Year in Review: Top Ten Trips of 2018

Looking north towards Eccles Pass and Red Mt. Sept 15-16, 2018. Gore Range, Colorado

Looking east towards Lake Isabelle. From the LIGANN Traverse Sept 08-09, 2018. Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado

Coulson Gulch. June 10, 2018. Lyons, Colorado

Looking north towards McHenrys Peak. Wild Basin High Route. July 01-03, 2018. Colorado

While waiting out a storm on Day 5 of the Pfiffner Traverse, I ate my last piece of cheese and the last of my Frito's--which were now totally crushed--with a spoon.

Rawah Wilderness, Dec 08-09, 2018

Andrews Peak in North Inlet. Day 2 of the Pfiffner Traverse. August 14-20, 2018. Western RMNP.

"Selfie" on the Wild Basin High Route. July 01-03, 2018. Colorado

Compared to 2017, 2018 kept me much closer to home.  In 2017, I made 3 trips to Wyoming, 1 trip to Montana and a trip of a lifetime to southern Utah.  In 2018, all  but two adventures were along the front range corridor in Colorado.  The outliers were a trip to Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe in California which I sandwiched between two work trips and a trip to the Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness on the colorado plateau.   

I stayed much closer to the Front Range of Colorado in 2018

Another theme of 2018 was running out of new, nearby places to explore.   First, it's clear from the map below that I largely left the Flatirons untouched, opting instead for for bigger mountains.  Second, when I did go to bigger mountains I found myself having to drive farther to see new territory.  I miss the days back in 2015 when I could wake up late and have dozens of brand new places to go within 1 hours drive.  

In 2018 I mostly stayed out of the Flatirons but stayed closer to home overall compared to 2017.

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Wilderness Areas

Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness (CO)
Cache la Poudre Wilderness (CO)
Comanche Peaks Wilderness (CO)
Desolation Wilderness (CA)
Eagles Nest Wilderness
Indian Peaks Wilderness (CO)
James Peak Wilderness (CO)
Lost Creek Wilderness (CO)
Never Summer Wilderness (CO)
Rawah Wilderness (CO)
RMNP Wilderness (CO)
Vasquez Wilderness (CO)

• A partial collection of photos of wilderness signs on the right.

Lost Creek Wilderness

Cache la Poudre Wilderness

Never Summer Wilderness

Indian Peaks Wilderness

Eagles Nest Wilderness

Desolation Wilderness

Comanche Peaks Wilderness

RMNP Wilderness

Mt. Evans Wilderness

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10. Brainard Lake Traverse (attempt/partial) (Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado)

Trip date: Sept 23, 2018
​Trip report here

Looking south from Summit Area of Mt. Audobon. In the far distance on the left (from left to right) : Navajo Peak, Apache Peak. Foreground (left to right), Shoshoni Peak (behind the prominent ridge), Pawnee Peak (the terminus of the ridge), Mt. Toll and Paiute Peak. Lake Granby in the far distance on the right.

This was envisioned as a one day event that traversed all the major peaks visible looking west from the iconic Brainard Lake.  Difficulty is up to Class 4 (arguably Class 5) on the western face of Mt. Toll.  I chose a scrambling route on Mt Audobon to keep it interesting.  I ran out of time navigating the technical sections and had to bail after tagging Shoshoni Peak.  

• Mt. Audobon (via SE Ridge, Class 3)
• Paiute Peak (via East Ridge, Class 3)
• Mt Toll (West Sneak, Class 4)
• Pawnee Peak (S. Slopes, Class 2)
• Shoshoni Peak (N. Slopes, Class 2)
• Apache Peak (NE Ridge, Class 4--same as Kasparov Traverse but without the towers)
• Navajo Peak (via Apache S. Ridge, Class 3 then Navajo West Chimney, Class 4)
• Niwot Ridge (Class 2 if staying south of the ridge crest, at least Class 3 on the ridge itself)

Peaks in bold were completed on this attempt and those in italics were completed on the LIGANN Traverse (see below).    The only part that would be completely new is the NE Ridge of Apache Peak.  

I'll be back next season to finish it--probably on a bluebird day in September.  The whole route I've mapped out is 15.2 miles and 6500' gain/loss.

9. Cache la Poudre Wilderness (Colorado)

Trip dates: Oct 20-21, 2018
Trip report here.

The Cache la Poudre Wilderness is one of the lesser known places I've visited around northern Colorado.  The views from the road of Poudre Canyon are gorgeous and I was totally sold on a 2 day trip once I read the description of the CLPW on the USFS website: ​

"Use is low and only one trail, the Mount McConnel National Recreation Trail, exists in the wilderness. Travel is accomplished only by scrambling and bushwhacking in stream bottoms, on ridges and along game trails."  ​

Sounds like my kind of place.  It reminds me of the Fairview Peak area (see: this and this) up Lefthand Canyon in Boulder and to a lesser extent, the Lost Creek Wilderness.  All three feature lots of barren pink granite, few people, and are good places to go in late fall when you don't want to bust out the snow shoes yet.  On this trip I stayed pretty high on the ridges and did a fair amount of scrambling on day 2.  On the next trip I'll follow game trails along the canyons.  

8. Comanche Peaks Wilderness and Northern RMNP (Colorado)

Trip dates: June 02-03, 2018
Trip report here

I hadn't expected the tops of the ridges to be completely snow free this early in the season.  This combined with relatively smooth tundra meant I could cover a lot of ground really fast.  (This valley in the picture above blocks the sun for most of the day and that valley holds snow much longer than everywhere else around it.)  

7. Flatirons bushwhacking, Walker Ranch and Eldorado Canyon Marathon (Boulder, Colorado)

Trip dates: March 17, 2018 (variation #1) and Mar 31 2018 (variation #2).  

I did two variations of this one.  The first one was a better route but is subject to raptor closures.  The second variant is longer, has 1000' more elevation gain but is not quite as interesting.     ​

6. Deming Mt. Scramble-back (Gore Range/Vail, Colorado)

Trip date: Sept 15-16, 2018
​Trip report here

I made up the stupid term "scramble-back" for combining scrambling with backpacking.  I don't really think it will catch on.  Similar to the LIGANN Traverse--where I also made up a stupid word--a lot of the planning for this one was based on very detailed topographic maps, and high resolution satellite imagery to gauge the terrain from my couch in Boulder.  

This weekend also featured the most bizarre wildlife find of my life.  I was following a game trail towards the ridge extending from Mt. Deming and came across a nearly intact and mostly upright elk skeleton.  It was so bizarre that overnight I got to thinking that it must be part of a weird art installation and I'd just missed the screws holding the bones together.  The next day, I took the long way around so I could inspect it again.  It is definitely real.  

5. Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness (Grand Junction, Colorado)

Feb 17-18, 2018
Trip report here

Route planning wise, this one went a little FUBAR.  From home, I'd planned out a 3 day/2 night trip but had underestimated 1) how tricky it would be to find an off-trail route out of Flume Canyon and onto the mesa and 2) how little water would be in the canyons.  As a result I cut the trip short and only spent one night.  It would be a fun area to visit again.  

4. Desolation Wilderness (Lake Tahoe, California)

Trip dates: May 19-21, 2018
​Trip report here

If it's snow-free up to 11,500 feet in Colorado, certainly elevations around 8,500 feet will be snow free in California right?  Shorts proved to be an interesting choice for this 3 day/2 night trip.  

I hadn't appreciated how much higher the snowpack could be in at similar latitudes in the Sierra's, even at much lower elevations.  

3. Wild Basin High Route (attempt/partial) (RMNP, Colorado)

Trip dates: July 01-03, 2018
​Trip report here.  

Camp in Hunters Creek below Pagoda Peak, Longs Peak, and Mt. Meeker in Wild Basin

This one was was basically practice for the Pfiffner Traverse.  To prepare for that much longer high route, I invented my own mini high route in my favorite area of RMNP.  I wanted to figure out how light I could push my pack weight and more importantly, how much ground I could cover day after day and how much food I really had to eat to feel near my best everyday.  At the time it was about 5500' feet of vertical gain and 3500 calories. 

I'd recommend this strategy to other people interested in attempting high routes.  Choose a 3 day/2 night route with lots of off-trail travel and actually exceeds the daily intensity you expect to encounter on the longer one.  

2. The LIGANN Traverse (Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado)

Trip dates: Sept 08-09, 2018
Trip report here.

Looking down at Triangle Lake from the west face of Appache (near the Fair Glacier).

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I'm especially proud of this trip.  Like the Wild Basin High Route, I invented and planned out this route myself (complete with sections of endless scrambling), and executed the plan...pretty well.  Day 2 of this trip was the best single day of adventuring the whole year.  The Pfiffner Traverse (see below) was a better, overall immersive experience but the density of scenery and exciting terrain was higher here.  


To be fair to the Pfiffner, Lost Tribe Lakes was on the itinerary but but bad weather on day 5 forced a boring all-trail bypass.   While moping along the trail I kept telling myself "I'd get back to that area next summer hopefully".  I really didn't expect that I'd be sleeping at Lost Tribe Lakes 15 days later.  

This trip also had my most exciting experience above 13,000 feet with an emergency bivy on the SW face of Apache Peak.  Definitely not recommended, but I'll never forget it.  ​

Emergency bivy on the SW face of Apache Peak.

1. The Pfiffner Traverse

Trip dates: August 14-20, 2018

Breakdown:
(clicking on the links goes to reports for individual days)

Day 1: 12.32 mi/ 4341' (annoying weather)
Day 2: 15.72 mi/ 4987'
Day 3: 12.59 mi/ 4243'
Day 4: 8.56 mi/ 2951'
Day 5: 23.7 mi/ 6105' (bad weather)
Day 6: 6.06 mi/ 2426' (bad weather)
Day 7: 20.23 mi/ 6277'

Rather than write something new about this one I'll just excerpt from two things I wrote in my original trip report.  ​

From the Overview:  

The mountains around Boulder Colorado have been my escape for the last several years...most weekends I had a trip planned to the alpine mountains along the continental divide in Boulder's backyard: Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Indians Peaks Wilderness, and occasionally the James Peak Wilderness just to the south...My affection for this area grew from weekend overnight winter backpacking trips in RMNP.  I'd leave home on a Saturday to start hiking/snowshoeing to my chosen frozen lake.  Sunday mornings were always special--waking up in an incredible natural cathedral and venturing out further onto tract-less snow is as close I get to a religious experience.   

From the Epilogue (end of Day 7 report): 

"In the months of planning leading up to D-Day I kept thinking "why didn't I pick something farther away and more exotic?"  In some ways, this was the most glorified backyard camping trip imaginable.  Afterall, with some dedication, I could have visited any of these places on a long weekend.  The past year has held some uncertainty regarding life/job plans and where I'd ultimately wind up.  I'd envisioned this trip as a possible "last goodbye" to an area that I've called home for the last decade.  The outlook changed in the final weeks before the trip and it looks like I'll be here for a while longer.  (Besides if I moved I'd have to change the name of my website).  I'm looking forward to more adventures in Paradise Park and Hell Canyon.  What will I find in the Never Summer Range?  Is a true continental divide traverse possible?

It's hard to overstate how powerful the emotions are when you to venture into an area devoid of human trails, with only the things carried on your back and be able to call a small patch of flat land your "home".  Last year, I took my Dad on a tour of RMNP along Trail Ridge Road and pointed out where my various adventures had taken me.  I remember saying after emphasizing some of my favorite peaks in the Mummy Range, "you'd think this would get old at some point but it just doesn't."  It really doesn't.    

I'm already scheming for next summer.  Wyoming?  California?  Alaska?"

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In all, I estimate that I hiked about 700 miles, and spent about 30-40 nights in a tent (including both backpacking trips and car camping road trips).  ​