Lake Haiyaha

Saturday, September 24th was National Public Lands Day, and a fee-free day for all National Park Service parks (though hundreds never charge an entrance fee). I did my part to flood the parks yesterday, heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike with the Colorado Explorers to Lake Haiyaha, a pristine subalpine lake amid the boulder-strewn Chaos Canyon.

The seven of us snagged two of the last few spaces at the major Bear Lake trailhead and quickly made off, away from the busting parking lot. Our route was a moderate 4.7 mile loop, that would take us south past Alberta Falls, then back northwest between the Glacier Knobs to Lake Haiyaha; then we would return via the more common route connecting to the Emerald Lake Trail at Dream Lake, passing Nymph Lake en route back to the parking area.

I’ve only ever snowshoed up Glacier Gorge, so this was my first time seeing the area clear of snow and Alberta Falls unfrozen. It was a nice, if slightly hidden, falls, but coming from WNC my waterfall standards are high, so it wasn’t worth more than a brief pause for me. (So no photo.)

We slowly and steadily climbed to the junction with North Longs Peak Trail, where the views back north to Bierstadt Moraine were beautiful. The green swaths of pines were accented with the occasional patch of bright yellow aspens. One large aspen grove looked like a giant golden scar across the hillside above Bear Lake. The only thing that detracted from the scene was the visible parking area at Bear Lake, with windshields glinting and even the row of orange traffic cones visible from nearly one mile away.

Turning west, the trail followed Glacier Creek to the Glacier Knobs, a pair of bulging granite domes sculpted by the same glaciers that formed the surrounding valleys and rise on either side of the major trail junction of Loch Vale and Glacier Gorge Trails. Our path turned north, between the Knobs, and skirted the West Knob’s east face, which was decorated by the contrasting bands of schist.

This trail is considered “unimproved” but it is currently undergoing major improvements. Most of the trail had been armored with rocks and the steep sections had rock steps. We later ran into a woman from the Rocky Mountain Nature Association who told us that they had helped fund the project, which began in 2009 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of next summer.

An unnamed lake along Lake Haiyaha Trail.

As we neared Lake Haiyaha, the trail followed a small creek. Several openings provided stunning views of Longs Peak, Keyboard of the Winds, and Pagoda Mountain.

A washed-out Longs Peak.

Eventually we ran into Lake Haiyaha Trail, followed it for 1/4 of a mile, and then rock-hopped our way along the edge of the lake to a (relatively) flat boulder to have a little lunch. Dave surprised us all by pulling a 10” kitchen knife out of his pack saying “Oh man, I forgot my cutting board.” We were all taken aback, wondering what he was about to prepare for lunch. He then showed us the honeydew mellon he had been carrying the whole time and started cutting, warning us “I’ve never grown honeydews before, so I don’t know if it’s ripe.”

Chaos Canyon and Hallett Peak above Haiyaha.

A Clif Bar, apple, and two semi-ripe wedges of honeydew later I was full and anxious to explore. I had been to Haiyaha once before but had stayed on the northeast side, opposite of where we were. So I took off on my own, wandering around, sliding down between boulders to the patches of earth below, and climbing back up to the tops of the biggest for amazing views of the entire lake and aptly named Chaos Canyon, a boulder-filled gorge between Hallett Peak and Otis Peak.

Super cold Lake Haiyaha.

Lake Haiyaha lies at 10,220 feet, and is especially rocky, with hundreds boulders, the size of cars and even small houses, nearly encircling the entire lake. These enormous rocks attract boulderers from around the globe, and create a unique setting for this subalpine lake that really sets it apart from other lakes in the park. We easily spotted cutthroat trout in the cold water and were pestered by birds searching for dropped bits of trail mix.

The hike back down to Dream Lake was pretty crowded. Before the lake, we caught a great view back to Nymph and Bear Lake, with patches of yellow splashed along the valley. We actually were a little disorientated by the angle; I had to pull out my map for us to confirm that the further lake was Bear. 

Nymph and Bear Lakes.

We made our way past LOTS of hikers after Dream Lake, and the trailhead was swarmed. The trail around Bear Lake was packed, the shuttles were dropping off and whisking away visitors, and cars were slowing idling around the lot in hopes for spaces that all the “Bear Lake Lot FULL” signs along the drive had told them didn’t exist.

Bear Lake Trailhead.

In the last two weekends I’ve re-hiked the first two hikes I ever did in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s neat to see how familiar I am with the area now, after living here for less than a year. I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing my landmarks, especially in RMNP, but there are still so many more trails, lakes, valleys, mountains, and peaks to go.

Longs Peak, Long Post

After seeing Longs from the top of the Twin Sisters this weekend, I decided to do some research and learn what I could about the mountain. If you want the history of the tallest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, read on!

Intro
Longs Peak is one of Colorado’s 59 “Fourteeners” (14,000-foot summits) and is truly an iconic mountain of the state. It has a colorful history featuring eagle-trapping Arapaho and badass American mountain men, and has become one of the most popular peaks in the US. Longs can be seen from all around the region, including metro Denver on clear days, or on the back of the Colorado state quarter.

Data
According to the National Geodetic Survey, the elevation of Longs Peak is 14,259 feet, or 4,346 meters, making it the 15th highest peak in Colorado, and the 37th highest in the US. Longs is the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder County. It is also the northernmost Colorado 14er and the only 14er in the Rockies that is north of 40°N latitude.

Longs has a prominence of 2,940 feet, the 11th highest in Colorado. (Prominence is a measure of a summit’s ‘independence’ so to speak. It categorizes the height of a mountain's peak based on the elevation between its summit and the lowest contour line that encircles it and no higher summit. General rule of thumb for a peak to be counted as its own independent summit is at least 300’ prominence.) Longs’ nearest neighbor is Mount Meeker, RMNP’s second highest point at 13,911’, which lies just to the southeast, creating one of the most impressive mountain cirques in the state.

Longs is not the highest peak in the Front Range, but is the most popular, attracting thousands of people each year. It is common to see hundreds of people along the trail during an ascent. A survey in 2002 estimated that approximately 9,500 people reached the summit that year.

Place in the Front Range
Despite not being the tallest, Longs is unquestionably the face of the Front Range. Longs has many distinguishing features, giving it several unique profiles and making it easily recognizable from many angles. The striking East Face is a sheer 2,000-foot wall that towers over Chasm Lake below. The large sweeping west face and the awesomely-named Keyboard of the Winds loom over Glacier Gorge. The broken south side forms very noticeable Notch, and then sweeps down to the Loft, a broad flat saddle that connects to Mount Meeker. Crowned by a huge granite block, the mountain has a broad profile and a flat expanse of a summit that can be distinguished when rising behind other mountains that obscure most of the peak.

The Notch (not my photo)

Name
The namesake of Longs Peak is Major Stephen Harriman Long, an army officer who led an expedition surveying the Colorado Rockies in 1820. His team traveled south, along the foothills of the Front Range, and recorded the first documented sighting of the mountain. Long himself actually never got closer than 30 miles to the peak. The name Longs Peak was not given on the expedition, and first appeared on maps in 1825.

The Arapaho called Longs and Mount Meeker Nesotaieux, meaning “the two guides,” and used the prominent peaks as bearings when traveling on the plains. French fur trappers had a similar name for the pair, Les Deux Oreilles, meaning “the two ears.”

Major Long had a very prolific, though short, exploring career. He was commissioned as a lieutenant of engineers in the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1814, and then appointed a major during the 1816 reconstruction of the Army, serving as a topographical engineer under Major General Andrew Jackson.

Major Stephen H. Long

In 1817, Long headed a military trip exploring the Mississippi River up to its confluence with the Minnesota River. He led a contingent of the 1819 Yellowstone Expedition up the Missouri River, for which he designed an experimental steamboat. The 1820 expedition he led that discovered his namesake mountain was launched to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase, specifically to find the sources of the Platte, Arkansas and Red rivers. In 1823 he led military expeditions of the US-Canada borderlands, exploring the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Minnesota River, and the Red River of the North. Long led only five expeditions, but covered 26,000 miles, and famously described the Great Plains as “a great desert.”

Following his military expeditions, Long worked as a consulting engineer for the railroads. He was appointed to a position in the US Corps of Topographical Engineers, remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and eventually became Colonel of the Corps until 1863, when it was merged in to the ACE. He died in 1864.

History
Longs Peak climbing lore starts with stories of Native Americans climbing to the tops of the peak to trap eagles and collect their feathers. French fur trappers might have been at the mountain as early as 1799, but there is little evidence any climbed it.

In 1864 William N. Byers and a man known only as Velie made attempts to climb the peak via the Keyhole and the Loft, but failed to make the summit. (They salvaged their trip with an ascent of Mount Meeker, only to find the names of a previous party at the top.) After declaring wings necessary to reach the summit, Byers returned to Longs in 1868 as a member of an expedition led by Major John Wesley Powell.

Powell was a one-armed Civil War veteran who would gain further explorer fame with the first boat trip down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. His Longs expedition left Grand Lake and, after some failed routes, seven men made the first documented ascent, and left their names in a can on the summit.

By 1871 there were guides taking tourists up the peak, and around the turn of the century the first technical routes were climbed. In the following decades, many new routes were established but the Keyhole Route still remains the easiest and most popular.

Climbing Today
There are over one hundred established routes to the top, but most are technical climbing routes on the east face, or the Diamond, which is one of the premiere big walls for climbing in the US outside of Yosemite. The standard route is the 15-mile round trip, semi-technical Keyhole Route that circumnavigates the upper mountain and takes an average of 10 to 15 hours to complete.

There is no trail to the summit; the maintained, designated trail ends at the Boulder Field, leaving 1.6 miles to go. From there, climbers must scramble over boulders to the Keyhole. From there, the best route is marked with red and yellow bull’s-eyes painted on the rocks, and traverses a series of narrow cliff ledges. After the Ledges, a broad gully of loose rock, called the Trough, must be crossed. Next, the Narrows crosses a sheer vertical rock face and ends at the base of the Homestretch. The Homestretch is a polished granite slab that gains passage to the summit. This section requires Class 3 scrambling, meaning using hands for balance and upward movement; climbing motions, not walking motions. There can be snow or ice on the rocks year-round, making this section extremely treacherous; the most ice-free, and therefore most popular, time to climb is mid-July through mid-September.

Some people camp at the Boulder Field to avoid the early morning start times necessary from the trailhead. The Agnes Vaille Memorial Shelter, built in 1927 at the Boulder Field, is listed on the National Register or Historic Places.

Disaster!
Many people tend to believe that because Longs is so popular, it is safer than other 14ers, but the opposite is the case; many climbers say that the greatest climbing hazard often is being below other people. To date, 57 people have died on Longs Peak, the majority from falls. Countless more suffer injury from the treacherous terrain, and ill effects from conditions such as exhaustion, hypothermia, and altitude sickness.

As with most mountains, many accidents occur on the way down, when fatigue or the false assumption that “the hard part is over” can lead to inattention and poor decisions. It is important to remember that the summit is only the halfway point! As the rangers will remind you, getting to the top of Longs isn’t a hike, it’s a climb! The Keyhole Route crosses vertical rock faces and narrow ledges, is exposed to falling rocks (why people above you are dangerous), and requires scrambling on all fours along steep cliffs and on loose rock. A single slip or trip could be fatal.

“Summit fever” is also a dangerous psychological condition that afflicts climbers. A general rule of thumb is to assess conditions when you arrive at the Keyhole: if they are looking bad, turn back! The problem is, once people get that far - only 1.5 miles to go - they are so focused on summiting that they push on despite deteriorating conditions. (This is also a problem with backcountry activities in winter, when people ignore avalanche warning signs because they don’t want to go home without getting “the goods.”)

On any day of the year conditions can turn bad (cold, windy, foggy, precipitation which makes rocks slippery) in a very short amount of time. Lightning is a major concern when climbing Longs Peak, or any exposed mountain. Afternoon thunderstorms are common, and getting off the peak before any dark clouds form is the reason for starting the hike at 3am.

Considering how many people attempt to summit each year, the number of accidents is pretty small. For more in-depth stories of tragedy on Longs Peak, and other 14ers, check out Colorado 14er Disasters, by Mark Scott-Nash.

Closing
Longs Peak really does stand out when scanning the peaks of the Front Range. I spend lots of time in Rocky Mountain National Park and it is usually visible, whether standing tall and proud in full view, or just poking out a bit higher into the sky than the mountains in front of it. Climbing Longs is certainly on my Colorado Bucket List and I’ve met a few people who have been on the top. It’s true that the climb is a serious undertaking (in my experience the NPS can make things out to be a bit more dangerous than they really are) so I’d like to get some other, tamer 14ers under my belt and get a little better at my rock climbing movements to ensure my confidence with the last 1.5 miles.

I’ve got plenty of photos of Longs from other hikes and seeing it really does inspire me; it keeps my thirst for adventure in exploring the area going strong. One of the best places to get amazing views of Longs (and Meeker) is from the Twin Sisters trail and summit:

Mount Meeker & Longs Peak from Twin Sisters

Sources:

- 14ers.com/php14ers/historyview.php?parmpeak=Longs%20Peak&parmcat=Geology
- Bernard Gillett, Rocky Mountain National Park: High Peaks: The Climber’s Guide
- Gerry Roach, Colorado’s Fourteeners (3rd Edition)
- NPS, Longs Peak Keyhole Route Frequently Asked Questions 
- ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=LL1346
- nps.gov/romo/historyculture/historic_buildings.htm
- Paul Nesbit, Longs Peak: Its Story and a Climbing Guide
- peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=5642
- wikipedia.org/wiki/Longs_Peak
- wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Harriman_Long

Twin Sisters Hike

Saturday I went on a hike with the local outdoors group Colorado Explorers. The hike was up the Twin Sisters, a pair of peaks located on the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, on an island of NPS property along the Tahosa Valley.

The trail is a moderate hike, 3.7 miles each way, with an elevation gain of 2,268’. The trail switchbacks its way up the western slope of the mountain, leaving the Lilly Lake area at 9,160’, and repeatedly crossing the boundary of RMNP and Roosevelt National Forest.

Around 11,000’ the trail rises above treeline, offering astounding views of the surrounding mountains, including Estes Cone, Mount Meeker and Longs Peak, as well as the town of Estes Park. The trail ends at the rocky saddle between the two “sisters.” The western peak is 11,413’ high, with the eastern true summit at 11,428’ a sort distance away. The saddle between the two is maybe 100 yards wide. A long ridge runs southwest off the saddle for 1.6 miles to a third, much less visited, peak of 10,432’.

From the top there are views in every direction, from the eastern plains and cities of Fort Collins, Loveland, and Longmont, to the dramatic western vista of the Continental Divide, including an unparalleled view of Longs Peak. We had overcast skies as far as the eye could see for the whole hike, so the weather was not cooperating with us on the views. The top of Longs was shrouded in a white, cloudy blanket, hiding its peak from view. But overall the clouds were high and you could still see for a good distance.

Longs Peak and Mount Meeker rise into the clouds.

Once at the saddle, the wind had picked up causing us to dig through our packs for additional layers and gloves. Several of us then scrambled to the true summit in order to stay moving and keep warm. Surprisingly, it was warmer at the peak because there was no wind, so we stuck around for a quick bite to eat.

A few of us decided to summit the western peak too, and once the three of us were back at the saddle, the whole group had reformed and we headed back down as a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow started to fall. Once we descended back into the trees it turned to just rain, but soon stopped.

There were nine of us on the hike, and on the way down it became apparent that we were a very well traveled group. Discussions about trips spanned the globe, across Peru, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Bhutan. (After further research, Bhutan is definitely a new dream travel destination for me.)

This was my second time going up Twin Sisters and it was a really nice hike. And our timing was perfect, as soon as we were back down and in the cars, it started really raining. Today I checked the RMNP trails conditions webpage, and learned that all hikers were turning back and there were no full ascents on Longs Peak attempted yesterday, due to high winds and treacherous wet/icy conditions. 


[Sources: Lisa Foster, Rocky Mountain National Park: The Complete Hiking Guide; NPS.gov/romo/planyourvisit/hikes.htm; nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/trail_conditions.htm]

CentCone in JeffCo

Yesterday I headed south to explore some more of the fabled Jefferson County singletrack. ‘JeffCo’ as it is called in these parts, is known for its plentiful parks and trails, most of which are open to mountain biking. This is in contrast to Boulder, which, despite it’s ‘Mecca-of-outdoors-activities’ reputation, has a history of keeping bikes off its trails. This apparently is changing thanks to the efforts of advocacy groups such as Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance and COMBA. To be clear, there are trails to be ridden in Boulder County, especially in the federally-owned lands in the mountains up around Nederland. But the fact remains that on land owned by the city, and to a lesser but still significant extent the county, you likely can’t take a bike out on the trails.

Boulder is much more of a hotspot for road biking, and it is common knowledge that if you want to ride with knobby tires you head elsewhere. Often this means a drive south on Colorado 93 into Jefferson County. This was my plan yesterday, as I wanted to finally check out the trails that are purported to have the most ‘flow’ around these parts: the hardpack of Centennial Cone.

The Destination
Centennial Cone Park is located west of the town of Golden, on the north side of Clear Creek Canyon. The park provides 16 miles of trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, which encircle the titular mountain, and is designed to offer a backcountry-type experience, which it most definitely achieves.

The land provides habitat to a range of animals, including elk and mountain lion, and is managed to ensure the continued use of the land by these species. For elk and deer in Centennial Cone, managed hunting is used to keep the herd populations in harmony with available habitat, to minimize the ill effects of urbanization on elk and deer, and to maintain historical migratory patterns. Hunting restrictions and open seasons vary year-to-year to best suit the changing populations.

There is also a seasonal trail closure during the elk calving period to ensure minimal disturbance by humans in a certain portion of the park. This closure eliminates the loop of the trail system, but the closure is mostly dirt roads, so there is minimal loss of singletrack, and a fun, long out-and-back ride is still possible.

Lots of the trails around here get a lot of use, so there are efforts to reduce user conflict. At Centennial Cone, there is an alternating use schedule to separate hikers and bikers on the weekends: even-numbered weekend dates allow mountain biking, while odd-numbered weekend dates are for hikers. (Equestrian use is allowed on any day and weekdays are open to all.)

The Ride
After the 45-minute drive from Boulder, I was caught up on the Broncos’ quarterback controversy from 104.3 The Fan, and eager to get pedaling. From the Mayhem Gulch parking lot off of Highway 6, I started up the connector trail to the main loop. I climbed away from Clear Creek and up into the pines. 

Mayhem Gulch Trail

 
After connecting to the main trail system (technically, the Mayhem Gulch parking lot is not in the park) I headed up Elk Range Trail. This is not actually a trail, but a well-maintained gravel road that occasionally passes through private property and is the trail that is closed during elk calving in the winter. Most of this 3.2-mile trail was a gradual uphill, but the last mile was mostly flat and had some downs, allowing for fast, big-ring pedal mashing; it was about as much fun as riding a gravel road can be. 

Elk Range Trail with Centennial Cone in the distance

 
It was along this trail I had my first encounter with a rattlesnake here in Colorado. Luckily he was easy to spot stretched out along the road as I was slowly climbing. After taking some pictures and waiting a few minutes, I decided he needed some encouragement to get out of the road, and two squirts of water later he slithered away. I was startled by how he instantly disappeared as he moved into the grass. He gave me a little rattle as I passed by, and I was weary of how many of his friends could be hidden in the grass as I made my way up and around Centennial Cone itself. 

Only wildlife of the day

 
At the top of Elk Range Trail there is another parking area, and the trail turns to singletrack. Smooth, sweet, fast, and flowy singletrack… The rest of the ride would be nearly ten miles of eye-watering, thigh-burning bliss. This is described as one of the least technical rides around, and I (with my limited local knowledge) would have to agree. There were a few rocky pitches to keep you on your toes, but nothing was too technical to be ridden. Though, I will admit, I didn’t clean it all. (This time.) Some of the trickiest maneuvers were the switchbacks, which required negotiating the hairpin turn while getting your bike over a waterbar without spinning out in the sand or letting the log slide your wheels out from under you. 

One of the more technical sections

 
This was a great ride and I will certainly be back. The drive time to get to the trailhead is a little long, but not horrible. I’m told that it is absolutely packed on the weekends though. It was a cloudy day for me, but the views were still fantastic. On the south side of the cone, you can occasionally catch a glimpse of US 6 and Clear Creek about 1000 feet below.

Travois Trail skirts the north side of Clear Creek Canyon

 According to my fancy-smanchy phone GPS app, I rode 17.14 miles and gained 2,938 feet over two and a half hours. Another fun day of exploring. 

Ponderosa Pine OD

Today I got up early to head up to Hall Ranch, a recreation area east of Lyons, for a volunteer day with the Boulder County Department of Parks and Open Space, clearing branches from previously cut pine trees and building 'slash piles' in preparation for a prescribed burn.

Hall Ranch was home to Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes way back when. Starting in the 19th century the area was homesteaded by no less than 20 families, and an old homestead from the early 20th century, the Nelson House, remains on the land. The name comes from Hallyn and June Hall, who operated a ranch on the property in the mid 1940s until 1993, when Boulder County acquired the land.

Today the open space provides about 12 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, and supports a range of plant and animal life. Mule deer, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, coyotes, elk, bighorn sheep, black-tailed prairie dogs, golden eagles, great horned owls, peregrine falcons, wild turkeys, and lots of other bird species live in the grassy meadows, dense shrubs, and Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir woodlands.

Prior to settlement, these forests were very open with only patches of tree stands, a state maintained by frequent low intensity surface wildfires. With settlement came fire suppression, grazing and landscape fragmentation, all of which contributed in changing the structure and function of the ecosystem. The woodlands became denser and bigger, shrinking the open grassy areas. Also, human-built structures like fences impeded wildlife movement. In an effort to restore these ecosystems, Boulder County Parks & Open Space implements thinning projects that result in conditions that more closely match what existed prior to interruption of the historic natural fire cycles.

There were ten of us volunteers, ranging from 8th grade to retirees, and two Parks & Open Space employees, working from 8am to noon. Large amounts of slash - limbs from trees - was generated from thinning operations prior to our work today, and our task was to help manage all of this material. We organized the slash into piles that can be burned much more easily and safely during winter. The prescribed surface burn will occur sometime between September 21 and October 31, with an area of approximately 66 acres.

The technique of building the slash piles was fairly methodical. Essentially we made igloo-shaped mounds of branches about six feet high. Once the initial pile was built up smaller branches were shoved into the crevices to fill in gaps and thicker branches were set on top. But nothing bigger than about 6" in diameter was put in the piles; the bigger stuff will be sold to the public as firewood. The idea is for the piles to burn hot and fast, and not smolder for days. Placement was important because apparently the flames can reach 20 feet high, so the piles need to be away from neighboring trees that are intended to survive the burnings.

The work consisted of lots of dragging and carrying armloads of branches, all Ponderosa pines, from where the tree was downed to the slash pile. Plenty of lopping was done too. I seemed to be the only volunteer who was willing to break out the handsaw and tackle some of the thicker stuff. We split off into groups and covered a pretty wide area. Building or topping off about a dozen piles.

I've biked Hall Ranch before and want to ride it again before winter. It has some seriously technical rock sections but also so real fun and flowy stretches. Ride report forthcoming. Now I'll ride with a bit of pride on Bitterbrush and Nelson trails knowing I've helped a little to keep the area more natural.

The only downside was after I got home, ate lunch, and watched the 4th quarter of the UNC game, I got hit with my worst headache in recent memory. Can't help but wonder if I simply got bombarded with Ponderosa pine pollen. My allergies have been very mild since moving out to Colorado, but this definitely felt like sinus headache.

The whole experience was really enjoyable and went by quick. It was cool to head back into where trails don't go, and to ask all kinds of questions to the Open Space guys. And it felt really good to be hard at work for a sold four hours! There are volunteer work days nearly every weekend into November, and I will definitely be signing up again.

Backyard Wildlife

Living on the western edge of Boulder, I am right up against the open space that is the foothills of the Rockies. Mule deer are all over these hillsides and they often venture down into town, especially in the evenings and at night.

I have seen countless deer eating grass and shrubs along the streets while walking, running or driving around. And here in my neighborhood, various deer will wander through, but we have a doe/fawn pair that are regulars. The pair are around at least a few days each week, and sometimes bring others.

They take advantage of the variety of vegetation in the gardens and yards on the block, particularly my little yard and the garden next to me. The garden grows lots of different vegetables and has plenty of leafy weeds growing around the edges. The grass in front of my place is some drought-resistant blend and is always green and full. Bonus: there are grape vines growing along the fence between my yard and the garden too.

If around in the middle of the day, they will lay in the shade provided by my house or the tall plants. Sometimes the mother doe will venture off and the fawn will just hang out in the garden. More than once I have opened the front door with one about six feet away munching on grapes, to both my and the deer's surprise. They are comfortable but weary if I stay on the little porch, and will move away if I go down the steps.

The photo is of the mother doe in the weeds of the garden. Sorry for the backlight, she wouldn't cooperate and stayed in the shade.

If the deer are the calm resident grazers, then the racoons are the rowdy party-crashing scavengers. These big guys, working in teams of two to four, arrive after sundown and forage through the compost, trash, and recycling bins that line the alley I live on. Watching them is quite interesting, because they are surprisingly dexterous in opening the heavy lids.

They are not courteous when it comes to noise though. Usually the lid slips and slams back down on the bin a few times before they get it. (It honestly sounds like someone is knocking on my door when this happens.) But the real racket happens when one gets stuck in a bin or tangles with a neighborhood cat! A raccoon screaming in the middle of the night sounds like a freaking exorcism. Usually, if one can't get out of a bin, the others will open the lid for it. Again, it can be pretty neat to watch these guys.

Coyotes are a rare sight in town, and generally just trot through the alley.

It'll be interesting to see how these sightings change as winter approaches. I have noticed that the raccoons are more likely to come by during a full moon (which is helpful because the streetlight doesn't stay on steadily). I'm waiting for them to figure out the pickup schedule and only show up on Tuesday nights when the bins are at their fullest.

Flattop Mountain & Hallett Peak Hike

Up at 6, on the road at 7, trailhead at 8:15, and off by 8:30. Such is the schedule for hiking Rocky Mountain National Park in the peak season. With Labor Day past the crowds will thin, the shuttles will cease, temperatures will drop, and the snow will eventually fall. But today the roads and lots were filled with cars and the trails fairly populated.

Flattop Mountain is one of the more popular summit hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park and is a hike I’ve been wanting to do since moving to Colorado. The additional trek to Hallett was also on the to-do list and I definitely wanted to do both in one day. However, adding on the ascent up Hallett is very much dependent on weather, as afternoon thunderstorms are very common in the warmer months. When the clouds get dark the last place you want to be is above tree line, so tacking on Hallett is not advisable unless the forecast is on your side. And it was today!

The hike begins at Bear Lake, one of the bigger and most popular parking lots/trailheads in the park. After about 9am the lot is bustling with cars, shuttle buses, and all the visitors carried by them, as well as the handful of rangers and volunteers manning the small office.

After a brief walk along the VERY popular Bear Lake Trail (a 0.6 mile circle around the lake, which is purported to be wheelchair accessible) the trail branches off and begins to ascend through the subalpine ecosystem at a moderately strenuous slope that stays fairly consistent. Along the way there are two overlooks for Dream and Emerald Lakes, allowing views of tiny hikers hundreds of feet below.

 

The trail weaves its way trough subalpine pines and Engelmann spruce, mostly alive in this part of the park where the mountain pine beetle hasn’t been too destructive, and the occasional patch of aspen. The pine beetle is currently reeking havoc on forests throughout the Rockies, and especially in Colorado. The 17 native species of the beetle in RMNP have historically only had periodic outbreaks, but unusually warm winters and dry summers have allowed the beetle to really take off and it is thought that the current blight is the largest ever in North America. 

Cold winter temperatures are needed to kill eggs wintering under bark, and lack of water weakens the trees, making them more susceptible to the beetle. This problem is compounded by the fact that the outbreak decreases the ability of forests to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, limber pine, Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir and Colorado blue spruce are all dying.

Eventually, with fewer and shorter trees to block the views, the actual summit of Hallett Peak is visible. The more common and dramatic view of Hallett is of the shear cliffs as seen from the trails between Bear, Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes in Tyndall Gorge. They are also very visible and impressive as you hike up to Flattop (as seen in the mid-ground of the photo), but the actual high point is the small, unassuming point in the distance. Around 11,000 feet the trees start to thin and eventually give out to the cold and wind, finally giving way to the wide open views of the rocky expanse that is Flattop Mountain.

With tree line left behind, the rocks thin out (a bit) and the short grasses of the alpine tundra spreads out across the slopes. A chorus of on-guard American Pikas barking can be heard up and down the switchbacks as hikers pass by. Easy to hear, but sometimes hard to spot, these little guys fly across the rocks. 

They seem like they would be related to rodents like squirrels, chipmunks and prairie dogs, but they are actually lagomorphs. The two living families of the order Lagomorpha are: Ochotonidae, pikas, and Leporidae, rabbits and hares. As close relatives, Pikas do resemble miniature rabbits, and nicknames for pikas include “Rock Rabbit” and “Whistling Hare.” 

Some scurry around with their mouths packed with cut grasses and other vegetation. They carry large mouthfuls to their dens, where the plants are spread out on the rocks to dry in the sun. Once dry, these “haystacks” are moved into the den and stockpiled for the harsh winters the pikas must endure since they do not hibernate. As the they dry, pikas will guard over their haystacks as thievery is not uncommon. It has been suggested that they include some poisonous plants at the base of their stockpiles in their burrows because the toxins act as a natural preservative and help prevent spoilage. Unfortunately, these loquacious talus-dwellers are very sensitive to heat (hence their high-elevation habitat) and cannot travel long distances, so they are very venerable to warming climates. If alpine peaks warm too much, they will quickly die out.

The tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park is an incredible ecosystem, consisting of the heartiest plants and animals around. Where the soil on the tundra is well established and developed, many different grasses and flowering plants are common, holding on to life through blistering winds and subzero temperatures, growing only a few inches from the ground and taking decades to do so. Lichens, capable of photosynthesis down to 32° F, cling to the rocks and soil. Although very resilient, the tundra is also very fragile. Footsteps can destroy tundra plants, which then exposes precious soil to blow away. Damage to the tundra can take hundreds of years to recover.

Flattop’s 12,324-foot “summit” is  a large rock-strewn expanse where it is difficult to discern the true highpoint. Once here through, you are standing on the Continental Divide and have nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding mountain ranges. Trail Ridge Road, the only way through the park, is barely visible to the north, as tiny flashes of sunlight blink off car windows.

At this point, the rocky dome of Hallett begs to be climbed, sitting just to the southeast across Tyndall Gorge, and nearly 400 feet higher than Flattop. The wind coming over the divide from the west necessitated the deployment of my windbreaker from my pack and I was ready for the final push.

The approach is technically off-trail but the route is popular enough to have a noticeable path through the flat boulder-field that follows the Divide, skirts the headwall of Tyndall Glacier, and ends at the moderately steep summit. From here it is a matter of rock hopping the final 100 vertical feet or so, until the flat summit suddenly appears.

Once on the top, you quickly realize how winded, thirsty, and hungry you are. But the seemingly endless views keep your mind off such trivial matters. Grand Lake, the Eastern Plains, Wild Basin, the Mummy Range (the horizon in photo above) all make the trip incredibly rewarding. The peak also offered shelter from the westerly winds, letting the sun warm up my hands and face.

Immediately to the south, Otis (rounded mountain on left edge) and Taylor Peaks (pointed peak to the right and beyond Otis) make the urge to keep following the ridge of the Continental Divide very real. But they will be there another day.

The top offers a nearly complete view of Tyndall Glacier and a small nearby snowfield. A ways below the glacier is the small lake Pool of Jade. I found myself wanting to scramble down between the snow to the lake, and then down another talus pitch to Emerald Lake and the established trails back to Bear Lake which I knew lay further below, blocked from view by the endless piles of rocks.

I can’t help but wonder how much bigger Tyndall Glacier was only 50 years ago. Perhaps in a few decades I can take a photo from the same spot in early September to compare. This is the least snowy time of year, so the glacier is likely at its smallest but it is still impressive and just plain cool to have to hike around the head of a glacier. Since there is no snow to cover them, several crevasses were exposed and visible from the edge above the glacier.

Company soon arrived at the top. A group of three guys on a training hike for their trip up Longs Peak (the only 14er in the park and Boulder County’s highest point) in a few weeks offered everyone some awesome fruity hard candy from Argentina. The perfect dessert for a Clif Bar lunch.

Longs Peak is an interesting mountain, first climbed by an expedition led by John Wesley Powell, one of the true badasses of American history. Perhaps I’ll do some research and a writeup of this iconic peak (quite literally, it’s on the back of the Colorado quarter) and/or Powell one day.

The drop back down Hallett was more fun rock scrambling as the clouds puffed up with the rising temperatures. Once back on the actual trail on Flattop the rocky and thigh-tiring descent into the trees was met with plenty of questions about how much further to the summit of Flattop and how doable Hallett is. On the way down the temperatures warmed substantially and I was eventually cursing my decision to wear long pants.

The Emerald Lake overlook again provided awesome views of the gorge and the distant Longs Peak.

This had been a RMNP bucket list hike for me since I learned about it, so it was really fun and rewarding to check it off. It is also nice to have some familiarity with the trail for future snowshoe trips in winter when the trail is not evident. (Some trails in the park have small orange flags attached to trees to help navigation in winter, but Flattop Trail does not.)

What a great way to spend my well-earned Labor Day! Even with the holiday crowds it was a great time. It is always amazing to me that you can escape 90% of the people in our national parks by going a half mile away from pavement. On one hand, I have so much fun and get so much out of a trip that takes me miles away from human structures and noise, I want to run up to every man, woman and child who simply stops at the overlooks as they drive through the park and scream at them that a whole world of experiences is right there through the trees, waiting for them to discover it. That it will rejuvenate their minds and spirits. It will help them find out more about what they can do, what they’re afraid of, and what fears they can conquer. I want to quote Muir and Emerson, telling them that the best cathedrals one could ever hope to see were not built by machines and tools but by glaciers and wind, and that God is more easily found in nature than in any works by man. But then again, I’m not sure I really want to share the trails and peaks that bring me solitude and so much simple pleasure with hoards of people. And I suppose those who don’t venture too far away from their cars are still there, still looking around in awe, taking photos and memories of purple mountains majesty (a phrase inspired by the Colorado’s Pikes Peak) home with them, still experiencing nature in their own way. So what if they don’t experience nature the same way I do?

Sitting back home, fed and showered, my thighs are sore, my ears are sun/wind burnt, and I am happy.

Sticker It To Me

On a "what the hell?" impulse I checked with various biking and outdoor companies to see if they could hook me up with some stickers. Several had forms or instructions about this right on their webpages, others I emailed. Several self-addressed stamped envelopes and a few weeks later, I've got loads of free stickers. 

A sampling of my bounty

Companies include: Park Tool, Yeti Cycles, Santa Cruz Bikes, Cane Creek, Trek, Avid/Sram/Rock Shox, Fox Racing Shocks, Patagonia, Mountain Hardware & Marmot.

Most from the bike related companies have been plastered on my toolbox. A few of the coolest have made the cut for the car. But I'm having trouble coming up with places for all of these. My printer and weight bench are starting to get some added color. 

Kind of silly, but neat to know and very cool of all these companies to do.

Leading Off

I've flirted with blogs before, but now I think it could actually be interesting, as well as a useful and perhaps even cathartic activity for me. So let's start off with some background info on me and why I'm doing this...

The bottom line is, I'm 25, unemployed, and figuring out my new surroundings.

I got a BA in Management & Society from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008, couldn't find a great job out of school and heard about city planning from a professor during my senior year. So I applied to the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC, miraculously got in, and enrolled. I figured that giving the economy/job market two more years to rebound a little was a smart move (Nostradamus fail), plus in-state tuition is cheap so I wasn't digging a huge hole by pushing back a salary a few years. Oh, and I found the curriculum and professional field interesting!

Fast forward to May, 2010: I graduate. Awesome, I'm a master! A master of city planning. The resumes and cover letters had already been going out for a few months, but I wasn't worried. I went to the Grand Canyon with my parents, on a New England/Québec road trip with a grad school friend, another road trip to Colorado with my dad. Basically, I enjoyed my accomplishment.

Then at the end of July I had to move out of my apartment in Carrboro (Chapel Hill's hipper, little brother). I crammed all my junk into the two spare bedrooms - one referred to as, deep breath, "my room" - in my parent's house in Western North Carolina. I kept sending out applications; online, email attachments, fax, FedEx, even hand-delivered a few. I got an interview (great!) but no offer (bummer..) and kept my chin up. Every now and again I'd get a letter confirming I was not selected for an interview; this happened from about 1 in 4 places I applied to.

Eventually I was too depressed about being "that guy" who lives with his parents while unemployed. So I summoned the courage to move to Colorado, something I had wanted to do since undergrad. I packed my Subaru to the gills and booked a hotel for 2 weeks in Fort Collins. I found a place, moved in, and looked for work. And I mean all kinds of work. I applied to all the local retail stores. I applied to load UPS trucks at 3am. I applied to cut grass and inspect boats at a state park. And of course I applied to city planning jobs.

Then my landlords decided to move into the condo I was renting. So I found a new place - in the People's Republic of Boulder - and moved again. Which brings us pretty much up to date. I've still applied to all kinds of "whatever work" in addition to planning jobs, and my optimism has started to fade. And as I go on with my less than settled life, people often ask me "So, what do you do all day?"

It's a good question. I have LOTS of free time. Luckily there is also lots of stuff to do in Colorado, especially for someone who is new. This blog will be my answer to those questions. How can a person occupy themselves all day, everyday? For weeks and months? You can only sleep so many of those hours away (at least for me), so there's lots of time to fill with original life programing.

This isn't to say that until now I've been sitting around all day. I have been active in my over-abundant freedom since I made the Rocky Mountain leap. Since I graduated really. But hopefully now, through writing about what I do, I will be pushed to do even more and make the most of my pre-career sabbatical. Also, it would be nice if I had fun documenting it too, as I do like to write and take photos. And who knows, maybe I'll find out something about myself. As silly as that sounds.

In any regard.. to those few poor and likely bored souls who might actually spend time reading this, 1: you likely have too much free time as well & 2: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy some part of my journey.