Back On My Feet

Got back to hiking today. Although I went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks recently, there wasn't much in the way of hiking on that trip. It was mainly driving around looking at geysers, wildlife, and views. My last hike at a significant elevation was Quandary Peak on July 1st. So today I got off my rear end and back up on my feet. I drove to the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. I parked the car there and went off into the James Peak Wilderness.
This is an old school house in Tolland, CO. It is located along the road and train tracks that lead to the tunnel.

Moffat Tunnel's East Portal. The trailhead is to the right of the tunnel.





I went to Crater Lakes. The trail goes between two lakes that are probably only 100 yards apart. Very scenic. The wild flowers were blooming in full force. There is another lake further up the mountainside at about 11,000 feet. The trail up was steep, but the scenery was again great. I didn't spend as much time as I would like up there. It looked like a storm might be brewing. So I came on down. It started to rain before I got back to my car. I didn't get too wet. It didn't start raining hard till after I got to my car. There were still people going up despite the rain and lightning. That surprised me.


That's me looking down on one of the lower lakes.








A view of the lower lakes.









If you haven't discovered them already, I have additional pictures up of the Grand Teton & Yellowstone trip on my Picasa site. I just finished adding the labels to them the other day. Check them out if you like.

-M

Awesome

My friends, Charles and Tina, have made their second trip to Colorado this year. They drove from Florida. They picked me up in Denver last week, and we went to Wyoming. It was a trip down memory lane for me. Our destination was the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. I had been there before on a family vacation in 1981. The first stop on this trip was Grand Teton National Park. We did one hike in the park. We took a boat ride across Jenny Lake to get to Cascade Canyon Trailhead. We walked several miles up into the canyon. It was a beautiful hike. We saw a couple a couple of moose, and a lot of people when we were leaving. It was a popular hike. The rest of the day was spent driving around the park. We got stuck in a Bear Jam. We caught a couple of glimpses of the bear. I didn’t get a good of look to tell whether it was a Grizzly or a Black Bear. I think it was a Grizzly though.

Jenny Lake from the eastern shoreline. Looking towards Cascade Canyon.

Charles & Tina in Cascade Canyon.










The next day we packed up and headed to Yellowstone. We set up camp at Grant Village. From there we set out to look at Geysers and Hot Springs. This park requires lots of driving. There is a lot to see, and it is a huge park with lots of animal jams. We saw elk, moose, bison, marmots, coyotes, and grizzly bear with her cub. We also saw what we believed to be a wolf. Charlie was the only who saw it with binoculars. It took off before Tina and I had a chance to see it through the binoculars.

Morning Glory Pool. This a beautiful hot spring that is losing its color and heat due to people throwing junk into it.

Grand Prismatic Spring.










We abandoned our camp for the third night in Yellowstone. We needed some sleep. The campsites were right on top of one another, and there were a few rude neighbors right next to us who didn’t observe quiet hours. We went to Canyon Village and got a couple of cabins. They were not luxurious. I believe they were built in the first half of the 20th century for the workers. On the outside the cabins had the appearance of a shantytown. Fortunately, they had fixed up the inside so that they usable and not that bad. The cabins served their purpose for me. I got some descent sleep.

Me at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

A rainbow that forms in the mist of the Lower Falls.








We left Yellowstone last Sunday via the Bear Tooth Pass route into Montana. This is a very scenic drive. We stayed the night in Billings, Montana. It took about 9 hours to get back to Denver from there.

It was an awesome trip with awesome beer, awesome food, awesome choices, awesome scenery, awesome animals, awesome friends, awesome etc.

Awesome

-M

Elevation

I climbed my first 14er today. It is my second 14er if you can count riding up Pikes Peak in a vehicle in 1981. Anyway, I made it up Quandary Peak this morning. Its elevation is 14,265 Feet. It is a Class 1 trail all the way up. That means it is the easiest type of trail in the trail ratings. It was easy except for the altitude. The altitude was getting to me during that last 1000 feet of elevation gain. I gutted it out though. Lots of people on this hike. There is easy access to the trailhead, and it is a short hike to the top. Only 5.4 miles for a round trip. Although it felt longer. The top reminded me of Blood Mountain on a Saturday with all the people. That was all right though, most of the people were friendly. The only negative were some of the dog owners. Too many of them had no control over their dogs. A couple of dogs attacked another dog on top. These same dogs chased off a bunch of mountain goats on the way down. Owners were constantly yelling at their dogs to come back and the dogs were ignoring them. One dog was very lucky it didn't slide off the mountain on a snowfield. The majority of the trail was loose rocks. I would think that would be rough on the dog's paws; I know it was rough on my feet, and I wearing boots. Anyway, after tiring of the dog owners, I went about 100 feet down the mountain and enjoyed the view in peace. Here are some pictures.

Look! There is a pika on the rock.

View from the top of Quandary Peak. Looking down on McCullough Gulch

Me on the western ridge of Quandary Peak about a 100 feet off the summit.

Me again with Mt. Bross, Mt. Lincoln, & Mt. Cameron in the background. They are all 14ers.