
Subject:
[cohp] Digest Number 5126
From:
cohp@yahoogroups.com
Date:
8/19/2015 1:47 AM
To:
cohp@yahoogroups.com

County High Pointing in all 50 states
Yahoo! Groups
County High Pointing in all 50 states Group
2 Messages
Digest #5126
1
(no subject) by "hpflyz@juno.com" charleszerphey
2
Colorado/Utah trip by

Messages
1
(no subject)
Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:16 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"hpflyz@juno.com" charleszerphey
Laura,

It was a real pleasure meeting you at the Konvention and thankful for all your efforts and the many cohp'ers for keepin the website alive.

Charlie Z.
__________________________________________________________
Want to place your ad here?
Advertise on United Online
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/55d3aea2ca3a52ea22874st02vuc

Reply to sender . Reply to group . Reply via Web Post . All Messages (1) . Top ^
2
Colorado/Utah trip
Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:21 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
I just returned from a brief trip to Colorado and Utah with goals, in
order, Windom Peak, CO, Mt. Peale, UT, and Mt. Waas, UT.

My caving friend Robert (whom accompanied me to the Sidewalk in the Sky
on my successful attempt on Mt. Eolus 6 years ago on a trip with Dave
Covill and others) and his 21-year old daughter Lauren joined me in
Denver for the trip, landing on Wednesday and driving to Buena Vista
that night. Waking early the next morning (3 am) and walking to the
restroom, I counted 10 meteors in less than 3 minutes, then saw a few
more in another 5 minutes before returning to my tent.

Thursday we drove through several construction zones on the way to
Silverton, CO to catch the Durango/Silverton railroad by 2:30 pm.
Tickets here were discounted 10%, there is free parking on the streets,
and no backpack fee. The ride to Needleton is about an hour by train.
Lauren got blisters on her heels (not as bad as mine 6 years ago) and
slowed to about a mile an hour halfway in, so I went ahead and found
camp in the exact spot as my previous trip, at the last significant set
of woods on the left, a half mile before the trail split to Twin Lakes.
I set up the food bag line, my tent, and marked the camp with my tent.
They arrived just at sunset and set up their camp next to mine. We
had plenty of company, with campers at every block of trees. After
setting up camp, we watched the meteor shower, seeing a few in the
midst of the brightest Milky Way I can remember seeing, above Jupiter
Peak. One of the meteors was quite bright and long, and shot just over
the ridge near Jupiter Peak itself.

Lauren's feet were fine Friday morning, and she led the way up to Twin
Lakes, me breathing hard several feet behind most of the way up. We
took two routes up to the high valley above, then started our way up
the breakdown to the Windom saddle at 13400. I left a jacket, poles,
and water bottle behind on the breakdown halfway to the saddle, much to
the enjoyment of a marmot. Let's just say I now have a Marmot rain
shell, and a marmot hiking coat. Working our way up the false summit
was not too bad, then we crossed a joint to the true summit ascent,
which once seen kicked up my adrenaline and I finally got a boost of
energy. We had left camp at 5:30 and reached the summit at 10:45, all
to ourselves for 5 minutes, when 12 more people of various groups
joined us. We were back at camp at 3:30 pm.

The altitude slowed me and Robert down enough that we all decided to
head straight back to camp rather than head up for a look at Sunlight
Peak, plus not knowing how bad the 'leap of faith' is. We also saw a
few people heading down from Sunlight yelling rock a few times, so not
knowing how dangerous, or not, the red slope is with loose rocks also
contributed, as did having to go back down to about 13000 feet before
heading over and up. Back home I kind of wish I had given it a go, as
talking with several groups we met in Chicago Basin made it seem that
the leap to the summit boulder isn't that bad, although about half of
the people we talked to didn't make the leap.

Robert and Lauren went to sleep around 6:30 pm, while I talked with
three Navajo next to our camp, talking about our past and future
summits, marathons, and other travels. It was a great chat, and
reminded me that sometimes the people we meet and talk with are almost
as enjoyable as the hikes and scenery.

The train to Silverton leaves at 11:30 pm, and we were there an hour
early, chatting with other hikers until the train arrived. Back in
Silverton at 12:30, we ate lunch before heading toward Utah. Robert
and Lauren wanted a place with showers for the night rather than
driving to the base of Mt. Peale, so we stopped early in Norwood, CO,
leaving early the next morning instead.

#############################################
Trip report: San Juan county, UT Mt. Peale August 16, 2015 Ken
Oeser, Robert and Lauren Van Fleet

Taking a hint from Dave Covill's May 2000 report, we drove a bit over 8
miles on the gravel roads from Utah 46, following forest signs toward
La Sal Pass. Our 4-Runner didn't have tenths of miles on the odometer,
so I was watching the GPS road layout for the forest road Dave had used
on his way down. This is just past a turn to the south, about a
quarter mile from a lesser road signed for a lake to the right (east)
shown on the topo. Parking is available at the start of the northbound
forest road, but with 4WD and high clearance I was able to drive
roughly a half mile to the meadow at elevation 10243 shown on the topo
at the end of the road. Here we parked and walked north up the blocked
road to an obvious rock cairn on the right about a half mile uphill.
Here the trail is cairned through the woods to the base of the large
gully that goes north and northwest to the ridge west of Mt. Peale.
The gully is cairned, and the use trail is obvious as it leaves the
gully, but peters out for a short section, where we went more north
through the talus toward the ridge, then turned east and rejoined the
use trail up to the ridge. From here the trail becomes a trench in the
talus along the south side of the ridge, and is easily traversable to
the final saddle. With some small clouds getting bigger, I ate a
snack, took a couple of drinks, and left my pack at the saddle for the
final hike to the summit a quarter mile or less away. The rocks are
solid for the most part, and use trails are visible for some parts on
the final ridge. Once at the top, rock walls make a nice wind shelter
on the summit. No benchmark or register were found, but we enjoyed
great views down to Moab and Arches National Park in one direction, and
two shiprock-type mesas near Fisher Towers another direction. To the
southeast, impressive Paradox Valley was evident, formed by salt dome
collapse.

Starting time was 7:45 am, summit at 10:45 am, and down at 2:05 pm,
slowed by rockhounding our way down the gully for a good 30 minutes.

Birdwise I was surprised by two Mountain Chickadees at the Mt. Peale
saddle, and had American Pipits at the saddle and up at the summit. A
Raven and Red-Tailed Hawk circled by the summit while we were there,
and looking up on our descent of the talus gully I was able to spot a
Golden Eagle working its way over toward Mt. Tuk. A Blue Grouse was
seen on the way up and down near the base of the talus gully. Turkey
were seen on the forest road on the way in and out. Pika and a Marmot
were seen around the main saddle.
######################################

Not having enough daylight left to drive over and hike up Mt. Waas, we
settled for hiking up to Wilson Arch, dinner at Pasta Jay's in Moab,
and hiking over to Fisher Tower amphitheatre, before driving to Grand
Junction for the night, then flying home from Denver the next day.


Reply to sender . Reply to group . Reply via Web Post . All Messages (1) . Top ^
Visit Your Group

Yahoo! Groups
 Privacy  Unsubscribe  Terms of Use
