got up around 4:30 and was at the AZ Snowbowl around 5:30 to do the Humphreys Trail. Start at 9266 ft and go up 5 miles to 12633 ft. Was the only person at the top for a solid 20 minutes around 8:15. Clear views of Sedona and the North Rim. Glorious morning Spoiler
Supposed to storm Saturday night, so heading for an easy overnighter tonight, scramble to a 7,250 summit tomorrow AM before the clouds roll in. Supposed to be super clear tonight, thinking about buying a joint for the view.
Slept at Brandywine Meadows last night -- 45 minute ride from my spot and only a 1 hour hike. So less than two hours after stepping out of my door I'm here: Spoiler Woke up at 7 this morning and did 3,000 ft in about 2 miles, pretty damn steep. Straight up: Spoiler A little hazy, but views for dayssss Spoiler One of my big goals for the summer is The Alcoholic Traverse, 4 days/3 nights over Labor Day. Chose this hike to scope it out a little bit, this mountain is the first part of it. You traverse this entire ridge, from right to left Spoiler
Also, saw some fucking NORTHERN LIGHTS. Was 3 IPAs deep, had just smoked a joint, and was waiting for the stars. About 11:30 I see some streaks over the mountain. It was very subtle, but you could see a green hue and then some floaters (whatever the hell they're called?). It was absolutely amazing. Put my GoPro on night time lapse which captured a little bit of it. edit: slowed down the video a bit
Heading deep into the mountains this weekend, 3 days/2 nights. 12 miles to campsite, stay there for 2 nights and bag some peaks. There's also a meteor shower that is peaking this Saturday night -- oh hell yes. Almost a new moon, too.
This is our last 4-day workweek of the summer before we transition back to normal hours ahead of the new academic year May did Tucson/Saguaro June did Holbrook/Petrified Forest July did Kayenta/Monument Valley Just booked a hotel room for a couple nights in Santa Fe to close out the summer in style. Should be fun. Open to recommendations in Santa Fe National Forest
bro In the past, haven't you worked aid stations at the Leadville 100? A buddy is doing the 100 this year after doing the 50 last year. I can't imagine running for 16-25 hours pretty much non-stop
Not the Leadville 100. I do the High Lonesome 100. unfortunately, my brother invited me and my dad to visit him in Dallas for the Dodgers-Rangers series that same weekend. So I wasn't there this year, but my friends were. I will likely do it next year unless my friend wins the lottery and is able to race it himself. It is absolutely insane. it isn't as hard as the Hard Rock 100 here in colorado, but it is intense. People make it to our aid station "Purgatory" and are often absolutely wrecked. You aren't supposed to drop/quit at our station. You instead have to make it like 3 more miles to get to a station where you are allowed to quit. But this year, 3 people got medically pulled at Purgatory. some people slept for several hours before they kept going. others will just sit around the fire and not move (or cry). Sometimes they keep going, sometimes they don't. The coolest shit (beyond the people up front who seem totally fine when they make it to our station) are the people just finish under the cut off despite getting to our station super late. Leadville 100 is 18,000+ elevation gain. High Lonesome is +23,000. Hard Rock is 33,000+. you can tell on this map (see below link) the huge elevation gain before "purgatory." these people are crazy https://www.highlonesome100.com/course
anyone from Colorado done Handies Peak near Silverton? Which TH or road should I use if I just have a stock 4x4 without super high clearance? Seems like there's a lot of conflicting info
I haven't but that area is my favorite part of CO for hiking. Unfortunately it is a haul from Denver, but so many amazing peak and lake hikes down there
Cornelius Suttree use this site for info: https://www.14ers.com/peaks/10040/handies-peak and pop into Ouray if you can.
Yep. American Basin is gorgeous. I saw lots of Outbacks in the lower lot. I was in a Rubicon and that let us get to a lot higher up = shorter hike to Handies.
All of those races are nuts. I imagine sitting there shooting the shit while someone else who dropped out of the race is sitting there crying makes for quite the evening/night/morning/day/afternoon.
volunteering is quite the experience. you try to be compassionate to the people coming in who are physically and emotionally wrecked. but you just let the medics take a look at them and just let them be. you gotta help the next people and you aren't allowed to do more than provide them food and drinks. also, anyone who signs up knows there is a chance it will take a terrible turn. not everyone can be courtney dauwalter
Had to look it up. Cinnamon Pass is how we went and it was fine. You go down a switch back road when you go over the pass and it's hairy but not a clearance issue. The year I was there I was told to avoid Engineer Pass, and like I said I had a Rubicon. It's such a cool system of drivable trails back in there but the conditions change so much every year. They put a ton of effort in to clearing and maintaining them. Avalanches rocked the area the year we went and caused problems with the 4x4 roads.
President Biden is designating a new national monument near the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. The move protects lands that are sacred to indigenous peoples and permanently bans new uranium mining claims in the area. It covers nearly 1 million acres. The new national monument will be called Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument. According to the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition that drafted a proposal for the monument, "Baaj Nwaavjo" means "where tribes roam" in Havasupai, and "I'tah Kukveni" translates to "our ancestral footprints" in Hopi.
was in Santa Fe National Forest from 6 AM-3 PM, place is so cool and would be unreal when the Aspens are turning in October. Way too worn out to try anything tomorrow but had a great time on the Winsor Trail. Trailhead is at Ski Santa Fe (elevation 10,350 ft) and the drive from town up there is a blast. Got serious real estate envy Nambe Lake (11,400 ft) would be a sick place to camp Spoiler
Biggest solo hike I've ever done. Approx. 45 miles over 3 days. Day 1: hiked in to camp, 12 miles over 3,700 ft of gain, 2,500 ft down Day 2: left pack at camp, bagged two summits, 19 miles, 5,000 ft of gain, 4,000 ft down Day 3: hike out, 12 miles, 3,700 ft down and 2,500 ft up Day 1: cloudy, overcast, rainy, not upset about a big hike in. BC has awesome camping pads already setup. This was my fucking view both mornings: Spoiler Day 1 was shitty weather, but the rest of the weekend was sublime. Fuckin A it was gorgeous: Spoiler My objective was Diamond Head, which is the hump to the left of this goliath. Diamond Head is 6,700 ft, the big one is Atwell Peak at 8,700 ft: Spoiler Was a fucking SLOG up: Spoiler Traversed this whole field/ridge. Wasn't terribly hard but just soooo long. Spoiler
Views from the summit were aight Spoiler As I was hiking back through the saddle, said fuck it let's do another peak called the Gargoyles, only like 1,000 ft over 1/4 mile. This peak: Spoiler Views: Spoiler
Fire on the mountain at sunset Spoiler Hiking out today. A bluebird day in the PNW, at about 75-80 degrees, is fucking heaven on earth Spoiler
OK I'm done. More to come next week. The meteor shower last night was insane, probably saw 50-75 shooting stars in 1.5 hours. GoPro didn't capture it very well, tho.
3 days/2 nights at Russet Lake this weekend, about 8 miles outside of Whistler. Hope to summit Overlord Mountain (8,600 ft) on Saturday: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/british-columbia/overlord-mountain--2?u=i Weather forecast: Spoiler
First dud of the season, had to pull the plug from too much smoke. Hiked in yesterday, slept under gorgeous stars, woke up to a BC park ranger urging ppl to leave because of the AQI. It was really bad, but yesterday was awesome Spoiler And same views this morning: Spoiler Hope it clears soon, have a friend from Tejas flying in next weekend for another 3 day/2 night trip.
was on the AB Young Trail this morning at 6:45 and back home by 10:30 5200 ft to 7196 in 2.5 miles. Some sweet lenticular clouds over the San Francisco Peaks Spoiler
Sedona doesn't get old. Was the first car at the Midgley Bridge TH at 5:45 this morning. Wilson Mtn 4526 ft to 6900 ft over 5 miles to the best overlook down there Spoiler
Black Tusk is incredibly prominent on the route from Squamish to Whistler on 99, been wanting to get up there for years. That and Garibaldi Lake have been on my bucket list for a looong time. 8th summit of the year Friend from Texas came up for the weekend and we put it down. 3 days/2 nights -- 9.500 ft of gain and 30 miles. 2nd day was about 15 miles and almost 5,000 ft of gain. We got super lucky with the smoke. There were fires and smoke all around, so the distant views weren't great, but there was a little pocket of really good air over Squamish for our entire trip. Spoiler Hiked in first night like 5 miles, had dinner and chilled. Woke up Saturday and the plan was to summit Black Tusk, it looks like a wart sticking out of the mountain. From reading, it was a volcano that blew 200K years ago over the whole are. Spoiler The route up is "The Chimney" and is pretty damn gnarly. The first 30-40 ft are incredibly exposed, but after that it's just narrow but not very steep Spoiler Views from the top were unreal Spoiler \
Hiked down from the Tusk and the forecast was smokey as shit for Sunday, so we went ahead and went up Panorama Ridge the same day. This ridge right at the left part of the lake: Spoiler Hiking up and looking back towards the Tusk. Incredible shot Panorama Ridge was unreal, so lucky with the weather Spoiler Hiking to 2nd night's campsite after a huge day, sun went right behind Black Tusk Spoiler
Up until now, have knocked off everything on this list plus two more overnighters. What a fucking two months - 15 nights slept in the backcountry, 8 summits, every weekend except one spent in the mountains. Most I've ever hiked in my life. Goal achieved. Smoke forecast this weekend is terrible, so not going to be able to get out this weekend for the Alcoholic Traverse, but still have some time -- may try it during the next two months. Want to get 10 summits and I'm in Squamish until late October, so should be able to.
Looking at my camera roll and it looks like I've been on a hike every weekend since early April. Living in Flagstaff Probably gonna be in Sedona bright and early Saturday morning and then hoping for the Grand Canyon on Monday
my boss went hiking in the Uintas and showed me pics from his camping spot. was elite. stealing it for next year
The wife and I are doing the Pemi loop this weekend. It's ~32 miles with ~9800 ft elevation gains and includes 11 summits. It will be the longest we've attempted in 3 days/2 nights.
Looks tight. Post pics por favor https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/new-hampshire/pemigewasset-loop--2
Did a quick overnighter like 2 hours north of Squamish, one of the few areas with no smoke. Short but steep - over 4,000 ft of gain over 4 miles, slept at 7,500 ft and scrambled to about 8,200. Was windy as hell last night, didn't get much sleep but the new tent held up great. At that elevation I bet it was like 15-20 degrees with windchill - it was fucking cold. Was raining a little more than a drizzle this morning, but not too bad. The hike is "Twin Lakes," two alpine lakes over 7,000 ft. Gorgeous. Spoiler Lower lake: Above pic is in between the two lakes: Dropped pack at upper lake, scrambled up this ridge. First went to the left summit, then did a ridge hike/scramble across to the other summit. Beautiful and so much damn fun Spoiler At second peak looking back at first peak from the above pictures - traversed this whole thing And still had a pretty epic campsite, despite the weather Spoiler Slept in the backcountry for nine of the last ten weekends.
if you're looking for a strenuous day hike in a gorgeous environment where you won't see many people then the Grandview Trail is the spot. 7400 ft at the trailhead down 4.5 miles to Cottonwood Creek at 3900 ft saw as many bighorn sheep as people (1) Spoiler
Do you have a Big Agnes tent and an MSR tent? I've just seen both in your pics. I have an older MSR Mutha Hubba and I love it.
Yea I have both. The Big Agnes is super lightweight and perfect for ideal conditions, but really thin/fragile for mountain stuff - mine has like 5 holes after only a few seasons. It also isn't super dry in bad rain, I've woken up in puddles a few times. I got the MSR as an all-seasons tent and it's been good in subpar weather, def better. MSR for any chance of poor weather or sleeping at high elevation, BA if forecast is good
Last trip of the summer with guaranteed good weather. Have a few more weekends left, but weddings over the next two weekends so will have to take a two-week hiatus. This will make 10 of the last 11 weekends with at least one night in the backcountry. Leaving around lunch today, into the vert, summit early tomorrow AM, back in time tomorrow for Tejas @ Bama
have a thin big agnes tent. held up by my hiking poles. gets the job done, even if quite 'light' good customer service too
Great one to close out the summer. Have weddings the next two weekends and will try to get a few fall trips in, but awesome conclusion to an epic summer. Took a gnarly forest service road about 10 miles into the sticks which made the hike not too bad -- first night was only like 5 miles and 2,000 ft of gain Spoiler
Woke up at 6 this morning and scrambled to Seagram Peak: Spoiler Cypress Peak was a semi-objective, but this wasn't the traditional approach and would be a lot of route finding/not sure on the conditions. This entire traverse to that big bitch: Spoiler Made it up and down this first hump: Spoiler View from first peak: Spoiler Made it about halfway up, but had to call it. Just got too sketchy to do solo. I'm pretty confident I could summit that route, but was too dangerous to do by myself. Hope to try again later this year. This was my last climb. I made it to the top of this and then saw two more exactly like it and decided to turn back: Spoiler It was pretty intense, probably the most expose solo climb I've ever done. 11/10, would recommend. There were like 7-8 alpine lakes in the area, it was incredible. One of the better places I've found around Squamish Spoiler