Since Sarah and I were so blow away by the beauty of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, we decided to head back up there on Sunday to do another hike. Sarah chose the Pawnee pass hike. This particular trail started at the Long Lake Trail head and, as you could probably guess, hikes along Long Lake.
After passing the lake, the trail follows the South St Vrain Creek for a while, before ascending steeply up towards Pawnee Pass. This particular part of the trail was amazingly beautiful. The switchbacks take you up a cliff in the middle of the valley to to a hanging valley with just amazing views. After you traverse to the back side of the hanging valley, you start switch backing again until you reach the Pawnee Pass.
Once we reached the pass we sat down and had our lunch of Salami, cheese and wheat thins. I have to take you down a short sidetrack here and talk about food. For the last few years, Sarah and I have lived with a fairly spartan, but varied food eating habits while hiking. We usually bring some dried fruit, 2-3 different granola bars, and fruit snacks. We thought this was pretty good. Then we started hiking more and more with the Blocksmas and Courtneys. They would get to the top of the mountain, and somehow Liz would pull out a while picnic basket with sandwiches, fresh fruit, and kegs of beer. It was magical. Suddenly, our plethora of dried food didn't taste so good. This was our first time with real, non dehydrated food, and I can tell you that I'm never going back (at least for day trips). After our lunch, I was actually FULL. An amazing concept. Anyways...
Once we reached the pass, in typical Bishop fashion, we decided that we couldn't just take pictures of the peaks around us, we needed to be on top of them. We decided to scramble up to the top of Pawnee Peak for another spectacular view of the wilderness.
Once on top of Pawnee Peak though, we saw another mountain to the north of us, Mt Toll. Mt Toll is another one of those very distinctive peaks I stare at on my way to work, and it's only like one mile away, so Sarah and I climb down off Pawnee and head up Mt Toll.
As we loudly scramble our way to the top of Mt Toll, we realize there is an older gentleman lying down at the very top. We end up waking him up with our talking and he thanks us because he'd been asleep up there for a few hours and was happy to not be caught in a storm. We start chatting about where all he's hiked and he mentions that he's hiked every peak that we can see from where we're standing. Now, that may seem like a lot to most people, but until you've stood on top of a 13,000 ft mountain, you don't realize that that isn't just a lot of mountains, it's a FREAKING LOT OF MOUNTAINS! We ask him where else he's been and he starts his list: Everest, another mountain next to Everest, Anapurna 4, five different trips to Russia mountain climbing, all over in South America, every Colorado 14er multiple times, solo. "Holy shit!" I think. This is the guy I want to be when I'm older. He's obviously retired now, in his lake 60's, possible early 70's, and just climbs mountains and naps at the top every day. That's what I call paradise.
The three of us notice some vertical buildup in the clouds to the west, so we all decide it's time to head down the mountain. Since Sarah and I decided to climb Mt Toll, we are now over a completely different valley that the one we ascended. There is no actually trail down the side of the mountain, but we figure that we could scramble our way down to Blue Lake where the trail starts up again. The climb down is a lot of fun with tons of huge granite slabs to climb down. This would be a great place to come back to rock climbing or bouldering.
Before we headed off Mt Toll, the gentleman told us about his favorite place to go skinny dipping in Blue Lake. It's on the opposite side of the lake as the trail, is secluded behind a boulder, and has a sandy beach you can walk into the lake from. He points it out and describes it to us, and Sarah and I decide to go and find it. The route I picked down the mountain actually ended at his favorite spot, so I stripped down and jumped in the crystal clear water. Man, that was cold. Needless to say, I didn't stay in very long, but Sarah and I have full intentions of headed back there next July to swim more, preferable when it's warmer outside.
As soon as we started headed back down the valley, a hear thunder in the distance. We pick up speed. Tons of people are killed every year by lightning in Colorado and someone died on the trail we were on just a few weeks ago. Eventually it starts raining, so we start jogging. Then the lightning is on top of us, constant, and scary as shit. Man I hate lightning. I end up running down the mountain for my life, head down, too scared to look up to see where the lightning is hitting. I know it's close because there is no pause between the flash and the boom, I just don't want to actually see how close. After 20 minutes of running and a little bit of pee in my pants, the storm blows past us and we slow our pace, thankful to be alive.
Once we reach the trail head we start chatting up the ranger stationed there. When we left Blue Lake there were a dozen people still lounging around, and in our run down the mountain we passed a bunch of people, some of which were heading UP the mountain! The ranger mentions that he's nervous that not all of them will come back and that he was counting and hoping. Scary crap.
This trip is definitely in my Top 5 Colorado hikes and I can't wait to do it again. Sarah and I will definitely be spending more time in the IPW.
Here are all the pics on Flickr
Since Sarah and I were so blow away by the beauty of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, we decided to head back up there on Sunday to do another hike. Sarah chose the Pawnee pass hike. This particular trail started at the Long Lake Trail head and, as you could probably guess, hikes along Long Lake.
After passing the lake, the trail follows the South St Vrain Creek for a while, before ascending steeply up towards Pawnee Pass. This particular part of the trail was amazingly beautiful. The switchbacks take you up a cliff in the middle of the valley to to a hanging valley with just amazing views. After you traverse to the back side of the hanging valley, you start switch backing again until you reach the Pawnee Pass.
Once we reached the pass we sat down and had our lunch of Salami, cheese and wheat thins. I have to take you down a short sidetrack here and talk about food. For the last few years, Sarah and I have lived with a fairly spartan, but varied food eating habits while hiking. We usually bring some dried fruit, 2-3 different granola bars, and fruit snacks. We thought this was pretty good. Then we started hiking more and more with the Blocksmas and Courtneys. They would get to the top of the mountain, and somehow Liz would pull out a while picnic basket with sandwiches, fresh fruit, and kegs of beer. It was magical. Suddenly, our plethora of dried food didn't taste so good. This was our first time with real, non dehydrated food, and I can tell you that I'm never going back (at least for day trips). After our lunch, I was actually FULL. An amazing concept. Anyways...
Once we reached the pass, in typical Bishop fashion, we decided that we couldn't just take pictures of the peaks around us, we needed to be on top of them. We decided to scramble up to the top of Pawnee Peak for another spectacular view of the wilderness.
Once on top of Pawnee Peak though, we saw another mountain to the north of us, Mt Toll. Mt Toll is another one of those very distinctive peaks I stare at on my way to work, and it's only like one mile away, so Sarah and I climb down off Pawnee and head up Mt Toll.
As we loudly scramble our way to the top of Mt Toll, we realize there is an older gentleman lying down at the very top. We end up waking him up with our talking and he thanks us because he'd been asleep up there for a few hours and was happy to not be caught in a storm. We start chatting about where all he's hiked and he mentions that he's hiked every peak that we can see from where we're standing. Now, that may seem like a lot to most people, but until you've stood on top of a 13,000 ft mountain, you don't realize that that isn't just a lot of mountains, it's a FREAKING LOT OF MOUNTAINS! We ask him where else he's been and he starts his list: Everest, another mountain next to Everest, Anapurna 4, five different trips to Russia mountain climbing, all over in South America, every Colorado 14er multiple times, solo. "Holy shit!" I think. This is the guy I want to be when I'm older. He's obviously retired now, in his lake 60's, possible early 70's, and just climbs mountains and naps at the top every day. That's what I call paradise.
The three of us notice some vertical buildup in the clouds to the west, so we all decide it's time to head down the mountain. Since Sarah and I decided to climb Mt Toll, we are now over a completely different valley that the one we ascended. There is no actually trail down the side of the mountain, but we figure that we could scramble our way down to Blue Lake where the trail starts up again. The climb down is a lot of fun with tons of huge granite slabs to climb down. This would be a great place to come back to rock climbing or bouldering.
Before we headed off Mt Toll, the gentleman told us about his favorite place to go skinny dipping in Blue Lake. It's on the opposite side of the lake as the trail, is secluded behind a boulder, and has a sandy beach you can walk into the lake from. He points it out and describes it to us, and Sarah and I decide to go and find it. The route I picked down the mountain actually ended at his favorite spot, so I stripped down and jumped in the crystal clear water. Man, that was cold. Needless to say, I didn't stay in very long, but Sarah and I have full intentions of headed back there next July to swim more, preferable when it's warmer outside.
As soon as we started headed back down the valley, a hear thunder in the distance. We pick up speed. Tons of people are killed every year by lightning in Colorado and someone died on the trail we were on just a few weeks ago. Eventually it starts raining, so we start jogging. Then the lightning is on top of us, constant, and scary as shit. Man I hate lightning. I end up running down the mountain for my life, head down, too scared to look up to see where the lightning is hitting. I know it's close because there is no pause between the flash and the boom, I just don't want to actually see how close. After 20 minutes of running and a little bit of pee in my pants, the storm blows past us and we slow our pace, thankful to be alive.
Once we reach the trail head we start chatting up the ranger stationed there. When we left Blue Lake there were a dozen people still lounging around, and in our run down the mountain we passed a bunch of people, some of which were heading UP the mountain! The ranger mentions that he's nervous that not all of them will come back and that he was counting and hoping. Scary crap.
This trip is definitely in my Top 5 Colorado hikes and I can't wait to do it again. Sarah and I will definitely be spending more time in the IPW.
Here are all the pics on Flickr
