Leadville 4WD Adventure, CO: (6/23-26/06)

[goodtimes]

Scott, I have inked in the vacation, and have decided to use the Dodge for what I originally intended it for.....to transport me around the freeways on vacation while dragging the jeep behind me. I get the comfort of the long wheelbase on the road, the agility of the jeep off road. This will also solve my cargo space problem, so should be good to go. I will probably be in Colorado 4 or 5 days before the trip, so give me a hollar if you need anything....

 

[DaveInDenver]

I hiked Mt. Elbert not long before moving here (just over 10 years ago now). It's the highest point in our state and you gotta do it, although it's not a particularly technical climb. There are a couple of talus fields above treeline, but otherwise I'd put it squarely in the pretty easy category. Most people rate it a class #1 14er (all on trail and no scrambling, although in June you may still may need crampons and an axe crossing the northern side near Box Creek). That said, it's worth the climb just for the elevation gain and views for sure. If you want an extra tag-a-long, I'd like to hike it again. The standard route is along the NE ridge, which is the greater elevation gain (about 4500') and 8.5 miles. The southern route has less elevation gain (about 4000'), but is slightly steeper overall since it's about a mile shorter. I'd expect a Front Ranger to take 8 hours, give or take. Don't forget that you want to be coming down from the summit by very early afternoon (my general target is to be back below treeline by 2PM), spending time above treeline in the summer here is risky.

What trail(s) are you planning to drive the first day? If it's not stock friendly and close to the Lily Pad Lakes west of Leadville must be Holy Cross or something? That's not even friendly to heavily modified vehicles (think double lockers, lots of armor and still be prepared for damage). The day you go up the Fryingpan drainage to Lily Pad Lake you'll be going up (probably) towards Hagerman Pass. This is hard enough to be fun, but a stock Dodge should be able to make it. It's an old railroad grade, so it's not bad. I'm assuming you're planning to drive down to the Mt Elbert trailhead from this camp, it's about a 20 mile hike down the CT from here. I've ridden part of the trail from Copper ski area over Tennessee Pass to Turquoise Lake (I got a thumb shuttle back!).

 

[Pskhaat]

Is it 2 lockers req'd or open or in-between?

 

[Ursidae69]

I can either meet the group Saturday night or at the trailhead on Sunday. I'm probably going to come down and spend Friday and Saturday exploring, then hike all day Sunday, driving home Monday morning.

Like DaveinDenver said, it is a class 1 hike, but that much elevation gain will be a hard hike (for me anyway). That's about the most I've done in the past.

Here is a link to the Northeast Ridge Route (Standard route).

 

[DaveInDenver]

I can either meet the group Saturday night or at the trailhead on Sunday. I'm probably going to come down and spend Friday and Saturday exploring, then hike all day Sunday, driving home Monday morning.

Like DaveinDenver said, it is a class 1 hike, but that much elevation gain will be a hard hike (for me anyway). That's about the most I've done in the past.

Here is a link to the Northeast Ridge Route (Standard route).

You are absolutely right to point this out. While I'd call it a class 1 technical hike (maybe easy class 2 scramble, the scree field is fairly broad as I recall), it will not be an easy hike due to elevation gain and altitude. That's why I said to assume an 8 hour round trip, acclimatization and mountain sickness could be a real issue. Particularly since you guys are going to spend time enjoying barley pops I'm sure... Ideally we'd all eat perfect diets and avoid alcohol, but that's just no fun is it?

 

[goodtimes]

...Particularly since you guys are going to spend time enjoying barley pops I'm sure... Ideally we'd all eat perfect diets and avoid alcohol, but that's just no fun is it?

Pre-hike diet generally does not consist of any thing made with barley &/or hopps. Post-hike diet DEFINATELY includes some though.

 

[BajaTaco]

...Ideally we'd all eat perfect diets and avoid alcohol

Somehow that seems to be a contradiction...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Somehow that seems to be a contradiction...

Yeah, I'm still waiting for nutritionists to allow substitution of beer servings for bread. It's really just controlled molding of bread in an easy to carry package.

GT, I was just throwing out a typical AMS don't. I ride a summer Forest Service MTB patrol at Buffalo Creek, in far western Jefferson County, about 35 miles west of Denver. The bulk of the area is about 7,500' to 8,300' and I've seen people on their first day from lower elevations who are ill with nausea and headaches. One major thing people coming to the hills here do is drink too much alcohol and not enough water (you're on vacation, dang it, why shouldn't you tip back a few!). But since camp the night before the hike is near Lily Pad Lake, which is about 10,500', I have a feeling that it could be a bit of an issue. I usually recommend to people that they ideally (but isn't really practical) don't camp above 8,000' until spending a week in Denver first, but I'm no doctor. I live at 5,300' and will get a bit of a headache the first night above 10,000' that usually subsides by the second night. But then again I'm not particularly good about avoiding the good stuff (caffeine, alcohol and proteins), although I do tend to drink lots of water and take in tons of carbs.

 

[goodtimes]

I grew up in the hills north of Golden (Coal Creek Canyon). I learned early on that drinking alcohol before hiking isn't in my best interest.

 

[Pskhaat]

And I grew up for many of my years in Evergreen, amazing how many of us are from up there...

 

[Pskhaat]

Scott, sorry if I missed additional detail:

6/23: Leave the Denver area for camping and some serious 4wd adventure. Nathan (Pangaea) has the trail picked out and we will set camp that night.

What time and place are we meeting in the DEN area? The night of 6/22 I would be more than happy to host a dinner/get-together/pot-luck at my place in Evergreen if anyone would be interested?

 

[upcruiser]

Wow, this sounds like a fun trip. I'm coaching on snow at Copper untill the 19then was planning to spend a few days messing around here in Colorado before heading home. I might be interested in meeting up for the hike of Elbert. I gotta work out some details though, I was hoping to depart the 23rd to head back to Marquette. It will be interesting to see what kind of snow is left up there by the 26th. There were deep snowpacks this spring but they've been melting super fast with the warm weather. Might not be an issue if it keeps up.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Wow, this sounds like a fun trip. I'm coaching on snow at Copper untill the 19then was planning to spend a few days messing around here in Colorado before heading home. I might be interested in meeting up for the hike of Elbert. I gotta work out some details though, I was hoping to depart the 23rd to head back to Marquette. It will be interesting to see what kind of snow is left up there by the 26th. There were deep snowpacks this spring but they've been melting super fast with the warm weather. Might not be an issue if it keeps up.

We rode last weekend on the Gold Dust Trail, which is a singletrack that parallels Boreas Pass Rd. We ended up taking a side trail and sitting on the south side of Mt Silverheels, about treeline. We hit 2 snow fields, the deepest was about a foot deep and maybe 6' x 30'. The other was barely ankle deep. Our snowpack isn't great, we got pretty much no big storms this spring and that hurt a lot. Plus, it's been dry, dry, dry since about March.

 

[Scott Brady]

Sorry guys, I had a difficult time nailing down schedules and trails, and then decided to fly to Hawaii, so I am a bit distracted.

SO, I am going to propose a few options and will make a democratic decision based on the results.

FRIDAY NIGHT: We have the option of either a camp, or hanging out at Scott's (Pskhaat) for a BBQ and BS session. I am cool with either one, and I am sure Scott is too. If we do the BBQ, we will also have a slide show from Graham on Africa and a slide show on Africa and the Outback Challenge from me.

SATURDAY: This is set, and will include running the Keystone, Webster Pass and possibly Radical Hill trails near Breckenridge. Remote Camp (.

SUNDAY: Another option. We can move the climb to Monday (if that works for everyone. It does for me) and do the Birdseye Gulch 4wd trail and then camp near the trailhead of Elbert. Non-climbers can either camp, or roll back home.

If moving the climb to Monday doesn't work, then we climb on Sunday.

The big change for this will be where camp is on Saturday night, either near Breckenridge, or at Lilly Lake.

I would prefer to hike on Monday and enjoy the trails over the weekend, but if it doesnt work, no problem, we will stick to the original plan. :beer:

 

[18seeds]

Wow this trip seems like a lot of fun.. Damm Work taking up my play time... Although I would be a little intimidated by all the experience on this forum.