Huron Peak Trip Report

Huron Peak Trip Report

June 23^rd, 2013
Hiking Party: Panda, Kels, and Henry  (Cockapoo extraordinaire)

I was a bit tired on Saturday from the early AM for the Triathlon, and then visiting with friends for a while on Saturday afternoon, and it was catching up with me. I caught about a 45 min nap and made my way to Kelsey’s to start the venture. Kels and I started the trip from the Highlands in Denver at 7:02 PM on Saturday night. After making the quick realization to travel 70-West, NOT East…we were on our way!  We stopped off in Idaho Springs to grab a wrap at Two Brothers Deli since I hadn’t had dinner yet…whoops!

The trip was pretty easy to start, I-70 then 91-S at Copper Mtn, then travel west on 24 until county road 390. We had to loop back since we passed it the first time (not paying attention) and started the 12ish miles back to the first trail head via dirt road. Once at the front TH, it was another 2.1 miles to the upper trailhead only accessible by 4-WD. 

We were rocking Kelsey’s Highlander, which seemed to be beastly enough.  As we got started though, we had many second guesses. It was dark, rocky, muddy sometimes, downright freaky on the road! We bottomed-out once, had to re-maneuver a few times…but eventually made it to the trailhead around 10:30 PM. Along the road there is free camping, and plenty were taking advantage of this. There were quite a few cars in the lot, as well, so we knew it was going to be a busy day on Sunday!

Henry enjoying the backseat

We opted for the literal car camping, rather than setting up a tent, so we climbed in the back with our watch dog, Henry, and settled in for the night. I got the white noise machine via my cell phone going, ‘fan’ style, set the alarm, and it was lights out! Except for the rather full moon that was quite bright. 30 minutes later, and no Z’s caught yet, a car pulls on each side of us. They proceeded to talk quite loudly while the rest of the parking lot was clearly trying to rest up for the next day. Let’s just say I was not a happy camper! 1 hour and 20 minutes later, the white noise shut off, and I was still wide awake. I turned on a second round. 

Sometime during this I fell asleep and 4:30 AM came before I knew it!  We snoozed the alarm twice, it was dark, and hadn’t heard any cars or other hikers going up yet. Right around 4:45 a car drove by and we started to move on the 3^rd alarm ringing. We had a light bfast, slowly got moving, and we were on the trail at 5:24 AM, just light enough so we didn’t need our headlamps. We also saw the noisy people heading back to their cars...we think they hiked it at night!

View as I was peeing in the AM

The first mile or so of the trail has lots and lots of switchbacks. The heavy breathing started immediately but I was happy my legs felt pretty good after the race the day before. The trail is shaded, through trees, and the trail is super well maintained. 

happy Kelsey!

Overly happy Panda

After about a mile of these switchbacks, the trail opens to a basin, the views are amazing, and incline eases a bit. As you hike through the basin you can see what you will be climbing straight ahead. There was still a little runoff so it was a tiny bit icy that early, but nothing you couldn’t walk around.

H-ey

Through Basin thing...

still in the shade in basin

After passing through this open area, you begin the steep climbing again. With about 1.2 miles left of the trail, it was slow moving steps from there. There are some steps, well packed dirt trails, and some rocks to climb over. It starts switch-backing again. 

View from the ridge of the steep stuff!

Right about this time, the sun peaked over the hills and I finally needed to take out my sunglasses. We had averaged about 42 minutes for the first 2 miles, so it was probably around 7:30 or 8 by this time. I stopped to get my glasses, popped an energy block, and worked my way back up to Kelsey.  Once the trail meets the ridge, it is all rock the rest of the way up. There is an easy to follow path though, but it is slow, slow going. 

We stopped once more in the middle for another energy block and kept it moving. It is hard to tell where the summit is, I was mentally telling myself to just get to the top of the rocks, and then I was allowed another break. 

Much to my surprise (since I was expecting 3.375 miles on my watch, I figured at least another ¼ mile), at the top of this rocky area, the summit was right there! I spotted a few other hikers about 20 feet away and pushed forward. Kelsey and I exchanged a smile and a high five! Hiking time to top: 2 hours 50 minutes.

made it!

Henry is the best hiker

the group! Huron Peak 14,003'

 We had been passed by a few groups throughout the hike, and shared the summit with 8 or so people as we munched on our food. It is always strange breaking out lunch at 8:40 AM! It was beautiful on top, and the morning haze was still there a little, but for the most part it was super clear. I had some of my sandwiches and trail mix, with real M&Ms. Another group snapped some pictures for us and we enjoyed the amazing view, and weather! This made 14er #10 for Kelsey and Henry, and #8 for me!

We stayed for around 20 minutes and headed back down. There were lots of hikers on the way up, and it is always nice to know you already finished. Everyone thought Henry was an all-star, too. It was uneventful on the way down. The first 1.2 miles you could really tell how steep it was, which is satisfying knowing you aren’t crazy on the way up.

Leaving the basin - so clear out now!

Beautiful day out!

Right after clearing the basin, we were approaching a couple with their golden(?) that was leashed up. Henry was off leash, and is usually fine, since he is harmless and always comes when you call for him.  If Kelsey sees the other dog on the leash, she usually puts Henry on. Kelsey called forward, twice, if she should put him on a leash. They didn’t respond. As we approached Henry was right next to us and went up to the dog. The dog snatched Henry by the face, and the only thing I saw was Henry hanging in the air, being shaken and Henry was yelping. The owner tried to control his dog, but not before he had gotten to Henry. Kelsey, more shocked than anything, ran to Henry. She inspected, and luckily there was no blood, but Henry was shaking and was quite scared. The woman apologized and asked if Henry was okay. Not much else was said as we consoled Henry, Kelsey unsure what to do. She apologized again, and Kelsey said she could have put him on a leash, but Henry still would have gone up to dog, regardless, since they didn’t say otherwise. We parted ways, it wasn’t a good part of the day. I wish the owners had warned us their dog was not friendly, or even put something over its mouth for the hike.

After that, the endless switchbacks seemed to go on forever!  It was starting to get hot so we were happy we had gotten in to the shade. We made it back to the car around 11:30, after a great hike! Total hiking time was 4 hours, 47 minutes. We headed back out for the adventure on the 4WD road and took 285 home this time through Buena Vista, which is about equidistant. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, my headed was bobbing up and down and I tried to fight sleep. Kelsey is a rockstar for driving!

It was such a great hike! I'm so sad Kelsey is moving back to NY but it was a great way to send her off on her farewell 14er! Even better it was her 10th :-) Here are some stats!

Satellite image of Huron Peak

Holy Elevation!

Website said 6.75 and 3,500'...pretty close!
Mile 3 heading to the summit definitely the steepest!

DeCaLiBro!!

Not much to update on the end of last week before I get in to the weekend re-cap. Swimming did not happen - so that is a necessity for Monday or Tuesday with the OWS (open water swim) on Thursday - as long as I can get out of work kind of early. I did get in a 45 min cycle at the gym on Thursday. It was interval-esque. I would ride for 4 min at good pace and then crank up resistance and stand up and ride for 1 minute and repeat. Friday I did not want to do too much and just did intervals for 2 miles on the treadmill - alternating between 6.0 and 6.6 every 1/4 mile. Between the two days also did abs/arms/pushups.


After work on Friday, Aaron and I loaded up the truck and headed up to Kite Lake, which is the trailhead for the hike we were tackling on Saturday. Our plan was to do three 14ers (Democrat/Cameron/Lincoln and also basically do Bross...but it is closed)...acronym = DeCaLiBro. There are saddles between the peaks so you don't actually climb all the way down between them...luckily!

Headed to DeCaLiBro...peaks on the right

We arrived at the trailhead at 8:30 and there was still enough light to find a place to pitch our tent and then wait for the rest of the group. Kelsey, her friend Mark, and Kat were about an hour behind us. We were probably the 4th or 5th car there and they continued to roll in throughout the night! We lit up the jetboil and enjoyed some hot chocolate :-)

After the rest the group arrived and set up camp, we enjoyed some raw smores (thanks Kat!) and headed to bed around 11...wakeup time was 4 AM! Unfortunately no one slept well. Sleeping at 12,000 ft is hard!

The group was on the trail by 5 AM and it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day.  Here is a pic of the trail and elevation too. We went up to the left. At the first saddle we went left and over to Democrat, then back to the saddle and up Cameron and then over to Lincoln. An adventure on the way down...

Ready to hit the trail @ 5 AM!

Rocky trail up to the saddle

Saddle! 1 hour 20 min, 1.41 miles, 1300 ft elevation gain

Dogs ready for a treat

After the saddle, there was some steep elevation with lots of rocks. You sort of switchback through them, but don't be fooled this isn't the top. Once you crest over you'll see this snowfield below and the end is very close!

Heading up final part of Democrat

Kat, Panda and Kels on Democrat

Crew on the top of Democrat

 Ok that needs some explanation...I have frequently talked about our love for Park Burger after a grueling workout as a treat. Luckily for us hikers, the first group to take the Park Burger flag to the top of a 14er and take a picture gets 2 burgers and 2 beers! None of the 3 we did were on the list, and we wanted to get creative with the pictures :-)

Me and AA - 14er of the season!

Headed back down..pictures don't do justice!

After Democrat, we headed down to the saddle and started up Cameron. This was another rocky trail. Starting at the saddle you lose 1000 ft of elevation in .7 miles and gain it back just as quickly. When we got to the top we actually questioned if we were there...it was anticlimactic. We took our pics though! 

Ellie did so great all day! On top of Cameron

Cameron Park Burger pic

Love this shot - view leaving Cameron over to Lincoln

After Cameron, the toughest stuff was behind us. We headed over to Lincoln and the sky was gorgeous. At the top we celebrated with lunch. There were a few people when we got there and by the time we finished pictures - 15-20 people were enjoying the views and accomplishment.

Henry taking a breather on top of Lincoln

Love the clouds! Crew on Lincoln...L to R (Kat, Kels, AA, Panda, Mark)

Aaron probably holding his stomach because he was feeling awful altitude sickness

 Aaron's trip update! 

Poor Scarlet had a tough time on the rocks! Luckily we had socks and used Henry's booties!

Although the clouds look great in the above pictures - it was evident the clouds and storms were moving in fast. We could already see it storming in the distance (in many directions). One big thing for 14ers is getting off the mountain by around noon because of the storms. This is why we left so early! Even leaving so early, I was really nervous how it would end up.


We headed down Lincoln and the normal route continues to Bross and around the side of it. It looked long and far, with even more elevation gain. Bross is closed to the public, although some people do summit it since the trail is only a few hundred feet from the top. After about 1.5 miles of hiking we reached a decision point. We could either continue around the side of Bross and go off trail down a very sleep 'washout' area of rocks. I am NOT one to do anything that isn't allowed, but I also was so scared of the impending storms I was all for the fastest route. So we made a group decision to head down. It was very steep, rocky, and no trail. It was easy to sort of ski through the big sections of rocks. It was toughest for Kat since she has some knee problems from torn ACLs, AA was feeling awful from altitude sickness and poor Scarlet had torn up pads and was struggling. We all continued down though and tried to be as careful as possible. With the sight of a big snow area - Kels and I knew we wanted to 'glissade' where you sit on your butt and just coast down. It sure beat climbing down the rocks. Soon after AA picked up Ellie and coasted down. It was a nice break to the grueling rocks. Mark was helping Scarlet down a bunch in the rocks too. The girls got ahead and we basically ran back to the car once we reached the grass, which was still a good mile away. We were SO happy to be down off the mountain...and it was only 12:15! We packed up quickly and headed back to Denver to get our Park Burger! It was an awesome day and I easily got 9.5 hours of sleep!

Glissading down Wash Out

Scarlet and Henry - relaxing at the car!

 Aaron's trip update!