Estes Vacation June 16-19, 2005
Lori and I left Hutchinson kind of late on Thursday morning, around 8:15. This put us in the park at Milner Pass around 4:30 Colorado time. We were intending to go for Mt. Ida, but the snow was really soft due to the lateness of the day, so we turned back after about an hour and checked in the hotel. By this time, Lori wasn’t feeling well and had a bad case of pink-eye, so we checked in the hotel and went to bed. The next morning, I was up at 6 and asked her if she wanted to go hiking. Her answer was – “Yes – but I am too sick.” So I gathered my gear and headed out to Glacier Gorge Trailhead. I hit the trail at 6:40, and arrived at Mills Lake around 8, and was rewarded with an awesome view of my goal for the day (the Trough on Longs):
After a quick bite to eat, I hit the trail again. Around the time I got to the campsite, I started running into some serious icy snow. After roughing it for a while, I finally put on my crampons (for the first time) and discovered what I had been missing. By about 9:30 I was at Black Lake:
At this point I was tired of carrying my snowshoes and cached them in the trees and started the steep snow climb up to the plateau at the base of the mountains. About 20 minutes later I was rewarded with another awesome view of my destination:
A little more scrambling and I could see the Trough and Pagoda even better:
Finally it was time to REALLY climb. The snow was pretty soft at the bottom of the Trough so I headed up the rocky ridge to the right of it, and was able to climb about 2/3 of the way over there. The view from there:
McHenry’s:
Mills/Jewel:
I also made a friend at about the same time:
You just never know what you’ll run into at 13000 feet I guess!
Here’s a shot of the Keyhole from the back side:
And a shot back down from where I just came:
At the top of the Trough, I met a father and son team from Washington state that were in the area for a family reunion. We had a long visit, and found out that they had climbed a good portion of the homestretch but turned back because they said a section of it was “like a waterfall”. I was surprised they turned back since they had crampons and axes with them, so I bid farewell and headed out across the Narrows. I did encounter a couple of sections that were pretty exposed, but the snow was in good shape so I went on through. Here is the view looking back:
I also got a great shot of the cirque on the east side of Pagoda:
Finally, I arrived at the Homestretch. It was largely covered with snow, and did have a section that had a fair amount of flowing water on it, but the snow was pretty solid. After about 40 minutes of laboring, I was on the top!
The last time I summited, I was in the clouds and could see basically nothing, so I spent a little time exploring the summit. I saw the Loft on Meeker:
And Chasm Lake:
I then took time out to sign the summit register and have my customary peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. It felt great to be alone on top of such a great mountain. The last person to sign the register was Jim Detterline (the ranger), three days prior. Before him, it had been 9 days since anyone had signed. Unfortunately, it was late in the day (4 pm), and a nasty looking cloud was forming just to the east of me:
Seeing that cloud got me motivated, and I boogied down off the summit and started the long slog back to the trailhead. I alternately glissaded and plunge-stepped down the Trough, and was utterly soaked by the time I got to the bottom around 6 pm. The rest of the trip out felt like a death march, but I finally arrived back at the truck at 8:45, just before dark. When I got back to the hotel, I discovered that I had made a serious error in my trip planning: No Suncreen! Here’s the damage 4 days later:
Ouch! You can bet I won’t make that mistake again.
Saturday was rest day. We visited Ken and Carolyn Wills at their cabin, and were able to meet up with Michael Hodges at McGregor Mountain Lodge, and had a great visit with him as well.
Sunday morning was race day! Lori and I were signed up for the half marathon at the second annual Estes Park Marathon. Lori was still not feeling well, but she decided to try it anyway. The race started a little late (around 7:10 am), but finally we were off running! The weather was perfect for running, just a little breeze and temps in the upper 60’s. Two hours, nine minutes, and 10 seconds later I was across the finish line, have just made my goal of a 10 minute mile (9:52 minute/mile pace). I ran back to the truck and drove down to the lake where I saw Lori coming up the path, so I hopped out of the truck with the camera and ran the last mile with her. She crossed the finish line at 2:42:19, a very respectable time considering that her knee was killing her most of the way. You can see the results of the races here. If you look in the 10K results, you’ll find Michael Hodges in 24th place with a time of 52:18, pretty good for someone who just recently started running (way to go!)
Here is Lori and I at the finish line:
After the race, it was time to pack it all up and head back to Kansas and our real lives, and to start looking forward to the next time we get to travel back to our favorite place in the world.
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