Comanche Peak Wilderness Wildflower Expe rience

“Myself, Adventurist and the Mrs, along with Embear took off Friday night with the intention of climbing Comanche Peak (12,702) and Fall Mtn (12,254) on Saturday.

This plan set us up for a 14.7 mile day with a LOT of elevation gain, sounded like FUN (and it was!!!)

Since embear is moving out here, she was in town job and apartment hunting, so she just took the weekend to come hang out with me and the Adventurist couple. We all went out to Tom Bennett campground in the Roosevelt National Forest on Friday night and set up our 'basecamp'. Yeah, we car camped! I carried a cooler with steak, brats and beer and Adventurist was making freaking fried eggs for breakfast. For whatever reason, embear made backpacking food, but she did at least bring some wine and i shared a brat with her, well, her and Adventurist split one anyway.

Saturday moring dawned bright and cheery and after breakfast, we left camp around 7:15 as the rest of the campground was just starting to stir. By the way, this campground is samll and remote - highly recommended if your in the area.

Anyhow, walking up the trail that for the first 3 miles or so is really a jeep trail, rocky and wide and it climbs, but at a slow rate, so the hikeing is pretty easy. Once you reach Cirque Meadows though, the grade steepens a little and after around 5 miles, you reach Emmaline Lake and the cirque wall of Comanche Peak looms in front of you - about another mile or so away. Your above treeline now though and the distances are hard to judge.

Walking around the lake you soon encounter the boulder field and begin the tedious rock hop across 1,000 pound or more boulders, just hoping you don't become the next Aaron Ralston. Once you clear the boulders your on the cirque wall itself which starts out at about a 30% grade and eventually steepens to around 60 or 65% - scrambling all the way. Sometimes the footing is stable and solid, other times its loose talus. Part of the way up is snowfield and the rest is Class 3, sometimes 4, scrambling - hands and feet at all times. Its great fun, and tremendously challenging. You pretty much just pick the path of least resistence aiming for the slight dip in the ridge line just left of the high spot.

Once up on top, the views are outrageous and the clouds are rolling in. The top is a wide flat and very rocky meadow. The whole Mummy Range is to our south and the Medicine Bow range is to the Northwest.

Adventurist and the Mrs turned back, partly tired, partly worried about exposure and gathering clouds. Embear and I were already high enough that we were rather committed and didn't want to descend the way we came up (very difficult) and would rather descend the planned route down Fall Mountain, and south alone the summit ridge.

We began the walk south along the top of the cliff faces around the cirque and the wildflowers were just amazing. The snow has just recently melted and at 12,000 feet spring is just arriving to the Front Range.

Fall Mountain turned out to be just as rocky and nasty as Comanche was and we struggled mightily to descend along its southern slopes. At one point it seemed as if the sky was going to open up and pour on us, but the winds just died out and the rain held off (thank god - it would have been almost disasterous to get a downpour at elevation and on the rocks). Now descending, we spotted the Mummy Pass trail on the pass below us and thereby our route back to camp.

Following the trail and marveling at the wildflowers as well as what we'd just done we both grinned from ear to ear the whole way.

Tired, but exhilerated we walked back into camp roughly 12 hours after we'd left, scratched, bruised and glorifed in the views and the experience we'd had, we retold the tale to Adventurist and the Mrs.

After eating our dinner and downing a beer or two - we gathered our firewood for the evening and settled in to recouperate the body and begin the week again the next day with our return to the real world.

my pics are at:

http://www.roamaroundonline.com/albums/comanche.html”

“I really wished they'd be sendin me back right about now. sounds like a fun trip. I like it when there are surprises...makes ya believe in something. great photos too. Hey, have EddieS send me the photo at the top of Estes Cone please. I want to put that one up on the closet door.”

“yeah, it was a super cool hike.

hey, yeah, i need a copy of that pic as well.

I'm on it bro.”

“what a beautiful area! - thanks for sharing - and you have your own website to post the pictures too. I need my own website”

“its fun - takes longer to put pictures up than using webshots, but its more fun to design and piddle with.

(yes, i understand this qualifies me as a geek)”

“Wow... your pictures came out really good!

Great trip report too.

Here's our pictures here.”

“Great photos, Roam. I really like your wildflowers. Looks like a beautiful trip!”

“Thanks yall, I took about 100 more that I didn't post - they're either very similar or didn't turn out so good.

I'm working on captions and identifying the flowers.
last edited: 7/13/05 8:20:01 AM”

“Your pictures are beautiful and it sounds like a great hike!”

“great pics from both of you.

Roam, nice UT hat on..Go Vols”

“yeah, don't see too much Orange out here. A guy at a restaurant on Sunday morning where we had breakfast hollerd "GO BIG ORANGE" at me!”

“Thanks for the TR Roam! I am finally back home and will have pics up tonight. Whew! What a trip!

I arrived at Roam's house Friday evening and we took off in my nice new rental car for the mountains. We tried to find a subway on the way, but resorted to stopping at a gas station for nasty sandwiches. Well, Roam bought one. I went hungry. I pet a doggie and took some pics of the sunset and we were on our way. After driving through some curvy roads and passing a few small towns, we realized we had passed our turn and backtracked to a curvy dirt road that seemed to go on forever. We finally arrived at the campsite, found the Adventurists, and set up camp. We set out around 7:15 on Sat morning for the hike. I noticed immediately that I had a hard time breathing and realized I was going to have a hard time climbing.

The first part of the hike was nice and easy. There were some pretty flowers along the path, and lots of burned trees. We finally got into the forest a little and crossed a lot of water. For CO being such a dry place, it was weird seeing so much water! Apparently the trail was covered in snow only 2 weeks ago. The skeeters were out like devils and we all got eaten up. The trail started to climb a little and I got very dizzy and winded. Adventurist gave me some advil and I felt a little better. Finally, we started seeing a little snow, and Roam convinced me to start a snowball fight. :)

The views started getting better and better and I was constantly snapping pictures. We finally got to Emmaline Lake, and had a nice little lunch. Looking at the mountain we were about to climb, none of us thought that what we were about to do was going to be so hard.

The trail ended at the lake, so we had to make our own up to the summit. At first the boulders were doable, nice big level boulders. Then they started getting steeper and steeper and steeper. The ground was unstable and the rocks were loose, so it made progress very slow. At one point Roam and I decided to traverse up a snow field, but it got really steep and potentially hazardous. Back to the rocks we went.

We were all working our bodies extremely hard at this point. I finally got a hold of my breathing and was doing ok with the altitude, but whenever we would stop and rest, it seemed like we had not made any distance and the summit was soooo far away. At one point, we were getting to a really really steep part where we had to use our arms and legs, and the Adventurists decided to turn back. They had brought hiking poles, and that made things even more difficult for them.

Roam and I headed on towards the summit, and I started seeing views of other mountain ranges. I was pretty scared the last 100 feet of the climb because things were so steep, and we were relying on rocks to keep us from falling off the mtn. I tried to take a few pics, but didnt get many becuase I needed all the hands I could get to hold myself up. We finally reached the top, and oh! What a rush! It was so darn beautiful!

We then walked along the ridge of the mtns in the tundra and admired the beautiful scenery and wildflowers. The going was a lot easier up there, but we still had to do some rock hopping. My legs were about done, but I knew we still had to get back down to the trail. After about and hour or so, we started heading down Fall mtn towards the trail. Even though it wasnt as steep going down, it was a bit harder than going up. The boulders were huge and I had to really take my time so that I wouldnt fall face first off the mtn. Roam was nice enough to be very patient with me. My poor little legs couldnt reach anything.

After we got down to the trail, the flowers were abundant! We couldnt step without stepping on them. I have never seen so many flowers before. It must have been the peak weekend for them. Ok, so Roam looked at his map and we thought that we only had a few more miles to go. How wrong we were.

I was exhausted, and I am sure Roam was as well, but we had to keep going. We got back into the forest and was some wierd mutated trees and other cool flowers. After about what seemed like 10 million hours, we made it back to camp for a total of 12 hours on the trail. After changing and resting up a bit, we all went to gather firewood and cook some food. Yes, I brought backpacking food, but I didnt have much time to plan as I flew in on an airplane. Everybody else had yummy stuff, but my mac n cheese with tuna suited me fine. I had brought some wine, which we shared and Roam brought some nice Fat Tires. We were trying to wait for the fire to die down until we passed out, but I think Roam fell asleep in his chair. :)

We crashed and woke up the next morning and packed up. As we were driving into the parking lot of the restuarant, a girl decided she was going to change clothes right there in front of everybody. She had a pretty white ass I may add. We ate a delicious breakfast, except for my bacon which was really rubbery, but the sweet rolls were delish! We said our goodbyes to the Adventurists and heading towards Loveland. I took a shower at Roams house and then hit the road for Denver. I had a couple of interviews and found an apt and then flew back last night.

All in all, this was probably the hardest hike I have ever done, and the most scenic. It was so awesome, and I cant wait to hike with yall again when I am a resident!

My pics will be up tonight.”

“Can't wait to see your pics full size - i'd forgotten to mention the snowball fight! Snowballs in July ROCK!”

“Mmmmmmm, I can dig a pretty white ass!!


Yo Roamie, it musta been nice to have someone out there who speaks your lingo.

"Roam was nice enough to be very patient with me. My poor little legs couldnt reach anything."

Good thing he didn't leave ya, Shorty.”

“MarkO, shut it!!!!”

“yeah, a couple more Tennessee accents out here and I'll really feel at home!”

“Howdy, Miss Em!!”

“so some girl shows her white ass and no one gets a pic of it..yeah right

sounds like you had a good time embear.

There is getting to be a good group of TT'ers in Colorado now. Guess they will have to start putting some trips together for the rest of us.”

“Adventurist and I were just discussing that Ewker. Stay tuned....”

“great Tennessee minds think alike...lol”

“Great Tennessee minds?

Hoohoohahahahahahaha!!”

“Yeah, I got made fun of quite a bit while I was out there, and Roam's accent is even thicker than mine!

Eddy, you will definately have to come out!”

“you too marko sparko”

“Great trip reports and photos! I especially like the wildflower pics.

Embear, I am jealous that you are moving to Colorado. I lived there for 7 years and loved it, but moved back to TN last March to be closer to family. My plan is to finsih up with school (will take one year) and move back to Colorado.

Anyway, you are going to love Colorado, embear!”

“I know woodzie! I cant wait! It was hard to fly back to humidity last night.”

“marko sparko???


sparky marky???”

“spunky monkey?”

“Foamie Roamie !!!

Embear Ass, uh oh!!!

Hey guys, it's as humid as a wet fart here in Baltimore!!

I'd love to get out there and visit.
Y'all owe me a real good ass-whoopin' for all my abuse!!

I just can't help myself, you guys are a lot of fun for funnin'!!”

“Eeew! Wet farts? Youre gross”

“yeah, Marko,


T

M

I”

“Huh, you didn't like my analogy??”

“but, you just say the word brother Mark - I'll plan out a trail that'll leave you weeping for mercy and sobbing with joy.”

“I get about 12 days off over the Xmas break!!”

“ur in rare form today aint ya! going to West ByGod Virginia gots you all wound up.”

“Yu-yu-yu-yu-yu-yup!!!

It's just me and Junior this time and we are just gonna throw the schit in the car an git!

Of course I would miss the big TT riot at the REI store tonight!

I'll be frolicking with them nuts when I should be packin'.”

“That timeing would be pretty good too - between Xmas and New Year - thereabouts???”

“I finally got to check out the pics - beauty! I love wild mountain flowers. Looks like a great hike.”

“I'll prolly be back in the south for xmas. Marko, do you ski?”

“embear, check your mail”

“Got it. back at ya”

“Alright - I finally have my pics up. I have a lot, and some are pretty redundant. I also forgot to mention that I went to The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs so I took a few pictures there as well.

http://community.webshots.com/album/395040985MvMyFS?220

http://community.webshots.com/album/395108977bQavGx

http://community.webshots.com/album/395156006hlcyMP”

“Very cool pics Em!

'cept, your gonna have to change your trail name to 'shutterbug'

;)”

“Great pictures Em! We enjoyed them!”

“embear, good pics. You just can't stop taking pics when everything around you is awesome”

“Thanks all!

yeah Ewker, I couldnt stop. Everything was so beautiful I wanted to capture it all.”

“I was really happy to hear Embear say "This is the most beautiful hike I have ever been on!"”

“Well, it really was!”

“yep, my big back yard is pretty ain't it ...


;)”

“Nice TR and pics!

No pic of the Great White Butt?”

“LMAO! thats a good trail name.”