Mountaintop adventures
August 14, 2021
I arrived the night before in the small town of Alma, Colorado. Alma claims to be the highest incorporated town in the United States. Indisputably, at roughly 10,500′ Alma has the highest altitude post office in the US. I slept that night at the Treeline Hostel, which bills itself as “the highest elevation accommodation in North America” … see a pattern here?
Continue reading “The DeCaLiBron”
August 7, 2021
Mount Yale lies in the heart of Colorado’s Sawatch Range. The Sawatch is the apex of the Rocky Mountains, home to the lion’s share of fourteeners in Colorado, the Rockies, and the Lower 48 in general.
Continue reading “Mount Yale via Denny Creek”
July 26, 2021
When an avid hiker friend informed me she’d be coming through the Front Range this summer, I knew I needed to find a solid hike to show off the Colorado Rockies. I wanted to find something a bit more expansive than the Flat Irons; but also an experience that avoided I-70 traffic and hours of driving.
Continue reading “Isabelle Glacier (Indian Peaks Wilderness)”
July 25, 2021
We arrived shortly before 5 am near the somewhat creepy Henderson Mine. To reach this hike’s trailhead, you leave I-70 along US-40 toward Berthoud Pass. At the first big hairpin turn, before US-40 begins to climb towards the pass, you turn off onto Henderson Mine Road. Two miles down this road, you reach the Jones Pass Trailhead.
Continue reading “Vasquez and Stanley Loop: a quiet traverse along the Great Divide”
July 10, 2021
They say getting there is half the fun. Well, for many high trailheads in Colorado, getting there is half the struggle. Approaching the “summer trailhead” for Grays and Torreys proved no exception.
Continue reading “Grays and Torreys: the Great Divide”
July 18, 2021
A quick note: Mount Evans is now Mount Blue Sky, named in honor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. That said, the following post refers to the summit by its name as of July 2021. Below, in the original text, I discuss why John Evans is an inappropriate namesake for Denver’s fourteener.
I pulled into the half-full lot at Summit Lake just before sunrise. The forecast called for a warm, cloudless, summer day. After a string of ambitious (and at times failed) fourteener attempts, I was excited for an easy win.
Continue reading “Mount Evans via Summit Lake”
June 20, 2021
I left Aspen at 4 am for a winding, 1-hour drive over Independence Pass to La Plata. Deer swarmed the dark, winding roadway on either side of the pass, along with a few goats. I took care to avoid these furry car magnets. Eventually, I arrived at the paved trailhead for La Plata Peak.
Continue reading “La Plata Peak”
June 4, 2021
Aspen, Colorado needs no introduction. But here it is anyways: a former mining town turned real-estate powerhouse, home to four world-class ski areas. Folks can and do spend entire weeks in Aspen simply shopping and dining and relaxing by glitzy hotel pools. But the outdoor recreation opportunities here are just as jaw-dropping as the nightly hotel rates.
Continue reading “Ute Trail up Aspen Mountain”
May 31, 2021
Maroon Lake sits tucked away in the Elk Mountains, just southwest of Aspen, Colorado. A paved roadway winds its way up the narrow valley from town to the trailhead, just above 9,500′ above sea level. The trailhead serves as a portal to the vast Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness—a favorite among backpackers and alpinists alike.
Continue reading “Maroon Lake to Crater Lake (Maroon Bells)”
May 28, 2021
I arrived via Four Mile Creek Road, shortly after dawn. I parked just after “horseshoe bend” and the last improved structure, in a large parking lot around 11,400′. Among Colorado’s Fourteeners, Mount Sherman is known for having perhaps the shortest vertical ascent. In summer, the “trailhead” begins at a locked gate in the road at 12,000′. But in late May, you need to park roughly 600 vertical feet further downhill.
Continue reading “Mount Sherman via the Southwest Ridge Trail”