Welcome to Gary's 2004 Colorado Adventure!
Here is my 2004 trip to Colorado:
On Thursday August 18 I got up at 6, went to a Medco job interview at 7:30 (I retired from Verizon in June 2004 and started working at Medco in October 2004), went back to my Tampa home, then went grocery shopping and swimming. The airport shuttle came at 2 p.m. I flew to Memphis, then on to Denver, both legs with very talkative women. I arrived in Denver at 8:15 p.m. and drove the horribly mangled I225 & I-25 (both under construction) to the Colorado Springs Econolodge. Got to bed around midnight.
Friday morning at 7:30 Mary called to schedule dinner (Olive Garden, 6:00). Then I had the free hotel breakfast and drove to Cripple Creek, Victor and Victor Pass, got groceries, picked up my race packet for the Pikes Peak Ascent (13.65 miles, 8,000' vertical), drove through Garden of the Gods, had lunch (McDonald's) and slept for a couple of hours until 3:15 p.m. Then drove to an Alzheimer's home for my friend Laura's musical therapy performance (she's very good in a variety of genres from ragtime to Clapton). Afterward had dinner with froends (the aforementioned Olive Garden date), then went back to the room to prepare for the race and went to bed at9.
Saturday I got up at 4:15 for a pop-tart & banana, then up again at 5:15 to get dressed & sunscreened for the Ascent. Drove to near the start (about a mile away) & walked over to watch the first wave (7:00) start - but the race was delayed for 1/2 hour due to snow at the summit, so I cooled my heels until 7:30 to watch the fast people start, then my wave (the NOT-so-fast) started at 8:00. Talked to Vicky from Kansas at the start, then jogged through town and up to the Cog Railway in Manitou Springs before getting on the Barr Trail where things slowed to a single-file fast walk. Hit Barr Camp at 10:30, and got to just below the A-Frame at treeline by noon (20 minutes ahead of the cut-off), when the course monitors made us turn around due to lightning danger near the summit. So instead of walking the last 3 miles up, we walk-jogged 10 miles back downhill (I met Vicky near the turnaround and we went down together). Got to the Cog RR again at 3:30 and Vicky got picked up there by a friend. I continued back to the start area just in time for a torrential downpour with lots of lightning and pea-sized hail. I had to wade back to my car through rivers of red muddy water running across the road, then went back to the motel to wash up, make some phone calls, pick up some fast-food dinner & got to bed at 10.
Sunday I got up at 7, had another free motel breakfast, picked up my "summit clothes" at the race area (warm clothes for runners reaching the summit - they hadn't arrived back at the base yet the day before), talked to the race director who promised medals to all the people who reached the turn-around by the cutoff time, and drove to Snowmass (Stonebridge Inn) where I set up camp for the rest of the week. Mary arrived in town later in the evening - we had dinner & watched the Olympics.
Monday I got up at 3:15, had a light breakfast, and met Mary for the drive up to the Maroon Bells. We started hiking from the Maroon Lake parking lot at 4:40 with headlamps. Stumbled up to Crater Lake by 5:15, crossed a stream in Minnehaha Gulch at 6:20, climbed the muddy and cliffy crux up to the rock glacier and got to the first gully at 7:30 and the 2nd gully at 8:30. Near the top of the 2nd gully (around 13,200') we turned around due to threatening clouds around 9:30. A storm never materialized, but better safe than dead. The descent was nasty as always. Got back to the car at 1 having seen a fox, a bunny, an albino pika, maybe a beaver, and a mother & baby mountain goat. Washed up & had dinner in the room, to bed at 9 after more Olympics.
Tuesday, up at 6:30 and met Mary for breakfast (where I broke a tooth on a very tough bagel), then drove to Hanging Lake off I-70 near Glenwood Springs. Climbed 1.2 miles and 1,050' to the lake and Spouting Rock waterfall above the lake. Then headed for the Sopris Ranger Station for Mt. Sopris climbing directions, to Marble & beyond for a picnic lunch at Lizard Lake (near Crystal). Then back to Snowmass by way of Sopris (to scout out the trailhead). More Olympics. Do they ever end?
The next day (Wednesday) got up at 4:30 & had another pop-tart breakfast, met Mary & drove to Sopris trailhead at 6. Hiked through cows to Thomas Lakes at 8. Then up a new trail with many switchbacks and false summits - finally reached the true summit (12,953') at 11. It was very windy the last 2,000' up. It was a long, tiring, painful descent back to the car (3 p.m.). Then washed up, picked up some groceries for dinner, more Olympics and bed around 10.
Thursday got up at 6:30, had breakfast in the Inn with Mary, then she left for home (Colorado Springs). I took a rest day - reading, eating, napping, snacking, gas & groceries, Olympics, & to bed at 9:30. Friday got up at 3:30, had coffee & doughnuts in the room, left at 4. Drove through a foggy whiteout over Independence Pass - at least 10 deer on or near the road - missed them all though. On the East side of the Pass I took South Fork Lake Creek Road up 4 punishing miles to the 2WD parking lot. Started hiking around 6 a.m. up the 4WD road to McNasser Gulch (which wasn't as bad as the 2WD road).
The gulch was very nice, and as full of deer as the road had been. Hiked to a mine, then angled along the bottom of cliffs on the right-hand side of the gulch until I reached a climbable scree slope up to a saddle.
From the saddle I followed a ridge to a 13,940' subsummit of Grizzly Peak. Clouds were building up, so I ran and scrambled to the top (9:30, 13,988') and headed down as fast as I could after snapping some photos and signing the register.
I went straight down from the saddle almost to the stream at the bottom of McNasser Gulch, where I found a faint trail leading back to the mine. A light snow started falling on the descent (August 27th!). Back to the car at 11:45. 8.2 miles total, 3,250'. Drove back down the rough road. It snowed heavily all the way back up & over Independence Pass - drove carefully. Rained through Aspen, sunny in Snowmass. Cleaned up, ate leftovers, bed at 9:30.
On Saturday I got up at 6, had breakfast at 7 after packing, and left before 8. Drove back over the Pass to Frisco to Black Hawk to Boulder to my friend Mitch's house at noon. Toured the new house he is building, had Noodles for lunch, visited a while longer before heading th an airport hotel in the evening. Sunday morning I flew back home, just in time for four hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne).