SOTA outings by KØMOS and contributors

Tag: Foothills

  • WØC/FR-Ø69 (Prospect Mountain) – 2707 m / 8900 ft

    ATTENTION: This trip report is outdated. The City of Estes Park implemented a (new) trail up the mountain. You cannot access the summit legally from the new trail. Reports say you can get into the AZ.

    Prospect Mountain is a prominent landmark in downtown Estes Park, the gateway to the  Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It is easily accessible by a short but enjoyable hike up the south side or even with a tramway from the north. The actual summit is about 300 ft above the tramway summit station and can be reached by walking along a gravel road. The summit hosts a bunch of communication equipment, which is visible from most of Estes Park. I have chosen to hike up the south side, an approximately 30 minute hike.

    The Trailhead
    The Trailhead

    Trailhead:  7977 ft/ 2431 m
    Summit:     8900 ft / 2713 m
    Elev. gain:  1001 ft / 305 m
    Roundtrip: 1.8   mi / 2.9 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    From downtown Estes Park, take S. St. Vrain Avenue (US 7) towards Allenspark. Take a right onto Peak View Drive after about 2 miles (there is a wind turbine on the left, just before Peak View Drive). After about 1.1 miles, park you car at a small pull out with a cinder block structure on the right (see picture above) . The trail starts behind the cinder block structure.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    There is some private property along the trail.

    The Ascent:

    Prospect Mtn - Elevation Profile
    Prospect Mtn – Elevation Profile
    Wildflowers along the way
    Wildflowers along the way

    The ascent does not present any challenges. The well established trail follows along private property before turning north east. Every now and then you will find stone cairns to help with navigation, increasingly towards the summit. It continues to meander through Pines and rock outcroppings before reaching the flat and rather large summit. Since we had some late moisture this year, wildflowers and Cacti are blooming everywhere and hummingbirds were buzzing around my head.

    The Summit:
    There is plenty of space to setup the equipment on the rather large summit, even for larger groups of activators. Many trees, dead and alive to strap you mast or antenna to.

    Buddipole on the summit
    Buddipole on the summit

    I have chosen a large dead tree with one of it’s branches sticking up in the air to bungee my mast for the Buddipole  to. With all the commercial antennas up on the mountain, it was no surprise that my SWR meter went bonkers. The FT-817 was fine though and I was calling CQ on 20 m in no time. Since this was only the first of several activations planned for today, I spent only a short time on the summit, packing up after I did no longer get any responses to my calls.

    The Descent:
    Descent is straight forwards, following the same route I cam up.

    Some video impressions:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSL8PRR1MNo

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø36 (Bighorn Mtn.) – 3487 M / 11463 ft

    It was a ‘last minute’ decision to go on this activation. WØC/FR-Ø36 or Bighorn Mtn.  is located within Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), just east of the Mummy Range (Continental Divide). Yesterday we got some snow/rain in the mountains and the road to Mt. Evans is already closed for the season. Trail-ridge road was temporarily closed as well. The weather forecast for today was excellent (at least until later in the afternoon). However, I woke up to thick fog so I could not even see the road, let alone the mountains. The drive up to Estes Park was slow, thanks to the fog and to some heavy trucks in the canyon. I arrived ten minutes later than planned at Lawn Lake trail-head to a beautiful blue sky, bugling elks  and pleasant temperatures.

    Bighorn Mtn. – Trailhead

    Trailhead: 8552 ft/ 2565 m
    Summit:   11463 ft / 3847 m
    Elev. gain: 3280 ft / 1000 m
    Roundtrip: 9.0 mi / 14.5 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Enter RMNP through the Fall River Entrance Station and take a right at the Lawn Lake trail-head sign. A rather large parking lot which can be found shortly after.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    The trail-head provides toilets and the usual information kiosk.

    Red Tape:
    – RMNP is a federal fee area

    The Ascent:

    bla
    Bighorn Mtn. – ElevationProfile

    Bighorn Mtn – Views from the river banks

    Since there is no established trail to Bighorn Mtn., I consulted Google Earth to find a suitable route. An approach from the west seemed to be a good solution because I could follow the Lawn-Lake Trail for about 3.5 miles before turning east, bushwhacking my way up to the summit. The Lawn-Lake trail follows the Roaring River through a gorgeous forest, mainly pines but with a few Aspens groves which sparkled yellow and golden already. On several occasions along the the river you get an idea of the massive flood that occurred here in 1982, killing several hikers/campers. Huge boulders were swept down-rivers like marbles.  The steep banks of the river also allow some very scenic views of the northern Mummy Range. Shortly after passing the sign to the Cutbank and Golden Banner camp areas, I left the comfortable trail and started the steep and unpleasant bushwhacking part. I tried to aim for the saddle between Bighorn and Tileson. It was very slow going. Thick forest, steep terrain and slippery boulders (thanks to the rain, the lichens on the boulders were very slick) hampered my progress. Every now and then, I could get a glimpse through the trees to the Mummy Range – a spectacular view from the summit seemed very likely.

    The Summit:

    Bighorn Mtn – The Summit?

    After breaking through the tree-line, I could finally see where I was heading. There were several rock-outcroppings at the top to choose from. The first one I climbed was of course not the summit, but the second one was the highest point and I found a summit book which confirmed that I had indeed reached the top of Bighorn Mtn. The summit is rather large, ideal for multiple activators at the same time. The views are spectacular, one of the best in this area for sure. My initial calls on 2m were unanswered but the HF antenna was up and tuned in no time. Phil/NS7P was the first who answered on 14.343 and thanks to his spot the summit was activated successfully in no time.

    The Descent:
    I tried to find a gentler and easier way down, heading more towards the saddle. The fact that I could actually see where I am going helped quite a bit. The first part was just fine but I ended up in similarly steep terrain, trying to find the Lawn Lake trail. I hit the trail at the same location I had left it, thanks to GPS technology :)

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4DjZ5q9cj0

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-ØØ2 (Grays Pk.) – 4341 m / 14270 ft and WØC/PR-Ø13 (Torreys Pk.) – 4340 M / 14267 ft

    I picked the perfect early fall day to activate Grays Pk. (WØC/FR-ØØ2) and Torreys Pk. (WØC/PR-Ø13). There was no cloud in the sky all day long to threaten the activations. The two 14ers, which can easily be reached from Denver, are separated by only about 0.7 mi / 1.1 km and are commonly climbed together. Besides the scarcity of oxygen they do not pose any challenges. A well established and easy to follow trail leads up from the parking lot through Stevens Gulch all the way up to the summits. Pick either one to start with but in my opinion you are better off climbing Grays Pk first (meaning it is easier). Both peaks can be climbed all year round. To assist a winter climb, they have huge stone cairns along the way. If you are familiar with the French comic book series Astérix le Gaulois, the cairns have the size and form of Obélix. Or maybe my brain just played tricks on me, lacking oxygen.

    Grays/Torrey – View up the valley

    Trailhead: 11300 ft/ 2565 m
    Summit:   14270 ft / 4341 m (Grays) – 14267 ft / 4340 m (Torreys)
    Elev. gain: 3731 ft / 1137 m
    Roundtrip: 7.8   mi / 12.6 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    As mentioned, access to Grays/Torreys is rather easy coming from Denver. Follow I70 West, take exit Bakerville (#221) and turn left just after the ramp. This is the winter TH (FSR  189). Follow the dirt road for about 3 miles to the parking lot at the TH. Make sure to check the status off the dirt road if you are driving a ‘normal’ car. It’s kind of rough but my Outback made it without problems. Just take it slow.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    – Parking lots fill up quickly, specifically on week-ends.
    – Rough road

    The Ascent:

    Grays/Torreys – Elevation Profile

    One of the best resources to check the status of the trail, trail-head etc. is the 14ers.com Website. Check the latest trip reports and photos before you leave.
    As already mentioned the trail is easy to find and follow. I went up Grays Pk. first. Since I left my QTH at 3:30 AM, I arrived early at the TH and pulled into an almost empty parking lot at 5:40. It was still pitch dark and below freezing, there was no wind or cloud in the sky. I used my headlamp for the first minutes to cross the bridge and get on my way. On my way up I passed two groups of hikers and finally arrived on the summit at 8:45 AM. A group of Mountain goats welcomed me on the summit – but kept a safe distance, not like the one on Mt. Evans.

    The Summit:

    Grays Pk. – My Shack

    Arriving at the summit of Grays Pk (North Americas highest elevation in the Continental Divide) I setup my shack in one of the two stone shelters on the summit. A group of six hikers were having a good time in the other one. I setup and tuned the antenna for 20m. Going through the frequencies I heard special event station W6P calling CQ on 14.285 and I got my first contact within minutes of arriving on the summit – an excellent start. Just over 30 minutes later I had no more takers to my calls and started to pack up my stuff to move on to the next summit. By then, I had a lot of interested people surrounding me and enough time to answer all the questions. The most asked question was: “How far does your signal go?” Most were amazed to hear all the states I just contacted with just 5W. And it is amazing thinking about it… one just stops thinking about it after doing it for 14 months.

    The route over to Torreys Pk. is again easy to find, even without the people caravan. You loose about 600 ft ASL before the steep ascent to Torreys Pk. When I arrived, the summit was very crowded and I could not find a safe location to setup the antenna. I opted for a spot about 10 ft below the summit to make sure nobody trips over my guy-lines. As usual during the HF setup I called CQ on 2m, hoping to make some local contacts but my calls were not returned. I definitely had better luck on 20m. The most unusual contact I had up there (or at all) was KB5FJN/Bill. We exchanged our signal reports (both 55) and our QTH… he was sitting on Grays Pk., the summit I just activated an hour ago just 0.7 miles north of me. Too bad I did not bring my binoculars… I sure could have spotted him up there.

    The Descent:
    The climb down was never ending , or at least it felt that way. I waited for Bill/KB5FJN on the saddle between Gray Pt. and Torreys Pk., trying to meet him in person – no luck. I could not spot him among all the people coming from Grays. I pressed on after about 15 minutes to avoid some of the heavy traffic on I70 going back to Denver on a Sunday afternoon. I am glad I did, turns out Bill never made it towards Torreys Pk. Driving back down slowly to I70 I was able to enjoy the yellow/golden Aspens glowing in the afternoon sun along the road – fall certainly arrived in Colorado.

    Some video impressions:

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • Antenna Restrictions on Mt. Evans? The Conclusion

    I finally received a letter from the Clark Creek Ranger District regarding my encounter on Mt. Evans (read the first part of the story if you are not familiar with it).  It took me almost six weeks and several e-mails to get an official statement from the Ranger District.  I guess an underfunded federal agency has more pressing issues to deal with.

    The good news is that it was an over-eager FS employee who kicked me off the mountain.

    The bad news is that, according to the letter, the Federal Code of Regulation [36 CFR 261.10(a)], which applies to communication equipment, is written with some built-in ambiguity and might be interpreted differently in other Forest Service units.

    Official Response

    Well, I will deal with another interpretation if and when I run into another issue. The Clear Creek Ranger District interpretation however makes sense to me – chapter closed!
    I really appreciate the clarification.

    Read the entire letter by clicking on the thumbnail to the right.

    That’s my last post from Mt Evans but there are two more pictures  I wanted to share.  The first one was shot at the Summit Lake trail-head early in the morning. The trail starts on the right side of the picture, goes up the ridge to Mt. Spalding and over to Mt. Evans.

    Panorama of the Mt. Evans Area

    Mountain goat on Mt. Evans

    The second picture is from a close encounter of the third kind… well, not quite but is was remarkable. This unflinching mountain goat approached me. The picture is shot with a 52mm lens, not a tele-photo lens. He came up to me at arms lengh… too close for my taste. I normally try to keep a save distance between wild animals and myself, but this guy was not shy at all. Since I had never heard about occurrences of rabies in mountain goats and since I received some goat combat lessons earlier in the year (courtesy of Rooster) on my trip to Mt. Herman, I took the chance to take some real close-up shots instead of retreating.

    Comments are open, feel free to add your thoughts.

    73, Matt/KØMOS

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø88 (Mount McConnel) – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Waking up this morning,  I was not sure whether I saw fog or smoke when I looked out of the window. However, my nose was clear about what was going on – it was definitely smoke… coming from a large wild-fire (Hewlett fire) just a few miles north of here. It has been burning for the last six days and consumed over 7300 acres (~30 square km) in the Poudre Canyon, one of my main access routes to SOTA summits. Checking the Web confirmed that Co14 was closed between Ted’s Place and Rist Canyon due to the fire. I was planning to activate Mount McConnel, an easy hike of ~4,2 mi (6,8 km) and 2110 ft (643 m) ASL, about 10 miles up the Canyon from the fire. The road closure forced me to take an alternate route through Rist Canyon to get to the trail head. The early morning drive along the small and winding road was very enjoyable and I reached the trail-head ahead of schedule. The bridge over the Poudre River to Mountain Park Campground (where the TH ls located) was still closed for the season – so I parked the car on the downhill side of the road on a small gravel strip and started my hike. The temperatures were perfect, low 60s with a light breeze. Wildflowers started to come out everywhere and I quickly found my rhythm heading up the trail.  Hanging out with my own thoughts, I almost stepped on a large male Dusky Grouse who panicked and flapped nervously into the trees. He almost gave me a heart-attack, but I was glad it was just a grouse and nothing more predatory. Shortly after that incident we had another encounter. This time it was a little more civilized and relaxed, at a safe distance. He displayed his square tail but did not allow me to take a good picture – too bad. By the time I reached the summit, it was partly cloudy and with all the particles in the air from the raging fire not too far from here, the views were not as good as I had experienced last time.  I used the top of a tree (growing below the cliff) to attach and tune my antenna for 17m. My first contact was with Kriss/KA1GJU/AM who was en route to San Francisco. He was just about 50 miles east of me at 36’000 ft (~11’000 m) and was kind enough to use his unique position and 400 W radio to drum-up some more contacts – thanks a bunch Kriss. 17m was not very productive so I re-tuned to 20m and worked most of my regular chasers. By the time I could not copy any more chasers, more clouds already moved in and the winds picked-up too. A sign to pack up and head down.

    Thanks for all the contacts and spots.

    Update: Sadly, since then Mount McConnel has now been consumed by the Highpark fire as well. As of yesterday, two more SOTA summits are within the burn area.

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvG7_AnVAk

    Please post comments or questions through YouTube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-127 (Signal Mountain) – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Signal Mtn. – View from the summit

    From my prior activation in September 2011, I knew that it was going to be a long hike (11.7 mi/18.8 km – 4064 ft / 1239 m) mostly within the tree-zone. The two summits (Signal Mtn and South Signal) are just pushing their ‘heads’ above the treeline providing some amazing views.

    My backpack with Yagi

    Besides my normal gear, I also carried a ‘tape-measure’ Yagi antenna I wanted to test on the summit. The first two miles of my hike went as expected but the following 2-3 miles through the forest were extremely difficult. A winter-storm must have destroyed large parts of the Bulwark Ridge. Trees were lying around everywhere. And I am not just talking about dead-trees… large and healthy trees were broken apart like tooth-picks, blocking the way to the summit. It was a very time-consuming and exhausting hike, climbing over trees or trying to find a way around it. Often I

    Devastated Forest

    had a difficult time finding the trail again. Finally, the last 1-2 miles above the tree-line provided more challenges in form of big, soft, and deep snow-fields. Without having any ‘floatation-devices’, I was post-holing through approx. 3-4 ft of snow. Luckily I brought my gators – keeping at least my feet dry. It took me almost 4 hours to reach the summit (compared to 3’10” in September). The view from the summit was worth it though. After setting up my antenna, I  was hiding from the wind behind the small stone-shelter on the top. The wind behaved kind of strangely… completely calm for several minutes, followed by very strong gusts for a couple of minutes and back to complete calmness again. One of the stronger gusts took my antenna down (again), just after switching from 20m to 17m. Unfortunately the stinger of my shock-corded whip got bent during the process . I guess its time to use some of those spare parts. I took it as a sign to leave and packed-up my gear, knowing that it would take me quite a while for the ~6 miles climbing over all the trees again. At least it was downhill this time. I have to admit that I was pretty tired by the time I reached my car.

    Thanks for all the contacts and spots.

    Some video impressions:

    Please post comments or questions through YouTube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø61 (Taylor Mountain) – 2779 m / 9134 ft

    Taylor Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø61) is part of the Front-Range of the Rocky Mountains and located south of Estes Park, close to the towns of Boulder and Longmont. Now that I am writing about this activation, it occurs to me that I should have left the first activation of this peak up to Jerry/KDØBIK – it would have been a nice touch for the first activator to share the same name than the mountain. I guess it’s too late now – sorry Jerry. You can still try to first activate Taylor Mountain in the Sawatch Range.

    Trailhead: 8415ft / 2565 m
    Summit:   9134 ft / 2784 m
    Elev. gain: 908 ft / 277 m
    Roundtrip: 3.5  mi / 5.6 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Taylor Mountain is close to Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Estes Park and Fort Collins. Go west on CO 66 (Ute Highway north of Longmont) towards Lyons. In the quaint village of Lyons take a left (south) onto 5th Avenue or CO-7 which is also St. Vrain Drive. Continue on CO-7 through the gorgeous St. Vrain Canyon until you encounter CO-27 on your left. From there it is another 2.2 mi (3.5 km) to where you have to take a right onto Taylor Road, a dirt road that leads through a small subdivision.  The trail-head is now just 0.7 mi (~1.1 km) ahead of you.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    Taylor Mountain is managed by the National Forest Service. There are no permits or entry fees required. The parking possibilities at the TH are limited which might not be an issue as soon as the FS opens the gate to all the forest roads up there.

    The Ascent:

    Elevation Profile

    For most of the way you can hike along forest service roads. The TH is located at FR-330. A gate blocks access to the FR system – it was still locked for the season,

    Taylor Mountain as seen from TH

    preventing access of motorized vehicles. FR-330 leads gently up the slope through a thinned out pine forest. Several larger areas were completely cut-down… the purpose is unknown to me but a good guess might be to control the Mountain pine beetle infestation. Soon you will encounter the intersection with FR-330B – take FR-330B towards the right. FT330B is not much of a road and feels more like a hiking trail (for most parts anyways). A sign indicates where FR-330B ends… but a narrow track continues uphills and eventually reaches the summit. Navigation or terrain is not much of a challenge and this, combined with the short distance (3.5  mi / 5.6 km round trip) makes it an easy morning hike.

    The Summit:

    View from the Summit

    The summit is rather flat and the highest point is defined by a large stone cairn with a summit register in a peanut jar. The views are limited due to the trees but you can take a peek through the trees at some 14ers near the Continental Divide. Longspeak and Mt. Meeker are visible as well as some peaks in the Mummy Range. The summit can easily accommodate several activators and provides ample space and trees for antenna and guy-lines. I made 20 contacts in ~40 minutes on 20m and 17m.

    The Descent:
    I followed the same route back to the car but managed to get lost on my way down, loosing the faint trail just a few minutes after leaving the summit. A look at map and compass and a little bit of bush-whacking finally brought me back on the trail.

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jUbml6wBNg

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

     

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-15Ø (Thunder Peak) – 3083 m / 10134 ft

    I had planned a double activation for today. Thunder Peak or WØC/FR-15Ø was the first on the list.The weather forecast was great for the Estes Park area and a friend of mine joined me for the hike. We drove into Estes Park and were surprised to see how much snow the mountains got during the week. Dark clouds were hanging in the Mummy Range (Continental Divide). A stiff wind greeted us when we left the car at the trail-head. Light snow-flurries were present for the first part of the hike, even though we had blue skies above us.

    Trailhead: 8244 ft / 2513 m
    Summit:   10134 ft / 3083 m
    Elev. gain: 2051 ft / 625 m
    Roundtrip: 4.5  mi / 7.2 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Thunder Peak is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. Go left on County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. Follow the road all the way to the end. There is a campground at the very end – as well as the East Portal of the Big Thompson Project Pipeline. Park your car at the loop of the road (there is room for about 10 cars on a gravel strip at the south side of the loop.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    East Portal with Reservoir

    Follow the dirt road at the end of the loop (SE) towards the reservoir and East Portal trail-head. The kiosk of the trail-head can be found when you follow the road on the right-side (north) of the reservoir.

    Red Tape:
    At the East Portal of the Adams Tunnel is a small (really small) reservoir – and the surrounding area is Federal property. You are not supposed to park, fish, boat, pee etc. within 100 yards of the dam – Homeland security and such. Thunder Peak is within the RMNP, ergo it is a fee area and their rules apply (no dogs etc.) I am not sure about RMNP entry fees… since the parking lot is outside of the park, I think you are not required to have a NP pass. I have a yearly pass anyway and therefore did not look into this further.

    The Ascent:

    Elevation Profile
    Turn left after the Horse hitch

    For the first few hundred yards we followed the dirt-road on the north-side of the Reservoir to the kiosk. We continued on the dirt road along Wind River (more like a small creek) to a concrete retention pond. About 20 yards before the pond there is a faint trail to the right which continues to follow the creek. It was hard to see on our way up and we missed it. The result was some bush-whacking until we found the trail again. [UPDATE (3/13/13): There is now a new sign pointing you into the right direction. You cannot miss it.] On the opposite site of the creek are some nice rock-outcroppings. Right around the horse hitch we left the established Wind River trail and turned towards the drainage between Thunder and Lightning Peak.

    See what I found

    First we had to cross the creek which was easy with the current water-level. We kept going along the drainage through lodge-pole pines and areas of aspen groves -always staying on the left (NE) side of the drainage where we encountered more open areas. As a result we made good progress. Interestingly, the soil in the drainage was very soft and sandy – sometimes we found big piles of sand as if a few kids had destroyed their sand-castle. You can’t get lost if you stay in the drainage and keep going all the way up to the saddle between Thunder and

    Where are we?

    Lightning. From there you can see the summit and head up there. We wanted to shave off some time and took a more direct line to the summit since we were aiming for a second activation. Every now and then I verified our position with the GPS to see whether we were still on the plotted track. Heading up the south-west side was quite a work-out… it was rather steep (around 30%) and with the soft and sandy soil it felt like climbing sand-dunes. Having enough momentum was sometimes crucial to overcome a section.

    The Summit:

    On the Summit

    The views from the summit are spectacular. There are quite a few SOTA peaks right in front of you. To the south are Estes Cone (WØC/FR-Ø39), Longs Peak (WØC/FR-11Ø) and Mount Meeker; to the East, Lily Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø50), Twin Sister Peak East (WØC/FR-Ø37) and West. To the north we could see Emerald Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø58 ) and Eagle Cliff Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø68 ) and finally to the west, the Continental Divide and the Mummy Range with too many SOTA summits to list. The summit was very windy but the skies to the west looked a lot friendlier than earlier in the morning. Setting up the equipment was very efficient due to the fact that I had help and Phil/NS7P was my second contact after just a few CQs. His spot posted on SOTAwatch attracted the usual chasers within minutes (thanks guys).

    The Descent:

    Ben running downhills

    The descent was quite fun… the soft and sandy soil allowed us to run/slide downhills towards the saddle and finally turn north into the drainage again, following our ascent route back to the trail-head an car. We only took the time to exchange our empty water bottles with full ones and off we went, heading to the second summit, a ~30 minutes drive.

    Some video impressions:

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø68 (Eagle Cliff Mtn.) – 2709 m / 8906 ft

    Eagle Cliff Mountain (WØC/FR-068) is part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains – just six miles south of Estes Park, right at the border to Rocky Mountain N.P. (the summit is within RMNP). There is no official trail up to the summit, but it seems to be a popular hike based on the faint network of trails. The ascent can be tackled from either County Road 66 (south slope) or from the RMNP side (NW slope via Moraine Park/Museum parking lot). I have chosen the south side of the mountain because I wanted to activate Emerald Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø58) as well (see separate trip-report) – Emerald Mountain is just a few miles up the road and thus the two make an ideal pair for a double activation. Both hikes are relatively short in terms of miles, but steep. The drive up the Big Thompson Canyon took a little longer than usual due to the fact that the road was still snow-covered with icy spots in some areas. When I exited the canyon near Estes Park, the sky was blue and no cloud was in sight – a welcome indicator for a great day ahead.

    Trailhead: 7836 ft / 2388 m
    Summit:   8906 ft / 2709 m
    Elev. gain: 1216 ft / 371 m
    Roundtrip: 2.3  mi / 3.7 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Eagle Cliff Mountain is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. turn left onto County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. The TH is right after you pass the ‘Dunraven Inn‘ on the right side of the road. There is a small dirt road with a metal-gate… you have to be very creative in finding a parking spot for your car (see Red Tape). If you pass the gate to the YMCA, you have gone too far.
    A better option (in terms of parking ) might be to take US-34 into RMNP, then continue towards Moraine Park and park on the Museum parking lot.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:

    • Eagle Cliff Mtn. is within RMNP – therefore all their rules and regulations apply. RMNP is also a fee area. You don’t have to pay the fee when coming from CR-66 because you will be parking outside of the regular park entrance. If you choose to tackle the summit over the NW-slope, you have to go through the regular entrance and pay the day fee ($20.00).
    • Parking near/along CR66 (Tunnel road) is difficult. All the signs along the gravel strips on the right side of the road are indicating private property, and promise to tow your car.

    The Ascent:

    EagleCliff Mtn – ElevationProfile

    EagleCliff – Sign

    From CR-66 I hiked west, passing the metal gate on the dirt-road. Two bridges lead over two creeks before the path intersects a trail leading into RMNP (Bear Lake Road). There is private property on your left and right, so make sure to respect the signs. As expected and hoped, most of the snow had already melted away and snow-shoes were not necessary. The ascent is straightforward, with hardly any challenges. You can (almost) see the summit from the base of the mountain and you just aim for it. Pick one of the faint trails through the grassy/brushy and steep slope – all of them seem to end up at the same slightly wooded area in the saddle just below the summit. I tried to stay more on the rocky-section of the mountain (south-west). There are a few rock-outcroppings you have to circumnavigate or, if you feel up to it, you can scramble/climb up with a few easy moves. This route provides mostly unobstructed views into RMNP all the way to the summit.

    The Summit:

    EagleCliff Mtn. – Operating from the Summit

    There is a steep cliff (~60 feet / 20 m) on the north-side of the summit, giving you a great take-off angle. The views are really spectacular – I know… I say that a lot… and it is always true but in this case you can not only see the massive mountains of the Mummy Range, Never Summer Mountains etc. but you can also look down into the Moraine Park area of RMNP. A rather unique view, giving a great impression of the power of the ancient glaciers. There are plenty of rocks and trees to guy the antenna (and I needed a well guyed antenna due to the winds), and within a few minutes I was calling CQ. I logged my first QSO with Rick (N4EX) @ 1730 UTC. It was my first time on 15m and my Buddipole antenna (vertical Versatee) seemed to perform well on this band. In addition to my regular chasers, I met a few new SOTA chasers on this band. I changed to 20m a little later on, since not all of  my ‘regulars’ could copy me on 15m.

    The Descent:
    I took basically the same route back to the car, hoping that it hadn’t been towed.  The descent was very enjoyable and I went rather slow to enjoy the views.

    Some video impressions:

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCHxwXusMvs

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø58 (Emerald Mountain) – 2810 M / 9237 ft – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Emerald Mtn. – View from the summit

    Today’s activation of Emerald Mtn. was my second summit of the day. Earlier I had activated Eagle Cliff Mtn. (WØC/FR-Ø58 ) on 15 and 20m (see separate trip-report) . Since Emerald Mtn. is just a few miles up the road and the weather was gorgeous, a double activation was an obvious choice. With my earlier acquired information about the trail-head and route, the ascent was a breeze. The south slope was almost snow free and snow-shoes were not required. Without the snow I could even find a small stone cairn on the trail to Glacier Basin campground. The cairn is just before you enter an Aspen grove and after a rock outcropping. That’s where I left the trail and headed towards the summit in an (almost) straight line. Distance and elevation gain is almost identical to Eagle Cliff Mountain, making today’s excursion a 4.5 mi (7.2 km) round-trip with a total of ~2500 ft (750 m) accumulated elevation gain.
    Luckily, the S8 noise I experienced last time on this summit was gone – making me believe that it was related to the approaching snow-storm. The winds however were quite strong – even stronger than last time and I had to guy the antenna really well. My extremities started to get cold thanks to the high winds and the fact that I was sitting in the snow  – even-though the sun was out. I packed-up my gear and went QRT after I did not get any further responses to my calls. It was indeed a wonderful day in the mountains.

    Some video impressions:

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW6KmzYLnOc

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!