As you can probably tell from the title, we came up just a little short of a 14er this outing. This trail has been in the back of my mind nonstop since I first discovered it. All available trip reports and obscure blogs made it sound like a mix of steep and easy. Easy meaning there wasn't supposed to be any serious rock jumping or hand holds to move upward. But no matter how many different ways I looked at topos or adjusted views in Google Earth, the hike looked relentless in elevation change. It
seemed easier than the Berthoud Pass hike, just with an additional high point along the way. The weather through the end of the week melted almost everything from the previous weekend and all I expected was a bit of cold. Since the potential distance was big with an elevation gain to match, Sioux and Coco stayed home. Their happy driven attitudes change dramatically when the hikes get intense to one degree or another. I just couldn't do another multi-peak torture fest to them (nor could I carry any additional water for multiples).
At 3:40am I was sitting in the van going over the checklist in my head. All was in order and we the all to familiar drive up I-70 to Loveland Pass. Just barely before 6:00 I was jumping in the back to gear up two dogs and myself. My guess is we hit the trail around 6:15. In the rush to get going before sunup I neglected to note the time.
It was still quite dark when we started out, and for the first 20 minutes or so...
Throughout the first half hour I took many pictures of the changing light. Unfortunately, my turd of a camera only let me have a handful of good shots once the sun was creeping up. The summit of Point 12,915 was a quick half mile, but a laborious 1,000' gain...
The sun cleared the foothills just as we reached the top...
The Mosquito Range dusted in snow off in the distance...
Sunrise on Ridik...
Quickly we resumed heading south on the ridge which is where the most of our day was spent...
Bubba was not pleased to have any distance between the group members. I swear you could see him counting everyone over and over...
Finally I had to let him loose so he could go back and check on everyone...
A quick drive by shot of Point 13,117. The walk to that point wasn't bad. Only dropping 200' from the first point and rising 400'...
But the next drop and climb is obvious...
The first unsettled area we had to descend through. Still a very leisurely stroll up to here...
Looking west at the shadow cast by the Continental Divide...
Looking down on HWY 6...
Most of the way up the last climb to Grizzly Peak. I think it was named for the steep hike in loose sandy ankle bashing rocks...
From the summit of Grizzly (13,427'), the front range mountains are starting to become very familiar...
If it seems like this recap is going rather quick, it's because I have very few pictures worth posting. The sun angle coupled with my own ineptitude handling cameras left much to be desired. Plus it was a BONUS hike I wasn't sure we'd get to...
Lake Dillon off yonder...
Casey heads out to the edge of the ridge to assess the situation. He summed it up poignantly by saying, "Man, we just hiked all that to get here. And there's STILL a 14er to climb." At Grizzly's summit we had covered 3.5 miles and 2,300 vertical feet, but still had to double that to get back to the van. Not to mention what Torreys would add to those numbers...
A nice shot of three Summit County ski resorts. Arapaho Basin in foreground, Keystone and Breckenridge in the distance...
Torreys taunting from oh so close-ish...
More mountains not yet hiked...
Heading back over Grizzly to trudge our way back...
Things were looking busy on the big mountains...
This is one of the tougher parts of the trail to Torreys that helped in the final decision...
Most of the route back is visible here. Except one additional rise hidden by Grizzly...
Every person we met on the summit of Grizzly eventually came back instead of continuing on to the 14ers...
More of these guys...
By 11:00 the clouds were beginning to gather...
Luckily there was a clear trail cutting across 12,915, saving a couple hundred feet of gain...
The final stretch back to the top of the pass and the van...
Back amongst the tourists looking up at the start...
After a little break and some lunch, I was feeling the need to cram in one more high point. So we joined the conga line up the east side of the pass and made our way over to Point 12,585. Some of the people up there looked like they had no business trying to walk at 12,000 feet. Bright red faces, bugged out eyes and breathing so heavy they can't say "Hi"...
Being such a short walk, I left my pack at the van. What a difference that made. Poor Ridik hauled crap all day long...
That was easy...
Yet another backcountry playground with an easy approach...
We arrived back at the van about 1:00pm. I was still somewhat regretting stopping short of the big mountain. But it did look far and steep compared to getting to where you can see the trail. By the end of our hike we were at 8.62 miles, 6.5 hours, 11,990' to a high of 13,427' and 3,553' of vertical gain.
Now it looks as though the season has ended. There
might be one more opportunity for an alpine hike, but I'm not counting on it. Doggies and I have an entire winter to work on our strength and endurance. The 2010 calendar is full of some serious distance and altitude. For now, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of these 40° days.
¿What do I post about now?
Fin.
Subject: Hiking With Dogs: Grizzly Peak 'D', Colorado 
I think you needed more doggie pictures in the post! I bet this winter there will be plenty of adventures for you to write about; after all you don't want to get rusty!
