Mt. Elbert Trip

I left the house about 10am on Wednesday and headed towards Leadville. It was snowing as I was going through Woodland Park, but once past the pass the snow cleared and it was just overcast. Found a decent campsite, unloaded and setup camp. Built a fire and checked out the surroundings.

Made it up to Mt. Elbert and had a great time. It was cold, damn cold. I about froze to death at the top of the Peak and couldn’t wait to get down. The wind was blowing and a couple of time it just about pushed me over. The snow was fairly deep in area’s that had drifted over. Didn’t have a need for the snow shoes

I made my first attempt of doing a video documentary of my trip. Unfortunately I still have some bugs to work out as the camera I was using didn’t pick up the sound to well. I will try again in the next couple of weeks.



After doing Mt. Elbert and being in the cold, I decided to put a hold on Mt. Massive until summer or at least a day with sunshine.

Going Camping

I have scheduled time off work for this Wed, Thu and Friday. I have already gotten everything together and will just need to hit the store to pick up some food and get some firewood. So the plan is to head out early AM on Wednesday up to Half-moon Creek by Leadville and hike Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive.

Of course it will be fun to see if the weather is going to cooperate for this. It looks like we may have some snow dustings Monday and Tuesday up where I’m headed. I doubt that there will be much, but may prove interesting once I get up on the peaks.

Rocky Mountain High

My travel schedule is about to pick up for the next few weeks. I have been trying to figure out if I can get one last big hike in before the summer is over. But I may be too late as summer is over or at least that’s how it feels with the rain and cool temperatures we have been having.

Once I figure out the schedule I am thinking about doing Mt. Elbert (14,433 ft) and Mt. Massive (14,421 feet) outside of Leadville, CO. These are the two highest Peaks in Colorado with Mt. Elbert being the highest point in Colorado and the second highest in the lower 48. A few stats on both Peaks are as follows:

Mt. Elbert
Length: Approx. 8.75 miles roundtrip
Highlights: Highest Peak in Colorado, Great views of Leadville, Twin lakes, Mt. Massive and the intrinsic satisfaction derived from standing on the second highest point in the continental U.S.!
Difficulty Rating: Advanced
Elevation Gain: Approx. 4,700 ft.

Mt. Massive
Length: Approx. 14.5 miles roundtrip
Highlights: Second highest Peak in Colorado, Great view of Mt. Elbert and the intrinsic satisfaction derived from standing on the second highest point in Colorado!
Difficulty Rating: Advanced
Elevation Gain: Approx. 4,410 ft.

To get both Peaks done will require a day for each. I am going to camp out for three to four nights up along Halfmoon Creek. I figure the first day I will setup camp and do some fishing in the creek and Turquoise Lake. Day #2 will be up Mt. Elbert, Day #3 up Mt. Massive and on day four will be a little more fishing and then break camp and head home.

At this point this is all just big talk. Will keep you posted on how this trip comes together.

I took the picture above from the backyard this afternoon. I worked from home today as we were having some work done. I was working on the back porch when this Eastern Black Swallowtail flew by and landed on a potted plant.

Eastern Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes

The Eastern Black Swallowtail is found throughout the Midwest and Eastern North America. The wings are a beautiful combination of black and blue, with orange and white spots. This swallowtail is smaller than most, with an average wingspan of 3”.

My IPod Hot pick for today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2cSq3s4NM

North Catamount Reservoir

This morning I drove up to the North Slope Recreation Area (NSRA), located on the north side of Pikes Peak. When I got to the toll gate for the Pikes Peak Highway I was about the 10th car in line waiting for it to open and was through the gate at 7:20am.

The night before I dug out my small tackle box and loaded it with a few lures. Broke down a rod and reel and loaded them into the pack. I also created a new playlist and downloaded a few new tunes.

North Slope Recreation Area has three lakes, Crystal and North and South Catamount. I decided to go to the North reservoir. I was the third car in the parking area. Threw on the pack, hit play on the IPod and headed across the damn. I then hopped on the Mackinaw trail and followed the shoreline stopping and throwing a few lures along the way. Sadly to report I didn’t have any luck with the fishing today.

I hiked out about 3.5/miles and then worked my way back. Totaled up 7.38/miles when I returned to the truck. I am thinking that next weekend I will go back and just hike around the lake.

Support search and rescue: GET LOST

Great news but you better hurry. I have been looking to get my hands on one of these maps for over a year now. Checked eBay, Craigslist and all the local stores and no luck. Today I ordered three of them to have on hand.

What makes this map so great from the one that I have seen is that it has numerous hidden trails that you won’t find on the newer maps, mostly because they cut across private property.

Have fun!

http://www.gazette.com/articles/local-61216-atlas-peak.html