ColoradoFest in the Sawatch Range

[IntrepidXJ]

This last weekend I headed down to Nathrop to meet up with the Colorado Chapter and hang out for a long weekend. While I was there, I took the time to do some exploring and finish some trails I was unable to last year.

We got an early start on Friday morning and headed up Mount Princeton.

Driving towards Mount Princeton

Mount Antero from the top of the Mount Princeton Trail

After making our way back down we headed up to Hancock Lakes for some lunch.

Passed by the Allie Belle Mine...it's in a bit worse shape than it was last year

Unnamed mountain from the Hancock townsite

Unfortunately, when we made it to the parking area for Hancock Lakes, it started raining so we decided not to make the hike this time. So we ate our lunch and then headed up and over Hancock Pass.

Headed down the pass

While we were driving over the pass, the rain stopped so we headed over to hike to the Alpine Tunnel.

Alpine Tunnel station

Turntable

After hiking back to our Jeep, we made our way over Cumberland Pass and to the town of Tin Cup

Tincup Pass was not open because of some large snow drifts, so we continued on to Taylor Park Reservoir and headed over Cottonwood Pass back to Buena Vista. We then met up with the rest of the ColoradoFest attendees for a good dinner at Coyote Cantina in Johnson Village before heading back to the campground for the evening.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Bright and early Saturday morning we headed to St. Elmo before all of the crowds showed up.

After walking around and checking out the cool old town, we made our way back to head up Mount Antero.

Number of switchbacks

We then tried to take the short side trip to Browns Lake.

Headed on the way to Browns Lake

Unfortunately, when we got to within 3/4 of a mile to the lake, we were stopped by a snow drift across the trail.

Since we didn't make it to the lake, we headed over to the Baldwin Lakes for lunch.

Upper Baldwin Lake

Lower Baldwin Lake

 

[IntrepidXJ]

On our way to Pomeroy Lakes we stopped and took the short hike to the Ghost House which is near the trailhead for the Iron Chest Mine trail.

Ghost House

The old wash house behind the Ghost House

Then we continued on to the Pomeroy Lakes.

An old cabin along Pomeroy Creek

Mary Murphy Mill

We hiked to the Upper Pomeroy Lake

 

[IntrepidXJ]

On Sunday before we headed home we headed up to Grizzly Lake.

I managed to high center myself on the very first ledge and had to winch up it.

We passed along this old cabin

...and finally reached Grizzly Lake

 

[Paul R]

Great pictures!
Thanks for sharing!
:clapsmile

 

[Sgt Grunt]

Great pictures and trip report!!! Some of my favorite places on earth.

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

Wonderful, looks like there are more Colorado places to add to the list....stop already!

 

[ttora4runner]

Nice, photos thanks for sharing. Won't mind being up there right now.

 

[Bergger]

Chalk Creek is one of my favorite areas to explore. We try to get in there at least once a year. Nice photos.

 

[Jacket]

Beautiful! I'll be down that way in a couple of weeks; hoping that Tincup and Mosquito are completely passable by then.

Did you happen to come across a bunch of yahoos in Land Cruisers (and various other Toyotas)? There was a big group in that same area on Sat and Sun.

 

[kcowyo]

Colorado in July.... there is nothing better. :jumping:

Great photos.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Did you happen to come across a bunch of yahoos in Land Cruisers (and various other Toyotas)? There was a big group in that same area on Sat and Sun.

No I did not. When taking 50 home, though, I passed a ton of FJ Cruisers headed back from the San Juans