Category Archives: Backpacking

A Weminuche Dozen, Part II: Grenadier Gluttony

As related in Part the First, we drove from Denver and hiked into Leviathan basin on day one, losing the way to the lake in the dark, but then managing a textbook traverse to Jagged pass in the predawn hours of day two, leading to the reward of the thrill and majesty of Jagged, subsequently fun slab scrambling on neighboring Leviathan, and concluding with the expansive views afforded from Vallecito. After returning to camp from these three peaks early in the afternoon, we decided to move from the surprisingly flat spot on the hillside to a premier creekside location 150 feet lower and closer to the Peak Nine ridge line. This creek is shown on the topo map and it falls steeply into the northern part of Leviathan basin from the unnamed lake by peak Nine. Keep reading…

A Weminuche Dozen, Part I: Jagged et al

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A couple years back Steve and I hatched a plan for a backpack into the Weminuche with the primary aim being to summit Jagged Mountain. Any idea of taking the train was dashed early on as neither of us really wanted to ride that thing again (it would have been my 5th time) and not long into the conversation we began talking about including other peaks to the northeast of Jagged which the train would have precluded. I had personally never been to Hunchback Pass or the Vallecito Creek drainage for that matter, and so an approach from the north via Beartown was thrown out there as an option and quickly became our primary access plan. Read more…

The Four Pass Loop Through 8-Year Old Eyes

I know I say I’m proud of my little girl often, but I’m going to keep saying it.  Every year, we look forward to our annual mountain excursion that we’ve shared since she was 2 (with the exception of when she was 3 because that was the summer her little sister was born).  Our adventures are normally 2 nights out but she’s been begging for a longer trip ever since my last week-long outing 3 years ago.  I told her this was the year and after our hike up West Maroon during our family’s car-camping trip to Gothic last summer to see the wild flowers, I knew what our destination would be. Read more…

Summertime at Deluge Lake

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It had been far too long since David and I had gotten out together for a backpacking camp trip…two years ago we were backpacking in Patagonia and Spain, and I’m not sure I had been out “true-camping” since then! It was well past overdue and David organized a small weekend trip for us outside of Vail up to Deluge Lake in the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness. We left Saturday morning around 8:00 – made a few quick stops for camp food, getting a headlamp back from a friend, batteries for said headlamp, string for dem bears, and Subway sandwiches before making it to the trail head by 11:30. Keep reading…