Berry Ridge (Boulder area, CO)

Looking back out St. Vrain Canyon on the ascent up to Berry Ridge.

Trip date: May 25, 2020

Note: see Calwood Fire update at the end.  

---

Caltopo mape here:  caltopo.com/m/Q6FQ
This was the second hike of the "COVID-19 Foothills Trifecta".  As much as I liked my hike the previous. week to Coffintop Mt, this one was definitely better.  The scenery in St. Vrain Canyon is just too good to argue with.

The trip starts with a knee-deep ford of St. Vrain Creek.  Going into this I was really worried about the water crossing at the start and at the end.  I was going in early summer when snow-melt would still be high.  Chest deep water crossings in fast flows are a great way to die.  This is a serious problem in the early season in the High Sierra (see this or this), I haven't run into any unavoidable crossings in Colorado yet.  I'm sure they exist.  In general you definitely want to pick a wide part to cross in so the minimize the flow rate and depth.    My experience was that both the good and  bad places to cross were really obvious.  I did however, have to drive around a bit to find it and was forced to deviate from my planned starting location.  I would cross St. Vrain Creek again at the end of the day to start the long road walk back to the car (3.5mi total).  

Apart from the roadwalk, the "hiking" was 100% off-trail. ​

This hike had a bit of a tough introduction. The initial climb up the to the first ridge was steep and covered in thick brush.

The photo below shows the opposite vantage point of the opening photo my Coffintop Mt trip report from the previous week.   I've marked the feature on the left as Pt. 6220 in the Caltopo map.  

Another variation of the opening photo. I've named the feature on the left Pt 6220; it is unmarked on USFS/USGS maps. You can see the opposite side of this feature in the opening photo from my Coffintop Mt. report from the previous week.

I love this view.

Can you believe I got hailed on twice by evening? Pt 7187' in the foreground on the right.

Generally, if it looks like this at 9am, the afternoon is going to be rough.

There were many, many massive piles of bear poop in scat in this area. 

In the early season, black bears are eating a lot of fresh green shoots which turns poop green.

At first I thought this was mountain lion scat which is often white due to thee hair content from the animals they eat. I didn't see any hair, and it looked like it was filled with old plant material like in photo on the left. Yes, the blog has reached the milestone where I frequently posts pictures of poop to the internet.

The hogback below  is the same one that I often see from Fairview Peak.  See pictures in this trip report.

Looking west into the "meat" of Indian Peaks WIiderness (~ Navajo Peak to Sawtooth Peak) from near UN 8315'. Afterward I dropped into Central Gulch.

I got very close to Fairview Peak, one of my most frequent hikes.

Descending into Central Gulch. I think this was from a deer rubbing their antlers against the trunk.

Central Gulch. Bushwhacking is intense at times. Tons of bear scat.

Locking back at the first ridge.

Really rocky near the terminus of Berry Ridge

Fairview Peak (left) and Golden Age Peak (Right).

The descent down the gully at the terminus of Berry Ridge is really, really crappy at the start. Climbing up this would be absolutely terrible.

But then it moderates and you are treated to a lush, temperate forest. It reminded me of Alabama.

Both of the water crossings I found were like this one.

Troll homes visible during the roadwalk back to the car.

Apparently drainages in this area descend at a nearly fixed rate of ~300 ft/mile.

---

Calwood Fire Update: Oct 20, 2020

Essentially all areas of this hike have been burned in the Calwood Fire.  I'm glad I could get to see it beforehand.  With climate change, the clock is ticking on the rest of the Boulder Foothills.  Burn areas in massive fires may never grow back in Colorado due to a significantly warmer and drier climate.  

The overlap of my hiking route and the Calwood Fire burn area as of Oct 20, 2020.

The Calwood fire from Diagonal Highway on Oct 17, 2020 at 2:55 pm. Fairview Peak is on the left. UN 8315' is buried behind the massive smoke plume on the right.

I'm still shocked at how fast the Calwood fire and the pyrocumulonimbus cloud blew up, especially in an area that appeared essentially free of beetle kill.  I'm genuinely concerned about the future of Colorado's wild areas over the next decade and beyond.

The Calwood Fire on Oct 17, 2020 from 63rd and Diagonal at 10:17 pm (slightly further NE than above photograph. The northern slopes of Fairview Peak are the hottest activity (left). Half Nick Peak in the foreground (middle) and UN 8315' is mostly obscured by smoke (background, middle).