Best Cup of Coffee Ever

“Tmac, Roam and EddieS (Bison was sposed to come too, but he wimped out, er, I mean had to travel for work)

The idea was to bail on work Friday and hike up to Snowmass Lake, climb the mountain on Saturday and hike home on Sunday.

We planned this trip a few weeks ago before the first snows fell in the mountains not really thinking about snow at all and we wound up being concerned enough to pack in snowshoes! Snow started falling in the mountains around mid September and reports were that the snow line was down around 10,000 feet. Since we were going to camp close to 11,000 we thought for sure that we’d be in the white powder (YEAH!). Turned out that wasn’t the case at all, we just had soggy rain and above freezing, but still pretty chilly temps at Snowmass Lake.

The hike started out on Friday around 12:30 with an anticipated 8 mile hike with a moderate elevation gain of 2,500 feet. The rain started about half way up as the temp dropped accordingly. It was rather warm at the trailhead and dang cold at the Lake!

We passed beaver ponds and rockslides on the way up with occasional glimpses of Capitol Peak, Clark Peak as well as Snowmass Mtn as we climbed the basin. The last mile of the hike proved challenging as the rain was getting heavier and the daylight was dwindling. Eddie and I stopped at the turnoff to head down to the lake to see if Tim would catch up. We noticed though that the already dim light was fading fast so we set a cairn for Tim and we went down to the lake to find a spot before it was completely dark.

Eddie and I worked as fast as possible to get the tent set in the rain with a minimum amount of moisture entering with fair success. Then Eddie went on back to make sure Tim didn’t miss the turn off. Tim had gotten damp on his trip and the cold was starting to seep through to his bones. Luckily, we had the stove fired up and got him some coffee – his first ever cup of coffee and helped him get his tarp pitched so that he could dry and warm.

After getting some warm food in us we all dove in the tents out of the weather and got in the warmth of our bags. Cold isn’t bad and wet I can handle, but cold and wet is the pits!

That night the wind and rain never stopped – it rattled the tent as hard as I’ve ever experienced and I was impressed with how well the Kelty Radiant stood up to the storm – we stayed snug as could be. So snug in fact that when we woke up and heard the sleet and wind we stayed in the tent!

We finally decided to get up and see what the weather had in store and it wasn’t pretty. The mountain was shrouded in cloud and the rain and sleet was intermittent. We ate breakfast and discussed our options, which were starting to become limited due to our later than hoped for start. Finally we decided to go on up the scree slope and see how far we could get.

So, we fixed our packs and headed out around the lake to the boulder field and talus on the opposite lakeshore and proceeded to follow the cairns up the slope. The slope starts out at about 40 degrees but quickly steepens to 60 or 65 degrees at which point we should have moved to the right onto the grassy section which is more accommodating – it took me several feet of scrambling to figure that out though – Eddie was a little sharper and moved to the grass lower than I did. Tim had fallen behind and opted to remain in the boulders and then he went back around the lake and explored.

Eddie and I eventually made it above the lip of the scree slope and found ourselves in the big bowl and FINALLY standing in some snow. We proceeded across the upper slope and could off an on see the summit. We kept checking our watch and looking at the summit and watching the clouds and we finally decided that while we could probably make the summit it would put the end of our descent in the dark and we didn’t want to be in the talus in the dark. So we took a picture and started down. This turned out to be a good call as the weather turned before dark and it rained and sleeted fairly steadily which would have made the scree and talus pretty treacherous.

Upon arriving back in the campsite, we rousted Tim and seeing that we had a few hours of daylight left we explored the eastern and northern lakeshores, checked out the geology of the area (thanks to Eddie’s knowledge) and just generally goofed off. As the rain got heavier and the wind picked up we made our way back to camp and hot food and drink. The weather was in constant change and we added layers as the sun dipped and the temp dropped, but it still never did more than give us a ‘wintry mix’ or maybe a very light snowfall.

We talked and whatnot until about dark when we again retired to the tents for the night. The next morning wasn’t exactly clear but it wasn’t nasty either. We broke camp and took our time headed back to the Jeep, checked out some lightning struck trees – there’s one place where it seems that a tree got it every 3 or 4 years at the same place – we noted not to stay there in a storm. We stopped to goof off and throw rocks in the stream and take pics and what not, but kept a pretty steady pace down the trail. We did get some good views of Capitol and Eddie and I spotted some areas ‘off the beaten path’ that we feel may merit return trip explorations.

Once we reached the Jeep we beat a path for the Village Inn in Glenwood Springs for cheeseburgers and fries and then on back to the city, where the rain again caught up with us.”

“we all gots lots of pics, so those will come soon....”

“Did you see me up above on top of the peak...
















FLIPPING YOU OFF!!!! Bwahahahahahaha!

j/k Great report and get those pictures up soon!”

“

Our goal is hidden in cloud but its just to the right of the big craggy peak.
last edited: 10/09/06 1:22:36 PM”

“what up WK?



If this had been you, I'd have pulled a log loose!!!

LOL, ;)
last edited: 10/09/06 1:27:15 PM”

“Ha Ha! Nice mountain you got there!”

“Nice report and photos. Sounds like a fun trip.”

“WK, I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“thanks dayhiker, it was a blast. a bunch of my pics are all foggy, i think a little moisture got inside my camera :(

Eddie should have some really good ones though.... I'll get a few more up this evening though too.”

“It seems like some of those trips where the public at large would ask, "WTF were you thinking?" are some of the most fun.”

“yep - exactly -

Addendum:

I failed to mention that there was ONE car at the trailhead and we met the gentleman and his wife on their way back to the car about 2 miles into our hike. Other than those two, we didn't see a soul the etire time.

We pretty much had the entire Snowmass drainage to ourselves the whole weekend.

In August, I was there and there was probably 30 people camped around the lake - including a ranger. This was a nice change of pace.”

“

---

We hiked along this stream the entire way in - that beaver dam above is about 2 miles downstream and 800 foot lower in elevation.

The elevation of the lake is 10,980.
last edited: 10/09/06 5:55:31 PM”

“So, there wasn't a lot of skiing on this trip?



Looking forward to the rest of the pics!”

“It had been a while since I'd hiked with either Eddie or Roam, so I'd forgotten just how much faster they are than I am. No, it doesn't want me to trip them with my hiking poles or sneak rocks into their packs - what makes you think that? :) I don't think I've ever experienced such a drop in body heat as I did in the 10 minutes or so after reaching Snowmass Lake. Wow, I couldn't even tie my tarp to get out of the rain.

Anyway, even without reaching the summit, this was a blast of a hike. I don't think I've ever been out in such a sustained cold rain before, so I learned a bit for next time. If I have to learn something, at least I had good teachers.

I'm a slacker when it comes to moving pictures from camera to computer, but hopefully I can get to it someday.”

“Most of the Aspen have lost their leaves now...

Which made for a very pleasant pathway.

---

The beaver have been very hard at work as well....



this beaver pond stretched along the trail for over half a mile and filled the valley. There are some great campsites in those trees to the left.

---

The outlet of Snowmass Lake would even make the Ithaca crowd proud.


last edited: 10/09/06 6:59:56 PM”

“Nice report, great pics!”

“Great TR and pics. Sounds like lots of fun with the cold rain! (not)

Danielle and I went for a hike on Sat and saw a dead bull moose on the side of the trail. It looked like he had been dead about a week...possibly killed in a rutting duel with another moose.”

“I still have to add captions, but I have some pictures online:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554708900EVcGhZ


Does the new webshots format annoy anyone else?”

“So Adventurist has a new living room ornament now. COOL!”

“Does the new webshots format annoy anyone else?”
T Mac
9:26:34 AM
10/10/06
Immensely. It took me over 20 minutes to figure out how to upload my pictures last night. I hope they are finally done with their changes. It seems like just when I get use to the old changes, they start making new ones. I’ve already canceled my pay account because of it.”

“Awesome trip, place and pictures, I've always wanted to hike Colorado, especially the Marroon Bells Circuit hike.

Maybe you could show a mid-western hiker around out there, sometime?

I'd like to hike the C.T. someday as well?

Post a trip for next year, you never know?
last edited: 10/10/06 9:51:05 AM”

“Did you see my trip report from the Bells Four Pass Loop I did in August? I've got pics in the pictures section of this site as well from that hike and this one.”

“Oh Yeah,

I forgot about that,I guess you did post one and I was thinking damn, I'd like to join that hike.

Well, if you do the same hike next year? or even if its a different hike too?

It would be a good day and a half to two day drive for me, plus at least a full day to acclimate?

I could take a week off from work and use the weekends to drive out and back? (4-5 days hiking)”

“Coffee?”

“you bet nct! Keep an eye out for plans, the email in my profile is active, shoot me an email now and then to remind me to keep you in the loop when we're planning stuff for next summer.
last edited: 10/10/06 10:12:11 AM”

“OK Roam, I'll try and do that and thanks!

RMH.....Coloradoooo!!!!!”

“Great Pictures! Gives me that great feeling of cold wet weather that chills you right to the core! (joyous weather)

That dead moose head is starting to stink up our living room!”

“mmmmmmm, runny moose brains!”

“Great TR and pics....looks coooooold out there!

Roam, you really wanna go "off the beaten path?" Uh, i wont be on that trip with you. hahahahahaha”

“chicken!

LOL

really, it'll be ok! Truuuuuust meeeeee.”