Pfiffner Traverse Day 5: Paiute Pass, Rejected at NE Gully, Arapaho Pass and Caribou Pass (Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado)

8/30/2018

Trip dates: August 14-20, 2018
This day: August 18, 2018

Looking west towards the continental divide near Arapaho Pass in Indian Peaks.

Today I would meet my resupply at 6pm so I was on a clock. I happened to wake up before dawn naturally which was quite convenient. I was surprised it was already very cloudy. I should have been able to read the tea leaves better...

A while back I said I never take selfies. Maybe I'm allowed one per decade.

Me at Paiute Lake

Heading up to Paiute Pass.

Final approach to Paiute Pass

This part of Indian Peaks always reminds me of Middle Earth

Looking back at Paiute Lake (where I camped) from Paiute Pass. Made it over Paiute Pass just as rain clouds started to move in. Now I just had to get down...

Looking south from Paiute Pass. Getting a bit of a Mordor vibe.

The descent from Paiute Pass is actually pretty tricky. It would have been fairly easy to get into 5th class terrain because it's so steep and you can't see well what you're getting into. The guide was helpful here. I suspect the route is more obvious when ascending but can't say for sure.

Once in the valley, I followed some game trails till the official trail. The weather did not seem to be improving and I was getting worried about my 6pm deadline.

The iconic Lone Eagle Peak is in the center. The route crux is up in the clouds to the right. :(

Tower at the end of the ridge from Mt. Achonee. At this point I'm realizing that what is supposed to be one of the best parts of the route (scenically) may not happen.

Waiting out some rain under this rock as a last resort. I gave it 45 minutes before having to take the ~11 mile bypass to meet my resupply 19.5 miles away...

While waiting, I ate my last piece of cheese and the last of my Frito's--which were now totally crushed--with a spoon.

Well...time to bail. I now had to cover about 19 miles/5000 feet of vertical gain in 6 hours. Luckily it was nearly 100% trail so I could keep the pace pretty high. My estimated ETA was pretty good: I arrived about 6:45pm and this included a wrong turn in the one off-trail portion. I knew I was late and moving too fast.

The bypass itself is pretty boring actually. In Alabama (my home state from birth through high school) this would have been a spectacular state park but Colorado will spoil you. After making the turn down towards Coyote Park I had the trail to myself which was refreshing given the hordes of people I encountered heading out of the Crater Lake area.

Huge avalanche path.

The big shelf up there holds Lost Tribe Lakes and is where I would have been dumped out after the crux on the other side.

Looking up at the skyline formed by North (middle) and South (right) Arapaho Peaks.

Western side of the mountains behind Brainard Lake. I hadn't ever seen them from this vantage point before. You can also see the "shelf" mentioned earlier that holds Lost Tribe Lakes.