Back To High Colorado - 6.12.19 - 6.17.19
While you may think my title refers to the legalization of pot in Colorado, I was actually referring to the feet above sea level in the Rockies. As much as I love the incredible North Cascades of Washington state, I am always still blown away whenever I go back to beautiful Colorado where I grew up. Sadly, the main reason for my visit was to attend a memorial for a dear old friend. I did not expect to have any time to get up into the mountains but as fate would have it, I got to spend the better part of three days in the shadow of the backbone of the continent, the incredible Continental Divide, and even got in a couple of really enjoyable hikes.
Denver is more in the prairie than in the mountains and my first day there as I relaxed in an open space park I was surrounded by a large prairie dog town. The cute little critters were everywhere and quite curious as to what I was doing there.
Prairie dog with a fresh mani/pedi
On my third day in Denver opportunity knocked and I drove up the beautiful Coal Creek Canyon past Wondervu to the Peak To Peak Highway and then north to my friend Mike’s cabin in the town of Eldora. I had been there several times over the years but I’m always amazed at how beautiful the setting is for this old gold mining town. It had been established in 1875 and Mike’s cabin was originally built in 1888.
Mike’s cabin
Cabin interior
Cabin screened in porch
We had some time to kill before dinner so we decided to do a recon mission by driving up through the town on the dirt road to see if we could get to the end of the road at the 4th of July trailhead. This is a major entrance to the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Colorado had a very heavy snowpack this last winter but we had no snow on the road and made it all the way with no problem. Along the way we spotted three deer in a hillside meadow.
Deer with new fuzzy antler growth
Some thirty-three years ago, shortly after I had moved back to Colorado from my lost weekend living in Dallas, Dave Vidrik and I began to explore the mountains of Colorado in his 4 wheel drive Toyota pickup. This was one of the places we had visited and I remembered that we had come across a beautiful waterfall on the road to 4th of July trailhead. Mike and I stopped there and it was just as I had remembered it.
Waterfall along the road to 4th of July trailhead
We didn’t do any hiking that afternoon as it was already getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to drive into the town of Nederland to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, a Nepalese place called Katmandhu. The lamb vindaloo was delicious by the way.
The forecast had rain coming in so we the next morning we got up early to get a hike in before the deluge. In his youth, Mike lived out of state but their family would spend their summers at the cabin so he is very familiar with the area. We drove back up the road but stopped at the Hessie Trailhead and started on a trail that leads to Jasper Lake. The actual trail is an old abandoned mining road which is where the other hikers all went but Mike had a better plan. I followed him through the woods to the banks of the middle fork of Boulder Creek and we followed the river up instead of the abandoned road trail. I’m really glad we did because the river was just raging with snowmelt and we passed by several really big waterfalls along the way that were awe-inspiring.
Rainbow mist waterfall
Another gorgeous waterfall on our hike
A couple of miles up the river we rejoined the official trail and climbed up through the timber. Soon we topped out and the way opened up to a lovely meadow and we came around the corner to great views of the Continental Divide. This is where the trail enters the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
Meadow on the way to Jasper Lake
We knew that rain was on the way so we hiked to the top of the meadow to stop and have a snack and soak up the scenery. The trail continues up to Jasper Lake and eventually to Devil’s Thumb Pass.
Devil’s Thumb on the left. The pass is below the thumb
We ended up hiking about five miles that day but we had to cut it short to get back to Denver for a really great bbq at Mindy Jo’s house for a lot of dear old friends from the band days (thanks Mindy!).
But the mountains continued to call so that evening we left Denver again. Mike drove back to his cabin in Eldora. I went back up Coal Creek Canyon but this time when I hit the Peak To Peak Highway I turned south and in a short two miles came to the town of Rollinsville. From Rollinsville a dirt road heads up another stunning valley towards Rollins pass and the Moffat Tunnel. Five miles up that road my good friend Gina, whom I’ve known since high school has a great cabin and that's where I met her. The plan was to stay there and have Mike join us the next morning for another hike since Eldora is really just on the other side of the ridge from her place.
The beautiful valley leading to Rollins Pass. Gina’s cabin can be seen in the middle right side of the photo
Spring runoff coming from the Continental Divide
Mike met us the next morning and the weather was perfect. This hike was fascinating because Gina gave us a guided tour through a huge tract of land that her family owned. Apparently way back around the turn of the century (correct me if I’m wrong here Gina), her grandfather built a sawmill and supplied the timber used for the building and shoring up of the Moffat Tunnel. Their property runs way up Jenny Creek and abuts the road that winds up to Rollins Pass. Before the road was even built the train used to go through their property and past a large water tank where they would refill before the long arduous journey over the pass. Our eight mile hike led us through splendid aspen groves, up Jenny Creek and then climbed about a thousand feet of vertical through the woods up to the Rollins Pass Road high above the valley floor.
Love those aspens!
Rather than hike all the way down several switchbacks to get back to the cabin, we walked down a ways and then dropped off into the timber and through numerous groves of aspens, eventually dropping right back down to her cabin.
Gina, Mike and the author (who’s he?)
My entire visit back home was really great. I never seem to have enough time to see everybody but I did manage to see a lot of old and dear friends and of course I was really happy to have taken the time to get up into the mountains.