Mt. Harvard and Mt. Yale

Day 16

Miles hiked today: 18.7
Miles from Denver: 216.7
Elevation: 9,360 ft
Segments 12,13
Landmarks: San Isabel National Forest, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, Mt. Harvard, Mt. Yale, Buena Vista

VIEW MAP

I woke up this morning with the goal in mind of getting to CR-306, nearly 19 miles away. If I got there, I would be able to hitch to Buena Vista, my next resupply stop and a much needed shower and laundry. My decision last night to stop before the second climb of Mt. Harvard would make this a difficult proposition. Just looking up the Pine Creek corridor of monster mountains made me feel small, much less thinking of climbing over them.

I got going about 8 am; I still can't get out of camp any faster than about an hour after I wake up. Segment 12 included climbing the shoulder of Mt. Harvard at 11,800 ft, again to the east of the 14,420 ft peak. After that the trail starts a long 9 mile descent to the North Cottonwood Creek. I hoped to complete this by noon or 1 pm, because the next section involved a 2,400 ft climb up Mt. Yale. This was to be a big day.

In the end I was glad that I didn't climb Mt Harvard yesterday, because I never saw the side trail I would have been looking for for the campsite. I could only get oblique views of Mt. Harvard; the problem with climbing a mountain is it is a poor way to take a picture of it. Looking back I thought I could see all the way to Twin Lakes.

The nine mile descent took me past stream after stream, and there was a vast valley to the east which contained Buena Vista and US 24. I truly was on the edge of the Sawatch range, looking down on a vast plain, with another mountain range growing up from the far side.

When I got down to the road it was decision time. I had lunch and got some water, and it was already past 2 pm. I was already tired, but a night in a hotel room and some town food sounded mighty good. So I started to climb. Mt. Yale is 14,196 ft, and the trail crosses at a saddle at 11,880. There is a 2 mile side trail that will take you to the top, but this is not the regular trail to the peak, which approaches from the south, and requires a lot of rock scrambling. I am still not in full thru-hiker shape. I remember hearing somewhere that after about 6 weeks of hiking, you'll be in the best shape possible. On the AT, that means once you get into Virginia. Here on the CT, that means once you're done. So I struggle up the climbs, stopping every 30 feet or so to catch my breath.

Climbing up Mt. Yale

From a distance it looks as if the trail might go over the saddle above tree line, however it didn't. So when I got to the top, I couldn't see the peaks that loomed right over my head. However, the vantage point did provide a great view of the next mountain to the south. The descent was very steep, and there were several spots where they had cut the trail right into the side of a gravel slope.

Mt. Princeton to the south

I got to the road before 6 pm, which was pretty good. I crossed the road, stuck out my thumb, and the very first vehicle pulled over. This is a personal record. The guy's name was Duane, and he hiked the CT a few years ago. More trail magic! He wasn't even planning on going into town, but he was willing to drive me in and drop me at the grocery store. Within a short amount of time I was clean, fed and watching Denver news, which seems so irrelevant to me on so many levels right now.

The climb down

Collegiate Peaks Wilderness

Day 15

Miles hiked today: 16.6
Miles from Denver: 198
Elevation: 10,400 ft
Segments 11, 12
Landmarks: San Isabel National Forest, Twin Lakes, Clear Creek, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, Waverly Mountain, Pine Creek

VIEW MAP

I woke up this morning to see the magnificent sight of Mt. Massive covered in snow, shrouded by clouds. It actually dawned cloudy but then cleared by the time I was out of camp. It was a really beautiful day.

For breakfast I had the other half of the pizza that I had hauled out of Twin Lakes. Nothing like pizza for breakfast on the trail! I exchanged email addresses with Paul, as it seemed I wasn't going to keep up with him, and sure enough I didn't see him the rest of the day. I packed up and started down the trail, which first started around the southern part of the lake. Pretty soon, the Colorado Trail split from the Continental Divide Trail, which has been co-located with the CT for the last 99 miles, at Georgia Pass. The Continental Divide Trail stretches from Mexico to Canada through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and runs for about 3,100 miles. It is kind of like the longer, rougher, more remote cousin to the Appalachian Trail. The CT will meet up with it again later in the trip.

This section of the CT was re-routed 10 years ago, taking it out of Hope Pass, which is a beautiful climb up into the heart of the Collegiate Peaks but required about 6 miles of road walks. In exchange, the trail now meanders over some ridges due south of Twin Lakes, but stays off of road walks. The section just south of Twin Lakes is a maze of old logging roads, old mining roads and campgrounds. It is well that they label this trail at every turn, because no map or guidebook would have been able to help here. The guidebook also didn't mention the 50 yard long raspberry patch, which slowed me down considerably.

I could see from a distance that I was about to climb a small ridge, but couldn't see much beyond that. I was not prepared for the astonishing valley that was revealed when at the top of the ridge, with Clear Creek meandering nearly 800 feet below. Across from me was a massive mountain side, known as Waverly Mountain. This was also what I was about to climb. From the bottom of the valley, the mountain didn't look as tall, because I couldn't see all the way to the top. But once I started climbing it seemed like it would never stop. The climb was 2,700 feet straight up, and I started up about 2 pm. I knew that on the other side of this climb I would drop about 1,200 feet to another river valley, only to climb up another 1,200 feet to the shoulder of Mt. Harvard. This really added up to a lot of climbing.

In the end, one climb was enough. I descended down to Pine Creek after climbing the shoulder of Waverly Mountain and called it a day. The trail doesn't actually go to the peaks of any of the mountains in this section, mostly because some of these are 14,000 ft peaks and the trail has to be accessible more than a few months a year. For example, the trail crosses the saddle of Waverly Mountain at 11,640 ft, a mile or more east of the 13,309 ft peak. I'm not wishing I climbed more, but it does mean that from the top of the climb I was still in tree line and couldn't see much.

I am now in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, which includes peaks named for Universities like Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Columbia. Mt. Harvard was named first in 1869, then Mt. Yale. After that there was a rush for people to name the yet-unnamed peaks for their alma mater. It is a beautiful area, but the Colorado Trail skirts the range rather than goes through the middle. There is a suggested detour to the CT that I won't be doing, utilizing Hope Pass on the CDT then turning south on the Missouri Gulch Trail which is one of the largest alpine basins in Colorado, and out the Pine Creek Trail to where I am camped tonight. I guess I now know of a great short trip in Colorado for some other time.