Adventures in the Outdoors and Such
Holy cow have I been slacking off on the outdoor blog posts! It was a busy year and I had to let this go for a bit, but let’s get back to it:
Last July it was time to head back to Colorado for the summer adventure. I had to go solo, so I thought I’d go tick off a mountain that had been vexing me and then just see where things took me.
Loaded up the gear, packed the truck and I hit the road early on a Saturday morning.
From Phoenix it’s about 6ish hours to get to Colorado, then it’s some nice driving, the first part, not my favorite.
Around 6 o’clock I pulled into Ridgway State Park, my home for the night. I’d be hiking into the backcountry tomorrow, but it was nice to spend an easy night in the tent at altitude.
It’s a pretty sweet State Park. There’s a real nice lake, quality campsites, and some amazing views! It would be great place to use as a base camp for doing day hikes all around the area.
The next morning I woke up early, packed up and headed for the Blue Lakes Trailhead.
The road to the trailhead is dirt, it’s accessible by 2wd you just have to go slow in a lot of spots. You see all kinds of vehicles out there, I guess you’re only limited by how much you care about your car.
Got there early enough that I got a good parking spot, and took my time organizing my gear. Pretty soon my pack was on and into the woods I went.
It’s very popular place for backpacking and day hikes so you see a decent amount of people on trail. It’s a short, pretty tough hike that goes up hill in about 200 yards from the parking lot. Basically you switchback up the gully until you reach the main basin. There’s a few waterfalls to see but mainly just hiking up in the trees.
After a little over 3 miles you reach Lower Blue Lake and quickly find that all that effort was worth it!
There were a good amount of people camping but I was able to get a nice, relatively secluded spot.
Took my time getting my site set up and had a nice relaxing evening, I was so glad to have my hammock.
That evening I got ready for the next day’s hike, Mt Sneffels. I had made two other attempts at this mountain, both unsuccessful because of storms (I should have started earlier both times). Summer in Colorado means afternoon storms so I wanted to get on the trail at a solid time.
I felt good hiking and in not too long I was standing at 13,000 ft on top of Blue Lakes Pass, looking down on the middle and upper lakes.
After that you descend into Yankee Boy Basin, and head towards the Sneffels trail, trying not to think about having to climb up to the pass again…
The next section kind of sucks as you climb the loose scree slope to the saddle. At the saddle you look up the Purple Couloir, the path to the summit.
The couloir is full of huge rocks and you navigate up through them to the notch. It was a big snow year so the snowfield up high was pretty long, it was nice to have the axe. I flopped my way up through the notch, not really sure how it get back down, and was headed to the summit.
It’s a cool view from the top, looking all around the San Juans, and east towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, I believe. The flys were pretty bad so I headed down after a good look around and a few pics.
Hauled myself back down the notch with the help of some folks coming up, down climbed the snowfield, skated and slipped down the scree, and cursed a little as I climbed back up to Blue Lakes Pass. A little while later after an 8 hour day I was back to camp.
Back at camp I made myself a snack, sat back and enjoyed being out in the woods, and again the hammock was good.
The next morning it was time to formulate the next plan.
I had thought about heading to Ice Lake near Silverton, but was kind of tired of being by myself in the woods, so I headed over to the old stomping grounds of Crested Butte for a few days.
Had a nice afternoon walking around town, and was able to have a couple beers with an old friend.
The next morning I headed out to do the West Maroon Creek hike. I didn’t really have a goal, just to hike up high in the amazing alpine!
Made it up to the basin, the wild flowers and mountain views were outstanding, it was great to just hike along in such a beautiful place.
Had a nice dinner in town at The Wooden Nickel, a couple beers and crashed out for the night.
The next morning I was able to have a quick cup of coffee with another old friend I hadn’t seen in 25 years!
I was planning on making my way back to Phoenix after that but decided to get in one more hike, a little lift assisted hike to the top of Mount Crested Butte. It had been a long time since I stood up there, it was a fun way to end the trip!
Colorado Hiking Video
I came up with a plan a bit ago for a nice outdoor challenge and it’s almost time to try and pull it off! I’m going to try to do The Grand Canyon (South Kaibab to Bright Angel), Mt Whitney, and Half Dome all in the same week. Seems like a fun week of vacation, right?
I’ll be heading to the Ten-X Campground just outside of Grand Canyon National Park on Friday, September 2nd. My friend is celebrating his birthday up there and reserved one of the group campsites. I’m going to head out midmorning to get up there, get the tent set-up, get comfy and chill. I’m excited for the adventures, but also for some car camping, living in comfort in the outdoors! After a night of relaxing outside, I’ll get up, drive into the park and hop the Hikers Shuttle out to the South Kaibab Trailhead. My goal is to do the hike in under 8 hours, but I’ll be happy just enjoying myself on the hike. After hiking I’ll head back to the campground for some chilling out and helping my friend celebrate his birthday.
Sunday morning I’ll going to get up, enjoy some breakfast and coffee, pack up my stuff and hit the road. I’ll be heading for a stop over in Las Vegas during my drive to Mt Whitney. It’s too long of a drive in one day so it makes for a nice stop over and one last shower before a solid week in the tent.
Monday morning I’ll get up, grab some breakfast and hit the road around 8am. I’ll stop by Star Wars Canyon again in my hopes of one day seeing some jets there and hopefully get to the Whitney Portal Campground around the 2pm check-in time.
After getting my campsite set up, I’ll do a little walking around and then relax before an early dinner. I’ll crash out for as long as possible and probably get up around midnight.
Since I didn’t get a Half Done permit in the lottery I need to drive down the portal road until I get internet service and get in the 2 day out Half Dome lottery for Thursday. After that I’ll drive back up to the trailhead and get the hike started.
I hope to get started by 1 or 2 am, so I can set a nice sustainable pace for a just after sunrise summit. After a bit on the summit I’ll head down and try and rest up as much as possible. Later that afternoon I should find out if I got the Half Dome permit, fingers crossed!
Wednesday morning I want to get up early and get on the road to Yosemite. I might just grab breakfast in Lone Pine, we’ll see. It’s a four hour drive (not including any lines to get into the park) and I want to maximize my time in the valley.
If I get a permit I’ll pick it up and then cruise around the village and check out some of the sights. I’ll probably start the hike about 4am, I want to get up and down the cables before any crowds or afternoon weather.
If I don’t get a permit I think I’m probably going to do the Clouds Rest Hike, it’s supposed to be pretty awesome, just no cables. Overall I’m stoked to be able to hike in Yosemite Valley and I’m going to try to have as much fun as possible!
So that’s the plan , I think it’ll be fun no matter what, definitely expect some tough hiking. Also very looking forward to some car camping in amazing places!
Going Down The Trail 