Hell Canyon (Estes Park-Lyons Area, CO)

Trip dates: May 30-31, 2020

Looking north across Hell Canyon toward UN 7970' from Pincher Park.

Caltopo map here: caltopo.com/m/UGR0

This is the final installment in the "COVID-19 Boulder Foothills Trifecta". 

1. Coffintop Mt via Hall Ranch (North side St. Vrain Canyon area)
2. Berry Ridge (South side of St. Vrain Canyon)
3. Hell Canyon (this trip)

This was a two day, off-trail backpacking trip in Hell Canyon is between Estes Park and Lyons on the North Side of US36.  It turned out to be one of the more rugged and exhausting trips of the year.  I suspect this was primarily due to the very rough off-trail terrain, but some of it can surely be attributed to not eating enough peanut M&Ms.

This trip will surely make the 2020 top ten favorite trips list. 

My route in red. Hell Canyon in yellow.

Looking west towards the Mummy Range in RMNP. The three large peaks in the background are Ypsilon (left), Fairchild Mt. (center) and Hague's Peak (right). The smaller peaks beyond the valley in the foreground are Macgregor Mt (left) and Lumpy Ridge (right).

I was disappointed this one didn't turn out better.

The first views of the type of terrain in Hell Canyon.

Mylar balloons. I find about one per trip if I'm off-trail.

It's stunning how many mylar balloons you find once you start leaving the trails.  I find about one per week and this is basically picking locations at random.  There must be thousands and thousands of them in Boulder County and Larimer County forests alone.  

Looking east towards the western terminus of east ridge of UN 8255'

Always go through the doorway.

In a few hours I'd climb up the the first of the rocky ridges directly out of the canyon (N. ridge of UN 8318') and camp in a meadow past the horizon to the south (right).

N. ridge of UN 8318' in the center.

Chipmunk

Finally made it to the top! *sees storm cloud to the west*

um.....

Storms were fairly exciting that night.  I collected rain water coming off the corner of my tarp in my pot.  Got in two good drinks overnight.  

Day 2

"Blue Mountain" looking pretty green. This is pretty prominent mountain if you look north from the top of a Flatiron. This is all private property so it looks like it'll stay unexplored :(.

From the Flatirons, the origin of the name "Blue Mountain" is more clear.  The picture below is from my a trip up Fumbledeedum in May 2017.

Blue Mountain looking a bit more blue from the Flatirons in May 2017. To be honest, whenever I see it, I think "Butt Chin Mountain". I had to look up the real name.

Hell Canyon looking delicious from Pincher Park.

After a fairly tough descent into Hell Canyon from Pincher Park, I'd finally reached the bottom.  This is what zapped my energy.  Constant scrambling over boulders and thick bushwhacking.

Hell Canyon. On my next exploration of an off-trail canyon, I've got to remember to keep the M&M consumption rate very high.

A fairly tame region of Hell Canyon.

​My last views of Hell Canyon before climbing up the SPECTACULAR ridge to the west of Devil's Gulch.

In addition to brambles, there is a plant that grows in these canyons that sticks you and must leave a tiny burr behind because it leaves a painful, itchy spot for hours (here I must have a hundred of them).

​A bit later I'd take an where I took an extended break.

Curious "erosion" around the joint of this deer lower leg bone.

First views across Devils Gulch.

Looking north across Devils Gulch to UN 7510'. The thunderhead was building behind me so the lighting for the pictures wasn't great. The views were absolutely spectacular however.

Nixon Park

I'd found myself in a moderately nasty thunderstorm for the last hour so I was ready to leave the extremely rugged, rocky and ridge.  Fortunately, the western terminus of the ridge transitioned to Nixon Park which was absolutely beautiful and pastoral Nixon Park.

Nixon Park

Nixon Park

Looking east from near Panorama Point. Nixon Park is the grassy area in the background on the right.

I was thrilled to find this excellent game/use trail that led back to the road.