RyanP
Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2015
- Messages
- 581
From various vantage points around the Front Range of CO, one can identify the usual suspects in the distance: Longs Peak, Pikes Peak, Mount of the Holy Cross, Grays and Torreys, etc. Among these, there are two groups of mountains that always capture my attention and hold my gaze more than the rest: the Indian Peaks and the Gore Range. While I have done many backpacking trips in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, I had never yet backpacked in the Gore Range. The Eagles Nest Wilderness (which contains the most popular section of the Gores) is known to have rugged mountain scenery and spectacular peaks and basins, and is a natural playground for mountain climbers or for base-camp backpacking trips; people commonly hike up the steep trails to spectacular lakes and set up base camps for fishing or for scrambling the challenging peaks. However, that is not my kind of trip; I personally prefer traditional loops or traverses that allow one to see as many basins as possible. Unfortunately, the Gores are not as well-suited to this style of backpacking, since the passes between the basins are almost all very steep and have challenging terrain (talus or loose scree). For this reason, I have continually put off backpacking in the Gores, opting for other areas more naturally suited to my preferred style of routes. But after a smoky summer in Wyoming scared me away from heading to the Winds (my original plan for my big trip this summer), I decided it was finally time to do a big trip in the Gores (after all the times we've seen them from I-70 and I've proclaimed that I really need to properly explore that range already!).
I put together a route that attempted to connect a few of the basins that I wanted to visit the most. It was hard to put together a loop that looked good, so I left my old mountain bike at the endpoint trailhead and hiked from my car (at the start trailhead) to my bike and rode it back (on the roads) on the last day. I wanted to keep this trip to Class 2+/3- at the most; an occasional Class 3 move here or there would be fine, but I didn't want any sustained Class 3. One of the passes was an unknown mystery to me, despite my hours spent researching the area. I figured there was about a 50/50 chance that I would have to turn back at that pass and head back to my starting point. While I have done a fair amount of off-trail backpacking in the past, it has always been on established routes that others have done; this was my first time attempting an unknown/new route like this. It was so fulfilling to find that the pass was indeed doable, and it was also a very spectacular route overall! Between Monday afternoon (the first day) and Saturday afternoon (the last day), I saw a total of two people (one pair of hikers on Day 5) and many, many mountain goats. There are few places left in CO that are absolutely spectacular and also unknown/wild, so I won't post details about the route in this post (and please don't comment on them publicly if you figure it out).
Day 1:
The first day was all on-trail to a relatively popular lake. There were a lot of up and down sections through the dense forest (without consistent views), but every now and then I would get some nice views that would get me excited for the next few days:
When I got to the lower lake, I really wanted to take a quick swim, but I was running short on time (why do I always start these trips several hours later than planned?!?), so instead I just took a quick break to enjoy some wild raspberries found by the lake.
I then dragged myself up the last bit of trail to the upper lake, passing the remains of a mountain goat (right on the trail!) on my way.
When I finally got to the upper lake, I was completely exhausted. I don't know if it was the altitude, or my insufficient sleep over the past few days, or the heavy pack, or me just being out of shape---but I was too beat to properly enjoy the spectacular lake that I had completely to myself. Here's a view from camp:
This was by far the most popular campsite area on my trip, as there was an existing campsite there with signs of previous people; I found a few pieces of trash lying around. This surprised me somewhat, since it was a long hike in with poor effort-to-reward ratio. But at least nobody else was there on this Monday evening. I was so tired that I decided to skip setting up the tent and just sleep under the stars (it was a very calm night). However, during the night, the mountain goats started swarming my camp, and were continually stomping around my campsite and keeping me awake. If I got up, one particularly aggressive goat would instantly approach me and follow my every move. They like to lick up hikers' urine, so I made sure to go a distance away from my camp and pee on a rock slab so they wouldn't destroy the soil. It was spooky having them so close to me at night, though, so I set up my tent in the middle of the night just to give me some kind of barrier.
------------
Day 2:
Despite my poor sleep that night, I slept in and felt surprisingly rejuvenated the next morning. The rest of the trip (until the last day) would be completely off-trail, so it was nice to feel better heading into the core of the trip.
The basin got more spectacular the further up I went.
Polenta and peppers for dinner (polenta, red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, cashews, sausage, parmesan)... now that I have a 2nd go-to backpacking meal (the other being taco soup), I hope to never eat another Mountain House meal again.
--------------
Day 3:
The lake I camped by flowed into the small pool shown above, which tumbled over a cliff into the valley below. I tried to look for an easy way down to the valley below, but everywhere near the waterfall was far too steep. I had to bushwhack up the hill a little to get to a point where a nice grass ramp led down to the valley below. Some friendly goats showed me the way through the brush to the grass ramp.
"Yup, keep coming this way"
"That's the way you want to go"
I felt like I was the first person to ever step into this basin. Definitely one of the more magical places I have been in CO.
I then climbed up to a shelf above the basin containing a chain of spectacular lakes.
The photos fail to capture the grandeur of this area. This afternoon was my favorite part of the entire trip. I took a much-needed swim in this lake...
...and then headed up the next pass, which was a relatively easy grass slope on the way up...
... but became a horrendous talus field on the way down the other side.
Maybe I just chose a bad route down that pass, but that descent was easily the hardest, sketchiest, and slowest part of the whole trip for me. I even opted to traverse a small lingering snowfield (that was almost ice) at one point because I had my axe and that seemed safer and easier than the boulders in that area. I took it all very slowly and carefully, and it became clear that I wasn't going to make it all the way to the planned lake that night. To make matters worse, the next day I needed to go over two passes, I wasn't feeling great, and to top it off, my wife sent me a weather update (I'm already loving having the Inreach Mini!) and the weather was looking pretty bad the next day as well. Given all these factors, I made the call to extend the trip a day (making it a 6-day trip instead of a 5-day trip) and spend a rest day just going the short distance to the lake and exploring around the lake. After the talus slope finally came to an end, the terrain turned into heavenly flat terrain with meandering streams, small ponds, and spectacular mountain views.
I camped in a flat patch of grass between boulders below this pond:
-----------
Day 4:
I spent the morning slowly meandering to the larger lake down below in the basin. There were a lot of ptarmigans around camp. There are at least four in the photo below---can you find them all? (their camouflage is amazing!)
I set up camp just as it started to rain, but the rain didn't last long.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring around the lake. At this point I was really glad that I decided to take an extra day here; if you could transport me to any lake in CO for a day or two, just for hanging around and exploring, this lake might be my top choice (it's at least in my top two).
I took this photo of my campsite and only afterwards realized there's a mountain goat in the photo.
My goat friend enjoyed watching the sunset with me while I ate dinner near camp.
Day 5:
Some new goat friends came to visit the next morning. Luckily, none of these goats were in-your-face aggressive like the goats the first night/morning.
I couldn't help but take a few panorama photos as I left this spectacular basin
Next up was a slog down and up some annoying talus, followed by a steep ascent up a well-known pass. This pass has a section of steep scree, which I hate, at the top. I knew about this pass before the trip, so I brought my microspikes with me just for this short section of the hike. Most people probably think I'm crazy for carrying them the whole way just for that short section, but for me personally, it was well worth it. I charged up the steep scree slope without stopping or looking down, and was relieved to get to the top. The views throughout this morning were very nice but not comparable to the absolute paradise of the previous few days.
On the other side, there is even an unofficial trail that I followed for about half a mile before leaving it to go up another pass.
The next pass was finally my kind of off-trail terrain, with relatively easy/gradual grass slopes the entire way up. Again, the views were very nice, though not quite comparable with those on Days 2-4.
Not far below the pass, there is a wonderful flat granite slab overlooking the valley below and the cirque of mountains. There is stream just below the granite slab. I HAD to stop and camp there on a fair-weather day like this. I originally planned on sleeping under the stars...
...but worried that the breeze would keep me awake, so I set up my tent. I'm very conflicted on the tent vs. cowboy camping; I really prefer cowboy camping, as I feel more connected to my surroundings and it feels like the true way to camp, but I've found that I just sleep better in the tent (since it blocks the breeze and moonlight, muffles sound, and helps with condensation). It saddens me to set it up though.
(minimal-impact above-treeline camping at it's finest)
Down at the stream below camp I enjoyed a marvelous dinner.
Day 6:
The last day I bushwhacked a short distance to the valley below, then strolled through the easy meadow all the way to the trail.
There were a number of small cascades and waterfalls on my way out to the trail. I definitely want to bring some of my family back here when they are ready; the off-trail travel to get to this location is short and easy. I was pleased to see no other people on this beautiful Saturday morning.
When I reached the trail, the views suddenly disappeared and the hiking instantly got boring. I decided to make a small detour to visit a chain of small lakes just off the trail.
Then I hiked back down to the trail and followed it the rest of the way back to my bike which was waiting for me at the endpoint trailhead.
I took a refreshing dip in this lake, which I had all to myself (at this point I had still only seen one pair of hikers since the afternoon of the first day). It was hard not to disturb the bottom and kick up all sorts of muck though.
I passed several other nice-but-not-spectacular lakes on my way out, and finally started to run into other people.
Most of the hike out was fairly boring scenery, just walking though dense forests with a lot of rocks and roots in the trail. For a while the trail quality was particularly bad:
The trail finally got nice again in the last mile or two.
I then packed a lot of my gear into my new cheap bikepacking bags and started the ride back to my car. At first I was having a blast...
...then by the time my ride was half-way through, I was completely exhausted and was starting to hate life. The views of the Gores from the road were nice though:
By the time I got back to the car, it was dark, I was walking my bike up any hill, I was exhausted, cold, hungry, thirsty, and thoroughly miserable. I could have stopped to put on layers and grab a snack and such, but I was so beat that I just wanted to keep my momentum and push hard until I got back to the car. I simply wasn't in good enough shape for a full day of hiking (even though the day was not particularly hard) followed by that ride. It was sure nice having such a short drive home though (barely over 1.5 hours).
All in all, it was a great trip marked by high highs and low lows. I hope the scenery, solitude and wildness in the middle of the trip (on Days 2-4 in particular) will be what I remember in the long term more than the painful bike ride, subpar trail stretches, or horrendous fields of talus. If you want a "normal" trip where you hike along a pleasant trail and see great scenery with a high reward-to-effort ratio, I would frankly recommend pretty much any of the other classic CO backpacking areas over the Eagles Nest Wilderness. But if you are willing to subject yourself to a little pain to get to some wild, remote-feeling, and rugged country, then the Gores are about as good as it gets, especially within such a short distance from Denver.
Thanks to Craig over at bpbasecamp for his helpful feedback in my last-minute trip planning; to my boss for helping me arrange a flexible summer work schedule that enabled this trip; and especially to my wife for understanding how much this means to me and for supporting this hobby/passion of mine.
----------------
Gear winners:
I put together a route that attempted to connect a few of the basins that I wanted to visit the most. It was hard to put together a loop that looked good, so I left my old mountain bike at the endpoint trailhead and hiked from my car (at the start trailhead) to my bike and rode it back (on the roads) on the last day. I wanted to keep this trip to Class 2+/3- at the most; an occasional Class 3 move here or there would be fine, but I didn't want any sustained Class 3. One of the passes was an unknown mystery to me, despite my hours spent researching the area. I figured there was about a 50/50 chance that I would have to turn back at that pass and head back to my starting point. While I have done a fair amount of off-trail backpacking in the past, it has always been on established routes that others have done; this was my first time attempting an unknown/new route like this. It was so fulfilling to find that the pass was indeed doable, and it was also a very spectacular route overall! Between Monday afternoon (the first day) and Saturday afternoon (the last day), I saw a total of two people (one pair of hikers on Day 5) and many, many mountain goats. There are few places left in CO that are absolutely spectacular and also unknown/wild, so I won't post details about the route in this post (and please don't comment on them publicly if you figure it out).
Day 1:
The first day was all on-trail to a relatively popular lake. There were a lot of up and down sections through the dense forest (without consistent views), but every now and then I would get some nice views that would get me excited for the next few days:
When I got to the lower lake, I really wanted to take a quick swim, but I was running short on time (why do I always start these trips several hours later than planned?!?), so instead I just took a quick break to enjoy some wild raspberries found by the lake.
I then dragged myself up the last bit of trail to the upper lake, passing the remains of a mountain goat (right on the trail!) on my way.
When I finally got to the upper lake, I was completely exhausted. I don't know if it was the altitude, or my insufficient sleep over the past few days, or the heavy pack, or me just being out of shape---but I was too beat to properly enjoy the spectacular lake that I had completely to myself. Here's a view from camp:
This was by far the most popular campsite area on my trip, as there was an existing campsite there with signs of previous people; I found a few pieces of trash lying around. This surprised me somewhat, since it was a long hike in with poor effort-to-reward ratio. But at least nobody else was there on this Monday evening. I was so tired that I decided to skip setting up the tent and just sleep under the stars (it was a very calm night). However, during the night, the mountain goats started swarming my camp, and were continually stomping around my campsite and keeping me awake. If I got up, one particularly aggressive goat would instantly approach me and follow my every move. They like to lick up hikers' urine, so I made sure to go a distance away from my camp and pee on a rock slab so they wouldn't destroy the soil. It was spooky having them so close to me at night, though, so I set up my tent in the middle of the night just to give me some kind of barrier.
------------
Day 2:
Despite my poor sleep that night, I slept in and felt surprisingly rejuvenated the next morning. The rest of the trip (until the last day) would be completely off-trail, so it was nice to feel better heading into the core of the trip.
The basin got more spectacular the further up I went.
Polenta and peppers for dinner (polenta, red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, cashews, sausage, parmesan)... now that I have a 2nd go-to backpacking meal (the other being taco soup), I hope to never eat another Mountain House meal again.
--------------
Day 3:
The lake I camped by flowed into the small pool shown above, which tumbled over a cliff into the valley below. I tried to look for an easy way down to the valley below, but everywhere near the waterfall was far too steep. I had to bushwhack up the hill a little to get to a point where a nice grass ramp led down to the valley below. Some friendly goats showed me the way through the brush to the grass ramp.
"Yup, keep coming this way"
"That's the way you want to go"
I felt like I was the first person to ever step into this basin. Definitely one of the more magical places I have been in CO.
I then climbed up to a shelf above the basin containing a chain of spectacular lakes.
The photos fail to capture the grandeur of this area. This afternoon was my favorite part of the entire trip. I took a much-needed swim in this lake...
...and then headed up the next pass, which was a relatively easy grass slope on the way up...
... but became a horrendous talus field on the way down the other side.
Maybe I just chose a bad route down that pass, but that descent was easily the hardest, sketchiest, and slowest part of the whole trip for me. I even opted to traverse a small lingering snowfield (that was almost ice) at one point because I had my axe and that seemed safer and easier than the boulders in that area. I took it all very slowly and carefully, and it became clear that I wasn't going to make it all the way to the planned lake that night. To make matters worse, the next day I needed to go over two passes, I wasn't feeling great, and to top it off, my wife sent me a weather update (I'm already loving having the Inreach Mini!) and the weather was looking pretty bad the next day as well. Given all these factors, I made the call to extend the trip a day (making it a 6-day trip instead of a 5-day trip) and spend a rest day just going the short distance to the lake and exploring around the lake. After the talus slope finally came to an end, the terrain turned into heavenly flat terrain with meandering streams, small ponds, and spectacular mountain views.
I camped in a flat patch of grass between boulders below this pond:
-----------
Day 4:
I spent the morning slowly meandering to the larger lake down below in the basin. There were a lot of ptarmigans around camp. There are at least four in the photo below---can you find them all? (their camouflage is amazing!)
I set up camp just as it started to rain, but the rain didn't last long.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring around the lake. At this point I was really glad that I decided to take an extra day here; if you could transport me to any lake in CO for a day or two, just for hanging around and exploring, this lake might be my top choice (it's at least in my top two).
I took this photo of my campsite and only afterwards realized there's a mountain goat in the photo.
My goat friend enjoyed watching the sunset with me while I ate dinner near camp.
Day 5:
Some new goat friends came to visit the next morning. Luckily, none of these goats were in-your-face aggressive like the goats the first night/morning.
I couldn't help but take a few panorama photos as I left this spectacular basin
Next up was a slog down and up some annoying talus, followed by a steep ascent up a well-known pass. This pass has a section of steep scree, which I hate, at the top. I knew about this pass before the trip, so I brought my microspikes with me just for this short section of the hike. Most people probably think I'm crazy for carrying them the whole way just for that short section, but for me personally, it was well worth it. I charged up the steep scree slope without stopping or looking down, and was relieved to get to the top. The views throughout this morning were very nice but not comparable to the absolute paradise of the previous few days.
On the other side, there is even an unofficial trail that I followed for about half a mile before leaving it to go up another pass.
The next pass was finally my kind of off-trail terrain, with relatively easy/gradual grass slopes the entire way up. Again, the views were very nice, though not quite comparable with those on Days 2-4.
Not far below the pass, there is a wonderful flat granite slab overlooking the valley below and the cirque of mountains. There is stream just below the granite slab. I HAD to stop and camp there on a fair-weather day like this. I originally planned on sleeping under the stars...
...but worried that the breeze would keep me awake, so I set up my tent. I'm very conflicted on the tent vs. cowboy camping; I really prefer cowboy camping, as I feel more connected to my surroundings and it feels like the true way to camp, but I've found that I just sleep better in the tent (since it blocks the breeze and moonlight, muffles sound, and helps with condensation). It saddens me to set it up though.
(minimal-impact above-treeline camping at it's finest)
Down at the stream below camp I enjoyed a marvelous dinner.
Day 6:
The last day I bushwhacked a short distance to the valley below, then strolled through the easy meadow all the way to the trail.
There were a number of small cascades and waterfalls on my way out to the trail. I definitely want to bring some of my family back here when they are ready; the off-trail travel to get to this location is short and easy. I was pleased to see no other people on this beautiful Saturday morning.
When I reached the trail, the views suddenly disappeared and the hiking instantly got boring. I decided to make a small detour to visit a chain of small lakes just off the trail.
Then I hiked back down to the trail and followed it the rest of the way back to my bike which was waiting for me at the endpoint trailhead.
I took a refreshing dip in this lake, which I had all to myself (at this point I had still only seen one pair of hikers since the afternoon of the first day). It was hard not to disturb the bottom and kick up all sorts of muck though.
I passed several other nice-but-not-spectacular lakes on my way out, and finally started to run into other people.
Most of the hike out was fairly boring scenery, just walking though dense forests with a lot of rocks and roots in the trail. For a while the trail quality was particularly bad:
The trail finally got nice again in the last mile or two.
I then packed a lot of my gear into my new cheap bikepacking bags and started the ride back to my car. At first I was having a blast...
...then by the time my ride was half-way through, I was completely exhausted and was starting to hate life. The views of the Gores from the road were nice though:
By the time I got back to the car, it was dark, I was walking my bike up any hill, I was exhausted, cold, hungry, thirsty, and thoroughly miserable. I could have stopped to put on layers and grab a snack and such, but I was so beat that I just wanted to keep my momentum and push hard until I got back to the car. I simply wasn't in good enough shape for a full day of hiking (even though the day was not particularly hard) followed by that ride. It was sure nice having such a short drive home though (barely over 1.5 hours).
All in all, it was a great trip marked by high highs and low lows. I hope the scenery, solitude and wildness in the middle of the trip (on Days 2-4 in particular) will be what I remember in the long term more than the painful bike ride, subpar trail stretches, or horrendous fields of talus. If you want a "normal" trip where you hike along a pleasant trail and see great scenery with a high reward-to-effort ratio, I would frankly recommend pretty much any of the other classic CO backpacking areas over the Eagles Nest Wilderness. But if you are willing to subject yourself to a little pain to get to some wild, remote-feeling, and rugged country, then the Gores are about as good as it gets, especially within such a short distance from Denver.
Thanks to Craig over at bpbasecamp for his helpful feedback in my last-minute trip planning; to my boss for helping me arrange a flexible summer work schedule that enabled this trip; and especially to my wife for understanding how much this means to me and for supporting this hobby/passion of mine.
----------------
Gear winners:
- Bandana. I just started using one last year; how did I survive without one before? Since all of my clothing is non-cotton (for most backpacking trips anyway), it's really nice to have at least one piece of cotton material available for when you actually want the moisture retention properties (such as to put a wet bandana under your hat on a hot day, or to wipe off your damp tent or your glasses to dry them off)
- The Sunday Afternoon Ultra Adventure hat. This is the perfect hat: a wide, stiff brim, with a floppy back that doesn't interfere with your pack, with two special features that are very nice: a sunglass-holder, and a folding brim so that you can fold your hat flat and stash it in your pack (both of these features are soooo nice).
- Duomid dual pole connector/jacks. It makes the Duomid so much easier to get a nice pitch, and makes it so much roomier inside. Well worth the extra $25 and 2 oz. in my opinion.
- ULA Circuit pack. The pack (which I bought in very used condition) just keeps taking a beating. I dragged it over rocks, through branches, over a snow/ice patch, and it just refuses to tear or fail in any way. So durable for such a lightweight pack.
- Sawyer Squeeze bag. This one was fairly new and failed spectacularly towards the beginning of the trip. If anyone has any recommendations for alternative bags to use for the Sawyer Squeeze, please let me know.
- Borah Gear Ultralight Bivy. The zipper broke on this trip, even though I am always pretty gentle with it. I've had this for 4-5 years, so maybe I shouldn't be disappointed, but I expect an item like this to last a long time.
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