Guides and Trips
Trips
We skied up the Michigan Ditch Trail to the American Lakes winter trail. This is one of our favorites!
This area is by far one of our favorites. We have been working on getting to the top of many of the peaks around Cameron Pass, so we returned this weekend to hike Lulu Mountain. We parked at the American Lakes TH, just off Hwy 14, in the State Forest State Park. We made our way along the trail by American Lakes/Michigan Lakes and up to Thunder Pass. There is a faint trail...
North (10,982'), Middle (11,002'), and South (11,003') Bald Mountains
Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, United States
Hiking | 13.3 miles
Hiking | 13.3 miles
We began our triple Bald Mountain summit day via the North Lone Pine Trailhead, off of Deadman Road outside of Red Feather Lakes. We left the trail to bushwack up to the top of North Bald Mountain first, then continued our bush wacking back down and then up to Middle Bald Mountain. After coming down from the Middle summit, we briefly joined a FS road and then began making our own way...
Mt. Oxford (14,153') and Mt. Belford (14,197')
Vicksburg, Colorado, United States
Backpacking | 11.7 miles
Backpacking | 11.7 miles
Two years ago, we summited Missouri and Belford, but bad weather kept us from Oxford. We returned this year to get to the top of Oxford. We backpacked in a couple of miles and set up camp just below treeline. The next morning we headed up to Elkhead Pass and then over to Oxford. Belford is so close, so we also re-summitted Belford. We headed down the steep switchbacks on Belford, which...
While TJ and his family fished at Bellaire Lake, I took the dogs on a hike to Molly Lake and along the Granite Ridge Trail. The trails are still being built in this area and I lost the trail as I headed to Elkhorn Creek. What a beautiful fall day!
From the Zimmerman Lake TH parking lot, we crossed Highway 14 to the Montgomery Pass TH. About 1.5 miles up the trail, we followed a faint (or non-existant) trail via the bowls of the Diamond Peaks to summit the north (P52) and south Diamond Peaks at 11,852 feet and 11,701 feet. We had beautiful views of the many resevoirs, Nokhu Crags, Clark Pk and Cameron Pk. We the followed the ridgeline back...
San Luis Peak is our 27th 14er. We hiked by this peak last year on our Colorado Trail trek, but decided not to summit due to a long day of CT hiking. We came back for a little CT reminiscing and to finally go to the top of the peak. We parked at the Eddiesville Trailhead and backpacked in 4 miles the first night along Cochetopa Creek. We summitted the next morning...
Clark Peak at 12,951 feet is tallest peak in the Medicine Bow range (this range extends north from Cameron Pass into southern Wyoming). There is no official trail to the top of this peak, but it can be easily accessed from several trailheads (Sawmill Creek, Blue Lake, Ruby Jewel, or Montgomery Pass). We made a loop from Sawmill Creek (there is no trailhead sign here in the winter, but park at Blue...
Mount of the Holy Cross was our 26th 14er! We began our trip at the Halfmoon Trailhead and hiked into East Cross Creek to set up camp. We climbed up the north ridge and summitted on Saturday, encountering a bit of rain on the hike down.
Blanca Peak was our 25th 14er. At 14,345 feet, Blanca is Colorado's 4th highest peak (we have now climbed the top 5 peaks in Colorado, and 8 of the 10 tallest peaks). We had planned to climb both Blanca and Ellingwood, but after some scary off trail climbing up Blanca and clouds rolling in, we decided just to descend. The day before, we hiked up the nasty Lake Como Road to Lake...
Mt. Lindsey, at 14,042 feet, was our 24th 14er and our first 14er in the Sangre de Cristo range. We climbed this peak on its north face from the Huerfano River Trailhead. There are many campsites on the road leading to the TH and at the TH. From the Lily Lake Trail, make sure to branch left off the trail. There is a sign at this point for Lily Lake, but not one for...
After 23 14ers, Mount Audubon was our first official 13er! The Indian Peaks Wilderness is magnificient, but is also a very busy area, especially at this TH. We got the last parking spot at the Mitchell Lake TH, even after an early arrival. The Brainerd Lake Recreation Area does charge a $9 fee, which doesn't deter many people though! The Mount Audubon trail is on the north side of the parking lot...
We have attempted two previous snow shoe trips to Ypsilon Lake, without success as we lost the trail both times in the deep snow. We finally decided to do this hike in the summer so we could actually complete it! A very curious marmot at the lake closely inspected us and our packs...maybe looking for a handout? (Which we didn't provide). TJ fly fished in the Roaring River and caught two small...
We were able to see smoke from Day 2 of the High Park fire along this hike. The smoke had laid down a bit over night.
We had yet another beautiful hike in Pingree Park! We quickly entered into the Commanche Peak Wilderness and then into Rocky Mountain National Park. We had great views of Commanche Peak and Fall Mountain throughout the first few miles and then a views of Ramsey Peak and the Stormy Peaks as we neared the pass. From the Stormy Peaks Pass, we caught a glimpse of Signal Mountain to the NE. The trail...
We visited Red Mountain Open Space for the first time. The mountain biking was not ideal on parts of the trail - it felt like we were biking through quick sand on the "wash" parts of the trail.
