Twig Adventures

06:00-15:00, Saturday, 8-08-20 CO 14ers: 18 & 19 of 53 Distance RT: 18 miles Elevation gain/loss: 6,800′ Starting Elevation: 8,000′ Summits: 14,345′ & 14,042′ Rank: 4 & 43 of 53 Location: Southern Sangre De Cristos Range, east of Alamosa Route: Lake Como 4WD road to the Northwest Ridge of Blanca, then South Face of Ellingwood, difficult Class 2 After driving a few hours to basically get from the eastern side of the Blanca/Lindsey massif to the western side, with a stop for an early dinner in between, we were staged for a repeat performance. We would hike 5.5 miles up a 4WD road, then conquer the peaks the next morning. The standard routes for the three 14ers in the Blanca[…]

06:30-13:00, Friday, 8-07-20 CO 14ers: 17 of 53 Distance RT: 13 miles Elevation gain/loss: 3,500′ Starting Elevation: 10,700′ Summit: 14,042′ Rank: 42 of 53 Location: Southern Sangre De Cristos Range, southwest of Gardner Route: CR 580 to Upper Huerfano/Lily Lake Trailhead to the Northwest Gully, easy Class 3 Sandy and Tom decided to extend their vacation in CO, as there was still plenty to explore. We shifted our focus to the Sangre De Cristo range, with a visit to Jolly Rancher in Rosita and some 14ers to the south. We spent a night at JR’s awesome place for a nice night talking trail. Sandy, Tom, JR and Me, showing off our hiker legs! The next day we headed south, taking[…]

06:00-14:00, Friday, 7-31-20 CO 14ers: 14 & 15 of 53 Distance RT: 10.25 miles Elevation gain/loss: 3,900′ Starting Elevation: 11,699′ Summits: 14,060′ & 14,264′ Rank: 38 & 14 of 53 Location: Front Range, Guanella Pass Scenic Byway between Bailey and Georgetown Route: Mt Bierstadt West slope to Sawtooth ridge to Mt Evans, back down through Scott Gomer creek gully, mostly class 2, Sawtooth section is briefly Class 3. After a sweet ‘3for’, it was time for another ‘2for’. To put things into perspective, it took me years to work up to my first five 14ers, then months to do the next five. With this series (the DeCaLiBron the day before), I knocked out 5 in 2 days! This combo route[…]

06:00-12:00, Thursday, 7-30-20 CO 14ers: 11, 12 & 13 of 53 Distance RT: 7.5 miles Elevation gain/loss: 3,700′ Starting Elevation: 12,000′ Summits: Democrat 14,148′, Lincoln 14,286′ & Bross 14,172′ Rank: 28, 8 & 22 of 53 Location: Mosquito Range, West of Alma, CO Route: Democrat >Cameron>Lincoln>Bross…the DeCaLiBron combo clockwise, Class 2 On this hike, I did 3 or 4 14ers in one day, depending on which definition you go by. I’m going with 3, since Mt. Cameron was barely a bump on my radar and counting it would mess up my numbers. 21 in 2020 just doesn’t sound as good, so I’m willing to discount this one. Truly, 3 14ers in one day is plenty enough! Bang for buck, the[…]

Saturday 7-11-20 to Monday 7-13-20 Distance RT: 14 miles Elevation gain/loss: 5,500′ Starting Elevation: 9,280′ Summits: 13,423′ & 13,524′ Rank: 252 & 186 of 584 Location: Sangre de Cristos, Southern Colorado Route: Gibson Creek Trailhead (road 172) to Rainbow Trail to Swift Creek Trailhead, return on Lake of the Clouds Trail to Rainbow Trail/carpark. Companions: JR, Maggie & Niki I really needed to spend a weekend in the outdoors and it was JR to the rescue again. He invited me along for a mellow trip with his friends Maggie and Niki from Ft. Collins. The plan was to hike up to the Lake of the Clouds valley in the Sangres and spend 2 nights enjoying the area. I did some[…]

Friday 6-26-20 to Saturday 6-27-20 CO 14ers: 10 of 53 Distance RT: 20.5 miles Elevation gain/loss: 5,200′ Starting Elevation: 8,900′ Summit: 14,269′ Rank: 10 of 53 Location: Sawatch Range, Collegiate Peaks, north of Salida Route: Brown’s Creek Trail to FR #277 up to peak, back down Little Browns Creek Trail I’ll start by explaining that this was my first trip combining an overnight backpacking loop with a summit hike the following morning. I didn’t follow the standard route to the top, which is a boring 16 mile RT jeep road walk. I did some research to find that I could hike up one valley, summit, then come back down another valley, making for a much more interesting and scenic loop[…]