Photos:
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2579090007/a=38054161/
Friday 9/18:
Got a later start than I wanted to, as I had to finish up some work before heading out. Debated on waiting until the next day, as I wanted to see the views where I was hiking. I had been trying to get away on my own for some relaxing hiking for a while. Going solo is nice; you can just go where you want, when you want; not having to be concerned about whether folks are tired, can they make the hike/climb, do they want to do a side trip, do they want to stop for the evening, etc. I had been looking forward to it, and was heading down to the Lost Creek Wilderness. I hadn't been there since before I moved to Colorado. I remembered it being very pretty; and it's not that far from Boulder, so it can be done in a regular weekend trip.
I decided to drive down there tonight. I could always sleep in the truck at the trailhead, or maybe somewhere else even prior to getting there. Headed down, and got to the trailhead around 6:30pm, as it was starting to get dark. I debated about camping at the trailhead, but while it was a bit chilly, it was a beautiful and clear night. Decided I'd hike in a little until I found a camp spot somewhere along the trail. I changed into my hiking gear, made some last minute gear prep, and hit the trail around 7pm.
There was enough ambient light for a little ways so I could still see without a headlamp. Broke onto the Hankins Pass trail, and found a campspot around 7:30pm. Set up camp, made dinner, enjoyed the night sky, and then headed to bed.
Saturday 9:19:
Woke up at 5:30am, had breakfast, and broke camp. Started hiking up Hankins Trail towards Hankins Pass around 6am. Enjoyed the brisk forested hike and the meadow with aspens on the way up to the pass. Reached the pass, with the intersection of Hankins and Lake Park trail around 8am. Debated climbing Tarryall peak, as it looked pretty cool. I was going to try to do a pretty big loop though, hoping to climbing two other peaks (McCurdy and Bison), so I decided to keep moving. Started up the Lake Park trail, and enjoyed the great overlooks. Since I camped the night before, I was starting to run low on water, and planned on filling up in Lake Park. Didn't see any water there though, so continued to the pass and then down to intersect the Brookside and Lake Park trail, now around 10:30am.
Started to hike up to the pass, and ran into a nice water spot with some other hikers. I asked if they minded if I joined them there to fill up on food and water, and they didn't mind. I had lunch and chatted with them for a bit. Before long, a second set of hikers came in too. The two groups had been playing leapfrog with each other. Both were interested in ultralight backpacking, so we chatted a bit and I showed them some of the gear I use. We shared info on the trails; since we were travelling in opposite directions, and then I continued up towards another pass.
The weather started to take a turn for the worse. Dark clouds started to gather and pass over. It sprinkled a little on the way up, but didn't hear any thunder. I reached the intersection of Brookside and McCurdy trails around noon; and had a decision to make. The sky was looking pretty dark now, but there hadn't been any thunder. The weather report called for possible thunderstorms; and if I went for the summits, I had about a 1200 foot gain, taking me to exposed terrain. Then there was another 1000 feet gain for each of the two peaks I wanted to hit. That would be a lot of time in exposed areas if a storm happened to roll in. While debating this in my head, I heard a thunderclap. Easy decision there; not worth risking getting hit by lightning; the mountains would be there another time. I'd break off to plan B, and started to descend on the McCurdy Park trail.
It started to rain pretty hard, then sleet, then hail, and even some snow, while hiking on the trail. (It was hailing during the 20090919D1-68 picture.) Made the big descent down into the valley, and then the skies cleared up. I debated whether I wanted to climb back up and give it another go at the peaks. However, I had just dropped over 1000 feet. That would mean I had over 3200 feet of gain to reach the first peak (and another storm could roll in, as well as I had already climbed over 3000 feet this morning.) Didn't feel it was worth the risk of getting caught if another storm rolled in, so I decided to just continue down McCurdy Park trail and reached the lake near the trail bend around 1:30pm.
Since I was now doing a shorter loop, I had time for more side explorations. I went up the valley for a bit, bushwhacking and checking out the small waterfalls. Also took a side trip up a peak to enjoy some great overlooks of wonderful granite formations. Around 3pm I ran into a spot where the Lost Creek entered a tall and narrow canyon. I did some rock hopping and debated on going through the canyon. The water was very cold though; and I didn't really know how far it went in the canyon. Also, since I was solo, and if something were to happen, I wouldn't likely see any other folks and they wouldn't find me since that's off trail so I decided to play it safe and continue hiking.
I met up with a couple other hikers, that were hiking pretty slow and looked really beat. They were carrying a LOT of stuff. The guy had over a gallon of water, so I recommended he drop some of that weight; as there were many spots to fill on water while hiking. Gave him info on what was still coming up. They were trying to get out tomorrow, but were well behind where they wanted to be. I cautioned him that he did have a few big climbs ahead of him; and let him know where those were as well as the water sources and some good camp spots (I had been making a conscious effort to check out all the camp spots I saw, and all the spur trails, so I'd know more about the trails for next time.) I also asked him what camp spot looked the best to him on the trail ahead (since he was also going the opposite direction as me.) He said it was just over a hill about a half hour ahead. We said our goodbyes and I continued hiking.
I reached the camp spot he was talking about around 3:15pm, and saw where the water reappeared from the canyon; which now looked more like a cave. I had another decision point. It was only 3:15pm. At my speed, I could likely make it to Goose Creek, and likely even back to the car if I wanted to, before dark. However, the camp spots at Goose Creek would likely have more folks, as it's a pretty popular place from what I heard and remembered. I had this spot, which the previous couple said was the best, to myself - and it really was quite pretty. Decided to stay here for the evening.
I set up camp, relaxed, made some dinner, went and explored up the canyon / cave and saw that it didn't go very far. Definitely cold water though. Enjoyed the sunset, and headed to bed.
Sunday 9/20:
Woke up around 6am, had breakfast, and packed up camp. Started to hike around 6:30am, enjoying the soft light from the sun rising. There were more great views along the McCurdy trail heading towards Goose Creek. Did the climb to intersect with Goose Creek and McCurdy trails; now around 7:45am. Hiked down the Goose Creek trail, and reached the breakoff for the Historic Buildings around 8:45am. I had plenty of time, so hiked over to check out the buildings. Hiked farther to check out the remains of the pump house, which was really just a few pieces of machinery; now 9:15am. I decided to explore a little, and hiked / scrambled past the pump house site. Came across a wonderful view of the Goose Creek valley (pic 20090920D2-51).
The route around looked like it could be done with some decent rock hopping and scrambling; so went to see if I could climb a peak and take an alternate route back. It had a few challenging spots, including a squeeze, a couple good upclimbs and downclimbs, and a whole lot of scrambling. It went though, and I got to see a neat balanced rock on the way back. Intersected the historic building trail around 10:15am. Got to the intersection of Hankins and Goose trails around 11:15am, and was back at the car by 11:30am.
It was a wonderful weekend. The scenery was spectacular, as many of the aspens were changing color. While the weather wasn't perfect, it wasn't really that bad. A bit chilly, and a few little storms; but they didn't last that long. Overall, it was awesome. Got to check out a trail I hadn't seen in a long time, and ended up doing around 30 miles and around 11k gain/11k loss in less than 15 hours hiking time. (The trail is around 27 miles with 9600 gain; but I'm estimating the side trips I included...) A great weekend, with some good exercise; and believe it or not, quite relaxing...
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2579090007/a=38054161/
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish