Backpacking

[hostile]

Wow. Glad you are OK. I’m hiking kings peak in a couple months. Certainly not as steep, high, or technical. I just hope most of the snow is gone by then.

[bluegoose]

Are those pictures coming through ok now?

[BigPiney]

Are those pictures coming through ok now?

The last one was excellent.

[Northwestcoug]

Wow BG. That is a harrowing story.

My son was looking for alternatives to hike a couple of weeks ago, when it was raining in our Cascades. He looked around Shasta and found what he thought might be some easier hikes. I'm glad he didn't travel down there; that doesn't sound easy at all.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Are those pictures coming through ok now?

Yes!

[mtnbiker]

Are those pictures coming through ok now?

And thanks to OG's comment about non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant (which I had to look up), I even understood the 3rd one.

[Surfah]

I'm happy you didn't die.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I join with Surfah and others (the vote was something like 23-10) that the awesome story is better with bg surviving.

[Paperback Writer]

I made my annual pilgrimage to the San Juan mountains in SW Colorado a little earlier in the year than usual in order to attend a nephew's wedding in Utah on the front end of my trip. Before I headed for the trail, my wife suggested that I call the forest service to make sure my planned trail head was even open due to the large amount of snow the mountains received over the winter and was visible from the valley. Of course I ignored this advice before departure and found the forest service road that leads to the trail head closed due to high water. So I referenced my map and found an alternate trail head on a different road away from the river that would take an extra day to reach that part of the continental divide trail (CDT) that I wanted to hike. But I hiked into packed snow drifted across a sloped ridge and turned around after doing a mini "bluegoose" and sliding 20 feet or so down the mountain a few times. Nothing like that Mount Whitney adventure but enough to get my attention and turn around since I was alone and read about Lebowski's boot spike recommendation too late. Those spikes may have gotten me across the ridge but I still had another 1K feet or so to climb to get to the CDT and figured I'd be at least knee deep in snow by then.

So I changed my plans and found a lower elevation hike to go on and had a great time. Here are some pics.

Turnaround point at about 11,500 feet.
IMG_0217.jpg

No snow at the lower elevation, but encountered a lake in an Aspen grove from snow melt where the trail was supposed to be.
IMG_0247.jpg

Scenic river view.
IMG_0280.jpg

Plenty of water.
IMG_0256 (4).jpg

Mountain lake destination. Saw a bald eagle fly across the lake before I could reach my iPhone and take a pic.
IMG_0246.jpg

[BigPiney]

Glad you made it out safe. I went to the San Juans a couple years ago. It was awesome. I'll have to look at where we went. Where were you planning to go?

[Bo Diddley]

That's some good looking country.

[SteelBlue]

Looks awesome, great pics.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I made my annual pilgrimage to the San Juan mountains in SW Colorado a little earlier in the year than usual in order to attend a nephew's wedding in Utah on the front end of my trip. Before I headed for the trail, my wife suggested that I call the forest service to make sure my planned trail head was even open due to the large amount of snow the mountains received over the winter and was visible from the valley. Of course I ignored this advice before departure and found the forest service road that leads to the trail head closed due to high water. So I referenced my map and found an alternate trail head on a different road away from the river that would take an extra day to reach that part of the continental divide trail (CDT) that I wanted to hike. But I hiked into packed snow drifted across a sloped ridge and turned around after doing a mini "bluegoose" and sliding 20 feet or so down the mountain a few times. Nothing like that Mount Whitney adventure but enough to get my attention and turn around since I was alone and read about Lebowski's boot spike recommendation too late. Those spikes may have gotten me across the ridge but I still had another 1K feet or so to climb to get to the CDT and figured I'd be at least knee deep in snow by then.

Oh yeah, you could have raced right over that with the micro-spikes. No problem.

[hostile]

Oh yeah, you could have raced right over that with the micro-spikes. No problem.

I’m doing Kings Peak in a few weeks with my 11y old. I suspect there will still be snow up there. I think I’ll get some of those.

[bluegoose]

Beautiful pics, PBW!