USA Pro Challenge

The USA Pro Challenge is a multi-day cycling race in Colorado, covering nearly 700 miles and 42,000 vertical feet. We caught the second-to-last stage, which started in Golden, rode through Boulder, then up to Nederland and Lyons before finishing back in Boulder on Flagstaff Mountain.

Donna and Rachel joined us to ride downtown. Lots of people out on bikes, Pearl St. was closed off for blocks for a cycling expo -- it was a zoo!

We all watched and cheered as the riders zoomed down Spruce St. (There were as many support vehicles, cop cars and motorcycles as there were cyclists!) Then Laurel and I headed up to Chautauqua for a hike. We hiked up and over the First Flatiron to the Gregory trailhead and then headed up Flagstaff Rd a bit to watch the end of the race. There were a LOT of people, probably 10s of thousands of people on Flagstaff, some in costumes, lots of cowbells.

I want to believe

Aliens are invading Boulder. With lasers.

Scrambling around Seal Rock

We were going to hike up Fern Canyon to Bear Peak but got sidetracked by hiking up to the Harmon Cave area and exploring a bit. There were some climbers starting up Seal Rock. We headed off to the right to see what we could find -- perhaps a way up to the Fern Canyon trail.

Seal Rock's north face

We hiked to the south end of Poot Ridge (or Gnome Rock?) and scrambled up for a view before continuing up and southward.

The west side of Seal Rock was impressive. We continued past and ended up stuck somewhere around the East Ridge of the Nebel Horn. There may have been a way around but we were running out of time so we turned around and headed back.

west side of Seal Rock

St Vrain Run

On Saturday Laurel ran up St. Vrain Mountain.

Colorado Bliss

Dinosaur Mountain

Laurel and I parked at NCAR and started towards the Mallory Cave trail, as we did 10 days ago. At that time the goal was to reach the Square and Babyhorn rocks -- an easy 2-mile round trip; today we continued past our previous turn around point up the steepening trail. Following the guidance of Gerry Roach's Flatirons Classics, our objective was to worm our way through the tiers of rock scattered on Dinosaur Mountain to its summit.

Not far into the hike a huge snake crossed the path between us. Either I unknowingly stepped right over it or it hadn't yet entered the path when I crossed. Laurel cried "S-S-S-NAKE!!!" and made a mighty leap back 20' off the trail. We let it slither through the grass before continuing on.

Shortly after hiking around behind Der Zerkle we left the main Mallory Cave trail and started up the even steeper climbers' access trail. It brought us to a junction where the trail broke left and right. We arbitrarily chose the right branch which led under the summit of another rock. The trail faded but there looked to be good scrambling around the northeast side of this rock.

We found an exposed traverse to the east face of the rock and attained a sub-summit perhaps 20' below the true summit. Those last 20' looked like a bad idea in sneakers with no rope so we were content to look out over Boulder from this perch.

summit of The Box

From the pictures and description in the Roach book we discovered we were sitting on a rock called The Box. To the west were Fi, Fo, Fum, and Dum, forming the third tier of north-south ridges of rock. Knowing our exact position helped, since the book described a scramble over the third tier just west of The Box.

Fi and Fo

Fum

Before attempting that scramble, however, we checked out the west-side sub-summit of The Box, where I knocked my noggin pretty hard on an overhanging rock blocked by my hat's visor. The scramble up this hunk of rock was described as class 3. Perhaps if I had rock shoes on I could agree with that assessment!

The scramble through the third tier was straightforward; it brought us to a steep hunk of rock that we suspected was the summit we were looking for, but we decided to explore around its backside to be sure. Around back we discovered it wasn't the summit; we also found a neat tabletop rock perched on two others, forming a tunnel. Then through the tunnel...

Dum's tunnel

... and atop the rock, which was a gigantic surface, perfect for laying in the sun. This rock was the summit block of Dum. Lunch.

Dinosaur Mountain's summit was just another few hundred feet west, and a pretty simple scramble. From the ground we couldn't tell which rock was the actual summit. Laurel found it first while I scrambled up a northern sub-summit.

Double-exposure of Laurel summiting Dinosaur Mountain

Dan summiting Dino Mtn

Incredible exposure to the west -- the summit looked down into the huge bowl below South Green Mountain that drains into Skunk Canyon.

After a short break in the shade we hiked down the Bowling Alley to a break in Dinosaur Mountain's summit ridge. Scrambling down the west side of the ridge brought us to a steep meadow that we followed all the way down to the Bear Creek trail. Along the way we found a few antlers and a praying mantis crawled around Laurel's pants.

We got back to NCAR 4.5 hours later, completing our 4.7 mile hike. Elevation gain was around 1700'.

Mount Audubon Moose

For my last day of summer vacation I decided to run up Mount Audubon. To my surprise and absolute delight, I came across some moose on my drive to the trailhead. As I approached Brainard Lake I noticed a whole bunch of cars on the side of the road. Thinking it was odd, especially at 7:30 on a weekday morning, I slowed down to look a little closer. There they were... 3 HUGE, munching moose. They were just standing there eating the bushes. I parked the car, grabbed the camera, and jumped out to snap some pictures. Though there were two very brave photographers not 20 feet from bulls (and one on a ladder), I was not that brave. I got as close as I felt comfortable, took some more pictures and noticed a fourth moose even closer to the lake.

I finally drove up to the actual trailhead for the start of my run. Fortunately, there were no moose up there. The morning was gorgeous and the run fairly uneventful. I saw plenty of marmots, pikas, and even some ptarmigan. I ran up in 1:34 and down in 1:10. Then it was off to school for a leadership team meeting.

Harvard and Columbia

Ann and I drove to Buena Vista Saturday night so we could camp at the trailhead and get an early start in the morning. We found some pretty good pizza in town for dinner and then went to set up camp. Despite there being a lot of other cars and a lot of other campers, it was a quiet night. Of course, I didn't sleep much though. I don't know what it is about the first night in a tent. Had we camped another night, I would have been dead to the world for sure. Oh well.

Sunday morning we got up a bit after 4:00 and were hiking by 5:00. We knew the bottom part of the trail well, having been there in June. As we got to the Columbia cut-off trail the sun was lighting the way. However, today we continued on the Harvard trail to attempt Colorado's third highest peak. The trail was well-built and the scenery was beautiful. We hiked through some willows, reminiscent of Mount Bierstadt. Then the trail snaked through lots of rock. It seemed to go on forever, but finally after nearly 5 hours we were at the base of the summit block. After a couple of neat scrambling moves we were on top.

It was now 10:00 and clouds were starting to form in the Colorado blue skies. The route to Columbia was 2 miles away on top of a rocky ridge--a long way from treeline. We decided to hike down the ridge for 20 minutes and re-evaluate the weather and terrain.

Twenty minutes later we decided the best course of action was to turn around and descend. We were moving too slowly to safely traverse the ridge so we backtracked to the trail. Nine and a half hours we were at the car. Thought there were dark clouds all around, we never got rained on or hard thunder. Better safe than sorry!

Chapin, Chiquita, & Ypsilon

On Saturday JJ and I drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove up the Old Fall River Road to the high trailhead of Chapin Pass. We left the car around 7:45 and started hiking the trail towards the mountains. After only a few minutes we saw dozens of elk down in a lower meadow. Then, a park sign that designated the end of the maintained trail. However, the unofficial trail was really quite good.

It was a gorgeous morning and there weren't many other people on the trail. We continued to hike along the trail on the side of Mount Chapin. We decided to leave the trail and go straight up the north slope to the summit. On the way we saw dozens of marmots and pikas. Very cool!

When we summited what we thought was Chapin, we realized it was just a labeled point and not the actual summit. We continued on up and got to the true summit around 9:30. We picked up the trail again and descended to the saddle. Then, it was on to Mount Chiquita. Again, lots of critters and another hiker pointed out some baby ermines. Very cute! We summited this peak around 11:00.

Clouds were starting to form, but it looked like we had enough time to head over to Ypsilon, the third peak along the ridge. This one had a very gradual slope. We got to the top right at noon. There were beautiful mountain lakes below us and we also met some climbers who had come up the class 4 ridge from Lawn Lake. We turned around quickly because the clouds were getting bigger and darker.

We were just 10 minutes from the treeline when it started hailing and then thundering with lightning behind us. The thunder was very loud, but fortunately we made it to the trees with no ill effects. After a few minutes the skies above us cleared and we got back to the car at 2:45. A long, but great day.

Mount Antero

Yesterday I ran up Mount Antero, my 24th fourteener. It was an awesome day and I'm so glad I did it!

I set my alarm for 4:00, but for some reason I was wide awake at 2:30. I tried desperately to fall back asleep for some much needed rest, but it just didn't work. So at 3:40 I decided it was time to get the show on the road. I got dressed, ate a little breakfast, and was on my way to Buena Vista at 4.

The drive was uneventful, but the sunrise over South Park was amazing. It's so neat how just before dawn you start to see the outlines of the mountains and then they gradually become illuminated by the morning sun. After a quick stop in Fairplay, I made a beeline for the trailhead and parked the car at 7:00. I decided that I wanted to start at the lower trailhead at 9,400 feet rather than try to take the XTerra up the 4-wheel drive road at 10,800. First of all, I wanted the longer distance as a training run for September's Imogene Pass Run and secondly, I was worried about driving up a steep 4-wheel drive road on my own.

At 7:10 I hit the trail and was able to run very steadily the first three miles to the upper trailhead. The road was rocky and wet, but I was able to get a pretty good footing the whole way. The one downer was that it was pitched to the left the whole time, so my right leg was not so happy. I got a few knots in my calf that I had to keep stretching out. The road followed a gorgeous creek with light colored rocks. There were also aspen and pine trees that seemed to climb a mile up into the sky.

The upper trailhead allowed views of the surrounding peaks. They looked like giants from my vantage point and I wondered how I would ever make it to the top. I crossed the stream and continued on. The next mile or so continued along the creek and passed many small pullouts perfect for camping. About and hour and a half into my run, I saw the first people of my trip---a large party camping along the road. I quietly ran by, pretending I didn't see or smell their illegal campfire.

Soon I was finally at the treeline. I could see endless switchbacks snaking their way up the mountain. I didn't realize what a popular 4-wheel drive area this was. There was an extensive "trail" system and even well-marked maps displayed by the High Rockies Off Road Vehicle Club. At this point I ran into a hiker. This older gentlemen was dressed in jeans and nice cowboy boots. He told me he was a "digger" and that his ATV broke down so he was hiking back to "basecamp" to get a replacement part. Ok....fair enough. For a while after we passed I wondered if he really said "digger" and carried on up the switchbacks.

After what seemed to be an eternity I got to the upper regions of the mountains. Here I saw my first ATV of the day (a friendly couple who I saw in the parking lot earlier) and continued on the southern side of the mountain. All the trip reports and trail guides I read said to stay on the road/trail, even when it looked like you could just slog up the scree, stay on the road. So, that's what I did. At one point I did cut a switchback because I thought the road was ending and the scree was super loose and steep. Thankfully, the road continued and I ran up a few more switchbacks. Suddenly, I came to a flat saddle between point 13800 and Mount Antero. The stone and sand were white and the road just ended. I looked to my right and saw a formidable ridge. I thought, "that can't be it, that looks crazy!" I took out my trail description and map and realized it was, in fact, the way to the summit. Gerry Roach described it as class 2 hiking, so I went on my way.

The ridge was actually not bad at all. There was a bit of a trail going through the really rocky part and it led pretty quickly the the summit hill. I scrambled up the talus and made it to the top in just under 3 hours---2:58! To my surprise there were 4 other people on top. A father and daughter and two guys from Germany (I think). It was beautiful on top, but already the clouds were building and I wanted to get down quickly since the treeline was probably an hour and a half away. They were all a bit surprised I had run from the lower trailhead.

I took a few pictures, texted Dan, ate a snack, and headed down. The switchbacks were fun to run and I made it to treeline in less than an hour. Here I started to see more ATVs and 4-wheel drive trucks. Actually, in all I saw 16 (and 2 marmots, 4 pikas, and countless chipmunks---I like counting things :-) People in the ATVs were telling me I was crazy, making them look bad, etc., etc. Pretty funny! Then, just minutes from the car I ran into my digger friend. Turns out he and his buddies dig for aquamarine on the other side of the mountain. Modern miners! Crazy! His friend was trying to get me to join them as they needed people with "my kind of stamina." I don't think so! I got to the car less than two hours after reaching the summit (1:52). What a great day!

Shavano & Tabeguache

On Wednesday, Maggie and I drove up to Buena Vista and camped at the Shavano trailhead. What a gorgeous place! We pitched our tent smack in the middle of an Aspen grove. There was some rain for about half an hour, but it was dry the rest of the evening and into the night. As we were hanging out after dinner, a 22-year-old rode his bike to the parking lot. To celebrate his recent birthday he had ridden from his home in Leadville (60 miles away) and planned to hike the mountain the next day. The poor guy was exhausted and in need of water. Fortunately, we were able to help out, since the nearest stream was a 45-minute hike up the trail. We hit the sack when the sun set to help us get an early start.

Thursday we woke up at 5:00 and were on the trail by 6:00. The trail climbed over 4000' up the east slopes of Shavano, a huge fourteener seen from Salida and Buena Vista. The morning was absolutely perfect. Cool, sunny, and cloudless! There weren't many other people on the trail. Two women from Boulder, a trail runner, and a big Boy Scout group (that started at 3:30!) were the only people we saw until our descent. We reached the summit of Shavano in three hours.

After the necessary pictures and snacks, we started our descent down the northwest ridge to Tabeguache (pronounced Tab-a-watch). Maggie wasn't feeling up to the full descent and subsequent ascent of the neighboring peak. I went on, tagged the summit, and met her back on the ridge in less than an hour. We then climbed to the top of Shavano (again!) before heading back down towards the car. Clouds were starting to form, but they weren't getting too big or too dark. We ran into our buddy from the night before---his legs were shot but he was still having a blast and moving upwards! We returned to the trailhead without incident 7 hours after we left. A great day!

Overall: 11.5 miles, 5400' gain, 7:00 hours