While visiting Colorado this past weekend, we decided to take a moderately challenging day hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area outside the quirky little town of Nederland. Leaving Denver on a clear morning with a mid-60s temperature forecast in the city, we were psyched for a crisp but sunshine-filled day in the mountains.
The plan was to start at the Fourth of July trailhead, a name that further conjured up a pleasant, sunny stroll on green slopes. For whatever reason, the word “Alpine” that had been used to describe the terrain did not fully register (with me, at least), and the balmy fall weather we had been enjoying in Chicago and Denver this year gave us a false sense of what to expect at an elevation of 10-11,000 feet in the Rockies in late October.
The drive to the trailhead quickly disabused us of any notions of a temperate trek. Sitting up reassuringly high in A’s 4WD pickup truck, we still bounced and skidded the last 25 minutes into the trailhead parking lot on an occasionally slick and consistently rutted dirt road. I was grateful for A’s careful driving as I sat in the back biting my nails and skittishly recoiling from my window view any time we approached the edge of the narrow road and the drop-offs below.
The trailhead, at 10,120’, had a few inches of snow and the air was a chilly 35 degrees, but the sky was a brilliant blue as we started the uphill climb through a series of switchbacks. As we ascended, though, the snow got deeper and deeper, and my choice of ankle-high socks and hiking shoes began to look a bit misguided as the snow rose to mid-calf with every step. Again, careful attention was necessary as we stubbed our toes and tripped on hidden logs, crossed the icy remnants of summer waterfalls, and traversed exposed areas with no branches or rocks to grab in case of a slip.
After a little over a mile the trail split, with the Arapaho Pass Trail going off to the right and the Diamond Lake Trail turning left. Here at 10,752′, we chose to go south to the lake because the slight headache J had noticed as the hike started was getting steadily worse, and the lake path was leveling out while the Arapaho Peak trail was continuing to ascend sharply. Alas, at about the two-mile mark, we had to make the most careful (and smart) move of the day; J’s headache was now surprisingly and frighteningly bad and accompanied by some nausea, so we needed to reduce elevation quickly. Flying in from the flatlands of Illinois the night before, spending a quick evening in mile-high Denver, then attempting to trek high and fast to nearly 11,000’ the next morning proved to be a little aggressive!
This was our first time hiking in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area, and it was a gorgeous introduction. In the summer, the waterfalls and wildflowers are apparently stunning, and there are a number of trails and campsites that branch off from various trailheads. The Fourth of July Road does not open until late May or even June due to snow cover, and it closes by mid-November, just a few weeks away now. At any time of year, the last few miles of the access road would be difficult for a passenger car, no matter the weather conditions, and any hike at this elevation requires care and preparation. Perhaps we weren’t quite careful enough in our planning this time, but we can’t wait to go back!
This post was prompted by the Weekly Photo Challenge: Careful. See other entries by clicking on the link.
graydaysandcoffee said:
Gorgeous photos. Altitude sickness stinks. I hope your next trip to Co. goes better for you!
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lexklein said:
Thanks! We’ve hiked there quite a bit, so this was a weird reaction for my husband. Luckily, I have never been struck with altitude sickness; I’ve even slept at 18,000′ and been fine! Altitude tolerance is a strange thing; my husband is the most fit of all of us yet he is the one who doesn’t sleep well at high elevations and now had this happen. I think he’s walking too fast!
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graydaysandcoffee said:
Tell him to slow the heck down! 🙂 We live right next to Colorado, so there’s scarcely been a year when we haven’t made a trip. But, with each year, I suffer more from altitude sickness. On our last ski trip, I was down for almost a whole day with a splitting headache and nausea. My daughter gets sick too, so not sure how many more trips we will be making.
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lexklein said:
Ugh, sorry for you! Fingers crossed I remain immune to it!
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graydaysandcoffee said:
I hope you do too!
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Darcy Alexander Shillingford said:
Beautiful, looks like such a scenic hike
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lexklein said:
Thanks – it really was stunning! In a way, I’m glad I did it first on a frosty cold day because everything was so vivid and bright. Just a bit of a shame we had to turn back early.
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Darcy Alexander Shillingford said:
No shame, it happens when you just go out looking for adventure.
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denisebushphoto said:
Great post… and warning! Looks cold!
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lexklein said:
Thanks! Like most hikes on a cold day, it was only chilly for the first few minutes. Once we were going steadily uphill and feeling the sun peek through the trees, we warmed up very quickly!
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Alison and Don said:
Nuts! You’re all nuts. But in a good way 🙂
Arduous but fun in the end I bet, being out in such gorgeous country.
Alison
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lexklein said:
“Nuts!” says the nut in a country with government travel warnings! I’d say WE are all nuts, but in a good way! And yes, it was really fun and gorgeous – wish we could have continued longer that day.
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quarksire said:
GweetingZ frum Colorado 🙂 …
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lisadorenfest said:
Definitely a bit agresive (insane?!?) but oh so very beautiful. That you made it as far as you did is amazing to me. Am sorry that your hubby succumbed to altitude sickness but tell him that even though I’ve sailed over 30,000 miles, I experienced sea sickness on our recent sail into Sydney. It happens.
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lexklein said:
I believe you are the second person to question my mental faculties in regards to that hike! Honestly, we had no qualms at all about it; I have regularly trekked well above that elevation and the snow on my legs was annoying but not awful! But you are right about the vagaries of altitude (and sea) sickness – there is never any guarantee that past experience will hold true again. I keep my fingers crossed every time that I will not be the one to get hit!
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