Day 18: Herman Gulch

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Herman Gulch is in Arapahoe National Forest and the trail composes a section of the CDT or Continental Divide Trail. From the trailhead you head up a couple hundred yards to a fork - Watrous Gulch to the right, Herman Gulch to the left. There is a lake at the terminus of the gulch that is about 3.2 miles or 5k or so. The sign says 3.75 miles, but I think the winter use trail is slightly shorter because it doesn't wind into the trees, but stays in the clearing by the creek.

The view North West up the gulch from the clearing above the initial climb.

Looking South at Mount Sniktau . . .

We were the first group at the trailhead this day, although others soon followed. Fortunately we had no one in front of us, which made for a solitary and tranquil hike up. After the first steep hill, things graded out a bit, and it was a steady trod up a slight hill. We worked our way in for about 1:45 before resting at a tree around 11600' (marked on the map with a star). In hindsight, we were quite near the lake and should have finished the trek, but we decided to turn back as Ryan and Dom were getting fatigued and we didn't know how far we had come. Here's more pics of Dom and Ryan in action.

While there appeared to be several places to take in some turns, the snowpack was very striated and the hollow thud from our steps didn't make me feel any more comfortable. We found this treed and viable ski run at ~1:15 into the hike, identified on the map. Good slope aspect, enough vertical, not too steep, good tree coverage.

Day 17: Snowshoeing at Porcupine Gulch and more squirrels

Not sure what happened to my pics from this day - Mail2Blogger was acting up. Anyway, got an early start and decided to hit up porcupine gulch. Spent a good few hours hiking my way in and out tracking squirrel and hare. It was a cold morning and the animals seemed to be taking their time getting up.

The sun poked through at around 10am and I finally started hearing some birds and squirrel, but still hadn't seen a single animal. At 11am I was ready to give up, and as luck would have it, I found a squirrel in the tree where I left my bag! This could be the same one from the other day, and I decided to tag him. Overall a successful and fun morning, although I bailed on making turns because I was tired and it was getting late in the day.


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Home Sweet Home

Hayden/Green Mountain Park

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I've done this hike a few times but attacked it a little differently this time. First, I was using my new SwissGear alpine hiking poles ($25 on sale at Big 5!) which were great - I won't hike without them now. Also, I ran this one solo and decided to hoof it to the summit. I took the standard Green Mountain trail up, but decided to take the fork to the John Hayden trail just before the radio tower on the way down. I hadn't used this trail before, and it was a nice break from the routine. It is a slightly longer and more challenging trail, and it offers a slightly different but equally as impressive view for the way back.

The view from Mile 1.5 looking back East at the radio tower. Nice and flat on top!

Denver in the distance looking majestic. This is typical of the 360 views on this quick local hike. LOVE IT!

Day 16: Snowshoeing, Squirrels, and A-Basin

Porcupine Gulch has become a favorite spot for me because of its central location to the ski resorts, proximity to Denver, and the many activities that can be enjoyed here. In summer and fall the trail makes a great start or end point for an afternoon hike on the Continental Divide. There are TONS of squirrel and snowshoe hare here for hunting through the fall and winter, and the terrain is excellent for snowshoeing and relatively secluded. Very little foot traffic up here. Also, if you're willing to boot for a few miles in the spring, I hear you can get some great turns in the West bowl.

As I was leaving the gulch I decided to sit for a while and let the woods settle, hoping I could see some animals. After about 25 mins sitting just out of earshot of the road near a squirrels nest, and not seeing anything, I was ready to give up. Then I heard the bark! First a single chirp, then aggravated screaming barking so loud that it made me jump - you guessed it, Chickaree! Freaking pine squirrel didn't like me near his tree and he sat there, staring me in the face, BARKING FOR 30 MINS. I've heard these guys don't back down, but jeez. The most incredible display of fearless territorialism I've ever seen - and from a 2lb squirrel!

6000 trail series 9x30 - My second time out on these shoes and for the price, I love them. They fit over both my hiking and snowboard boots, the crampons are KILLER, they float well, and they're comfy. Review on these coming.

Sunny morning at A-Basin - I swung by for a few runs and the snow was nice for a groomer day. Kept it on the bottom half and only got 3 runs, but hey, turns are turns right?

Day 15: Vail

Vail . . .

So we split a condo in Frisco with Ali and John and a few of their friends from Cali. We ended up on the softest air mattress in history and it was kinda annoying to sleep on, but overall it was a good night. I made sauce and everyone else contributed apps, booze, etc.

Early to bed, early to rise, we actually made it to Vail by 8:30 and were on the chair by 9. Heavenly corduroy lol, its all that was left of last week's snow.

Short day, we were outta there by 12:45 and made it back down because Maddie had to work. Good although short morning for some Vail groomers. BEAR TREE!

Day 14: Keystone late afternoon

Day 14 i never want to get here this late again . . .

Headed up late afternoon with Lindsey and Maddie, gave somebody a lift on our way over Loveland pass, and stopped at the spring for a drink. After that the girls dumped me off at Keystone for a few runs while they did some shopping. I managed to get 2 full runs in before the sun set behind the mountains. Good warmup for tomorrow at Vail . . .

Day 13 - Loveland Pass and Keystone

Headed up around 9 with Ryan and decided to join some of the knuckle draggers at the pass. Having finally received my beacon, probe, and shovel, we thought it would be a good opportunity to try a few of these items out. For all of you who had a field day calling me an idiot for not having this equipment beforehand, let me say this - I was the only person we saw at the pass all day that mentioned that they had a beacon. Also, not a single other rider that we saw was carrying a pack, so where they had stashed their shovel and probe is a mystery. The point is, if you wanna get all pissy about backcountry riding, please feel free to stop at the base of the pass on any given day, and give a few of the folks there the rundown.

Ryan and I took just two quick runs on the short side of the pass, keeping to relatively mellow runs around 25 degrees below the treeline, snatching about 6-700ft of vertical each run.

Next we headed up to Keystone and got a few groomer runs under our belt. The snow was decent and it was a nice day, so we took it easy and enjoyed ourselves. We headed back fairly early and made it to Denver by 2pm.

I was stoked to get back on my feet, and being my first day at the pass since the avalanche, it was good to take a few mellow, relatively safe runs to build my confidence again. I'm glad to have my new gear, and I'm hoping to begin a new chapter of my riding career.

Happy 2010! Signing off from Puerto Aventuras, Q. Roo, Mexico . . .

No one cares . . .

Day 12: New Board - First Ride Since Avalanche

Behold, my brand spanking new 09 Burton Custom X Wide 164. Took it out of the bag last night and it came with a beautiful factory tune and edge. Detuned tip 'n tail and mounted up my bindings (it came with plates to put regular bindings in the ICS channel), and I was ready to ride. I've gotten a bunch of new stuff lately and I've been thinking about adding product reviews. This will be my first subject . . .

Nice day up at Keystone, drove up with Lindsey, Dom and Ryan. Partly cloudy with weather moving quickly in and out all day. Not too cold and relatively pleasant. I was a little anxious as we rode up the gondola for the first time, but once I got my board on my feet, I was right at home. My hip and leg held up perfectly, and only gave me trouble near the end of the day after many many rollers. Otherwise, I kept my elbow out of the way and tried not to think about it.

The snow was softer on top, made for some good turns. Underneath there are still some very hard/icy spots at the stone, so make sure you do your edge work.