Huron Peak Trip Report
June 23rd, 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 3rd 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! |
