Hike #103 2020

November 21

On this particular Saturday, we set out on an adventure to an area we haven’t been before, and as it’s ski season, you bet we left home early in an attempt to beat the traffic heading up I-70. Scott and I always joke that our weekdays are for sleeping in (even though we both have to get up for work) and the weekends are for getting up early.

Winter drives to the mountains may be pretty, but they aren’t my favorite due to the possibility of snow and ice on the roadway, and since we’re usually driving in the dark up to our destination I tend to be extra cautious and aware of my surroundings. Fortunately for us I-70 gave us no issues, but the side road up to the trailhead was a bit slippery. Nevertheless, we made it and were greeted by freezing temperatures, snow flurries and clouds, which soon began to dissipate.

We were out on the trail by 7am and made our way up the side of the mountain. When we first started it was slightly breezy which made the already cold temps feel even colder, but with the steep climb coupled with the sun breaking through the clouds, as well as our several layers of clothing, we were pretty warm. Since the trail was covered in a small layer of fresh snow, the dogs were outfitted with their booties to prevent snowballs from building up.

As we continued up, the sun illuminated the surrounding peaks and clouds. The view is high up on the list of my favorite landscapes.

The clouds continued to part during our hike up. There wasn’t a defined trial that we were following due to the snow but we were simply making our way up the ridge towards one of the peaks. The views as we looked down were incredible.

When we reached the crest of the first mountain, we turned left and continued our way up. On this ridge we lost our shelter from the wind and it turned extremely gusty and cold. It was so windy and cold that we decided to put the dogs jackets on them to provide a little bit of extra protection. They may have lots of hair but they can get cold too! We took a couple breaks hunkering behind wind shelters made out of rocks.

We reached around 13,200 feet before making the decision to turn around. The wind was just too strong to hike on, the constant wind gusts were making us lose our balance and almost pushing us over. And like I mentioned, because it was so windy it made the temperatures extremely cold, Scott and I both agree this was the coldest hike we’ve done, and that’s saying something because we’ve hiked in sub zero temps (°F) before. We knew it would be for the best to turn around at this point considering the wind would just get stronger as we hiked up. We took some pictures quickly before heading back down and lessening our exposure to the wind which allowed us to take the dogs jackets off.

We hiked a total of 3.7 miles with 1,474 feet of elevation gain.