The Abyss

So at the end of July, I went on a more significant backpacking trip to Abyss Lake, nestled in between Mt. Bierstadt 14, 061, and Mount Evans 14,264.  It was far longer than the last trip taken, however not a physically demanding, I was able to make my destination, instead of being lame and unable to complete the trek.

The trip began with a packing lesson on a Tuesday evening, which truly helped to pare down the amount of things that I was bringing. It's interesting that once you've been on a trip, you are able to determine what is truly necessary vs. what you think is necessary. My pack went from over between 40-50 lbs, to around 30 or under.

I was picked up early on Thursday morning, and proceeded to Guanella Pass and the Abyss Lake Trailhead. We were met with beautiful blue skies, and and a nicely shaded trail.

The trail starts at approx 9,600 ft, and ascends over 8 miles to its terminus at Abyss Lake, 12,650ft. It wanders through beautiful conifer forests, beautiful alpine meadows, and the awe-inspiring Sawtooth.

The start was slightly steep and rocky, however about a mile in the angle softens, and the trail is well traveled with ambling streams.  Everything was progressing smoothly until we hit a confusing trail junction, the arrows were misleading, luckily we had a map.

As the afternoon progressed, the weather started to shift, as is typical in the mountains. Dark clouds rolled in as we made our way above tree line.

The Fearless trip leader stands on the precipice of bad weather, determining wether or not we could continue up the trail, or if it'd be smarter to set up camp below tree line. We did, however, continue along the trail, and attempt to make our way through the willows to the alpine meadow above. The willows proved to be slightly confusing, however we managed our way through.

Once in the meadow above, we began the last leg of the journey.

 About a half mile from the lake, it began to hail, which quite honestly, hurts.

Finally reaching our destination we quickly set up the tent, as the rain began to pour, and the thunder/lightening started. The tent was located in a small indentation surrounded by boulders. After the storm had run its course, we emerged from the tent to experience the location, it was quite cool outside.

The marmots were everywhere!!

I spent some time walking around the lake, climbing on boulders, and scaling up the side of Bierstadt for better photos.

This is the Sawtooth above Abyss Lake. 

My photo with the Sawtooth!

Hail!

The sun peaking over the Sawtooth to the side of Evans, courtesy of my hiking partner...I was eating dinner.

Setting sun, facing west. Amazing view!

After the sun had set, we went to bed, probably 8:30, and it was horribly wet and cold. I was comfortable wedged into the middle of my lightweight down sleeping bag, however my partner was not so lucky, he was terribly cold most of the night. Neither of us felt, so great, and I slept alright, but not fantastically. We awoke early, and packed up to head out. We made amazing time, and were able to stop for a coffee at the Knotty Pine in Bailey, CO. 

This trip was by far one of my favorites thus far, and I'm looking forward to my next significant backpacking trip!

Back-breaking, Backpacking 101

The original plan was to climb to Heart Lake, in the James Peak Wilderness, camp there overnight, summit Heart Beat Peak early, and hike out.

I was instructed to pack what I though I would need, including crampons, harness, helmet, and ice axe. I spent the entirety of Sunday evening organizing,

and packing my equipment into a Kelty Agile 4500 cu in. pack.  It took at least 5 times of repacking.

I chose a diet of ramen noodles, cliff bars, pop tarts, peanut M&Ms, water, and trail mix. I would never....EVER bring ramen again, I forgot how much I disliked it. 

After staying up late Sunday and Monday night preparing for my trip, I worked till noon on Tuesday and was picked up at 12:30, and headed towards the East Portal Trailhead of the James Peak Wilderness.

This is where the trail began, and I was carrying between 40-50lbs of gear...most of which was unnecessary. It was certainly a difficult task for one who's not carried more than 30lbs, and I was very slow. This almost certainly perturbed my trip leader, who I'm sure wanted to make destination and complete the prescribed trip. I felt terrible for being slow, but I am going to continually train to increase endurance, so hopefully....if there is a next time-- I will hold my own better. 

We made it up near Rogers lake-- the weather was enough to be annoying-- rain, thunder, and some lightening strikes. We set up camp in a great area, in a stand of pine trees, between snowfields and the mountain brook. 

This is the view from the camp kitchen, which was at least 50 ft from the site, flanked by this:

I was able to play with my crampons, after I changed into dry clothes, and warmed my feet up some. After dinner the sky started to clear up, and we were able to see the most amazing view of the stars. I've never seen so many stars in my life, and was happy to be there. Sleep was interesting and a slight downward angle, I found myself down at the bottom of the sleeping bag more than once.

Morning came, with clear skies, and an amazing view. I was slightly sore, but having coffee and pop tarts in such a breathtaking location was probably one of my favorite moments so far in life. 

The view from breakfast.

We packed up the gear, and started down the trail, back to the car... but not without looking back at the campsite.

There were amazing views of wildflowers, and the brook tumbling down next to the trail.

What took us 4 hours to complete the day before, took about an hour and a half to descend. Once in the lower elevations, there were beautiful flowers, an interesting stream crossing, and the amazing sunshine!

Wild columbine!

And finally we reached the border of the wilderness, and entered civilization again. It was disappointing feeling, especially when I would have stayed in the wilderness.

My first experience backpacking was...despite minor annoyances, such as cold feet, wet socks, rain, and a heavy pack, AMAZING. I can't wait to go on another trip, hopefully with some training, I'll become a great distance backpacker/mountaineer! :) 

As far as gear is concerned: I would not ever bring a camelbak with me again, it leaked, and there is an abundance of mountain streams with amazing water! I also am going to replace the cheap Kelty pack that I purchased years ago, ignorantly, with a new Golite Terrono 65. Hiking in tights, is AMAZING, and I will probably do that WAY more often. And lastly, I will bring less food, it was unnecessary to have so much. This may change, but I will be working on paring down my pack for comfort and efficiency. Here is my pack after the trip:

Me!

My trip leader: 

The Almost- Summiting of Quandary Peak

Quandary Peak looms over Breckenridge, CO. at 14,264. 

My group started the hike around 8:00am, which seemed a tad late for me, I would have rather had my feet on the trail at 7:00 or earlier... 

The scenery was amazing, and once above tree line the mountain towers above,

 surrounded on all sides by peaks and valleys.

There is still quite a bit of snow up there, both in tree line and the snowfields above, so post holing was inevitable. 

After the first snowfield, the "spine" of Quandary lays ahead, and there are piles of scree and talus  between snowfields. There were also beautiful rusty orange lichon(or moss..not sure) attached to many of the rocks, and tiny flowers. 

TALUS!

"SPINE"

While climbing the "spine", I ran into one of the members of "Team Selfish", Pat and his girlfriend Julie on their way down from the summit!

How often do you see someone you know out on the trails? It was very very exciting! :) 

A little ways up the trail the trip leader was heading down and told us that the last three members of our group were 10 mins behind, and that we should wait and head down with them instead of summiting. We were both very disappoint and rather ticked off... especially when we waited an hour for them to descend from the summit. There was only 300 feet left to climb, unbeknownst to us, which made it more disappointing.

I stopped hiking around 13,900 feet, ate lunch and took some photos.

 My traditional carrot, an essential in my pack. 

Including one for my father...which was supposed to be a first 14er for fathers day, but he loved it anyways!

Angela and I with our "Almost summited" sign. 

The hike down went very quickly and soon we were back to the car, and stopped at the Breckenridge Brewery on our way back to Denver. 

Altogether it was an interesting day, though I was disappointed by not summiting, I did hike higher than I've ever been before, and know that I can handle the altitude now!

Quandary will not escape my grasp, I will re-attempt hopefully on July 8th, 2011. 

Craggity-Crag.

So today a friend of mine took me out to try rock climbing on North Table Mountain! There is quite a lot to learn, especially mountaineering techniques, however I survived! I was able to make it 30 feet up into a crevass, however it's very hard to remember you're attached to a belay device!

I have a fear of heights, which for some reason or another did not hinder my ability to climb up. Though I froze on a few occasions, for fear of falling....then I was reminded of the rope.

This is a short post, but I was very excited and cannot wait to go out and learn more! :)

Battle Mountain, Battle.

I hit a milestone this weekend!!  I've been in Colorado almost 10 months now, and I've finally hiked over 12, 000 Ft! The snow pack was still 7 feet in some places, which was amazing, apparently it was one of the snowiest on record!

I hiked Battle Mountain with the Colorado Mountain Club(CMC), which is very close to Chasm Lake, Longs Peak, and Mt. Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Meeker is on the Left,  then Longs Peak, and finally the giant scree pile on the right is Mount Lady Washington.

Beautiful shot of the diamond of Longs Peak!

 Alpine Forget Me Nots!

Fairy Primrose!

 I was worried that I wouldn't adapt well to elevation above tree line, but I survived swimmingly! :)

The storms were headed in as we were climbing down.

Altogether a successful trip!

Next Weekend... Quandary which is 14,265, My first 14er! :)

Exodus to the West

This is my first blog post, hopefully of many crazy adventures and projects.

I decided, in April 2010, that I was going to move to Colorado from the South Shore of Massachusetts. So at the end of August, I attached a small U-haul trailer to the back of my Subaru with some of my belonging crammed inside, and piled in with my dog Sappho and father. It was a warm day, and the sun was shining when I left my home state of Massachusetts for the world of possibilities that stretched before me in Colorado.

It was scary to leave New England, it was almost as if nothing had existed past its borders for as long as I could remember, and suddenly I was in another dimension, a wonderful dimension. The trip cross country ended so quickly, and soon my father was on a plane back home. It was truly a weird feeling to be away from everything I ever knew, but I honestly do not regret the move. Colorado instantly felt like home for me,  I haven't felt that way anywhere since High School!

Shortly after moving here, I joined the Denver Urban Gardens(DUG), the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), Rocky Mountain Weaver Guild, and got a job as a shelver with the Denver Public Libraries.

I was 163lbs when I left MA, and it is 9 months later... I've lost 30lbs! I owe it to the fantastic farmers markets, my dog Sappho, and the amazing hiking in Colorado!

The more time I spend outside in the mountains, the happier I become. I set a goal for myself last April when I made the decision to move here, and that was to change my life and climb all of the 14ers in Colorado. These 54 peaks are the highest in Colorado, and I plan on climbing them all, though first I need to acquire more skills such as rock/ice climbing. This summer I plan on climbing 5 of these peaks, hopefully that will happen!

I started this blog to document all of my crazy adventures and ideas, from mountains to photographs to books to fiber arts. I hope that you will all enjoy reading these accounts from the life of a Colorado transplant.