Turquoise Lakes

These last few weekends Ali and I have been on a solid hiking schedule so we decided to keep it up. Due to some potential weather issues further north and south, we decided to drive to Beaver Creek Resort for this hike.

The trail head is technically called Beaver Creek Trailhead and it's quite different from your average start point. We parked in the Gerald Ford parking garage and then walked up to the bottom of lift 10 where the trail technically starts. From here, if you look up the mountain to your right, you can see a maintenance shed and a few signs that lead towards Beaver Lake and the Five Senses Trail. This trail will go past some maintenance sheds, small creeks, and a very rich neighborhood until you finally get outside of the official resort and start your uphill trek to Beaver Lake.

The hike to Beaver Lake is a little under 3 miles but it's a solid uphill trek. Luckily the path is fairly shaded and you follow a creek the majority of the time so it was a nice change of pace from our 14er last week. This part of the trail can get fairly busy as families go to Beaver Lake a lot but once we moved past it, we only saw one other person all day. Below is a picture of Beaver Lake.

After you get past Beaver Lake, the trail takes a more wooded/gradual uphill route than the first part. You continue weave around a river the majority of the time which is very pretty and offered some good background noise. About 5 miles into the hike you start to come across quite a few valleys as well that look like a perfect location for deer/moose but unfortunately we only saw one deer all day.

The picture below is ~.25 miles from Lower Turquoise Lake and ~1 mile from Upper Turquoise Lake. We started to see a lot of wildflowers around this area which was very pretty.

Below is a picture of Upper Turquoise Lake. Overall it was a pretty nice lake but unfortunately the wildfires were fairly bad and there was quite a bit of smoke/haze in the air which made some of the views not as clear as usual.

All-in-all I really enjoyed the hike. As I mentioned previously, it was a great change of pace after doing a 13er and 14er the last few weeks. This trail was very wooded and had a lot of water with creeks and 3 lakes. We ended up hiking ~15.5 miles in total with around a 3,000 elevation gain. So it was definitely a long hike but since the elevation was lower, it didn't feel nearly as bad.

Pikes Peak

Since Ali and I knocked out a 13er last weekend, this weekend we decided to hit up a 14er. After doing some quick weather research, our best chance to not get wet was down south, so we headed to Pikes Peak.

There are a few different ways to hike Pikes Peak but the easiest day trip I could find (other than obviously driving it), was via Crags Trail. According to All Trails, this is 12.6 miles long with a lovely 4,468 elevation gain. My Gamin had is at 14.29 miles but it tends to shoot high from time to time.

As soon as you start this trail, it's a solid uphill climb. The first few miles are in and out of the woods until you get above the treeline and have a fairly sucky push uphill in the sun to Devil's Playground. There is one fairly long ridge before getting to the Playground that levels out some and gives you a nice view of Pike's Peak as well as Mueller State Park to the west.

Once you get past that ridge, you have to cross the Pike's Peak Tollway and then continue the trail on the east side. There are parts of the trail that run right beside the road which isn't ideal but then other sections that veer off and gives you some good views. The picture below is Pike's in the distance.

The final stretch of the trip is zig zagging back and forth between a fairly large boulder field. You had to do some scrambling but it wasn't bad at all. Once you get past that, you are afforded a lovely view of 50+ vehicles where people drove up and a lot of construction.

Overall it was a pretty tough hike since you were going uphill constantly and it was fairly high elevation. I'm glad we did it but it definitely wasn't one of my favorite hikes due to how many people were on the trail and having to deal with the road/traffic at the top of the mountain. 

Arapaho Glacier Trail

This summer has been pretty busy with random weekend activities so we haven't gotten up to the mountains as much as we want. Luckily we both had the 4th of July aka "Murica Day, off so we decided to get away with a long hike. The hike that we picked was Arapaho Glacier Trail via Rainbow Lakes Trail head. This trail head is about 30 min northwest or Nederland. The first part of the drive is very easy with nice paved roads but the last few miles is bumpy/rocky gravel. It's not terrible by any means, but it's definitely bumpy.

The trail itself starts out with a 2 mile section through the woods. This section keeps a fairly consistent uphill slope and was probably my least favorite part of the hike since there were no views. Once you get out of the woods into the rolling mountains/tundra, you have a view of North Arapaho Peak and the Boulder Watershed.

You are in a fairly exposed section of the trail gradually working your way up switchbacks on both rides of the ridge. Until you cross over to the south side, you are constantly going up but the other side levels off a little until you get to South Arapaho Peak. This section was very pretty as you could see multiple lakes, the peaks, tons of wild flowers, etc. Then you cross over to the south side and you get better views of snow capped mountains, the 4th of July trail head, and other lakes. I would just recommend watching the weather closely as you don't want to get caught in a storm out there. There is no cover at all and you are at ~12,000 feet. We luckily had good weather but it was pretty windy on the north side.

After about 6.3 miles in, according to my Garmin, we got to the overlook of the glacier. It's fairly similar views of the watershed you had on the way up but you get a lot better look at the sheer size of the peak and the glacier itself.

From there it was a short but fairly vertical hike up to the top as you can see from the pictures above. At the top, we were around 13,356 on the south peak and the north peak was a few hundred feet taller but we didn't do it. After the glacier overlook, there was a "trail" but it was quite a bit of scrambling to get up but nothing technical at all. This was by far my favorite part of the hike.

All in all, my GPS said we ended up going 13.96 miles after doing some random walking out and taking pictures. I would highly recommend this hike to anyone as the views were pretty solid the majority of the hike. The Rainbow Lakes Trail head also wasn't very busy at all but the peak was due to the 4th of July Trail head only about about 3 - 4 miles from it.

Whistler

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post so I guess I have a little updating to do. Overall it's been a fairly warm and dry winter in Colorado. We've only made it to Keystone a handful of times and the snow hasn't been great. So for the most part we've stuck to some front range hiking and basement remodeling.

That being said, this update deals with Whistler, BC, which is definitely not having a dry winter at all. We've always wanted to go there and now that Vail Resorts bought them out last year our Epic Local Pass is good for Whistler and Blackcomb. So... we went!

The trip to get there was quite a trek from Denver. The direct flights were fairly pricey so we had to hop through LAX and then to Vancouver. From Vancouver it was about a 2.5 hour bus ride to the resort. Unfortunately for us it was pretty foggy/dreary on the ride up so we didn't get to see a lot of the coast/city. However on our way back it was a lot better and there were some very pretty views.

Once we got to Whistler it was pretty similar to most mountain resorts minus one major difference, it was raining. I don't think I've ever been to a ski resort during winter and have it rain on me. After a little Google-age, we found out the base of Whistler is only 2,198 feet and the top if it is around 7,500. This is a big change from what we're used to in Colorado where the top of Breckenridge is around 13,000. Luckily for us the rain stopped for the most part and the rest of the week and we just had a little slushy snow from time to time..

Our first day on the mountain was on the Whistler side. Due to wind and foggy conditions, the top few chairs such as Harmony and Peak Express were closed so we stuck to the middle section. Luckily for us it had been snowing quite a bit and if you got off the main trail at all you'd be rewarded with ~1 foot of fresh powder. There were a lot of tree areas to pop in and out of as well as some pretty good views of the lake beside Creekside at the bottom of the mountain, as you can see from the picture below. Overall day one was definitely a success. My biggest issue with was that there were quite a few catwalk/flat areas where snowboarders could easily get stuck if they didn't have a lot of speed.

Our next day on the mountain was focused on the Blackcomb side. This side of the mountain seemed a little more chill than Whistler but overall the terrain was similar. Unlike the first day where it was foggy/windy at the top of the mountain, this day the clouds were in the middle, so we primarily stuck to Glacier and 7th Heaven Express with a few runs on Jersey Cream and Excelerator mixed in. 

Glacier was one of my favorite lifts the entire trip. At the top there were some cliff/rock areas that you could weave in and out of and towards the bottom you could go through a lot of trees. Yet again, we were lucky that the majority of the runs we hit had around 4 - 8 inches of snow on it. The only downfall of this area is when it's cloud/foggy, the terrain was very hard to see and their cliff signs were far from good. Once you get off the main trail, you have to be careful of where you are at and what's in front of you.

For day three, we started out on the Whistler side doing the top section we didn't get to previous and then ping ponged around the mountain depending on lift lines and visibility. This was probably the worse day for visibility overall as it was hard to find a spot where it wasn't a least a little foggy. We spend the majority of the morning on Harmony Express which was a lot of fun minus not being able to see at the top. It started out winding around on a fairly narrow trail which I wasn't a fan of but about 2 minutes down it opened up and gave you a lot of flexibility of where to go which was fun.

If I had to pick one lift you have to hit on the Whistler side it's definitely Peak Express. There are some amazing views at the top (if you are lucky enough to see them) and some very large cliffs/boulders. I didn't do a whole lot of runs up there due to the top of the trail being windblown and frozen over which was not fun with steep terrain. If you take the Upper Peak to Creek run all the way down to Creekside though, it's worth the trip to the top. This is a very large run that gives you a little bit of everything. The only downfall of the run is you go through a lot of different snow types. At the top it was windy and frozen, top middle was amazing powder, middle was icey, and then the bottom was slushy. This was pretty normal for my Whistler experience so I'd recommend finding the good stuff and staying in that section of the mountain.

After a few runs over there I took the peak to peak gondola to finish the day on Blackcomb. This Gondola is pretty amazing and has the record for longest unsupported span of 1.88 miles and highest lift of 1,427 ft. It takes ~11 minutes to get across and it's definitely worth the time.

All-in-all, we had an amazing time and I'm definitely glad we went. Due to the visibility and rain/ice/slush issues toward the bottom of the mountain, I'm not sure if I'd ever go back as there are a lot of other mountains I want to visit. But I think everyone should at least make it once. The top of the mountain with the cliffs, glades, and trees are amazing if the conditions are right. I like the concept that some of these runs felt more like you were not on a resort due to the terrain you got to play in.

If you want to see anymore pictures, they can be found here.

A quick rundown on the foot situation for anyone that is curious:

• Sushi Village - The sushi was really good but the other dishes weren't that good. Pretty solid strawberry Sake margarita. 
• Longhorn Saloon & Grill - We only got drinks here but it's a very fun atmosphere right beside the lifts.
• Black's Pub - Irish bar with karaoke and other festivities. 
• Tapley's Neighbourhood Pub - This was one of the few places we found to have cheaper drinks and dartboards.
• Earls Kitchen and Bar - Earls is slightly fancier American-ish style food. I had an amazing Cajun steak and the atmosphere is really nice. This was my favorite meal all week.
• Keg Steakhouse & Bar - The food here is fairly pricey but they have a lot of tvs and it was good to hang out there and watch some games.
• Brew House - This is probably one of the cooler hang out spots as far as the building/atmosphere goes. We just had a few drinks but I'd highly recommend going here and then swinging by Whistler Olympic Plaza.
• Mongolie Grill - My second favorite place to eat was here but it's also pretty dangerous as you get charged per pound and it's fairly pricey. It's a fun experience though getting to pick all of your food and see them cook it for you.

Crater Lakes Trail via Moffat Tunnel

We've taken a few week break on hiking due to bad weather, trips, etc. but this week we wanted to get one in before it got too snowy in the mountains. As I'm typing this, Denver is getting our first snowfall of the year. We're about 3" in so far and it's still coming down! Anyway, to the hike.

Since it is getting colder and snowy in the mountains we didn't want to go too far in so opted on Crater Lakes Trail. This trail is located near Nederland, CO and it takes about 1 hr. 15 min to get there. Overall it's a fairly easy route with the last few miles being on a gravel road but it was in pretty good condition.

The first part of the hike is a moderate uphill climb through the forest with a creek on your left hand side for quite a while. You get a few random views of the mountain range in the distance during the clearing but overall the trail is mainly looking at trees. When we hiked it, there were a few inches of snow on the ground and the creek towards the top didn't have any water running so there wasn't much to see. I think this would be a lot nicer during the Spring when the water is flowing.

The two lower lakes are pretty nice but nothing special. We hiked around them and took some pictures as you can see below.

After seeing those lakes, we headed back and took the Forest Lake Trail branch. This was another 2.1 miles and is very similar to Crater Lakes in that it's a steady uphill with primarily tree views. Below is a picture of it.

By the end of the day we hiked a little over 10 miles with around 2,000 elevation gain. It was nice to get out but there was definitely nothing special about these hikes compared to other ones in the area.

Camping at Chambers Lake

This Labor Day weekend Ali and I decided to get a little camping in before it got too cold. We've been doing a lot of hiking in Estes and off of I-70 so for this trip we decided to go north of Estes Park to Chambers Lake. It took about 3 hours to get there from Denver with the last hour or so being a pretty drive but annoying when you get behind a slow vehicle.

Our actual campsite was about a 10 min walk from the lake and was pretty nice overall. Our inner pyromaniacs got to come out since there were quite a few dead trees and we had unlimited firewood! This site had two bathrooms and water about 2 min away so it was pretty convenient. Below is a pretty nice picture of Chambers Lake.

Blue Lake Trail
Our first trail was very close to our campsite. You could actually hike from the site but we drive about 3 min down the road and started at the actual trailhead. According to AllTrails, it's a 11.1 mile hike with around 2,250 elevation gain. This is only to the lake and you can continue to go past it if you want. By the time we hit the top of the ridge we ended up doing around 13 miles.

The first part of the trail is your typical forest trail where you can't see a whole lot and you steadily go uphill. There is one pretty view of Chambers Lake along the way and you pass some creeks which are pretty. Once you come to the lake, it opens up quite a bit and the views are pretty nice. The first picture below is our hardworking dog right before we hit the lake.

The next picture is a little ways behind the lake going up the ridge followed by a closeup of it.

Overall it was a pretty trail and I'd definitely do it again.

Camp Lakes, Rawah Lakes, and Twin Crater Lakes Loop

The next day I had an ambitious goal of doing a 24 mile loop that hits a lot of different lakes. This is normally a 2 - 3 day backpack trip if you really wanted to see everything but I had faith in us! From our campsite it was about a 10 min drive down a bumpy gravel road but wasn't too bad.

The trail starts out by a creek and a lot of Aspen trees. It's a very pretty area and looks ideal for moose and elk. A few miles in the trail forks and this is where you will end up finishing the loop. We decided to go clockwise and hit Twin Crater Lake first. The hike hit a lot of streams and had some pretty views as you hiked along side of the mountain however you definitely earned it because it was uphill the entire way. When we decided to do the Twin Crater branch, we didn't know it was about 1,500 more elevation gain but the views were very pretty from the top. The first picture is the larger of the lakes with the smaller one behind it to the right.

Here is a view as we were headed back down from the lake. There are a lot of streams and campsites in the valley.

Throughout the trail there were a ton of smaller lakes and we took way too many pictures so here are a few of my favorites. This lake is called Rawah lake Number 3.

This is a stream going into Upper Camp Lake. You can barely see the lake but this was probably the prettiest one for me since I liked the mountains in the background.

Overall this was an amazing hike. I wish we would have done it in 2 days to truly get to spend time at more of the lakes. While we didn't see any wildlife other than a few deer, if you get there early enough I'm sure you'll see a lot. It's a fairly popular hike so you'll see a lot of backpackers.

Montgomery Pass Trail

The last day we wanted to do a shorter hike since my feet were not very happy about the previous day. Montgomery Pass was about 10 min away from Chambers Lake. If you just go to the top of the pass it's about 4.4 miles down and back but the top of the mountain adds another mile or so. I was a pansy because of blisters so I went to the pass but Ali headed all the way to the top. 

While the trail was nice, compared to the previous ones it wasn't anything special. The first portion is just a wooded trail followed by a more open treeless section. If it wasn't so hazy the views would have been a lot better.

Lonesome Lake Trail

This year we've been doing a lot of hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park so we decided to head west of Vail to Lonesome Lake for a new view. The drive isn't too bad until the last 8 miles when your smooth paved road switches to a bumpy gravel road. It's still not nearly as bad as the ride up to Gray's or the Fourth of July trailhead but definitely slows you down. One good thing about the location is that it's fairly isolated and not many people were around. There wasn't a parking lot and you could just park anywhere along the road. We didn't have any issues as we only saw 6 other people on the trail all day and they camped overnight by the lake.

The trail starts out with a steady uphill climb through the woods. You can hear the creek in the distance but there isn't much to see until you have to cross the creek. When we went the bridge was down but the water wasn't very high so it was a pretty easy crossing. After that, you continue through the woods a little more until you get to the valley.

The valley/meadow area is pretty cool overall as you get a good view of the mountains on each side and as you continue down the trail there are quite a few streams that go down the middle of it. For a while the trail is pretty flat and goes right beside the open area and other times you are walking on the side of the mountain more and it's harder to see down because of the trees. Overall this looks like an ideal spot for deer, moose, elk, etc. but we didn't see any.

After a few miles you then get away from the valley and start going uphill to the lake. It's not very steep but you can definitely tell it's uphill after your fairly flat walk the past few miles.

There are some pretty nice views looking back at the valley once you get at the top and you start to see some of the mountains up close. Below is a picture of Lonesome Lake from the other side of the trail.

Here's another picture of Ali flexing on a rock. Normally it's "sun's out, guns out" but she's normally cold so that won't happen much.

In total, the trail was around 11 miles after we walked around the lake with 1,932 elevation gain. It was a good change of pace to get away from everyone and have a very peaceful hike. The views were good but nothing amazing. If you wanted to do this trail, I'd go as early as you could and try to see some wildlife in the valley. That is probably the biggest upside to this trail.