My plan today was to go around in circles twice.
An inner circuit loop hugs the banks of Sprague Lake. An outer loop takes many miles to circumnavigate the lake.
In my plan the inner loop was to find the best place to shoot the lake at first light. The outer loop was for exercise.
Usually our plans only approximate what actually happens. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless,” my friend John reminds me that Eisenhower said. “But planning is indispensable.”
Posted in: Hiking, Photography
Having a plan is good. Knowing when to change it is better.
When I left home at 4:45 this morning, I intended to take a long hike up the Colorado River. Instead, I took four short hikes.
My plan began to change shortly before sunrise as I reached the Alpine Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park. I stopped there because I needed to use the facilities and realized that a few minutes later I could be on a mountain top in first light. That was my first short hike today.
The Alpine Visitor Center is near the top of the park at 11,796 feet. From there is a steep but short trail to a knoll at 12,005 feet. Since it was there and so was I, I went.
Posted in: Hiking, Photography
When I reached the St. Vrain Mountain Trailhead in the Indian Peaks Wilderness just before 6 this morning, I could see a sliver of the moon. All the stars also shined brightly.
Otherwise all was pitch black. I was glad to have my headlamp to show the way, although I had to use it for only about half an hour. My headlamp is small and lightweight, but it’s bright. I appreciated that not only because it lighted the trail so well but also because it showed any lurking bears or mountain lions that I was not to be messed with.
When I planned my trip last night, I knew it would be a long one. I decided to climb Meadow Mountain rather than St. Vrain Mountain.
For once, I took my GPS with me, even though I still find it a pain to use. But I knew that I would be hiking cross-country, and having the GPS along was a safety precaution.
Posted in: Mountain Climbing
Yesterday evening on the Fowler Trail I didn’t realize that it was the last day of summer. Close to Boulder, the temperature was in the 70s.
Early this morning as I hiked to James Peak Lake against the wind coming over the Continental Divide, I knew that it was the first day of fall. Above the treeline at nearly 12,000 feet, if I had a thermometer, it would have register barely above freezing.
Up before 5, I wanted to get to the trailhead at first light. [Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking
Clouds blotted the sun in Boulder today. Normally, that would have been enough to keep me in my apartment. But I’m not normal any more.
I am addicted to seeing and photographing the beauty of nature. Earlier, I thought that beauty appeared only in bright sun. One picture and one book taught me otherwise.
The picture was the one I took of the lower Crater Lake on Friday. Even though it was the only shot I made in overcast weather that day, it was the best.
The book was John Fielder’s Photographing the Landscape: The Art of Seeing, which I finished reading this afternoon. He takes most of his great photographs just before or just after first light and some just before or just after sunset. [Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking, Photography
Rain and snow last night cleared the air. Lower levels were wet with rain. As I climbed higher, I saw more and more fresh snow beside the trail.
But today was clear and still, and no snow stayed on the trail to block my ascent. I climbed from 9,200 feet to 11,035 feet to the Crater Lakes in the James Peak Wilderness. Out and back was about seven miles.
I saw two beautiful lakes for the first time, inspired by my new guidebook to Colorado Lake Hikes, which is the first of my guidebooks to even mention the Crater Lakes. ”Of the many lakes in this area,” writes Dave Muller, “the Crater Lakes provide the best hike.” [Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking
Water connects us to this Earth, so we naturally love it. Of all the lovable forms in which water comes to us, I love lakes the most.
Because of a book I just found, my hike today took me to Ouzel Lake. It’s in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park. The genesis of the hike dates back to Monday night.
That’s when I went to Boulder Book Store to hear a talk by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, who is on a book tour for his new book, The Stuff of Thought. As a writer, I find him one of the most thought-provoking people around. A few years ago we corresponded over my web page, “Inuit Words for Snow” at http://www.mendosa.com/snow.html
I would have liked to have him sign my copy of The Stuff of Thought on Monday night. But since it’s on my Amazon Kindle, I couldn’t figure out how. I did shop at the store for other books, which is probably why they host these events. I saw two books that I just had to own. [Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking
But yesterday evening as I sat down in my easy chair I picked up John Fielder’s book Photographing the Landscape: The Art of Seeing. That immediately inspired me to go out and photograph the landscape today. And incidentally to hike.
I went back to Rocky Mountain National Park this morning. But for the first time I hiked to the summit of Deer Mountain.
The hike was easy. Just six miles out and back with only 1,083 feet elevation gain to the peak at 10,013 feet. The cool, crisp, sunny, windless weather couldn’t have been better. [Read more →]
Posted in: Mountain Climbing, Photography
Never before have I been so alone in the wilderness. No vehicles were at the trailhead, and one else shared the trail with me all day. In fact, the register at the trailhead didn’t show anyone else there in the past six days. The only prints that I saw on the trail were those of wild animals.
I was hiking in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness about seven miles south of Valley View Hot Springs in the San Luis Valley where I was spending a few glorious days. After leaving the hot springs, I didn’t even encounter any vehicles on the dirt road to the trailhead.
They call the trail that I hiked on Thursday the Wild Cherry Creek Trail because it runs alongside the creek of that name for much of the way.
[Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking
Before I left on my trip, I asked Nancy, my friend and neighbor, to pick up my newspapers and any parcels left at my door. I told her that I was driving down to Valley View Hot Springs in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.
Nancy said that another friend of hers, Tom, would also be at the hot springs. Since it is such a long trip from Boulder — I drove 466 miles out and back — and I knew that there would be many people there, I thought that meeting up with Tom would be highly unlikely.
In fact, when I sat down for dinner on Wednesday, my first evening there, Tom was sitting across from me. His friend Bob asked where I was from. Boulder, I replied. What part of Boulder? South Boulder. Martin Acres? No, Tantra Lake.
Whereupon Tom mentioned that he knew a woman named Nancy who lived there. Sure enough, Tom was the guy that Nancy said I might meet at the hot springs. We had a great conversation, and he was one of the two nicest people I met there.
[Read more →]
Posted in: Hiking, Photography
