Trip to Pike's Peak, Phantom Canyon & Mueller SP

After being in Colorado off and on for over 40 years, it was time to pay the $10 (used $2 internet coupon) and drive the private road to the summit of Pikes Peak.  It was definitely worth it.  However, for those not completely comfortable with cliff hugging mountain roads, the incline railroad from Manitou Springs would be a better choice.

Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so these pictures are from the phone.  I didn't even think about using the phone until I noticed a girl using hers after I had hiked a bit.  So back to the car to retrieve it and rehike a very pleasant trail off the first picnic area.

The next stop was at a very pleasant national forest lake just before driving the road becomes white knuckle time.  Aspen in this area were a mix of gold and orange.

Then straight to the top to wander around in a circle enjoying the 360 degree view from 14,000+ feet.  Of course a gift shop and snack bar are available.  Actually having a building open to the public is probably a necessity, which will be discussed later.

Above timber line (over 12,000') Pikes Peak is a coppery color, and vegetation is much sparser than on Mt. Evans.  On the way down I stopped at a particularly good view of this different rock.

Since I was walking on loose stuff, I had my hiking hat on and walking stick with me.  Two women hikers came over to ask if I knew where the trail to the top was.  I had seen hikers almost to the top earlier and assumed the trail was just over a rise and close to the road.  I discussed with them the increasing clouds and thunder in the distance, but they started on up.  As I was getting in the car, they were hurrying back to ask for a ride to the top, which I was happy to do.  Turns out they were a group of women from all over hiking this peak in preparation for a trip up Kilimanjaro in January.  On my second trip down I saw part of their group and stopped to tell them of the two now at the top.  By this time it was spitting snow and lightning was much closer.  After much discussion, it was decided to beg rides to the top.  So I took two, and the rest successfully hitched a ride in a larger SUV.  On the way a patrol car with flashing lights stopped traffic to announce on a loud speaker for everyone to stay in cars or get in the building at the top.  Once there we saw even more of the group headed to the building.  I had reassured my passengers that the bad weather would most likely blow over, and they could hike down as planned.  Once I was back in the timber, it was a pleasant day again and hiking a couple more times on service roads was it for me.

So it was on the the motel, a good night's rest, an early breakfast, and a drive on to east of Canon City to get into Phantom Canyon.  This is a celebrated road on an previous railroad bed, but it is not paved and often less than two lanes.  I was early enough to have no traffic until about 2/3 done.  There is no way for an amateur to capture the beauty of the canyon walls and the riparian creek area.  Since the road is narrow, the vegetation has more area to make this canyon even more unusual.  As the sun came over to top of the canyon walls, the light effect against golden aspen was even more outstanding.  Unfortunately this is difficult light to work in.  Also it is so blinding on the road where light meets shadow.  All the more reason to get out there early and have a low probability of on-coming traffic.

This is the last of the original railroad bridges.  Many of them were wiped out in floods.  Evidently the rail hauling of gold from Cripple Creek and Victor was profitable enough to rebuild and keep it going in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Once through the canyon, the area of high plains ranches leads into Victor, still a major gold mining town.  The denuded and terraced mountains next to the dwarfed town show mountain top mining as the evil it is.  Almost as distressing was the clear cut hills immediately opposite the entrance to Muellar SP.  These huge hills  of nothing but mud had no vegetation, and a good rain will have them over the highway.  Whatever is going on there?

The rest of the trip was a break and lunch at Muellar SP.  I had an interesting talk with a volunteer geologist who had a great rock collection and explanation of the formation of the local types.  Then continuing on CO 67, which is a real puzzle in addition to being mostly unpaved after Deckers.  But I did learn where some lovely ground along the south branch of the South Platte is and how to get to it, maybe.

An Autumn Day at Isabelle Lake

When I was at Isabelle Lake (Indian Peaks Wilderness at Brainard Lake entrance) in mid-July, it was a bit grueling navigating the snow fields and muddy/watery trails to get there.   This was on a perfect autumn day, September 18.  The aspen on the Peak to Peak highway were mostly golden, reflecting the high altitude sunlight beautifully.  The road into Brainard Lake was especially outstanding.  It was early rising to get there by 8 am when a parking place at the trail head to Long Lake was still available.  This time I hiked along the south shore of Long Lake until the trail passes the lake and turns in to go around the other shore.  After crossing the bridge where Long Lake flows into a creek, the meadows fronting the jagged peaks were in sunny splendor.  The trail rises from the lake through a deep woods before turning across a bridge crossing a creek at the other end of the lake.

The trail up to Isabelle Lake appears shortly and climbs through forest and meadows.

Approaching the lake, which is close to timber line, I was surprised to see wildflowers (mostly bluebells) surrounding the head of a waterfall.  This waterfall was absolutely raging in July.  The area must get protected as temperatures at night are surely below freezing by now.

The bent trees testify to the severity of wind up here, but this day was mostly calm.

 A snack overlooking the lake on rock with a small patch of red leaves was the perfect place. 

Picture taking was exchanged right after a rock hopping crossing.  Driving out, I was surprised to see every possible parking place around Brainard Lake taken.   A drive down the canyon below Ward was another gorgeous experience before fighting the traffic back home through Boulder.

Biking & hiking around Dillon Reservoir

After postponing the two day excursion a week to Sept 20 due to such not nice looking weather, it turned out that Tuesday was about the same as that but Wednesday was perfect.  Also the fall color was bound to be a little further along.  Since I wanted to bike as much as possible along the lake, warmer weather was more of a consideration than the peak of the leaves.  This year it looks like a week later will be the so-called peak, when all the aspen are golden.  Actually I like the leaves better when not all of them are turned, although along I-70 golden show up so much more strikingly in the pine covered hills.  Evidently the soil in the Dillon area contributes to more red color than usual, so there was lots of contrast.  Most aspen were still green, some just turned and a few with red hues.

Instead of staying on I-70 through the tunnel, I took US 6 over Loveland Pass.  It must have been in the mid-60s that I was first and last (?) until now on that road with my former roommate at U of IL, Phyllis Mikita.  She was on her way to Aspen, where our mutual friend John Schmidt had a second home.  Phyllis stopped in Nauvoo that summer to ask me to help her drive out there.  As I recall, I ended up doing almost all the driving that night through a long detour in Iowa on little two-lane roads and later in Nebraska.  I-70 through Colorado was not much more than plan then.  I stopped at the top of the pass and hiked a trail to a higher point across the road.

After arriving in Dillon, I parked above a marina and took off on a bike path on the south end of the lake.  It was a bit blustery, so after arriving where the path would go on to Keystone turned back to explore other parts of the area.  It looked like it could rain any time, so I drove a new road, Swan Mountain Drive.  This road connects the south edge of Dillon with CO 9 south of Frisco.  It seems that this road also serves as the bike route along that side of the lake.  I couldn't find any other way, as a one-lane road to a nature center on the shore of the lake prohibited bikes.  Also there was a sign along the highway warning that bikes had the right of way to the entire road.  Since it was still threatening rain, I decided to drive on up to Breckenridge and through there to view aspen up on Hoosier Pass.  A picture of Mt. Quandry, which Andrea and I summited in 2001, follows.  This is not really a climb but a really steep and rocky trail.  All the same, it was my first and last 14er.

I biked around Breckenridge for awhile but decided the touristy, mountain town thing was not for me.  At Frisco I found the most promising bike path along the lake and over the dam on the road between Frisco and Dillon and decided to do that Wednesday.  The bike path along the Frisco end of the lake which I had found before was the last ride of the day.  It never did rain.

One convenience about being in a motel is having a safe place for the bike while hiking.  So by 8 am I was on the Buffalo Mountain trail above Dillon.  The first part is a mild climb with several mostly level areas.  About 1/3 of the way, a wilderness sign appears, and the climb is  a little steeper from there along an old rocky road to the remains of a cabin.  After the trail is much steeper and narrower.  Once I was high on the mountain with a great view of the lake and towns on either end, it was time to head back before check out time.

Retrieved the bike and headed for a parking area just past the dam for the best bike ride.  The day was perfect, and as time went on more and more bikers appeared. This is definitely worth many repeat rides.

Just a few summer flowers are hanging on, as temperatures in this area are in the 30s at night now.  On the way back, a stop in Silver Plume for a scone and tea at a run down 1900's building in an almost deserted old mining town was a great final treat.