Twig Adventures

LT Day 3: Back in the game

September 25, 2020 kaulua26 Long Trail

Fri Sept 25th, 2020, 0600-1630Spruce Ledge Camp to Waterman Brook, SOBO LT mile 54.724.0 miles, 7200 gain, 6500 loss I slept perfectly overnight, despite some nearby anonymous snoring (earplugs do wonders!). My shirt and skirt were still wet in the morning…recall my pond excursion the afternoon before? I optimistically hung them to dry overnight, but nothing dries at night on the east coast. I hated putting on wet clothes to start the day but at least it wasn’t cold. I woke feeling pretty great, like Tony the Tiger grrrrreat! Perhaps I’d finally found my hiker groove. I hit the trail very early, having to use my headlamp for the first 15 minutes. I already felt productive, despite an in-your-face steep[…]

LT Day 2: Humbling

September 24, 2020 kaulua26 Long Trail

Thu Sept 24th, 2020, 0700-1630 Hazen’s Notch Camp to Spruce Ledge Camp, SOBO LT mile 30.6 14.0 miles 4600 gain, 5100 loss I didn’t set my alarm and slept until 6 am. Usually I started packing by 5 or 5:30 am, but clearly I needed the rest. I was very sore when I started moving and almost 30 minutes delayed by the time I hit the trail. I already felt pretty demoralized but shouldn’t have been so hard on myself. This was the problem with having other thru-hikes under my belt: I set too high of expectations. My experiences allowed me to hit the ground running but I couldn’t expect to pick up exactly where I left off. The going[…]

LT Day 1: Journey’s End

September 23, 2020 kaulua26 Long Trail

Wed, Sept 23, 2020 , 0645-1800 Journey’s End Trailhead to Hazen’s Notch Camp, SOBO LT mile 17 18.6 miles 7100 gain, 6400 loss We had to be out the door and on our way to the Canadian border by 0530 am. This wasn’t just for our benefit, our hosts had very busy and productive lives and needed to attend a zoom work meeting at 0830 am. Luckily the 1.5 hr drive to the border went well and we were ready to start at the trailhead before 7 am. It was still a bit dark, this being my earliest first day start since 2017 on the Colorado Trail. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep the previous 2 nights and felt[…]

LT Introduction & Pre-planning

September 22, 2020 kaulua26 Long Trail

2020 was a bust for many thru-hiking plans, including my own for the Appalachian Trail. By late summer, I reasoned that if I couldn’t hike the whole AT, 100 miles of it was better than nothing. This is the part it shares with the Long Trail (LT). The LT is 273 miles, running the length of the Green Mountains from the Canadian border to Massachusetts. It was the first long distance, continuous footpath that was purposely designed. Built by the Green Mountain Club between 1910 – 1930, it later became the inspiration for the AT. In following, the AT incorporated 100 miles of the LT as it was routed through Vermont (much like how the CDT and CT ‘share’ sections[…]

#20 of 20: Longs Peak 14,255′

August 19, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

05:00-15:00, Wednesday, 8-19-20CO 14ers: 25 of 53Distance RT: 15 milesElevation gain/loss: 5,100′Starting Elevation: 9,400′Summit: 14,255′Rank: 15 of 53Location: Front Range, NW of BoulderRoute: Keyhole, Class 3 My final 14er of 2020 was a fitting one. I started the season with one of the biggest challenges, in terms of distance and elevation gain: Pikes Peak. I finished on an equally challenging peak, which was also probably my favorite hike the whole season…that’s saying a lot. Interestingly, Longs and Pikes Peak share a connection in that they both sit on the front range, rising over 9,000 feet above the Great Plains. It’s this similarity that resulted in the naming of Longs Peak. In 1820, Major Stephen Long, an Army officer and explorer,[…]

#19 of 20: Quandary Peak 14,265′

August 18, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

06:30-11:30, Tuesday, 8-18-20CO 14ers: 24 of 53Distance RT: 6.75 milesElevation gain/loss: 3,450′Starting Elevation: 10,850′Summit: 14,265′Rank: 13 of 53Location: Tenmile Range, south of BreckenridgeRoute: East Ridge, Class 1 This will be a short post, since so too was the hike. After regrouping briefly in Buena Vista, we decided to go for an easy hike the next morning. Yes, easy as 14ers can get, that is. We also had to be cognizant of the wildfires that were starting to blaze throughout the state. Several 14ers were inaccessible due to road closures on I-70 and 82. We considered Mt. Sherman in the nearby Mosquito Range but it didn’t sound like much fun…too much mining activity and a long dirt road approach. So we[…]

#17 & #18 of 20: Mt Columbia 14,073′ & Mt Harvard 14,420′

August 17, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

06:30-15:30, Monday, 8-17-20CO 14ers: 22 & 23 of 53Distance RT: 15 milesElevation gain/loss: 6,100′Starting Elevation: 9,900′Summits: 14,073′ & 14,420′Rank: 35 & 3 of 53Location: Sawatch Range, Collegiate Peaks, west of Buena VistaRoute: N. Cottonwood Creek Trail to west slopes of Columbia, north and east on ridge to Harvard, back down the south slopes, counterclockwise, Class 2 After a week away from 14ers, I was ready for some more. I joined Sandy the day before, where we did some tubing on the Arkansas River park rapids. We’d found the tube on a hike down Grape Creek, outside of Canon City, a few days prior. We’d taken it to the the river park there, where we had a little too much fun[…]

#15 & #16 of 20: Challenger Point 14,081′ & Kit Carson Peak 14,165′

August 10, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

06:00-15:00, Monday, 8-10-20CO 14ers: 20 & 21 of 53Distance RT: 15.5 milesElevation gain/loss: 6,250′Starting Elevation: 8,850′Summits: 14,081′ & 14,165′Rank: *33-34 & 23 of 53 * Challenger Point doesn’t meet the standard of being a separate peak, but I’ve included it in my count.Location: Central Sangre De Cristos Range, east of CrestoneRoute: Willow Lake Trail to the North Slope of Challenger Point, along the Kit Carson Avenue to Kit Carson Peak, Easy Class 3 Leaving Blanca behind, one thing was sure: I didn’t have the energy to do another 14er the very next day. Like the week before, 2 days in a row was fine, but not 3. We headed to the tiny hamlet of Crestone to regroup and get a[…]

#13 & #14 of 20: Blanca Peak 14,345′ & Ellingwood Point 14,042′

August 8, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

06:00-15:00, Saturday, 8-08-20CO 14ers: 18 & 19 of 53Distance RT: 18 milesElevation gain/loss: 6,800′Starting Elevation: 8,000′Summits: 14,345′ & 14,042′Rank: 4 & 43 of 53Location: Southern Sangre De Cristos Range, east of AlamosaRoute: 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 massif all depart from Lake Como. It would’ve[…]

#12 of 20: Mt. Lindsey 14,042′

August 7, 2020 kaulua26 14ers, Short Hikes

06:30-13:00, Friday, 8-07-20CO 14ers: 17 of 53Distance RT: 13 milesElevation gain/loss: 3,500′Starting Elevation: 10,700′Summit: 14,042′Rank: 42 of 53Location: Southern Sangre De Cristos Range, southwest of GardnerRoute: CR 580 to Upper Huerfano/Lily Lake Trailhead to the Northwest Gully, easy Class 3 Sandy decided to extend her vacation in CO and join me, 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. The next day we headed south, taking in one of Colorado’s most obscure tourist attractions along the way. I’ve been going past Bishop Castle[…]

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