Seven Bridges Loop

This morning I drove up to the GCR parking lot.  I expected to see a few more cars in the parking lot at 10AM, there were only three other cars.  I headed up GCR and figured I would either do Seven Bridges or go up to St. Mary’s Falls.  Well Seven Bridges won as it was the first trail that I came across.

On my way up GCR I came across two guys who were just coming back from doing St. Mary’s and said that the trail was decent, it had seen a lot of action since the snow.   So I caught trail 622 which is also known as Seven Bridges.   Hiked up to the Jones Park area and there is still plenty of snow and once again I could have used my snow shoes but didn’t have them with me.

I managed to find trail 668 and then over to 666 for about mile before catching trail 667 aka Captain Jacks.   I then worked my way down the Mt. Buckhorn trail back to GCR.   I moved a little quicker today.  Hiking time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes with a total distance of 6.83 Miles.  Once again another great work out with an elevation gain of 2155 ft.

I managed to get a few pictures today and have included or you can view all the pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111229?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWi18LHj-3vlQE

Not sure where I am headed tomorrow but you can rest assured I will let you know.

Happy Hiking

Trail 666

This morning I headed out to get some miles in.  Drove up to GCR and parked in the parking lot at the bottom of High Drive.   Threw on my gear and headed up the road.   I got a chance to use just about everything today.   I had my stableicers on and wore them for the entire hike.   Had my nano on and my tunes going and was trying my new GPS for the first time on the trail. 

I hiked up High Drive to the trail head for trail 666.  This isn’t one of my favorite hikes but it has a decent incline and it is a great work out.   I wish I had taken my snow shoes as I could have used them today.  I figured the trail would have seen a lot more activity than it had.  For about the first 2 miles up I was hiking up in someone else’s snowshoe tracks.  But then they stopped and I was now walking through a good 8 to 12 inches of snow.  I did about another mile up to the junction of trails 666 and 667.   That deep snow was a real work out trying to get through.

All pictures can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111227?authkey=Gv1sRgCNCt9IbOjIjahQE

I was on the look out for any bird photo opportunities.   I was only able to get two pictures and neither of them was all that decent.   I have several different bird whistles on my phone.  I would stop and play them along the trail to see if I could get any birds to come fly my way.   I need to get a Finch song as that is what I saw today.

All together I was able to get 6.44/miles in.   I hiked 3.22/miles up with an elevation gain of 2221/ft.  The average slope was 12% incline on the way up and -12% on the way down.  I moved pretty slow today as up and back it took me just over 4 hours.   I contribute the slowness to the deep snow.

I have to admit it was beautiful up there today.   Snow everywhere and in the sunlit area’s the snow just glistened like diamonds.    I had some great views of the stream in between the snow.  It was just great to be out.

Didn’t come across anyone on the trail today and until I was just about back to the truck.  A guy and girl came past me on cross country skis.

I am going to try to get out again tomorrow, not sure where yet.

Happy Hiking

Seven Bridges Loop

Mario Mushroom

Today I had two additional hikers with me. Both Candy and Clark committed to going the night before and agreed to be ready to leave the house at 7AM. I think we pulled out of the driveway at 7:50AM.

We drove up to the GCR trail headed and headed down the road to catch trail 622. This time we just kept going. This was the furthest that Candy or Clark had gone on this trail before. We worked our way up and then down trail 667 and up around upper Captain Jacks and then back down to the parking lot.

All in all I would guess we had about 7/miles in today. Everyone did great but I am sure they will both sleep great tonight!

Happy Hiking

Another Great Day in Colorado!

I left the trail head at 7:30AM and headed down Gold Camp Road to Trail 622 (aka Seven Bridges), to Trail 668 (aka Pipeline Trail), to trail 720 to 667 (aka Jones Park) then looped back down to Gold Camp Road. Total miles today came up to be 9.08/Miles. Hiking time was 3 hours and 30 minutes plus I had 38 minutes of stopping time to take pictures and get a drink of water.

It was overcast this morning and the clouds were hanging low around 8K feet. I didn’t snap two many pictures on Seven Bridges as I had done it just the weekend before. But I did have the camera ready for any flowers, birds or other critters that I came across. I moved up the trail pretty good today. Might have been that I did it the weekend before or the fact that I have been walking to work again everyday when I can.

It was nice and cool this morning with the low hanging clouds and it had rained last night. The vegetation was loving the wet weather and there were so many wild flowers in bloom. I snapped this picture of some wild iris’s growing in a meadow of Aspen trees. I have also included a close up.

This picture is of another Chipmunk that I came across. They are so funny actually little camera hams. They will sit on the branches and let you snap as many pictures as you would like.

This is a picture of a nice little water fall on trail 667. I actually hung out here for about 10 minutes and had some turkey jerky and a little water to drink. While down in the creek I had 5 dirt bikes come by on the trail. I don’t think they had seen me as I was about 10 ft. below the trail in order to snap this picture.

I have to say riding dirt bikes up the trail looks like a damn blast! After seeing them I started toying with the idea of putting my old 75 Ford Ranchero on Craig’s List and seeing if I could sell it or trade it for a decent dirt bike.

One other cool thing you will spot is this old mining tunnel. I don’t know how far in it goes as I have only stepped in the entrance to snap a picture. If I had someone with me I might have the guts to go in a little further.

Well that’s about it for this trip. Need to figure out where I want to go next weekend. I may head up to Pikes Peak and hike the Oil Creek Tunnel trail again. If you would like to view all pictures from today's hike you can find them
here: http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20100613#

Happy Hiking!

667, 666

Yesterday I got a nice little hike in. Totaled up to 13/miles and was a really good workout. Left the house at 6:30AM and headed up the Bear Creek Trail and then up Mays Peak and over to Captain Jacks. I then took trail 667 and then down 666 and back to the house. The first 7/miles were the toughest as it was a 2K elevation climb.

I managed to walk to work this morning but had to get a ride home. The wife was leaving town and was having laptop issues so I need to get home quick to get that resolved.

Below are a few pics that I snapped along the way.

You can do it!

Saturday I took a couple hiking in Cheyenne Canyon. We started on trail 666, which for most of you know that it is a gradual incline for three miles. We then took trail 667 up and around and then trail 665 aka Captain Jacks and then took a side trail which will take you down Sesame Canyon back to High Drive and the parking lot.

I felt bad as it ended up being a little over 8.5/Miles and I had said that it was about 6.5/Miles when we started. Everyone made it though but I am sure that the lady that was in the group will have some blisters. I don’t think it would have been so bad if we had gotten an earlier start. We left the trail head at 9:30am and it was already hot. I went through two bottles of water which is rare for me. It might have been because we had to make a few stops and let everyone catch their breath.

I took some pictures but didn’t get them loaded over the weekend, will work on that tonight.

I am working on my route for the Ring the Peak Trail. It will be a little over 60/Miles if I leave from my house. I may take a Llama with me on this one to help me haul the gear I need. If nothing else it will be a hell of sight if you come across me. And yes you can actually rent a Llama for just this purpose.

http://wildflowerridgellamas.com/

Lake Moraine

I packed up yesterday so I could get an early start today. I hit the High Drive parking lot at just before 8am. Then jumped on trail 666 and then up to 667. If you stay straight on 667 you will come to Seven Lakes Rd. Today’s trip had all the elements and was a tough 14/mile round trip hike. I had packed my snow shoes, trek poles, stablicers, thinking I might get to use them. Actually I got to use all of them. The first four miles I did in just my hiking boots. I didn’t come across anyone on the way up. The lower portion of the trail was well used with dry patches, snow and ice patches. Once I reached trail 720A the snow was deep enough for the snow shoes. In addition no one else had been this far up, so it was fresh snow with no tracks. So I stopped, had a bite and put the shoes on and continued up trail 667 for another three miles.

This was probably the last time I will get to use the snow shoes. I only got two trips out with them. We just didn’t get enough snow in the canyon. Today’s trip took longer than it would in the summer. Dealing with ice, snow, adds extra time to the trip. I did 14/miles round trip and it took me 5 hours and 45 minutes. I did have the pack fully loaded with water, food, first aid, gun, and knife, everything you need.

On the way down I swapped out the snow shoes for the stablicers and glad that I did. Coming down you move pretty fast and today they definitely help me stay up. I started running into a few people once I got back to the lower portion of 666. I past about 6 other hikers on their way up. Little late in the day for me as I like to get started early. You have to if you want to cover any distance. You could already tell that a storm was coming. The clouds were rolling in and there was light snow falling.

I am a little sore this evening, but this is just what I needed. It had been a few weekends since I got any distance in. In the month of March I was able to get in 90/miles and so far for this month I am up to 22.65.

High Drive and Captain Jacks

So this morning I got off my butt and did a small hike this morning. Ended up doing just a little over 8/miles. When I left the house it was foggy and snowing. But once I got up into the mountains it was a beautiful day. I could look down towards Colorado Springs and see the low hanging clouds.

Today I walked up High Drive and then caught trail 667 and then down trail 666. The trails were not too bad as far as snow, but coming down trail 666 and walking down High Drive, I was glad I had my Stablicers on. There were several sections that we just solid Ice.

For this month I have already ready wracked up 90.99/miles for the month. Still have a few days to go and should be able to break 100/miles. I am down to the final miles for my goal. I only need 60.4/miles and should be able to make it.

These are a couple of photo’s I snagged today:

600 Miles

Well today I have managed to cross the 600/mile mark. I was able to get some good distance this weekend. On Saturday I headed out the door at 7:10am and headed down the street to catch the bear creek trail head. I have included an outline below of the route that I took. Out and back, were a total of 16.89/miles. It took me 5 hours and 56 minutes walking time and 48 minutes stopping time. I was gone for 6 hours and 44 minutes. Pretty un-eventful and didn’t cross anyone until I got on to trail 667. I took my cooker and some food but never got to it. I drank water from my camel bag and just kept moving. Came across dear, squirrels, and lots of birds.

Today I left the house around 11am and did 6.81/miles. So all in all it was a good weekend to catch up. The monthly average so far is 5.5 for the month and a monthly total of 38.51/miles. This is good because I am going to be on business and vacation for a couple of days and it is going to tough to get the miles in that I would if I were at home.