Big Adventure 2016 - Part 2

Big Adventure 2016 - Part 2
State Forest State Park
Clark Peak 12,951'

Clark Peak is the highest mountain in the Medicine Bow Range- a range that stretches nearly 100 miles from Colorado into Wyoming. There is no higher mountain in Colorado this far north. Not to be confused with the other, higher Clark Peak in the Elk Mountains, Clark Peak is also the high point of Jackson County.

We drove into State Forest State Park and navigated a series of paved and dirt roads. As soon as the dirt road turned to "4WD only" it got pretty rough, and we camped for the night.

The initial road hiking was pretty easy. That's Clark Peak straight ahead.

A tumbling stream soon after the start of the trail

Coming into the upper basin

In the upper basin

Jewel Lake. As far as glassy-smooth alpine lakes go, it was kind of plain

Looking back, Southwest, from the lake area

Scott and Kerry enjoying the lake view

And soon afterwards we began climbing to the summit sans trail

About halfway up the slope above Jewel Lake

It was very windy and cold at the summit.

Looking South. Way way in the background to the left appears to be Longs Peak.

Looking down into the expansive North Park area. It was surreal looking at this park some 7,000 feet above them.

Looking North we spied this picturesque area. That is South Rawah Peak and North Rawah Peak

We descended as quickly as we were able to, eager to pack up and leave. It took us 2.5 hours to ascend and 1.5 hours to get all the way down. We were ready to face the long drive home with a stop for some refreshments.

Here's the basic route from just after the 2WD trailhead

Basic stats: 6.7 miles RT (possibly more)*
                   3100' elevation gain/ loss

A great beer at Funkwerks

Another great beer from Funkwerks

Overall this was a great trip, but it was a lot of driving. Luckily we had a great vehicle to take us all over the north part of the state. From State Forest State Park we went up over Cameron Pass and down the long, winding Poudre Canyon to Fort Collins. We knocked out 2 northern county high points, getting us just a little closer to our goal.

Ice Lakes Basin - Part 2

EA2014 - Day 2

Golden Horn, Vermillion Peak, US Grant Peak.

First Reflections

The reward of an early rising

 

Old mining camp ruins from a prior era

Vermillion center, Golden Horn right

Vermillion peak at right

Vermillion Peak (L) and Golden Horn (R)

We are heading for the saddle in the middle.

 

The "crux" of Golden horn wasn't much of one.

Looking at the face of Vermillion Peak

Heading up Golden Horn. It was easier than it looks.

Pretty easy climbing to the summit.

(Camera a little foggy) Bypassing a spire on the ridge

US Grant Peak center-right

Looking over at Vermillion

The Summit of Golden Horn

Looking west from GH

Show me your horns!

A surprisingly pleasant trail up the back side of Vermillion

Now we just have to get on top of that

Ice Lake is distant left

The Mt. Wilson massif, featuring 2 1/2  14ers

It's goofy but I had to

Lake Hope from the summit of Vermillion

coming down Vermillion- not sure why the pic turned out this way

A hundred years ago someone was relying on these rocks for shelter from wind, ice and snow

Scott and Golden Horn

Fuller Lake

Ulysses S. Grant Peak (US Grant) center

Alpine marsh above Ice Lake

So photogenic though

We got back at our tent around 1030 AM. We decided that the weather looked OK and we were going to head for the Island Lake basin to bag more peaks. I ate some mountain house cajun beans and rice and then we got our water and packs ready for the next adventure. We left about 12:30 PM.

This is Island Lake

The climb to the saddle above Island lake was steep, and the top portion was quite unstable.

You can see the saddle center-right here. You climb steeply up to this saddle and then trun and climb the ridge.

Clouds are gathering

So I guess at this point I need to mention what happened. Scott and I had a disagreement about what to do here. I wanted to climb US Grant Peak, and he did not. I think between the possibly sketchy weather and the unknown route, he was not up for it. But I was. We had an argument, I went left, he went right. In hindsight what I did was pretty stupid. The route up this ridge is not that great: It's loose, pretty much unmarked and untraveled; and the crux was really crappy. Let me tell you about this crux; imagine if you will a narrow ledge, above this is outward sloping rock with no good handholds. Below this is a steep drop-off to the sloped side of the mountain. Covering this narrow ledge are pizza sized oddly shaped UNSTABLE rocks and dirt. It was the stuff of nightmares. I (and my family) am lucky I survived. Somehow taking pics of everything was not my top priority so I only have a few photos of the way up and down US Grant. I did reach the summit, but it was probably a fool's errand for me.

The initial route is not exactly encouraging

I just love the colors. Smooth and grassy on one side, loose and rocky on the other.

This is the crux. It's the worst thing I've ever done, although a fall might have been survivable

And we are skipping to the summit of US Grant Peak

Looking back to Ice Lake basin, Ice Lake is hidden behind the ridge at the bottom.

Since I was solo, this is a summit selfie

Island Lake from above

 Mt. Wilson, Gladstone Peak, and Wilson Peak (L to R)

A loose-looking sub-peak NW of US Grant

Relaxing, Colorado style at Island Lake

We got back to our tent and packed up as quickly as we could, drinking a beer as we hastily stuffed our gear. By this point we were quite tired, and we knew there was more stuff to come. We wanted to get down because we were so cold and tired the night before, and thought retreating to a lower altitude would be nice.

Relaxing, Colorado-Style at Ice Lake. Those puppies are barking.

Massive rocks and little waterfalls

Not too many pictures on the way down. We were tired and had been up since 4:30 AM. We hustled back to the car, drove to Montrose, ate some Qdoba, and then drove 6 hours home, getting back right at midnight. This was one of the most "action packed" days I've ever done! Scaling 3 13ers hiking and driving back all the way from the middle of the San Juans.