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Warden’s Gulch to Gold Hill
The day begins with rain. That clears up, but a few hours later another storm rolls in. This continues all day. We take lower routes when possible, passing lots of active and abandoned mining settlements. Miner Detritus The worst storm hits us on the highest ridge, where we take shelter in a tiny mining shack.…
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Guanella Pass to Warden’s Gulch
I’m excited to reach the continental divide today. We start with hopeful weather, and start up Square Top. Guanella Pass Trailhead Long views, alpine flowers, and ptarmigan grace the high country. Up Squaretop Alpine Flowers Ptarmigan We can even see where we’re going. That Way As we cruise west along the divide, though, a big…
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Lost Creek to Guanella Pass
No storms around this morning! Good thing, because we have a big mountain to get over. Good summit weather We roll over Rosalie Peak, but Mount Evans is definitely the party spot of the day. Me on Mount Evans From there we traverse to Mount Spalding and work our way down easy terrain toward Guanella…
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Maxwell Falls to Lost Creek
In a light rain we continue our westward migration, now comfortably on actual trails in national forest. Cub Creek Trailhead The rains have brought up thousands of mushrooms. I’ve never seen so many here. Mushroom Pete in the Mushroom Patch Mushroom Mushroom Clumps Amonita Muscaria And the moment comes when we enter “wilderness”! Wilderness! The…
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Mount Falcon Park to Maxwell Falls
Still a little wet when we wake up, the climb up Mount Falcon warms us up. Falcon Peak Trail My dad lives on the far side, so we stop in for a little visit. My house is also parked here, which is lucky because I notice a strap on my vibram is about to break.…
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Denver Doorstep to Falcon Park
Our trailhead is equipped with a stove and espresso maker, which helps us get on the trail nice and early. IS Trailhead The route begins with a quick descent. Pete Steps Out We depart the Highlands neighborhood… Highlands Hiking Negotiate early morning traffic… Street Walking Stop at the bank… Bank Stop Have a spot of…
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Vedauwoo – Farewell
The time has come for us to leave the wonders of Vedauwoo behind, but we can’t resist going out early to put a rope on one last climb on John’s tower, Yellow Belly 5.10c. This is perfect – hand jams, stemming, fingers, a hard lieback, all leading to a final honker of an offwidth. We’re…
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Vedauwoo Grand Loop
To close out the month we attempt a full helping of our favorite activities, setting out to traverse the whole area from north to south with climbing packs, climb with friends at the Nautilus, and return via a different route. It’s great, and exhausting! Kate and Mark introduce us to some new friends, I lead…
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Twin Peaks Scramble
Returning to Vedauwoo with a new refrigerator (thanks to Annemarie and Huntington for more help), we break in the afternoon for a quick scramble up these prominent peaks. The woods are pretty thick on the north slopes, but just open enough to be fun to navigate. Both summits have nice views, and the south one…
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Vedauwoo – Plumb Line
Quite the crew shows up for our main weekend gathering: Kate, Mark, Sean, Matt, Doug, and Liz traipse to the Plumb Line crag with us for some grovelling. I like all the short cracks I’ve climbed here, and of course I take another swing on Plumb Line itself, doing much better this time. Ann shows…