Mount Democrat 2/18/2011

Total Mileage: ~9 miles
Total Elevation: ~3000 feet
Starting Point: Paris Mill (3 miles south of Kite Lake)

Mount Democrat. This picture was taken from 14ers.com since I didn't get a chance to make many pics.

I had a 4 day weekend and nothing to do so I started to check out if the weather would allow for a jaunt to the top of a mountain. Weather reports for the town of Alma, CO predicted "partly sunny with a high near 17 degrees." That was good enough for me to pack up the gear and head out to the mountains Friday morning.

I left my home in Colorado Springs at 5:20 am and arrived in Alma at around 7:05 am. Kite Lake is the beginning of the trailhead which is 6 miles NW of Alma. With winter conditions, the last 3 miles of the road to Kite Lake is closed. An old dilapidated mill called Paris Mill is as far as I got in my car which stuck me with an additional 6 miles round-trip. I started off from Paris Mill at about 7:20 am. The road was wind swept leaving portions bare and other portions with knee deep snow. No snowshoes for this trip and that was intentional. I haven't convinced myself that I need them yet. The added bulk around my feet doesn't sit well with me. I do wear microspikes and gaiters and that was definitely sufficient for me. So, of course, there are times when I'm walking and drop 12-18 inches into the snow. It just added to the manly-ness of the overall experience.

I arrived at Kite Lake. I only knew this because I saw signs that said so. The basin that Kite Lake sits in was one big blanket of snow. So I should pause and say right now that this hike was only a partial success. I had intended to climb four separate mountains. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. This foursome is commonly referred to as Decalibron. The name is derived from using the first two letters of each peak. I've never known where the "N" comes from on the end though. I just assume it's to make it sound cool. I took too long to get to the top of Democrat and I was quite exhausted so I'll have to go back to climb the other three.

Doesn't do much justice but this is Cameron dead ahead from Kite Lake. I thought I'd be able to take more pictures from up top.

I don't have many pictures because my camera ran out of battery before I got to the summit of Democrat. The route always reminds me of a baseball diamond with Kite Lake being home plate. Doing the standard route you'd run the bases backwards. The saddle between Democrat and Cameron being third base. You'd summit Cameron right before you hit second base which is Lincoln. Bross is first base and then back down to Kite Lake to complete the loop. Not an exact diamond but roughly so.

From Kite Lake I saw no trail into the basin. Every so often I could look ahead and see the upper two feet of a trail marker. I was able to use these to get through most of the basin.

I found this sign particularly useful.

I turned to climb out of the basin a little early and ended up really exerting myself. At times I found myself in some Class 3 situations which led to many more rests than are typical. The snow in the basin was consistently ankle deep and there were times where I would sink to my knees. This also contributed to a very long and arduous day. In spite of this I really enjoyed myself and I've always found that the more difficult a task becomes the more rewarding it becomes to complete it. Once out of the basin (but below the Dem-Cam saddle) winds picked up and cold ensued.

I added the red to show roughly how I manuevered through the basin and then out. The dotted just means I was behind the ridge. I'm just bad at using paint. Democrat actually isn't in this picture.

I'm no expert but I feel that continuous movement, no matter how slow, helps to alleviate the cold weather. So I continued up slowly. On the way up I never really arrived at the saddle. Having deviated from the trail, I ended up on the Democrat ridge about 150 feet above the saddle. From there it was just up and up and up. Winds were at their worst at this point with nowhere to escape them. It is only about 1/2 mile from the saddle to the summit of Democrat but it was a very long 1/2 mile. Mileage isn't as descriptive as knowing the terrain over which that mileage covers. At the summit I sat down and tried to take a picture and that's when I found out my camera had run out of battery. While I was on the summit I had a chance to look down at my boots and I noticed that my microspikes were inside out. I was contemplating not sharing this out of sheer embarrassment. I reversed my spikes and found myself reflecting on how many times I slipped or lost my footing on the way up. The small thermometer I have on my backpack was reading zero degrees but I think the wind made it even colder. I looked at the time and it was 12:30 pm. I could not believe it took me 5 hours to get there. I looked around and the clouds were appearing more and more ominous. I thought to myself that I'd get to the saddle and then decide whether I would climb up to Cameron or not. Secretly I knew that I'd be going back down to Kite Lake though. Arriving at the saddle I could make out a trail going back down to the basin and committed to return home for the day. As I had anticipated, the wind got better and the air got warmer as I dropped in elevation. I was on the standard trail for most of the way down which was nice. There were even a few parts that I could slide down on the ice/snow. Going down went by fast and I was back at Kite Lake before I knew it. My thermometer read a toasty 20 degrees. Then it was a three mile hike back to the car. It started to snow on my way back to the car and I turned around to see Mount Cameron obscured by copious amounts of fog. I was glad I wasn't up there. Reached the car at 3:40 pm and I was back home before six. I never saw a single person from the time I left Alma until I drove back into town.

I really hate turning around without accomplishing my goal. I think I made the right choice and I'm looking forward to going back. It will be nice to be able to cut out the Democrat leg of the hike for next time. I hiked Humboldt back in November but I consider Democrat to be my first real winter 14er summit. I was wearing trail runners on Humboldt for crying out loud. No way a winter hike should count as a winter hike if I was wearing trail runners.

Notes to Self:
-  consider snowshoes
-  hiking takes much longer in snow
-  because I will likely be hiking as long as I'm physically capable there is never a rush to "go for it" when I get that feeling that I should call it a day

Humboldt Peak 11/1/2010

Total Mileage: 12.25 miles
Elevation gained: 4200 feet
Staring point: South Colony Lakes Trailhead (upper)

This picture was taken from 14ers.com and shows roughly the route I took.

I set out for the town of Westcliffe, CO at about 4:30am on Monday morning. The trailhead is about 10 miles from Westcliffe and I got there at about 6:55am. I had to wait until about 7:20 to get started because it was still too dark to get going when I got there. ( I should get a headlamp.) The dirt road to the trailhead was free of snow and it was pretty simple getting my Suburu Impreza wagon to the upper trailhead. I was alone on this hike and I probably will insist on company for any further winter hikes I participate in. I never felt unsafe, it just would have been nice to have some distraction from the cold. The thermometer keychain I keep on my backpack said 18 degrees Farenheit when I left. By the time I reached the summit at about 11:20am it had warmed up to about 30 degrees.

The first 3 miles of trail is the old 4WD road to the old trailhead. Pretty uneventful really. As I got higher and higher in elevation on this road there began to be little patches of snow and ice on the trial. Pretty soon I found myself walking on sheets of packed snow and ice. Coming down this road later in the afternoon when it warmed up a bit was a little tricky. I kind of had to hike in the brush alongside the trail to avoid the slippery patches of ice. Sometimes little stones about the size of my shoe or smaller would poke up out of the snow and provide stepping stones for me to avoid the ice patches. There were a couple of cool small waterfalls that had neat ice formations around them.

I didn't take a lot of pictures on this hike because I didn't want to stop and take off my gloves and risk getting too cold. I realized during the first few water breaks that I was getting significantly colder sitting down for too long. Keeping active and moving helped me a lot on this hike.

So I got to a point where the trail splits off the 4WD road and onto a real trail that dives into the trees. With about 5-6 inches of hard packed snow on the ground the trail came and went it seemed. I got to a point where I had stopped and looked 360 degrees and realized there was no trail in front or behind me. It made me laugh a little so I took a picture.

I knew from my map that I would run into the South Colony Lakes if I just headed north from where I was. I took out my compass, found north and starting blazing through the forest. After about 7-8 minutes of that I hooked back onto the trail and continued upward. Before too long I was at the lakes and began the trek up to the saddle between Humboldt and the Crestones. Right at about that point the fog lifted and I got a good shot of Crestone Needle.

One of the more impressive 14ers in all Colorado in my opinion. I plan on climbing the Crestones next spring or early summer. I was in a hurry to take this picture because you never know if a good view will become available again. It began to snow about then, and it got really foggy again. The wind picked up when I hit the saddle and I got really cold really fast. The ridge from the saddle to the summit of Humboldt runs roughly east/west so I stayed on the south portion of the ridge and that provided a good deal of protection from the wind that seemed to be coming from the north. Halfway up the ridge the fog lifted, the wind died down and I saw great views of everything all around me. I was at the false summit before I knew it and snapped a quick shot of the final 1/4 mile up the ridge.

This ridge kept on going for what seemed like forever. From the saddle to the summit took me one hour and fifteen  minutes. I was happy to finally see the end and happier to get there. I had warmed up a bit by the time I reached the summit so I relaxed comfortably for about 25 minutes on top before going back down. An interesting "first" for me that's worth mentioning is that I never saw one human being on the entire trip. It kind of makes winter hiking even more appealing to me than spring and summer hiking. Anyway, I took a quick auto-timed photo with the awesome Crestones in the background and headed back for the car.

I can't wait to climb the Crestones. Such impressive mountains. The hike down was quick and uneventful. I had a great hike to kick off the Winter season. I'm looking forward to more winter hikes which I hope to be planning soon. This was my 11th 14er in 2010 and I'm hoping to hit 20 before 2011.

Notes to Self:
-get a headlamp
-get partners for winter hikes especially
-bring handwarmers to shove into my gloves

Cloud's Rest (Yosemite) 10/9/2010

Total Mileage: 12.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 3000 ft
Starting Point: Sunrise Lakes Trailhead




This picture was taken from google images. Cloud's Rest is right behind Half-Dome.


My wife and I had planned a trip to northern CA to visit some friends and spend a night in San Francisco where we used to live. We stayed a few nights with our friends, Rocia and Emerson. Emerson had mentioned possibly hiking Half-Dome on the Saturday we were there. I thought it was a great idea. About 3-4 days before leaving I was researching Half-Dome and come to find out that a permit is required to hike Half-Dome on the weekends. I thought I could just call up or apply online and get one but that was not the case. Suffice it to say, we could not get a permit so we would not be hiking Half-Dome. I solicited advice from my friends on 14ers.com and Cloud's Rest was suggested to me. It turned out to be a fantastic suggestion!

From Emerson's house it was about a four hour drive to the trailhead. Most of the day was spent discussing dentistry so you can imagine how wild it got. The huge granite slabs that make up these mountains are in stark contrast to what I'm used to hiking in Colorado. For me, it was awesome change of scenery and my first time hiking in Yosemite. I saw a beautiful peak called Mount Clark and I informed Emerson I would like to come back in the Spring to hike it.

Mount Clark is the prominent peak in the center.

The hike was moderate in difficulty and the trail seemed to follow the pattern of climbing then it would flatten out and repeat. Nearing the top, we began to see some of the awesome views of the granite faces.

The final pitch to the top:

After this last little hill we were on the summit with incredible views of the whole valley including Half-Dome.

Cloud's Rest summit. Elevation 9,926 feet.

Zooming in on Half Dome I could barely make out the people climbing the steep face.

We stayed on top for probably a solid hour. We shared the summit with about 10 people that day which I didn't think was too crowded for a Saturday. The views of Half Dome were awesome....almost as if I was holding it in my hand....

Emerson was better at staging this photo than I was.

Now for the posed shot.

While I know this isn't a "14er" I still thought it was an awesome hike. Definitely worthy of being shared. I hope to make it back to Yosemite soon. Big thanks to Emerson for suggesting we go hiking and for opening up his house to me and my family. Bros 4 eva!!

Castle and Conundrum Peaks 9/25/2010

Total Mileage: 12 miles
Elevation Gained: ~5000 feet
Staring Point: Castle Creek Trailhead

This was my favorite 14er hike to date! I set up this trip about a month ago with two friends of mine. They brought their wives with them, as I did, to Aspen. We spent Friday and Saturday night in a condo we rented for the two nights. We brought our kids along as well and it was time well spent with friends and family. Saturday morning the men set out for Castle Creek trailhead with aspirations of summiting Castle and Conundrum peaks. The day previous had been spent climbing Gray's and Torrey's Peaks as a little warm up for this hike. My friend Eric and I climbed together on both hikes and another mutual friend Joel joined us for the Aspen trip/hike. It was Joel's first 14er and he did awesome!

We knew the trailhead was the beginning of a 4WD trail that would shave a lot of mileage off our trip if we could make it up it. I only made it up about .5 miles before my 03' Passat hatchback had to pull over. I was hoping to make it up a mile but I didn't mind the extra mileage much. While hiking this 4WD portion, we were passed by multiple cars who were planning their start much further up the trail. The end of the 4WD trail puts you in Montezuma Basin and 12,800 feet. Cheating if you ask me, but to each their own. It reminded me a lot of the 4WD trail that most people skip when they hike Princeton. There is a scenic waterfall about 2 miles up the road.

We kept on hiking and cars kept on passing us. The hike was pretty uneventful until we made it to Montezuma Basin. From there we had a view of both mountains and we also ran into snow. Here's a view from the basin looking up.



Orange was our route up through the snow. Red shows how we got down. We suck at "Leave No Trace."

Once over this hump we had the last little climb to get to the top of Castle. Only it didn't feel little.

We had perfect weather which made for great views of the Maroon Bells, Snowmass, Capitol, and we could even see Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn far to the South. Of course, we could see our next project right in front us as well. Conundrum seemed much further away then it really was.

I honestly didn't know if my hiking team would be up for Conundrum. We were all pretty tired and worried about the way down. It looks much more daunting then it really is. Our route would be down to the saddle between Castle and Conundrum, up Conundrum, back to the saddle, and straight down from the saddle to Montezuma basin. I was excited to hear the group decide to press on after a 20 minute break on top of Castle Peak.

Admittedly, it is very deceiving to view the saddle from below and see a viable route down it. It appears as a straight rock face that would be too dangerous. The truth is that it is very doable and I would consider the west slope of Mount Columbia to be more dangerous. Reading multiple trip reports on 14ers.com proved to be very valuable. We were on top of Conundrum 45 minutes after leaving Castle. Much easier then we had anticipated. The descent was pretty easy.

The black arrow shows the point of our initial descent. From there, you can see where the snow meets the rock and that accurately delineates the path we took down into the basin. There's also a big scar across the snow pack that appears as a possible path from far away. It is a huge crevasse that reveals a large amount of glacial ice.

A closer look at my crevasse.

Here's the summit pics of Castle first and then Conundrum.

This next picture is taken from Castle looking back on the route up. Some of the hikers you can see climbing up give a little perspective of the steepness.

As shown before, we found some fun sledding to get down a significant portion of the mountain. Of course, by sledding I mean sliding on our butts and getting very wet. We got down to the basin fast and hiked back to the car which was parked about 3-3.5 miles from the basin. I think Joel's knees were hurting him. I hope he's feeling better. I should probably call him. Anyways, it was radical and I'd do that hike again in a heartbeat.

Funny story time. On top of Conundrum we asked a nice gentleman to take a picture of all three of us. He held out the camera and started to just take multiple pictures without skipping a beat in conversation. We weren't really ready or even aware he had taken any pictures yet. Then he said "I love digital" which I can only interpret to mean, "I like pushing the silver button 10 times and I bank on one turning out good." Fair enough. He did the same thing with Joel and Eric's cameras as well. I'm hoping they got a good one. So here's my one-out-of-ten diamond in the rough standout photo.



Classy

So all in all, about 12 miles roundtrip in about 9 hours start to finish. We headed back to Aspen and enjoyed dinner at the Hickory House. It was delicious and nutritious. Except probably not very nutritious. This made for my 9th and 10th 14er. Only 48 more to go. Then I'll be ready to do all the alternate routes on each 14er after that. Colorado rulez the school!

Notes to self:
-bring a change of socks

Gray's and Torrey's Peaks 9/24/2010

Total Mileage: 9 miles
Elevation Gained: 3600 feet
Starting Point: Steven's Gulch Trailhead



Torrey's Peak

 This hike was meant to be a warm-up for Castle and Conundrum peaks the next day. With short mileage and Class I terrain I didn't think this would be too draining of a hike. I got to hike this one with a buddy of mine named Eric. That would make it my first non-solo 14er. We got going around 7:00am and hiked about 4 miles to the summit of Gray's Peak. About halfway up we encountered some snow and by the top we were trudging through about 6-8 inches of fresh snow that had accumulated on the trail. Conditions were great for us. We had a little wind but clear skies the entire day. We shared the two peaks with a lot of other hikers. We rested for about 20 minutes on Gray's before heading over to Torrey's Peak.



On top of Gray's with Torrey's not too far off. 14,270 feet.

 We were on top of Torrey's about 45 minutes later and relaxed for another 20 minutes or so.

The following picture shows the standard route we took to Gray's summit.

Green is the route up and Blue would be the descent from Torrey's/Gray's saddle

As a side note about my pictures. I am using some trial software to make panoramics and it automatically writes that copywright info in the lower right hand corner. I'm not really concerned with claiming these pictures as my property. Please feel free to copy and distribute all you'd like.

We finished our hike around 1pm and headed back to pick up the wives and head to Aspen, CO for the weekend. We would be hiking Castle Peak and Conundrum while the girls do something else to be determined (but probably shopping). I was a little worried about Eric, that he may be too tired for more 14ers.

Notes to self:
-bring toilet paper
-drawing obscenities in the snow is immature but kind of funny also

Pikes Peak 9/18/2010

Total Mileage: 12.5 miles
Elevation Gained: 7800 feet
Starting Point: Barr Trail Trailhead

My Dad flew down from Spokane, WA to hike Pikes Peak with me! I had been looking forward to this trip since he called and arranged it. We had initially planned to only hike up and take the Cog Railway back down. The day before our hike a helicopter crashed on the mountain and I found out that the Cog may not be running the day of our hike. The Toll Road would also be closed down meaning our only descent option would be hiking the 12.5 miles down. We went ahead and planned to hike ourselves up and down the mountain and prepared for a 25 mile hike.

The picture quality is pretty bad here. My Dad and I both forgot to bring our cameras so I had to make due with just my phone. The picture above was taken about 4 miles into our 12.5 mile hike up Pikes Peak. We started up the trail at about 5:45am. It was dark for the first 45 minutes. We weren't using headlamps so we just had to adjust to it. By 6:20am it was getting lighter and visability wasn't an issue. The Barr Trail provides more elevation gain from trailhead to summit than any of the other 57 14ers. We started at about 6500 feet and ended at 14,110 feet.

At the halfway point there is a little cabin/campground called Barr Camp. It's essentially a campground with a bed and breakfast twist to it. You can purchase a campsite or indoor accomadations and at night a spaghetti dinner is served followed by a pancake breakfast in the morning. It also serves as a place to resupply. They sell Gatorade and other snacks. It was here we discovered that the Cog was running and we may not have to hike out if we didn't want to. This also meant that the summit house would be open.  A lot of people use this camp as a way to break up the hike into two days or more. So we took about a 20 minute break and kept on hiking up the trail.

This hike served as a source of redemption for me. About three months ago I decided I wanted to hike this trail with a friend of mine. I made it as far as Barr Camp and had to turn back. I'm embarrased looking back on that hike and realizing how underprepared I was. The guy who runs the camp with his wife told me I could hike 1.5 miles to a Cog stop and catch the train up and then back down. I had already purchased the tickets so I called ahead and told them I would be there to be picked up. So I still was able to enjoy the summit but I took no pictures because I felt unworthy. My friend hiking with me was in much better shape and drove much further than me to be there. I thought for sure he'd never hike with me again. This experience is what motivated me to get in shape and begin hiking 14,000 foot mountains. I started running after this and hiking the Manitou Incline twice a week. I lost about 15 lbs and I now consider myself an elite alpinist. So, this hike was fun to complete and it reminded me how I never want to be that out if shape again. Nobody likes a fat dentist.

This is my Dad just above treeline with the final 3 miles ahead of us. The altitude was definitely affecting him and we slowed our pace for the final few miles. We took frequent breaks and stayed well fed and hydrated. We arrived at the top at 2:00 pm on the dot.

We were very fortunate to find room on the Cog train going down the mountain. We had to wait in a line and ride in separate seats but we were sure relieved to not have to hike down the way we came. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my Dad did overall. You never know how someone is going to react to that kind of physical exertion at altitude. I hope to have him down for another soon!

Notes to Self:
-buy a headlamp
-don't forget my camera
-old man strength should not be underestimated

Mount Bierstadt 9/9/10

Roundtrip Mileage: 7 miles
Roundtrip Elevation: 5800 feet
Starting Point: Guanella Pass

This hike was one I wasn't planning on doing until about two days before I did it. My wonderful wife was great to let me spend the morning hiking. I had realized I had the day off and nothing to do. Climbing Mount Bierstadt was the obvious choice.

I arrived at the trailhead at about 6:45am after driving the final 13 miles over a half dirt/half asphalt road. The road was a bit deceiving as it was littered with significant potholes throughout. I was hiking towards Mount Bierstadt by 6:50am.

The initial portion of this hike runs through a swampy, wet field. Luckily, the trail leads to bridges that carry the hiker over the really wet muddy areas. If not for these bridges this trail would be much less desirable. While on the bridge I lost sight of the trail but I eventually found it again.

You can see from this picture that the fog was very low. This did not clear up until I was on my way down the mountain and nearly to my car. The fog rolled along the mountain side the entire morning. Winds were mild but still made for a cold hike up the mountain. Little lakes and streams were scattered throughout this meadow. Even with the fog it was a very pretty hike and I imagine I would enjoy this hike even more on a second trip given a clear day (maybe a good starter 14er for the ole' ball n' chain). About half way up the mountain the fog cleared for a moment to reveal the goal.

Normally, this is visable from the parking lot at the beginning of the trail but on this day, I only had about 5 minutes to soak in this view until the fog rolled back over it. This was the first time I've experienced a significant limit in visability while hiking. At times I couldn't see more than 20 feet in any direction. I was fortunate that route finding was not required on this hike. Towards the top, visability did not improve. I spent all of 10 minutes on the summit and decided I'd better start the descent. Being on top of a 14er isn't as exciting when you don't have the views you've worked so hard for. As I'm about to post this next picture of myself on the summit my wife informs me that I should explain why my face looks like I just went diarrhea in my pants. I have no explanation for this and I am posting this in spite of my wife's behest.

Arriving at the ridge leading to the final pitch the visability was at its worst. I snapped a photo on the way down looking back up the final pitch. There's a lone hiker somewhere in there.

It was also a first running into snow and ice. I started seeing snow at about 13,500 feet. This picture was at the summit.

It was 9:10am when I arrived at the summit. This was pretty good time for me. I zoomed down pretty fast as well. I didn't pass anybody on the way up and didn't see any other hikers at all until I was on the summit I was joined by another sole hiker. I saw plenty of hikers on the way down and secretly harbored ill feelings towards them because the fog started to clear almost as soon as I was about halfway down the mountain. I thought it unfair that I had woken up early and hiked the mountain and the "lazies" get to enjoy all the good views. I gave one hiker the "stinkeye" and I don't think he understood why. I may have whispered aloud, "Die in a fire."

Almost back at my car I turned around and the whole mountain was in view along with most of the route up.

It was 10:50 back at the car and I headed back for home. It was a quick hike and my 6th 14er. Next week I get to hike Pikes Peak with my Dad. I'm really looking forward to that even though I've already hiked it solo. It will be my first 14er with a hiking partner though which is another reason I'm looking forward to it. Most of my readers have asked me to make a post about it even though Pikes Peak has already been conquered. Since I'm all about making my readers happy, I'll do it.

Notes to Self:
-it's getting colder and while I wore gloves, I wish I had better ones
-find something to cover my ears
-work on my camera faces