I had great expectations for that this second hike of my 3 day weekend on Saturday…. like climb Mt. Everest expectations….. What I got was not so great.
*** WARNING FEMALE ISSUES WILL BE DISCUSSED****There are just days that are not meant to be…. I have been off the pill for 2 years, I can tell you 15 years ago, before I got on the pill, each month was a juggle of time and advil… and it was bad, like throw up once a month can’t get out of bed bad. But like so many before me, we figure it out and live our lives. I think the blessing has been, that for the past 2 years off the pill I have never reverted back to those dark days until this particular morning….at approximately 2:30 am. At first I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening and got in the car and drove to our designated trail head. It was a crazy beautiful drive and the day was unspeakably beautiful, I knew this was the day for the hike I had planned.
When I pulled up to the trail head all I could think was, I can’t take any more Advil without throwing up and I can’t walk without any more advil….. It was decided right then, as the most spectacular pinks lit up the sky and mountains all around, this hike was not happening….*** DONE WITH FEMALE ISSUES DISCUSSION******
I spent that day in bed and woke on Sunday hungry for a hike and that is how I found myself on Mt. Falcon ( hike details here).
I love November on the front range…one of the best kept secrets is that Denver is crazy mild while the mountains get hammered all winter long, Mt. Falcon was perfect for the hiking that Sunday. It was sunny warm and exhilarating as we flew up the mountain. We started later than we normally do, so it was much more crowded than we are used too.
I left late and was breaking in new hiking shoes but we still made great time. We did 10-ish miles with 2100ft+ elevation gain in just 3 hours, it felt so good. Well mostly good, it was also an interesting and perfect day to be out on the trail. Sundays aren’t a regular occurrence anymore and the people out with us were a great variety. I could do without the smokers though…….
The views were amazing, the hike invigorating and my spirits up…. Love hiking!
Sometimes we need to just stop and take stock….. you know > what is important and what brings happiness, that kind of stock.
I had a day that I could take off and I thought why not take it- try to recenter myself after a really super tough couple of weeks, while knowing I have a really tough couple of months/years ahead of me…. So what does a crazy hike lover like myself do when she plans out a 3 day weekend? She hikes ….and so I did.
Friday morning I woke up when I woke up and then headed over to Roxborough state park, not for a super hard hike(because I drank too much the night before) but because it is beautiful ….all year round and nothing feels better than a little bit of beautiful when things are tough. I decided that I wanted a great hike up Carpenters Peak ( hike details here).
As I pulled into the parking lot, these 4 lovely older women were just finishing up their hike for the day. They were graceful, healthy and just plain happy. I am guessing here, but I think they were in their 60’s they moved and looked amazing, like I want to look like that >amazing. I was incredibly nosey( as I always am) and overheard that this was just one of many hikes they had enjoyed just that week, I was crazy jealous. How do I get there to hiking through out the weekdays and planning other activities around my hikes with my hiking buddies/groups. It was a revelation.
The hike itself was perfect, it was cool and when it got too hot it we were rewarded with some snow to cool us down. We had it to ourselves almost to the top and then on the way down we just crossed paths with a few other hikers….the benefits of taking off a weekday to hike.
I say it too much…but I love it here! To be able to drive just 30 minutes and get views like this, well spectacular…. I am a lucky girl!
I love a weekend where I get to hike twice and I super love hikes with my girlfriends! This particular weekend was extra great because both happened!
I am such a lucky girl!
I woke up early Sunday all excited for my girlfriend hike and then got my second cancellation… but that still left me one girlfriend to enjoy the day with. I will tell you that I was somewhat tired from Bergen Peak the day before( and celebratory drinking post hike) but I at least I had a good idea of trail conditions, since Evergreen Mt at Three Sisters/Aldfer (Hike details here) was just a few miles away and this is where I was taking my girlfriend(s). I had decided as I was getting ready and that even if they all canceled I would still go…. But Carrie was my trooper and showed up early even!
The weather was not what I had hoped, it was going to be a tough hike for her and I wanted our typical blue bird skies when we got to the summit so that it all felt extra worth it. But in the end she totally rocked it and the cloudy skies gave a beautiful depth and moodiness to Mt. Evans that isn’t normally there on a sunny day. Which was kind of better, a moody Mt. Evans is incredibly beautiful, worth all that effort and more.
Hiking with Carrie was wonderful. Not only did I get to be a hiking guide, but I got to spend good time with one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She has been an incredible friend to me since I moved here and someone I have come to rely on heavily for advice. This hike was no different, she is such a true and amazing friend I was so thankful to get the morning to talk and hike with her.
The trail itself was in ok shape, it was hit hard in the floods we had in September but had faired better then other trails…. only one section was closed and there were some washouts along the way but nothing too bad. I was glad we could enjoy it that day.
On the bonus side, we had the trail mostly to ourselves all the way up and Carrie blew my mind with how quickly she was moving up the trail. On the way down we saw all the traffic of the day and strangely they were all bizarrely attractive men. We laughed a lot about it and simply enjoyed the view!!!!!
I know I say it a lot, but on this day like so many others, I was reminded of why I moved here and why I love hiking so much!!!
I have become obsessed with 14ers.com and their facebook page. Reading all the trip reports and seeing the excellent pictures of those incredible people climbing 14ers with like 3 feet of snow already fallen up that high, well it makes me feel pretty wimpy!
It has also given me some insight as to how quickly winter has set in above the tree line this year, as those amazing people are postholing up to their thighs while they climb up. I don’t remember it being like that last fall and I am extra mad at myself for not pushing harder then to take advantage of that dry fall.
With that in mind, I decided to check out a trial I knew would get us close to 10,000 feet up in elevation to get an idea of what it might look like right now. I went to Bergen peak (Hike details here). It is a long hike but the views are always wonderful at the top.
There was definitely snow but no so much until we got closer to the summit trail and the snow we did have wasn’t icy yet, we were early enough. Mostly we just worked our way up the trail.
Upon reaching the final summit climb the snow got a little deeper but in the end wasn’t so bad. It was a beautiful day to be out on the trail and strangely we had it mostly to ourselves. We saw a few people going up… a few people at the summit and then a few people on the way down. It was a little weird… but I won’t complain as I love having a normally busy trail like this one to ourselves.
As always, it was a great hike and the day was perfect! The snow wasn’t a big deal although the mud on the way down did get a little tiresome.
Highest Elevation: 11,578 Ft ( total Elevation gain was around 2200 ft.) Hells Hole is actually at 11,200 but we went past and above it.
Trail Length: I read anywhere from 8-10 miles on the accounts of it I could find. My fitbit was close to 10 miles round trip, it too us 4.5- 5 hrs
Trail uses: Hiker, horses & snow shoe
Degree of DIfficulty: Moderate to difficult, mostly because of altitude and length of trail.
Fees: No fees, but there is a required permit to be filled out on the trail upon entering the Mt. Evans Wilderness
Bathrooms: Yes at the parking lot
Pets: Yes on leash only
A couple of things started coming together for this hike during the week….1 I am running out of new trails to hit through the 3 books I invested in 18 months ago, 2- I wanted to be above 10,000 feet this weekend and finally (and most importantly for selection this week) it needed a Halloween themed name. When I started looking for hikes, I had found a bunch of places listing all the hikes in certain national forests and so I started looking for ones with spooky type names. Hells Hole was perfect and close, now if only we had thought of bringing masks before we started hiking…. Did I ever mention what a Halloween super freak I was?
Pre-Weight loss costume a few years ago
We got up early even though I knew it meant a pretty cold start ( 24 degrees), I still wanted to start early because I hoped it meant having the trail mostly to ourselves and I can tell you it worked, we didn’t see anyone else until we were well on our way back to the car.
New Trail SIgn….nice but I really wanted the dilapidated one that said Hell’s hole for the creep factorNeeded some proof we were at Hell’s HolePermit station and only place I saw the official trail name…too bad it isn’t as ominous as the old sign
The trail starts out climbing through a beautiful aspen grove, which I have come to love as much without leaves as I do with. I would say that this was by far the steepest climb of the entire hike and lasts for a solid mile.
the beginning isn’t so badA little snowy as we leave the aspen grove.There were some water crossings
After the Aspen grove you officially enter Mt. Evans Wilderness
The next 2ish miles climbed through pines at a much milder grade and as the sun started to climb we warmed up a little while the mountains were starting to bask in it, creating a beautiful destination to hike towards. The snow on the ground became more consistent towards the end of the Aspen grove, through the pines it was even more persistent. This brings me to the other great thing about being the first on the trail, we get to enjoy the benefit of first tracks of the day. Which meant no yaktrax or crampons needed for first tracks. Going down was much harder because all that snow had started turning to ice with the other hikers now out on it and the sun starting to warm up everything.
The final 1-1.5 miles we broke out of the trees and moved along the plateau towards Hells Hole when this stunning bristle cone pine grove presented itself. Have you ever seen a Bristle cone pine? I am sure you have, they are those amazing trees that are both living and yet look like they have died in a spectacular display of color with twisted tortured limbs.
The view as we broke out of the treesSame spot but looking back towards the beginning
I have to say reaching this point was by far the best part of the whole hike, I mean I have seen one or two of these trees before on a hike but I have to tell you this was the biggest most stunning grove of them I have ever seen. I spent an hour taking pictures after we made it to our break point just above Hells hole.
Thought this one looked like the tree of the deadMe on the tree of the dead, although totally not deadLots of Bristle cone pines
Hells hole was kind of pitiful, it was frozen over and really unremarkable but the bowl we were in with all the Bristle cone pines and the majestic mountains was what made the hike. It was lovely from beginning to end and the perfect way to commemorate the weekend before Halloween!
Hell’s Hole….not very hellish
Once again we met great people on the trail….it was just before we were done when a super nice couple was asking about the trail and what we thought about where it went. Before I knew it we were all talking about Chicago of all things and blogging and how incredibly awesome Colorado is, among other things! Surprisingly James had found my blog while looking for hikes and recognized me from it, how wild is that!?! It was so nice meeting you James and Wendy you are both so inspiring!
Leave no trace is important, remember to always pack out what you brought in so everyone can enjoy the beauty like you did.
After the directions will be some of my favorite pictures from the hike.
Directions: Take I70 west from Denver, take exit 240- highway 103 at Idaho Springs. Go South on CO 103 from Idaho Springs, at the first Switchback go straight onto Clear Creek County #114 to its end at the West Chicago Creek Campground. FYI the road is dirt but well maintained until maybe the last half mile but it was still in OK condition, it was no problem for my civic.
Me and the moonFun with snowBeing artsyTry to find the moonBristle cone pine and the moonA nice perspective
I will say the weekend when my bestie was here went too fast but it was a really wonderful 48 hour visit. It is amazing the effect your best friend can have in such a short period of time. It was so hard seeing her go and I am not typically a very emotional person, but I cried the whole way home from the airport. I think it also had a lot to do with my new reality…..
When I had left to take her to the airport early that morning I had not slept a wink the night before and decided no hike for this weekend, but on the way home I started to feel so bad that I knew just getting out on the trail would help me turn it around at least a little.
We packed up quickly and headed out to Deer Creek. It was around 10AM when we started, and the parking lot was surprisingly empty for a late Sunday morning. I will tell you that I was also a little hung over, not so much because I drank too much but because I drank and got like 15 minutes of sleep the night before.
I just wanted to get in some exercise with beautiful views to clear my head and get a better perspective on life, this hike was perfect for that. We got in almost 9 miles with around 1700 total feet of elevation gain and we did it in record time at 2.5 hours. It really felt good to do so much in such a short period of time. The big shocker was how few people were out there with us, the day couldn’t have been more perfect for hiking this trail and so few people were enjoying it there. I hope they were enjoying it on another trail!
As always this trail is my favorite go to when time is short but a hike is necessary and this day was no different. Love you Deer Creek Canyon!
I was extra super crazy lucky after my sister left in that my bestie was coming 2 weeks later for a quick visit and she was bringing her youngest son!
With that in mind, I decided to hit Mt. Falcon again on the weekend in between visitors. Plus we got a small snow the Friday before and I knew even with some snow Mt. Falcon ( Hike Details Here) could give a good challenge with lots of miles and we could crush it in short order, then get the house ready for our next set of guests.
View of Denver as we started to climbView from the back side as the clouds cleared out
It was a crisp morning and for some reason the beginning of this hike always takes my breath away. We made excellent time up to the West Parking lot and even shared the trail with these 2 flirty does.
Try to find the Buck
Since we made such good time we decided to hit another part of the trail system we hadn’t checked out yet. So we did Eagle’s Eye Shelter and the Tower trail up to the actual peak of Mt. Falcon( at least I think). It was so cute and Tower trail really had a tower on it. Eagle’s Eye Shelter really was an old summer home turned into a nice picnic and viewing area. I loved them and loved the views from them.
There really is a tower on Tower Trail
In the end we did around 10.5 miles with 2200ish feet of elevation gain in just 3.5 hours. We figured out we jogged a little more than 2 miles on the way down, it felt pretty good and got us done even more quickly. I am not usually a faster is better person but knowing we had lots of prep work at home for our next set of visitors made a quick hike necessary. I have to say I am getting more used to the jogging down portion of our hikes lately. Who knows maybe one day I will even find my way to trail running…although it is unlikely.
Me in the tower
It was a beautiful day…..here are some of our favorite pictures.
View of Denver from the towerView of Denver zoomed upTrying to be artsy
I had grandiose visions of how this hike might turn out…lots of ooooohhhhhhhssss and aaaahhhhsss. And while when I planned out it made perfect sense, in the end, the weather sometimes just doesn’t cooperate.
We had a crazy good time in Breckenridge and it was hard to crawl out of bed to make our way to Mt. Flora (hike details here) on our way back to reality, so we moved a little more slowly then my perfect planning dictated, but I didn’t care because this was the 4th hike in 4 days and I was determined regardless…….. oh wait I am lying, I was totally done hiking and just wanted to veg doing fun touristy things for the rest of our time together. Instead of telling Mary of where I was at, I said nothing and as we pulled up to the trailhead I started preparing her for a shortened hike. It truly was windy in the parking lot and would be 10 -100 times windier at the summit…..
Mary for her part was a super trooper to the end.
I made her point at the continental Divide trail as proof she hiked part of it…… I think it meant more to me then her
We had all we needed to get to the summit, crampons, gaiters, lots of extra clothes and poles….. what we didn’t have was the best conditions, oh and a guide(me) who was worried after the hike the day before with her guest hiker’s issues with heights. Not worried about the trail but the person who was “uncomfortable” with heights. On any given day this trail is not hard but it is super high and after you turn a corner the views are REALLY expansive. Lets not talk about the climb up…with snow …and wind. There was a point where, when I looked back and poor Mary was so uncomfortable that I am pretty sure she was shaking, just a little bit. As a person who has been hiking up high for a while and has no problems with heights, this was a revelation. I tried to see it the way she saw it, I imagine it looks like seeing through a fisheye lens with skewed blurry edges, everything else just looking off and too close while looking too far away at the same time. It feels terrifying I imagine, fortunately for me I only get exhilarated when up high seeing the views.
When I got to the point where I was sure the snow would be less deep (and promised Mary this would be the case) and we would be traversing across the mountain, I saw the snow was still like 10+ inches deep. It was too much and the wind was picking up so I turned us around, not because of how Mary was doing but because I knew after the traverse I would have to turn us around anyway because the wind would be super hard at that elevation to ever summit. There was no reason to put her through more than she could take to only turn her around a half a mile later.
Turnaround point
After we turned around she confessed she would have been ok if we had skipped hiking this 4th hike….. sometimes it is ok to trick everyone into a little workout even if no one wanted that workout. The views were amazing but the trail small and so I kept moving around her taking pictures of us, the hard part was that she could not not move or not say careful careful…. I will tell you that we laughed A LOT.
Heading back down she realized that it wasn’t as hard as she imagined it would be going down and that if I had turned her around a half mile later she would have been really mad at me….. It was the right choice. We took in the crazy amazing views on our way back down and decided to get some yummy food in Winter Park. I used Yelp to find something good and we hit this place on the main strip called Denos Mountain Bistro, we weren’t really all that concerned if it was good just as long we could enjoy the end of our vacation in style. I think the shock was how stinking good it was….like seriously unbelievably good, been dreaming about it since I was there good….. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Colorado. If you are in WInter Park, go there on a Sunday and get the Brunch Burger it is like heaven on a bun and I don’t even like burgers all that much! Their Eggs Benedict was perfect too and more…. Mary got the Brunch Burger and I resented her for getting to enjoy the whole thing while I got just a piece of it.
Ok here are the last pics I got before the wind was just too much and a promise from Mary that she will try this hike again when there is less or no snow.
When we got back to our condo after hiking Hanging Lake, the weather actually got worse but that didn’t stop us from hitting the hot tub…..in blizzard type weather. It was awesome!
When I talked to the front desk they said that there would likely be 3-5 inches of snow in the morning but it would also be beautiful and sunny first thing in the morning so we stuck to the plan of hitting the Mohawk lakes. I can’t lie, I always have the underlying motive of trying to get all my favorite people to fall in love with Colorado and want to move here too. For me the mohawk lakes ( Hike details here) show all the best of Colorado and is not that long, just outside of Breckenridge, with lakes and beautiful views. The down side of Mohawk Lakes is that it is crowded with lots of people who don’t care about rules or any one else’s experience (did you read bitter here because it is so there).
It was pretty cold when we started but Mary was a trooper and getting suspicious. She had asked how the trail was the night before and I said it is pretty easy (lie) until it is not (truth) and that is pretty much flat (lie) until it is not (truth)…. lets just say half way through she was on to me….. I think the best part was when we came to the series of ponds and I pointed out where we were going and she said um WHAT!?!?!?! I totally got what she was feeling, I remember doing this trail and thinking there is no way I am making it up there. I told her trust me, before you know it we will be up there and you will wonder why you thought it was too hard. She totally didn’t believe me….. until not that long after we were up there and she was like “WOW”
There was one little wrinkle that presented itself as we got closer to the falls there was a group of 7 or 8 hikers with like 9 dogs…off leash (illegal) that kept kinda of barging their way past or into our hike. At first it was just the dogs that caught up to us…. then 3 owners so we thought nothing. Just kept moving on. But by the time we reached the scramble I was completely over it when one of the dogs pushed its way through my legs and almost knocked me over. We waited at the start the scramble until after they passed us, I have to admit I did not know how big the group was until that moment… seriously the owner of the dog who knocked me over walked by and I said yeah I don’t want to battle on the scramble with unleashed dogs and she said imagine how hard it would be for me if I leashed her to me…. um WHAT !?!?!?!?!?!. Then the last person in their group was trying to be nice and let us go ahead of them and I said there is no way I can do the scramble and battle 9 unleashed dogs…. My sister was surprised at my open contempt. Heres the thing I LOVE dogs…. I Mean super love them but on a trail with a scramble at 11,000+ ft, an untrained dog is like asking to hurt someone. Trained controlled dogs no problem….puppies with no training and an owner who thinks it is not her problem…. HUGE problem.
Mary and I at the Continental Falls
Outside of my uncontrolled dog issues, Mary was not faring as well as I had hoped she would. She has “issues” with heights and the huge expanses as we climbed the scramble made me realize maybe she needs a better guide, which immediately transported me back to my first attempt. It is freaky when you first climb it. With the snow from the night before…. well it looked intimidating. Mary, though is a fighter( I think she got that from our mom and dad) she battled her discomfort the whole time. When we got to the Lower lake and decided the best choice was to eat, rest and then head down, she got it all under control like the champ she is.
I am so happy!Can you tell we are sisters….I mean our look couldn’t be more identical
At the end she was so happy we made it to Lower Mohawk Lake but I think that maybe we both learned(big lesson for me) that someone who is completely ok with heights should warm up someone who isn’t a little more thoroughly. Either way it was a perfect day for us both! Here are some of our favorite pictures from the hike.
Us at the scramble on the way down…Mary is MUCH more relaxed here.Views at the scramble….love how snow is like the perfect frosting.The 2 perfect peaks are Grays and Torreys
Trail Length: Officially 2.4 round trip but we probably hit 3.5 ish with all the walking around we did.
Trail Uses: Hiker only
Degree of Difficulty: Officially Strenuous, but it isn’t long, just steep so I will say moderate to difficult. The whole trip took 3.5 hours including gawking time at the top.
Bathrooms: Yes at the parking lot
Pets: No and like super no- if they go in the lake they could ruin the nature of the beauty….
Fees: None
Hanging Lake is one of those things that everyone in Colorado tells you that you have to go and see it in person. Even non hikers have been there, that also means it has insanely heavy traffic all the time and all year round. I had hoped to hit it earlier in the summer so that when my sister came into town I would be able to prepare her better but we celebrated a little too hard after our summiting our first 14er, Quandary instead it was a cancel and recover decision.
This was the perfect hike to experience for the first time with Mary and it was a nice small step up in elevation to help get to some higher hikes in the following days. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side we had initially planned a super early departure from where we were staying in Breckenridge but then I backed off because the forecast changed from rain/snow for the afternoon to the morning…
It was full on blizzard conditions as we drove over Vail pass but turned to super heavy rain as we continued down to Glenwood Canyon. When we pulled into the shockingly EMPTY parking lot, it was just a nice drizzle and there was just one other group of hikers getting into rain gear. We got out and hit the bathroom while deciding what to do, we were there already and it wasn’t pouring anymore so we decided to go for it.
Initially the trail is paved along the Colorado River, and then you get to the trail part pretty quickly and easily. It is 1.2 miles, pretty much straight up with lots of rocks and 5-6 bridge crossings over Dead Horse Gulch. At the end it is so steep that there is a railing to hold onto as you climb up the final rocks to the lake. Which is stunning. I mean seriously.
It starts out easy-ishThen it starts to get rockierThere are 5-6 bridges to cross and they are numbered.Every Quarter of a mile there is a post tracking how far you have gone.This rock path was so cool we had to get pictures.Perspective of the rock path
When we got to the final stretch, the railing popped up and the views of the canyon were amazing even in the rain. Mary is “uncomfortable” with heights so when I took this picture she kept saying “careful!” It was cute and there was a very sturdy railing behind us, so unnecessary.
Just Over the top of this climb
Apparently this is some type of geological anomaly where the travertine deposit under the lake effects the water as seeps through the limestone all around. It creates the most lovely shade of aquamarine regardless of weather…. case in point, it was super cloudy when we were there and the lake almost glowed blue-green through all the gray. It is also incredibly clear and you can see the trout swimming all over the place. In order for this treasure to stay this way, fishing and swimming is strictly prohibited because our body oils would change the composition of the lake and its beauty would evaporate. There is a very nice platform almost all the way around for viewing and signs explaining the rare occurrence that creates this beautiful lake. Plus signs all over saying don’t go in the lake or on the dead tree that slices through the middle, unfortunately people ignore it all the time and if you google it online you eventually see someone walking out on to the log and risking the future of this lake. Every time I see those pictures it hurts my heart, more so now that I have seen it myself.
This place is super crowded all the time, except the day we were there. It was actually perfect, we had the way up mostly to ourselves through some drizzle and when we got to the top the rain stopped long enough for us to get some great pictures and then it started up again as we headed down. It also started to get more crowded but nothing like what I have read, it was actually pretty magical.
It was also interesting to watch the differently prepared groups of people hiking up….people in shorts and tank tops – it was maybe 45 degrees out and raining. The 2 motorcyclist carrying their helmets up totally not dressed for hiking, pretty sure they turned around after we told them they weren’t quite halfway up…. I must learn to lie better in those situations. People climbing up in keds, it is the short distance and that tricks so many. It is still a tough hike so make sure you prepare like you would for any alpine hike. After the directions are a few more pictures. I cannot wait to bring more people to Hanging Lake, we loved it!
Directions: Hanging lake is in Glenwood Canyon , just before you reach Glenwood Springs. You can only get to it from the East bound side of I70 and if the parking lot is full, then you need to drive around and keep checking for a spot or come back another day. Seriously no parking spot no hike. This also means if you are coming from the East, you have to drive 5 miles past and then double back to get to the trailhead. Travel 22 miles west of Eagle on I-70 to the Grizzly Creek exit in Glenwood Canyon.After exiting, get back on the highway going eastbound to the Hanging Lake exit.The trail begins 1/4 mile east of the rest area on the left just before the bridge.
A shelter along the way and lots of benches help with the steep climb
hiking to healthy 