Hagues Peak - August 13, 2011

Two weeks prior, Josh and I climbed Chaquita and Ypsilon in the Mummy Range with his friends Chad and Jake. We talked then about climbing more of the tall peaks in the Mummy Range. Early in the week, Josh asked if I was still interested in going up from the Lawn Lake trailhead. We made plans to meet at the same time and place we had before for Saturday morning. Josh picked up a cold that week, but felt he would be ok. We also decided to get an earlier start since we knew it was going to be a much longer day than the previous hike. We left Loveland at 4 am Saturday morning, listening to Josh's bluegrass and was at the Lawn Lake trailhead by 5. This motivating music is what played in my head during the long approach.

I packed too much for the previous hike, and wanted to lighten my pack this time by not bringing as much food, water, and clothing. I still brought what I needed for an overnight bivouac in case that became necessary.

Full Moon

Before we got on the trail, I tried three times to take a picture of the full moon between two large pine trees. I couldn't really see in the dark, but it seemed like they weren't coming out very well. The next time I took a picture (below) I saw that the shutter was sticking and not coming open all the way. Tapping it lightly causes it to spring open, but it must have only been partially open when taking the picture above. We used our headlamps until it became light enough to see.

Mummy Mountain

We tentatively planned to climb Fairchild, Hagues, and Mummy, knowing that we could deviate from that depending on how we felt once we got to the saddle between Fairchild and Hagues. This was the first good view of Mummy Mountain we saw.

Fall River

The source of Fall River is the Crystal Lakes and Lawn Lake. The trail follows Fall River to its source.

Ypsilon

Until we were up high, we caught fleeting glimpses of Ypsilon--our summit from two weeks ago.

View of Mummy Nearing Timberline

Lawn Lake

When we got to Lawn Lake, we saw a few tents. We had yet to see anyone or anything else and we were nearly 6.5 miles in to the hike. There used to be a dam here until it broke in 1982, flooding the town of Estes Park.

Lawn Lake Flood of 1982

Looking Back At Lawn Lake

Mummy's Cliffs of Insanity

With apologies to William Goldman, I named the craggy cliffs on the west face of Mummy The Cliffs of Insanity. They are quite spectacular when looking up at them.

Early Morning Hagues Peak

From here we could see our destination. It still seemed so far away!

Looking Down on Lawn Lake

This was the first real break we took. Despite Josh's cold, he was strong (as usual) and we made good time up to here. I was beginning to slow down and the bugs were maddening. Fortunately, I learned my lesson from climbing Elbert, and had bug repellant wipes which we applied here. The bugs would not bother us the rest of the day. I was sun-burned from the last trip, and put on SPF 45 sun block here now that the sun was up and not blocked by the mountain any more.

It was about here where we encountered our first climber. He was surprised we started from the trailhead since he thought we had camped at Lawn Lake. He started from the trailhead as well, and when we complimented him on catching us, (or to be fair--me--since I was starting to hold Josh back at this point), he said that his 25 year-old son is a mountain goat and a much better climber. The mention of a mountain goat is interesting since I often feel like that on craggy exposed climbing.

Fairchild From the Saddle

The Saddle is between Fairchild and Hagues at 12,400 feet. We took a short break to figure out what we wanted to do. The climber we met earlier had already pushed on to Fairchild. It was 9:30, and we knew we had a long way to go to climb all three. We decided Hagues and Mummy were more important than Fairchild today, and headed towards Hague.

Ridge To Fairchild

I wanted to grab a picture of the ridge we would have had to climb two weeks prior if we had decided to summit Fairchild after Ypsilon. It would have been a fun challenge, but we were wary of what it would take to climb back up to the Alpine Visitors Center once we got back to the Chapin Creek trailhead.

Ypsilon Past Fairchild

I may be wrong, but I think this is a picture of Ypsilon just to the right of Fairchild from the Saddle where we had a break to orient ourselves.

Looking Up At Hagues

From looking at the map, we decided that the best approach would be to climb horizontally past the summit of Hagues, climb over the ridge and summit from the other side which was less steep. As we climbed along, we scrambled over loose boulders, and it seemed to take forever to get where we were going. This was my fault again since I began to feel the altitude at 12,700 feet, and was more deliberate in my climbing holds as we traversed. At one point, Josh asked if I was alright with exposure (I am--I seek it out sometimes!) and we decided to make a push straight up for the summit.

This was the best part of the trip! We both wished we had helmets with us. I kept having to look above me to make sure I would not hit my head when pulling up. I kept three points on the mountain for safety reasons except for one spot where I had to do a dyno move to swing my legs over to a spot where I could continue up. As we neared the top, we saw our climber from before above us. He held to the ridge you see in the photo above, (you can't see the straight up route we took in the picture), and was able to make better time.

Crystal Lakes From Hagues

Lawn Lake From Hagues Summit

On the summit block, I took several pictures of the views around us. This vantage point happens to be the Larimer County high point.

Hagues Peak USGS Summit Markers

Others On Hagues Summit

I took a picture of the others we saw on the summit. Our friend from earlier was there, along with a party of three which included a 61-year old and a father and son. The father was 71 years old although we didn't see him until we were coming down the saddle between Hagues and Mummy.

At the summit, we learned that a plan had crashed into a glacier below the summit of Hagues in the 1970s. Josh walked over to the glacier, but wasn't able to see anything. I tried finding info on it online, but the following link was the best I could come up with. The summit elevation of Hagues Peak is 13,560 feet, and is incorrectly stated in the obituary.

Plane Crash at the Hagues Peak Summit

Mummy From Hagues

Never Summer From Hagues

Snowy Ridge From Hagues

Longs Peak, Estes Cone, and Twin Sisters

You can see the Crystal Lakes in the bottom right. These are small lakes between Lawn Lake and the Saddle. We were at the summit at 12:30, and stayed there about 20 minutes. For some reason, I wasn't able to bring myself to eating the sandwich I brought.

Lawn Lake

At first, we started to the north side of the saddle between Hagues and Mummy which is where we encountered the 71 year-old father. I hope I'm still climbing when I'm that old! Then we were on the south side of the ridge. The boulders were loose, and it was slow-going. Knowing we had two more hours to get to the summit of Mummy, and realizing we had another 8 miles to go once we descended back to the trail, we decided to head down. It was steep (although not as steep as our route up to the summit), and I took my time to be sure I didn't sprain an ankle on any of the loose boulders going downhill.

Columbines Descending Hagues

Nearing the trail, Josh noticed a few clusters of columbines. Here is a snapshot of one of them. Happy to be on a trail again, we jogged part of the way down, and passed a lot of people this time. At two points, we encountered white-tailed deer that didn't seem very afraid of people. I kept thinking we were closer to the trailhead than we were, and greedily consumed the rest of the 3.5 liters of liquids I brought before we reached the split to Ypsilon Lake.

We reached the trailhead again at 5:15 pm. The trip took a little over 12 hours. The official length of our journey is listed at 17.8 miles and 4810 feet of net elevation gain, but because of the roundabout way we took to the summit, I believe we hiked 18 miles with a gross elevation gain of nearly 5000 feet.

Mummy Range - July 30, 2011

Over the last year and a half, I've looked longingly at the Mummy Range in hopes of climbing the peaks there. After debating whether I would climb something in the San Juans or climb one of the Mummy Range peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park, the choice was decided when I saw a post on 13ers.com from Mountainsnbluegrass enquiring about a climbing partner for the Mummy Range this weekend. After exchanging info, Josh and I decided to meet at 4:30 early Saturday morning and discuss which combo we would do. He talked two of his friends, Chad and Jake, into coming as well.

Our choices were to climb Chapin/Chaquita/Ypsilon from the Chapin Pass trailhead, or Fairchild/Hagues/Mummy from the Lawn Lake trailhead. I called a ranger at park headquarters to see if Old Fall River Road was open, and she said it was not, and didn't think it would be early Saturday. After being picked up in Loveland at 4:30, Josh and I were still undecided, but Chad felt we should do Chapin/Chaquita/Ypsilon since it would make for a shorter day. Thinking that the road to the trailhead was still closed, we headed to the Alpine Visitors Center to park and hike down to the Chapin Pass trailhead. On the way up, we took a pit stop and I took a few pictures.

Longs Before Sunrise

In the furthermost range, you can see the flat summit of Longs, and the slope down to Estes Cone.

Endovalley Before Sunrise

If we had decided to climb Fairchild/Hagues/Mummy, we would have climbed to the same elevation (and a bit higher) from the Lawn Lake trailhead, located in Endovalley. You can see Fall River snaking through the valley in the picture.

Mummy Range Before Sunrise

All three pre-sunrise pictures were taken from the restroom stop on Trail Ridge, but this last picture shows the Mummy Range we were about to climb.

As we approached the Alpine Visitors Center, it was about 6 am. A very large herd of elk was in the APC parking lot, blocking the entrance and road, and continuing down the side of the mountain. We needed to wait for them to clear enough for us to enter the parking lot. There was only one other vehicle parked in the APC parking lot when we parked and began the descent down Old Fall River Road. Looking for the Chapin Pass trailhead, we found a marker with the number 7 on it. Thinking this might be the trailhead, we traveled up the path until it dwindled away, forcing us to retreat back to the road and continue further down. While doing this, we lamented that we would have to climb back up the road we continued to descend.

Once we arrived at the trailhead, it was obvious since there was a large sign saying "Chapin Pass Trailhead". What surprised us were two vehicles parked nearby. This could only mean one thing: the road had opened and we were given false information about when the road would be open. One lady preparing to hike had Washington state plates, and quickly passed us as we ascended Mount Chapin. We would never see her again, and her car was still parked at the trailhead later in the afternoon.

The trail up Mount Chapin was in good condition and quickly climbed in elevation. Being the slowest of the four, my partners traded off being last and offered occasional encouragements of "push it" of which I was grateful for. At timberline, there was a sign that said the trail was unimproved from that point on. It split left and right. We took the right since it went up. The "unimproved" trail was covered by only one snow field, but it momentarily confused us, and may have led to us missing the crossroads that would have taken us to the Mount Chapin summit. In the saddle between Mount Chapin and Mount Chaquita, we brought out the map, and failed miserably in trying to determine where we were--even though we knew our GPS coordinates. I misled the group by saying I thought we were between the south (false) summit of Chapin and the true north summit--based on trip reports I had read. I think I need to take this class:

HOW TO USE A GPS RECEIVER WITH A USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

As we continued up, we realized we had missed Chapin, and could see the split in the trail that would have taken us in the right direction. Instead of going back, we decided we would keep going since Chapin is not a 13er anyway (12454 ft). In retrospect, I regret that, and hope to go back and tag Chapin's summit in the near future.

Longs From Chaquita Summit

Eventually, we attained the summit. I took a picture of Longs. I don't hide the fact that The Matron of RMNP is my favorite mountain. I've driven back and forth in front it on my way to and from work/school for the last ten years, and can see the summit from my bedroom window--not to mention that I try to climb parts of it every year. I tend to take a lot of pictures of Longs. :)

On Chaquita Summit

One of my hiking partners took a picture of me standing on the summit block of Mount Chaquita. You can see the knee brace I'm wearing. I think this will be the last hike I take with a knee brace on. I had my last meniscectomy two years ago after tearing my meniscus (for the third time) postholing in deep snow on a slope behind Green Mountain above Boulder. On my last several hikes, the knee braces restrict my circulation resulting in cramps when taking off the brace, probably due to the blood rushing back in. The cramps happened again this day after taking off the brace, and I don't think I need it for support since my muscles have grown to compensate for the loss of meniscus (due to surgery) behind my knee cap.

Hagues and Mummy

I took some pictures of Hagues Peak and what I think is Mummy Mountain behind it. I could be wrong about Mummy Mountain being behind it. I'll have to climb up there someday to verify what I'm looking at.

Fairchild and Hagues

We entertained the idea of hiking to Fairchild since we skipped Chapin, but one look at the ridge separating Ypsilon and Fairchild with its steep down climb and up climb convinced us otherwise. It will have to wait for another day.

Snow On Donner Ridge Below Ypsilon

When looking at the Mummy Range from Loveland, or from where I work in Westminster, you can see a lot of snow on the Mummy Range peaks. This picture captures some of that snow. There are two main ridges from Ypsilon: Blizter and Donner. I'm not quite sure which is which, so I called this the Donner Ridge and took a picture of it. On our hike along the ridge from Chaquita to Ypsilon, we could almost touch the snow that makes up the Y-couloir from which Ypsilon derives its name.

Ypsilon From False Summit

As we were approaching what we thought was the Ypsilon summit, I mentioned that I would believe it was the summit when we got there, since I have encountered many false summits in my day to make me sceptical until I reach the true summit. Sure enough, when we got to this point, it was a false summit, but provided a photo op for the real summit.

Ypsilon Summit

At the summit, we took our first long break of the day and ate our lunches. I took a picture of my climbing partners: Josh, Chad, and Jake. Jake, being from Ohio, had never climbed above timberline before and ended up being one of the strongest climbers of the day. The other guy you see in the distance was from a group of three climbers that had summited Desolate Peaks from Pingree Park and had continued on to this point.

Spectacle Lakes

From reading trip reports, I really, really wanted to get a high-altitude view of the Spectacle Lakes. This picture captures that view. The picture does not do justice to the wonderful blue-green hues in the water we could see from on high. The lakes do seem like 1960s style glasses with their horn-rimmed frames. I was upset at first at capturing my hiking boot in the picture, but now feel that it gives a sense of perspective from peak to cirque.

One of the reasons why I wanted to climb this particular set of mountains was to explore the reasons for why Ranger Jeff Christensen died when climbing them in 2005, nearly six years prior to the day when we did. When descending, we crossed the tundra back to the split we missed on Mount Chapin. The whole slope was imbued with brightly colored alpine flowers, and it was quite the challenge to keep from stepping on them and stick to stepping on the bands of rocks threading down the mountain. Ranger Christensen most likely died in the saddle between Chaquita and Ypsilon after falling and hitting his head on one of the rock bands. This hike was not nearly as challenging as similar territory on the Indian Peaks when climbing South Arapahoe Peak last summer, and so I still don't understand how he could have fallen and died. Nevertheless, I feel for his family and the loss they suffered when he perished between the same peaks we climbed this day.

When we arrived back at the Chapin Pass trailhead, there were tons of cars. We felt robbed for having to hike down to the trailhead from the Alpine Visitors Center when there were so many cars parked around the trailhead. As we hiked up to the APC, we tried to see who would pick us up, hoping for someone with an empty truck bed. One group got half a karma point for stopping to make sure we were ok (but could not take us since they did not have room--hence half a point). Eventually, a newlywed couple from North Dakota stopped to let us jump in the back of their pickup bed, and even shared a party tray of fruit they did not want--scoring major karma points in the process! All in all, the weather was perfect, and we had an epic day for an epic climb of two thirteeners in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Lily Ridge

Finally created a mountaineering blog! I've been climbing since 2005, and have wanted to blog about all the adventures I've had over the last few years, and finally have created a blog to keep track of them. We don't have a working camera right now, and I misplaced my GPS, so I don't have anything other than my post. For future trips, I'll include images and GPS data.

Since it was in the 90s in town, we decided to seek relief in the hills (no A/C at home), and thought a walk around Lily Lake would be fun. Although we attempted Lily Mountain in the past, we have never walked around the lake, so we thought we'd try that today. When we got to the trailhead, which is across the street (CO Hwy 7) from the Twin Sisters trailhead, we realized there was a ridge we could climb that went high above the lake and would only add about a quarter mile to our distance.

Lily Ridge switchbacks and gains altitude quickly. Some of the steps were too high for Ethan, so I had to pick him up over those. The smell of pine was strong, and I was glad we took the ridge route since the pine smell was nearly gone next to the lake. There were plenty of rocks along the trail for Nicole and Alex to boulder on.

It was 93 in Loveland at 5000 ft elevation, but not much cooler with 86 degrees at the 8930 ft elevation of Lily Lake. We didn't think we needed water, but that was a mistake. I began to be concerned for Ethan since he was flushed and was saying "I'm firsty." When the ridge route connected with the route around the lake, we returned to the trailhead along the north shore rather than the longer way around the south shore. Alex had fun wading in the lake for a moment when we returned to the trailhead, which meant Nicole and Ethan had to follow suit!

The views were wonderful. We could still see quite a bit of snow on The Loft connecting Mt Meeker and Longs. Lily Mountain mocked us from above (we missed the turn the last time we tried to summit Lily Mountain), and we reminisced about our summit of Estes Cone a couple of years earlier, which is also nearby. I was telling Nicole how I carried Ethan on my back in a baby carrier when he was not quite 1 when we climbed Estes Cone as a family. Every time I would stop for a breather, Ethan would reach around and bop me in the head to get me walking again. I felt like a pack horse, but it was still funny that he was doing that.

Perhaps because of the heat, when we returned to Loveland, Ethan crashed on the couch, I crashed for a little bit on the couch in the basement, and Jamie napped in bed for about two hours! It was nice to get out of the city for a time.