Lately I've been engrossed with finding those five shots out of 200 plus that are worthy of editing. With over 20,000 pics to sift through, I got behind in my hiking posts. They always seem better when I get to them while the memory is fresh. So instead of stitching panoramas together from folders two years old, I give you this most recent hike...
Android Stats:Total Distance: 11.5 mi
Total Time: 9:13:10
Moving Time: 3:51:38
Average Pace: 48.3 min/mi
Average Moving Pace: 20.2 min/mi
Min Pace: 10.2 min/mi
Min Elevation: 9160 ft
Max Elevation: 12242 ft
Elevation Gain: 3214 ft
Recorded: Sat Aug 13 06:18:45 MDT 2011
The dogs had two weeks off of hiking and they've been driving me up the frickin' wall with their attitudes and energy. Both of those weekends we were out sans-dogs getting some good class 3 hikes. That made them about 15% more stupid with each passing day. At 4:15am I let the idiots out the door all at once and they locked into place in the van with that quivering anxiety fueled stare. Off we went.
That 15 minutes bit in Longmont set us back when a train halted all movement. There was traffic too! I'm talking lots of traffic for pre 5am driving. In the end Jenn only waited less than an hour for us. Classic.
Ridik was an absolute NIGHTMARE on the last seven mile dirt road stretch. Upon arrival at the trailhead nearly 15 excruciating minutes later, I had to get out and spend a minute locked away from the Husky that was about to get set free in the woods. Finding a bit of composure I went about the process of getting 3.14 dogs ready to hike.
The South Boulder Creek Trail is a busy place. And LOUD. Every 20 minutes the massive vent fans for the Moffat Tunnel roar with a decibel level that pretty much makes you run. But we couldn't run, I was in the midst of triple checking that I had valuable (keys) items secured properly. At 6:18am I started recording GPS tracks and at 6:27 we were moving. Fan sound had me taking the longest stride I possibly could. We all covered the first mile in a hair over 11 minutes. The elevation gain was minimal there and log crossings help with moving through the various muck streams...
Due to early morning lighting and a camera in auto mode, I have more text than I do images for the early portion of the hike...
The dogs were only carrying food for the first four miles of hiking. I had banked on using the alpine lakes at the top of treeline to fill them up with water. Thereby saving some energy for the tundra parts of the hike. There were plenty of water crossings on this trail to keep them hydrated and more importantly soaked. As the sun rose the temperatures quickly went from upper 30's at the trailhead to 50's in the trees.
This trail has more plant growth than just about any other I've been on. The flowers were everywhere...
One of the deeper water crossings...
It seemed like every rock had something growing on it...
On and on the trail went. But we had early morning exuberance helping us along. The first miles were clicking by at a good pace...
For alpine runoff, the water was warm...
After a couple of real nasty mud patches, the trail makes its way to Rogers Peak Lake...
Then a short stint of vertical gets you to Heart Lake. This is the big attraction at the end of the South Boulder Creek Trail...
This is where I filled the water on the dogs and put Piggy in Swamp Cooler mode. From there a spur trail meets up with the approach to Rogers Pass. It looks steep from below, and it is. With three dogs I found this part to take a lot of concentration. Stopping as little as possible helped get me up that slope in 15ish minutes. Reaching Rogers Pass brought some nice views. And the realization that James Peak was way the 'F' over there...
Here we took another 15 minute rest and I looked around for a way down that wouldn't take us back on that trail segment. There is nowhere to go with three sled dogs should someone be on trail. The Malamutes were toast so I went with the path of least resistance and we headed north. All the while hoping that a reasonable descent path would prevent itself. And at least we got to put Point 12,251 on our done list. Turns out this is a pleasant little summit...
After a short stint taking pics at the summit it was time to head down someway. Edging out over the east ridge of this point things looked no worse than our ascent, except there was no traffic and there was a bench just below a snow field perfect for lunch. I don't quite remember, but it seems like we spent nearly an hour eating and sitting. Doggies needed the break...
And I got this SUPER SWEET shot of Sierra...
After the lounging around we started back down that east ridge. It was hot. Upper 70's hot above 11,000 feet. Then it was steep. But the natural ledges on the southern side guide you right down to the next traverse eastward. There are some rocks and shrubs to work around before you drop the final pitch down to Heart Lake...
Then it was the long haul down. Over five miles in heat up to 81 degrees. I didn't even think pictures, just down. The water helped keep them cool at least. It soaked the packs and Piggy's cooler stayed fairly wet most of the way. That thing has been great for him. It's just getting a run for its money with my usage. Somewheres about 3:30pm we emerged from the now packed trail and into the parking lot. One helluva long hike for doggies after so much time off.
Pretty sure they're going to sleep through tomorrow afternoon.
Parting shot up the valley we just hiked. That was work...
