Adventure Travel Photography Blog
So the COVID crisis has kept me state side since the end of March. That is a long time for me, especially while remaining in the same state the whole time. Fortunately, I live in the beautiful state of ColoRADo, and there are lots of outdoor activities to keep residents busy. Unfortunately, April and May tend to be “mud season” in the mountains, so the trails aren’t always inviting.
GO HIKING!
Though I stayed in Breckenridge, I drove over the pass for a hike in Vail. Most of the hikes in Vail are rated as hard as they tend to be long with significant elevation gain. I didn’t have all day, as I was meeting some friends in Vail for dinner, so I picked one of the easiest trails I could find.
Bighorn Creek Trail is 6.9 miles and rated as moderate. The parking, with only about six spots at the trailhead and six spots down the road, was extremely limited especially given no parking is allowed on the road and the trailhead parking is limited three hours. In addition, I don’t think the regular hiker can finish this trail to the cabin in three hours except perhaps a trail runner.
The moderate rating was a bit of a misnomer though comparative to other hikes in the area, maybe it is correctly ranked. The dry dirt trail begins with a steep climb and then levels off through a grove of aspen. A small boulder field and a mountainside of dormant fireweed intermingle with more aspen before the trail begins to climb. Continue reading “Roadtrip to the Rockies: Vail”
My friends, Brian and Erin, kindly shared their condo in Winter Park with me this weekend. I felt so fortunate to be able to head to the mountains Friday afternoon and miss the Saturday morning ski traffic. What a luxury they afforded me! On top of including me in their weekly winter trek to the mountains, as I don’t ski, they graciously joined me in snow shoeing on one of the biggest powder days of the lackluster snow season.
Saturday morning we geared up, stepped out of the condo, and wondered what in the heck we were doing. Wind whipped tiny flecks of snow into our faces as we shoved our packs and shoes into the trunk of their convertible Audi complete with snow tires! Brian drove us 45 minutes to the outskirts of Rocky Mountain National Park where we found the trailhead to Shadow Mountain Shore.
Trail: Crater Lake
Location: East Portal Moffat Tunnel near Rollinsville
Fees: Free
Elevation: 9,200-10,600-7,600 feet
Distance: 6 miles roundtrip
Another Saturday, another hike. We have been fortunate to enjoy decent weather the last few weekends. Today Ross and I headed toward the East Portal near Rollinsville (not far from Nederland). Our original plan was to hike to Clayton Lake, a 5.8 mile trek noted as moderate to strenuous. I forgot to print out the description of the hike and I couldn’t remember all the details I read. I knew it was steep but didn’t recall the hike followed an unmarked path for a portion of the trek.
Since no signs directed us toward Clayton Lake, we altered course to hike Crater Lakes. I had read the description of this hike too and knew it was about the same length, 6 miles to the lower lakes. I sort of wanted to save this hike for the summer as there is a scramble to the upper lakes which adds two miles that I didn’t want to do in the snow.
Today the weather wasn’t great. The forecast called for cloudy skies which was an understatement when we started as light (not pretty) snow was falling. Fortunately, the weathermen got the temperature right, so we enjoyed a warm 40 degrees and shed layers quickly as we made our way through the evergreen forest.
The path at the beginning of the trail was icy. We decided it rained and promptly froze. As we continued alongside the creek we glided over a soft layer of fresh snow. Soon we reached a trail junction where we turned right and followed switchbacks up the mountain. This was a steep climb that warranted removing another layer!
With the elevation gain came deeper snow, but only a few inches which we easily handled traction devices. This mile climb felt like it took forever, though I think most of the 1,300 feet we gained from the trailhead to the lake took place during the last mile.
Upon reaching the lake, located at 10,600 feet, we lost the wind protection from the trees and cooled down considerably. We added hats and gloves quickly and didn’t stay too long to admire the frozen lake and surrounding frozen tundra. Pine trees, grasses, and the remains of wildflowers were blanketed in a thin layer of ice.
Overall, the hike was very nice. I’m trying to embrace the winter. I think as long as the temperature hovers around forty and the wind isn’t bad, I’ll be hiking, spiking, or snowshoeing this winter! ETB
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