Mt. Jackson (13,670′) from Home

The northeast face of 13,670 ft Mt. Jackson, still holding snow on July 26th.

A couple weeks ago I took a day off work looking for a big hike/run that would get me a good amount of mileage and vert ahead of the Telluride Mountain Run coming up at the end of August. After looking at a few different ideas I took a step back and realized there was no need to look any further than my own backyard…

For a long time I’d had an inclination to revisit Mt. Jackson (first and only other time I’d hiked it was 7 years ago), but instead of via the standard route from Beaver Creek, I figured why not do it as the ultimate backyard jaunt straight from my house in Eagle-Vail. Well, no time like the present I suppose as I’m not getting any younger.

My “backyard” route up Bicentennial 13er Mt. Jackson from Eagle-Vail. Click to enlarge.

One of the cool things about the Vail Valley is that many of its trails intersect and can be linked together from virtually any starting point. You can more or less get to any peak, drainage, or town via some combination of trails, the question just becomes how big of a day are you up for?

My route on this day was pretty simple really, and it’s not the only way it could be done either but I figured why not maximize time on trail over the more direct option of running up the Beaver Creek bike path to the village. To that end I started off on the Eagle-Vail Trail, ascended Paulie’s Plunge, took Allie’s Way over to Talon’s and caught the Beaver Lake Trail there. Up the long drainage to Turquoise Lakes and then up Mt. Jackson, finishing off the day by reversing the entire thing all the way back home. Stats came out to something like 32 miles, 8,700 ft round trip. OK. so not exactly a family-friendly jaunt into the backyard per say, but a jaunt nonetheless.

The Turquoise Lake Cirque with Jackson’s summit up above and out of sight.

I started early to get a decent way into the route before the day heated up too much. I didn’t have a speed record in mind or anything like that but tried to keep moving consistently at what I’d call a conversational pace, if I had anyone to talk to that is. Those who know me know I do like my solo outings.

Spot the grouse? That’s Gold Dust Peak in back which I had hiked with Anna-Lisa and friends 4 days earlier.

Turquoise Lake is a pretty hard-earned destination, being at least 4 miles and 1,300 ft above Beaver Lake. A steep gully on the west side of the upper-lake grants access to the large tundra plateau northwest of Jackson’s summit. You can see this slope from many places in the valley and it unsurprisingly feels big when you’re trying to hike to the top of it.

Looking west again at Gold Dust and Pika with “Big Lake” in the foreground. That’s a difficult lake to get to but it’d be fun to check it out someday.

At the 5.5 hour mark after a few scramble moves where the slope narrows into a ridgeline, I finally hit Jackson’s summit and took a long break. It was a perfect July day above 13,000 ft with a slight breeze and a few clouds providing some shade here and there.

Made it!

Then it was time to turn around and reverse the entire route back home, which sounded a bit daunting but it was nice to know that it was mostly all downhill.

Another pit stop at upper-Turquoise Lake. Both times I’ve been here I couldn’t hang out for very long so one of these summers a backpack and extended stay is in store.

I managed to run most of the way back, stopping to filter some water once above Beaver Lake but keeping a consistent moving time otherwise. The Eagle-Vail Trail portion back to the house was hot and miserable. That 2-mile trail has marked the end of many long sufferfest days for me on foot and on the bike over the years, and this time around was no different.

I hit my front doorstep for a round trip time of ~8.5 hours, downed a bottle of chocolate milk and got into the hammock for a nap. I can’t say I’ll be repeating this route anytime soon but there’s something cool about big outings right from home. I won’t forget this one anytime soon.

A parting shot and ode to summer.

Thanks for reading 🙂