Smash and Grab

One of the things I love about living in Boulder, is the ability to be out in the mountains very quickly.  On Friday afternoon my wife, Laura, texted me, asking if I wanted to go for a trail run that afternoon.  I was ecstatic and by 5pm we hit the trail from the 4th of July Trailhead with the objective of South Arapaho Peak (13,397).  I love trail running because it is so light and fast.  It's like hiking but so much faster.  We made quick work of the peak and summited within two hours.  We enjoyed a snack and some water on the summit and then we were on our way.  Running downhill is truly the joy of trail running.  In no time we both had a great runner's high and we were enjoying the scenery and conversation as we jogged down to the car.  In 3.5 hours we had logged nearly 9 miles of trail and over 3200ft of elevation gain.  It was a great evening in the mountains with my beautiful wife.

At Tree Line

Laura standing on the USGS marker

Backpacking Indian Peaks

This last weekend I had the pleasure of backpacking in the Indian Peaks with my friend Austin.  We headed out from Boulder on Friday afternoon to hit the trail.  We were planning on hiking the Devil's Thumb Loop.  The loop starts from the Hessie Trail head and climbs past the Devil's Thumb to gain the Continental Divide.  The loop continues South along the Divide and then drops down to King Lake where it descends the King Lake Valley, back to the Hessie Trail head.

We stopped in the Nederland Ace Hardware to pick up our backpacking permit.   The clerk selling us our permit, proceeded to give us a lecture about how we clearly were in over our heads and should be careful out there, especially with all the snow.  This is an occurrence that happens all the time: I constantly get lectured on my inadequacies as a mountaineer by people who don't even know me or my experience level.  Maybe I look more clueless than I am, but I generally find my judgement to be better than most people who feel it necessary to "spray" about ability and safety. 

We hit the trail light and fast at about 4:30pm and we covered the 7 miles up to Devil's Thumb Lake in roughly 3 hours, including a "shiny time" stop at Jasper Lake.  Our campsite was very scenic with the Devil's Thumb pinnacle towering over the lake.  We ate dinner and I slept like a rock that night.

Then next morning we awoke to a crisp mountain frost, and enjoyed a leisurely morning with coffee and a good breakfast.  It was great to sit around and enjoy the beautiful mountain morning.  After breaking camp we set out to gain the Continental Divide, the steepest part of our journey.  The steep section was short but sweet and it seemed we were on the Divide in no time, looking down at Winter Park on one side and the Great Plains on the other.  The High Lonesome Trail which runs along the Continental Divide provides easy access to Skyscraper Peak.  So, we stashed our packs and scrambled to the summit.  I was shocked to find a summit log on the top what seemed to be a seldom climbed peak.  According to the log, we were the first to summit since the Fall.

After picking up our packs, we headed down passed Bob Lake to Betty Lake where we made camp by noon. Big, white, puffy clouds were building already, so we were thankful to have our camp made in case of an afternoon thunderstorm.  The sky threatened storms for the early afternoon, but we braved the weather and went on an afternoon hike over to King Lake.  Upon our return the skies cleared.  To enjoy the remaining afternoon we waded out to a large boulder in Betty Lake.  We drank bourbon and talked about life in the afternoon sun.  It was great.  After watching the sunset with some pine needle tea, it was bedtime.

The morning hike out was beautiful and it went by quickly.  We only stopped once for more "shiny time" at a great waterfall.

Thanks, Austin, for a great trip.

The wildflowers were really popping already

Devil's Thumb on the left side of the ridge

The High Lonesome Trail

Summit of Skyscraper Peak

Austin Relaxing at King Lake

Shiny Time at the waterfall

Monsoon Season

I've been getting rained on recently.  After a great spring with good afternoon weather, I must have been spoiled.  I found myself wondering, "what's with this weather?" when I finally realized it is now June, and officially that time of year when the thunderstorms roll through about every afternoon.  Since I work mornings it now means I have to do what I can with the afternoon weather.

Cragging is still a viable option, however, I have been exploring some other, less weather-dependent, activities.  I  went fly fishing for the first time in years which was great.  Since I bought an annual license I'll probably be going a lot more.   I also found a new love in trail running.  I ran up in the Indian Peaks Wilderness yesterday to Dorothy Lake.  While trail running above tree-line is certainly weather dependent, its easier to bail due to weather than when multi-pitch climbing above tree-line. And running in the rain is easier than climbing in the rain.  I'm trying to keep my cycling mileage up too, as I'm getting ready for the Triple-Bypass ride in July.

I'll be saving those weather-dependent outings like multi-pitch climbing for early mornings on the weekends.

Here are some pictures from my trail run yesterday.  There was a whole lot less snow that I was anticipating.