching the ridge to descend towards the Crags Campground...


These clouds hovered over us for almost 30 minutes. That only added to the pressure to hurry.




After that Sioux started to worry me bad. He was hot and visibly overheating since the temps were in the upper 70's at treeline. He collapsed in the shade of a tree and didn't move for 15 minutes. We were out of water and we carried 11 liters with us. My mistake was misjudging where the creek met the trail. Almost a half mile away, Lindsay headed down and ended up sending Ridik up by himself to bring cold runoff to Sioux. Ridik was such a good boy. I saw him round the corner over 100 yards away and he hauled that bag right up to me and Sioux. Five minutes later I was able to get Sioux going enough to make it to
the creek and soak.

This trail is hard on dogs. You folks here at itsahuskything know how hard I work these guys on a daily basis, and they were almost carried back to the van. The lack of switchbacks may not be so noticeable to humans, but for dogs it's a constant strain on the front leg joints and pads. The trail is well worn and that makes for a pea gravel type of surface, except with the gravel being made up of sharp pointed bits.

My phone died just before the summit and it logged 10.54 miles one way. I inspected the track and it does not have any variations save for the running around at the trailhead first thing. The most generous fudge factor makes this an 18 mile round trip route at minimum. This I believe to be true. After much
editing and validating I think this is a 20+ mile round trip. Until I see other backed up information this is my view. It is not a simple walk up unless it's just a person with extensive training on tap.

I just about killed my entire party. Mom has a pinky toe nail that is most likely gone by now, my knees and ankles are in rough shape and Lindsay hasn't really said too much about the whole ordeal. The dogs? They're still carrying a slight limp. Pikes is off the list.

20.2 miles, 5292 feet vertical gain and 11 hours 13 minutes round trip. Be very prepared for this bugger of a trip...








I'm glad this mountain is done.

Fin.

I am really glad i did not go with you guys as i think i would have been finding a way to get someone to drive me back to the car with Sierra, i don't think she would have made it with those rocks. Did you not fill up your water at the top? now if you would have paid to get your car into the park would the hike have been shorter, and would the trail be just as steep i wonder? i think we will be starting on a easier 14er...
great pictures and story.

That's so weird because from the pictures, the trail looks like the "easiest" I've seen you do. And I don't mean that naively, because obviously the hike was grueling and pictures are deceiving because it's just climbing up the whole time... but what kills ME on hikes (and we're talking much smaller mountains too) is the stepping up/steep inclines (like the rocks at the end/summit. I much prefer the flat surface gradual ups, which this hike looked to have more of. Guess it just goes to show you that you can never really tell from pictures!

Glad you were all safe though. And I LOVED the story about Ridik coming to Sioux's rescue! That's seriously awesome. Could he see you the whole time or did he have to just follow the trail to find you?

I love that

I'm a wuss when it comes to hiking and I have exercised induced asthma, so the steep vertical climbs are the hardest for me to do... but I LOVE hiking. I remember I hiked one of the mountains at camp last summer and everyone told me it was "an easy 45 min hike." Yeah... no one told me it was literally 45 mins of straight vertical at about a 30* incline on average (I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot to you, but this is me we're talking about). I was DYING by the time I got to the top. The view made me glad I did it, but honestly... I can't take that shit. I'd rather hike for 6 hours with moderate inclines and a well-worn path instead of that BS.


Maybe I'm just a wuss though. I think CO would kill me.

But we still had over a gallon of water for them. It didn't seem necessary to load them down with extra weight through the steep sections and that's my point. The hike along the roadside is very deceiving and a person needs twice as much water as you would think. Unless you're a solo person hiking alone. I could have made the whole trip with much less, but I had three 70+ pound dogs with me. That and the overall distance to the creek was a mile further than I thought (couldn't track it either because my piece of s**t phone was dead).



Yeah Tori, I'm lucky my asthma is fairly controllable. I just need a puff before taking off and it lasts me all day. But I've also dealt with it since I was about eight years old. That helps in judging what my exertions will do to me.

I developed it in college It freakin sucks... If I were in better shape I could probably handle it okay, but not with my current lack of regime. I used to be very active but I've slowed in my old age.

We did a repeat on Pikes this year with Jenn, Brett and Danielle. Casey watched the dogs and we headed down to the trailhead to sleep in the parking lot. It was cold. Note to self: one blanket won't cut it.

Ridik did wonderfully on his own. He jumped up in the front passenger seat and curled up in a sled dog ball until the next morning. Not much to speak of after that. We hiked the same trail, got some better numbers (that I will update later after an upload from the tab) and took roughly the same pictures. Here they are...
















I know that most of you don't know Gunny personally, but that dog is non stop crazy. This trail kicked his butt...










Lots of traffic on race day eve...












There's that. Now I have to figure out the upload from the tab for the stats. It's a little different from last year's perspective.

so this was my first summit of Pikes and i left S&J at home because i was not sure how they would do in the heat, im glad i left them as the way down got very warm and i know sierra would not have done well. Slept in the E for the first time i have to rework that for the next trailhead sleeping event. with not much time in high elevation this summer i got some altitude sickness right around 13,500ft, dizzy and lightheaded. by the time we got to the summit i had 5 fingers between the 2 hands that the top digits were translucent and had no feeling, it kind of sucked. by the time we were back down to 13,200ft i was fine again. im glad to have this summit checked off here are some of my pictures.






Eddy and Lindsay


Danielle and gunny




walking to find a good lunch place on the summit!


found one, amazing how good a rock can feel!


Lindsay


Girls RULE! and the boy dogs are ok to


Summit! its me


Eddy and Brett talking mountain stuff





Danielle, brett and gunny

Congrats! That was quite an achievement. It looks fun with all the dogs.
How did the dogs' paws do on those boulders near the summit?

I am so paranoid about rocks ripping up my guy's paws.
Now I carry booties, but Bodhi hates them.

On a backpacking trip to Mt. Adams, WA's north side years ago, my first husky's paws were scraped bloody and raw after walking on lava. I felt like the worst dog parent ever, because I couldn't carry him out. He had to walk and the bandages kept falling off...

The rock out here varies quite a bit but I don't think we have run into anything as rugged as volcanic rock. Most of what we encounter is a smooth surfaced but sharp edged granite. While still jagged, it's almost entirely polished by wind/snow erosion on the top surfaces. Plus if it hasn't been overturned there is typically a soft layer of lichen as well. So far I haven't had any problems with their paws and rocks (snow and ice are a different story). The geology of the ranges is not something I'm familiar with. Now I'm interested though.

I still carry booties, tape and self adhesive wrap in case they do get cut. Pad injuries are ugly.