Category: Trail Journals (Page 3 of 5)

Ronda and I finally managed a short backpacking trip out into the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. The wilderness area is located right on the Continental Divide. We drove up through Cottonwood Pass and down the western slope to Taylor Reservoir. Then a little north to the access road that follows Texas Creek. The forest road is in pretty bad shape and even though it’s passable to regular vehicles ther are so many rocks in the road that the going is mighty slow. This went on for about 5 miles and then the road becomes passable only to high clearance vehicles.

Of all the roads I’ve encountered designated as 4WD this one lived up to it. Nearly all 4 miles of it were rough and tumble. Much later than we had planned we arrived at the trailhead. Everyone put on their backpack (including Abby) and off we went down the trail. The trail follows the Texas Creek drainage area and is a pleasant hike that has very gradual elevation gain. We saw quite a few beaver ponds, an old abandoned mining cabin, and made several creek crossings without getting wet.

As the afternoon wore on we scouted out a camping site that was off the trail and near a water source. We set up camp then lounged around, had supper, and enjoyed a nice campfire before retiring for the evening. The temp must have dropped down under the freezing point as there was heavy frost on the tent and bushes the next morning. Poor Abby spent some of the night shivering as she has no sleeping pad/bag. We’ll have to see what we can figure out for her that will stuff into her pack!

We spent the morning being lazy and finally packed everything up and hiked back to the Jeep. It was a nice escape into the woods even if it was short.

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Our initial goal on this trip was the Grand Canyon. Neither of us had ever been there before and it has a somewhat legendary status as far as things to see in your lifetime. We planned the trip so as to arrive on the North Rim after a fairly hard drive from Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado. The drive across Northern Arizona was long and quite desolate although I was surprised at the amount of traffic on the two-lane highway. It seems that no matter where you go these days there are a lot of people. We arrived in Page, AZ around 4 pm or so and drove down into Marble Canyon to cross over the Colorado River at the Glen Canyon Dam. Our goal was to get to the Kaibab Forest visitor’s center before it closed at 5 pm.

Driving along the Vermillion Cliffs just below the Paria Plateau we started gaining elevation and suddenly left behind the barren desert landscape and entered the Kaibab Forest. Arriving at the visitors center with time to spare we secured a map of the forest and inquired about good places to disperse camp along the rim of the Grand Canyon. Dispersed camping, in case you are not familiar with the term, means finding your own campsite somewhere in the forest. It has the advantage of guaranteeing solitude as long as you don’t mind dispensing with modern conveniences like water, showers and toilets. But then again; that’s what camping is all about. Right? 😉

Having received a couple of pointers from the Rangers we headed down the forest roads towards the canyon. Continue reading

I had only a few goals for this vacation trip but hiking a slot canyon was one of them. I did a fair amount of research on them and was happy to find that one of the premier slot canyons was very close to where we were planning to camp while visiting the Grand Canyon.

Their is an amazing piece of real estate along the Arizona/Utah border called the Paria Canyon/Wilderness area. It has several notable features; the Vermillion Cliffs, Coyote Butte, and the Buckskin Gulch slot canyon. Buckskin Gulch is considered by some to be the ultimate in slot canyons. For 12.5 miles, the gulch is enveloped in a very narrow gorge 100 to 200 feet deep, flanked by vaulting, convoluted walls of Navajo sandstone. Many people hike the entire canyon but this obviously requires a shuttle vehicle.

We were only interested in a short day hike so opted for the Wire Pass access to the main canyon. Wire Pass is notable because it is even narrower in places than Buckskin Gulch. We arrived at the Wire Pass trailhead on a beautiful morning, registered at the trailhead, and began the easy 1.2 mile walk through Coyote Wash. There were a surprising number of vehicles at the parking area, a testimony to the popularity of the place.

The trail remains wide and shallow, bounded by low slickrock bluffs and sandy bluffs, but evetnually the walls close in and you enter the first short stretch of narrows. Beyond this we were quickly swallowed up into a very narrow slot where only about 4 feet separate the canyon walls. We saw a large log wedged in between the walls about ten foot overhead which served as a good reminder of the tremendous force of flash floods in narrow desert canyons.

The colors were very striking and sculptured walls were textured in an array of shapes. the third and final narrow shrinks down to a mere two feet wide in places. After exiting this final slot there is a large shadowed alcove that has some extremely soft sandstone. So soft that you can make a handprint by working your fingers back and forth. Many people have done so as evidenced in the picture. We also saw some old Indian pictographs near here.

The junction of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch is wide and open with a number of sheer rock faces and interesting patterns. You can proceed up or downstream from here, we opted to head down stream and within a few hundred feet were back into the slots again. We eventually were stopped by a deep pool of water that was impassable without getting wet and we opted to head back since it was lunch time. We had our lunch in the open space where the two slots meet and then went upstream for a little ways before deciding that we needed to get back to the Jeep and keep moving.

The trip back up Wire Pass was a little more challenging as the drop-offs became climb-ups but we made it ok. It was definitely a rewarding hike and I would like to hike a few other slot canyons sometime in the future.

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Since all the pictures of the “Grand Adventure 2006” are not through processing, we are writing about our vacation/30th anniversary trip in sections and not all in order. This story begins on day 4 of our trip; we hiked Wire Pass in Southern Utah that day and are searching out a place to camp as we head back to Colorado. One of the visitor’s centers earlier in our trip had recommended Alstrom Point overlooking Lake Powell. This day, we stopped at another visitors center as we approached Big Water, Utah, for a more ‘local recommendation’. A New York couple camped in the center parking lot had just been out to the point and recommend it so highly, we decided to make the 25 mile trek. Map in hand we head out through ‘the moonscape’ as they called it and onto the point.

On the North side of Big Water, there is a gravel road – washboards and all- that has the dubious distinction of being called State Highway 12. We decided it is the only state highway we have seen anywhere that is dirt or gravel! This ‘highway’ is both. The landscape quickly changes at Big Water. It began in the red-orange rock of Coyote Buttes and within a distance no more than a mile became a bizarre moon-like gray dust that was almost completely void of life. Plant or animal with a very limited plant selection as the pictures show.

The buttes on the left were easily 1,000 feet high. The top 2/3rds were simply sheer rock faces and the bottom 1/3 was softened by the moon hills. The farm girl in me had to get out and feel the soil’s texture. It was a great photo op as this was something we wanted to remember. The soil was soft, light, almost the consistency of powdered sugar. Continue reading

Getting up to visit Uncle Bill became one of those “we really need to do that” things that somehow kept slipping off the radar screen ever since we moved here. But… we finally made it a priority and scheduled a weekend with Bill and made it happen. It was Mother’s Day weekend in fact.

We drove up Friday night after I got off work. It was about 2.5 hours and would have been less had we not run into construction going through Denver. We got to Ft Collins and decided to go out for supper at Coopersmiths , one of Bill’s haunts, and had a nice time eating out on the patio in “Olde Town”.

The next morning we rustled up some breakfast, got our gear ready and headed up into the Roosevelt National Forest. We followed the Poudre River up the canyon and found a nice trail called Roaring Creek. The trail climbs steeply up a south-facing slope through sagebrush, juniper, Douglas fir, and huge ponderosa pine. Roaring Creek was roaring pretty good with the spring runoff. We had some very nice views of the Poudre Canyon while hiking up this steep slope. After the first mile (and an elevation gain of around 2,000 feet), the trail levels and continues along the creek lined with willows and through a lodgepole pine forest.

It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the diversity of this trail.

Sunday morning was another fine Rocky Mountain spring day and we took Ronda over to The Rainbow and a had a very nice breakfast outside on the patio to celebrate Mothers Day.

Last fall Josh and I went on our first backpacking adventure into the wilderness. I’m a little delinquent in getting this trip report out but… better late than never. The area is known as the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness and is located at the southern end of the Mosquito Range. It is a small wilderness area of 43,410 acres and is the only designated wilderness in the Mosquito Range. We had completed an earlier car camping trip to the area in July and enjoyed a pleasant stay at the edge of the wilderness area. See this article for a report.

We liked the area so much that a return trip was deemed essential. The top of the peaks looked as though they would provide a magnificent view of the Collegiate Peaks (Continental Divide) to the west and Josh was particularly interested in composing a panoramic of the mountain ranges. Labor Day weekend looked promising…..Ronda was planning a trip back to Iowa leaving us boys to play.

In the interim Josh began building a special purpose offset-bracket that would allow his camera to be rotated on the tripod without changing the focal point of the images. He bought some scrap aluminum plate and designed the approriate distances/angles, cut it out and smoothed it down, drilled and threaded the holes, and I put the final bend on it with a sheet metal bender at work.

Gear was another issue. Neither of us had an approriate sleeping bag, a backpacking stove, or various other “lightweight” items like cooking pans. These things take on a whole ‘nother perspective when you have to haul them in on your back. Our last excursion to the area was a good training event though. Lesson learned… it get’s COLD up there at night. Those summer-weight sleeping bags just don’t cut it. We are fortunate that we have a local REI Outdoor store. We both found good deals and I picked up good bag for Ronda while I was at it. I bought a neat little stove that uses several kinds of fuel and a nylon tarp too.

Josh already had a nice backpack he had purchased a number of years ago. The only thing I had was an old-school external frame pack we found at a garage sale for $2.00. I decided that despite it’s rudimentary design there was no reason it wouldn’t work for this trip. We knew we had too much to carry… the camera gear (both of us took our cameras, extra lenses, and Josh needed his big tripod) , the food, water, tent, sleeping bags, and so on. Sure enough by the time we had everything stuffed in or strapped on each of was was toting a little over 50 lbs. I was a little apprehensive about the weight given my previous back surgery but the packs are supposed to transfer a majority of the weight to your hips so I figured one can only but try… Continue reading

Yesterday we were hiking through the foothills enjoying 75 degree weather and sunshine. Ronda, Josh and I got in some serious cardio-vascular exercise over in North Cheyenne Canyon during what turned out to be a four-mile excursion culminating in one of my famous “shortcuts”.

The trail starts out at the summit of High Dr. and ascends up the side of Mt Buckhorn. High Dr. is open from May to October to vehicular traffic. Key word being “to” not “through” October. as I had recalled. We had to park in the Gold Camp Trailhead parking area and hike up High Dr. before we could actually start our hike. The trail (667) across Mt. Buckhorn delivers some very nice views of the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, and the wide open prairie beyond. The trail becomes Jones Park trail as you leave Mt Buckhorn and continues across an un-named ridge towards Mt Kineo. It was at this point that “the shortcut” came into my mind.

Going back the way we came was the original plan, however, we were three miles out and the sun had already dropped over the mountains to the west of us. Having become familiar with the geography of the local area, I knew that the Seven Bridges trail was at the bottom of the canyon to our left, and that if we could get down to it we could shave a good two miles off our return trip. The only thing between us and the Seven Bridges trail was about 900 feet- 900 feet down, that is.

Now 900 feet is not really all that far, about three city blocks, but it takes on a different perspective when it’s down. Or another perspective… Des Moines, IA is approx. 860 feet above sea level.

Ronda begins narrating this story….I was not sure whether to trust these two Rambo types and their ‘yee ha – let’s go down the mountain’. Matt has taken me on some interesting and very challenging off trail adventures but to his credit, he has never gotten me lost, so I relented. I have learned that my tax dollars got both of my guys some awesome field survival skills.

Now understand that standing at the top of a very steep incline and looking down has NEVER been my cup of tea. Jumping off a loaded hay rack is my idea of enough height so this view of almost straight down for 900 feet was bit beyond my comfort zone. It is one of the reasons I have not ever really considered downhill skiing, the thought of standing at the top of a steep incline on a mountain and realizing the only thing between me and the bottom is a long ride on a couple of slim pieces of wood or acrylic. Not my idea of a good time. I was soon to learn that my perspective was ALL wrong!

We advanced a small distance across the trail from the high rocky point that this capital decision was made and began the apprehensive (on my part!) descent down. We followed an animal trail that Matt found which worked its way across the the incline, crossing an open scree field very carefully. (We later regretted this decision) The whole mountain is a scree field, actually, but covered by pine needles and grasses so it is possible to navigate carefully. At the point that we had decended approximately 200 feet, Matt decided it was time to go the more downward route. This is where our new sport initiation came in! Now mind you, I said that the whole mountain face was scree. If you are unfamiliar with scree, it is loose granite about the size of pea gravel. We have found that even on Pikes Peak, there are ‘rocks’ appearing to be granite rocks that when touched fall into pieces in your hand. Now imagine a mountain face covered in pea gravel. You are going to just turn and hike down it at a 45 degree angle. NOT!

Hence our new sport. —Scree Sliding. I think there is actually a name for it other than what we deemed it but ours helps you to visualize how we got down that 900 feet in about 15 minutes. Matt led us down. At first, we were all trying to keep our balance and catch trees as we went by to stop and catch ourselves. Before long (not soon enough!) we realized that just surfing the scree and flowing down the mountain was the real way to do this. That was where the ‘yee ha’ comes in!

Josh graciously stayed with me and made sure I didn’t roll down the mountain. He held my hand at one point to help me balance and give me confidence. It was then I caught his technique and realized if I relaxed and flowed with the scree, I could surf it down. I lost my balance at several points and ended up ‘sledding the scree’. Whoo hoo! As long as you missed the trees and bigger rocks, which we did, it was a grand time. Alot of the rocks moved out of the way as there is nothing to hold them in place. It was an awesome ride to say the least, leaving us wanting to go back up the mountain face and come down again. We wished we had not passed by the first open scree flow that we found and carefully maneuvered over but just plunged into it. Needless to say, we will not shy away from another opportunity to Scree Slide a mountain face. I think that skiing or snowboarding may now be in my future as that was just too exhilarating to not do on a fairly regular basis. I think Matt has turned me into a rush junkie! He’ll be sorry!

This Scree Sliding experience took us right to the edge of the North Cheyenne Creek, which was a beautiful mountain stream surrounded in trees turning a lovely golden hue. My photographers got busy shuttering away all along the creek. Abby was so thirsty, dusty, and hot that she immediately layed down in the stream. It was a great hike back to the Gold Camp Road along the stream with many photo opportunities. Everyone was in heightened spirits. Truly a great hike!

Hopefully, you will get to see some of the pictures here soon as they are going off to be developed tomorrow. Matt just couldn’t wait to post this story so you will have to endure a pictureless story. We were all a bit jazzed by the adventure for sure and ready to share. On the way back we hit one of our favorite eateries, Jack Quinn, in downtown Co Springs for some hiker nourishment. Highly recommend, and when you come for a visit, don’t let us forget to take you there. Fun Irish pub with FAB food and Celtic music. We never planned to be gone on a 6 hour adventure but all were grateful for the fun and ready to call it an early evening as we rolled into the drive long after dark.