39° North Photography

It’s been almost two weeks since my Deer Mountain hike and since I promised a post about it, I guess I better get on it. Especially since I plan to go on a NEW hike tomorrow!

Deer Mountain is the bumpy peak just off your starboard bow as you enter Rocky Mountain National Park via the Beaver Meadow entrance station. It looks like this as you’re entering the park:

I chose the moderate 6-mile Deer Mountain hike for my every-other-Friday hike at the beginning of April for two reasons: 1) I wanted to go somewhere that I hadn’t been before; and 2) I didn’t think there would be much snow. Turns out there was quite a bit more snow than I anticipated, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

The trail starts out meandering through a sparse ponderosa pine forest and opens up to frequent fabulous views of Longs Peak and other peaks to the south, as well as occasional glimpses of Horseshoe Park and the Mummy Range beyond.

 

After about a mile, the trail started switchbacking up the pretty much dry south and west sides of the mountain. At approximately the two-mile mark on this particular day, however, snow started to appear more frequently as the trail curved around the north side of the mountain and very soon it was entirely snowpacked and treacherously icy for a good long stretch.

I soon found myself following the tracks of a fellow hiker who had gone before me.

The trail eventually made its way back to the south side of the mountain with its clearer trail.

Shortly after this point, the trail got snowpacked again and started going downhill and I thought maybe I had actually reached the summit without knowing it and was inadvertently heading back down the other side. But another fellow hiker (not the same one who left the tracks above) wandered by and assured me that the summit was yet to come, so I forged ahead.

The spur trail to the top is clearly marked by a sign and it’s just a short but somewhat steep jaunt to the 10,013-ft. summit from there. It’s worth every bit of effort. WHAT A VIEW!!

(Click HERE for a larger view of the above panorama).

The wind kicked up dramatically soon after I reached the summit and the rain that had been forecast for the day appeared to be approaching rapidly from the south. I snapped a bunch of photos, downed a couple handfuls of trail mix and then managed to make it down the mountain before the weather hit.

 This was a really worthwhile hike. I’m going to have to do it again in the summer one of these days.

I set out last Friday on my first outdoor adventure of the year, a snowshoe hike to Mills Lake in Glacier Gorge, Rocky Mountain National Park. My last visit to Glacier Gorge in the summer of 2008 was one of my very first Colorado hikes since returning to the state in 2006, and I thought a return visit was in order, but in the winter this time.

The morning had started out completely gray and overcast, but within 10 or 15 minutes of commencing my hike, the blue sky took over. It was truly a “picture perfect” day.

I had really looked forward to running my new MSR Evo snowshoes through their paces on their maiden voyage (other than a brief jaunt on the golf course by my house at the end of last winter), but when the trail suddenly started looking like this…

…I decided that snowshoes were superfluous. I carried them for a while thinking that I MIGHT need them when I got back into the trees, but the snow was quite well-packed for the entire route so I finally stopped and strapped the snowshoes to my pack, where they remained for the rest of the day.

The final approach to Mills Lake via the winter route follows the streambed of Glacier Creek through a short, narrow gorge. The frozen creek was mostly covered with a thick layer of snow, but for a brief, treacherous stretch, the route was solid ice. I’m not sure how I made it through that section without falling and breaking something, but I somehow managed to get through it unscathed.

 

Once out of the narrow streambed, the stunning panorama of Glacier Gorge suddenly appeared past the log-strewn north end of Mills Lake.

I made my way to a flat expanse of rock on the eastern shore for some lunch and hot blackberry sage tea. At one point when I wandered off to take some photographs, a gray jay appeared and made an unsuccessful attempt at helping itself to the remains of my lunch. I shooed it away, but it didn’t go far. I really love gray jays.

One of my favorite things about hiking to alpine lakes in the winter is the opportunity to photograph the interesting ice patterns along the rocky edge of the lake.

The scenery in Glacier Gorge is so absolutely amazing and the weather was so perfect (not windy and bitterly cold like I’ve experienced in other winter visits to the area) that I felt like I could have stayed there for hours. However, after spending about an hour there, the mid-afternoon sun started dipping below the ridge and shadows started to creep across the frozen surface of the lake. I decided it was about time to head back.

One last look back at the gorgeous gorge…

I did NOT take the icy way back.

These photos and many more can be found on my SmugMug gallery site. Click HERE.

Skyline Drive is an interesting diversion if you ever find yourself in the Cañon City, Colorado area. Built in 1905 by inmates from the adjacent Colorado Territorial Prison, Skyline Drive snakes its way across the crest of a large hogback west of town. The very narrow, one-way road begins at a Craftsman-style stone arch, which was constructed in the 1930s and contains rocks from all 48 of the US states that existed at the time.

The hogback here is part of the Dakota Hogback that stretches along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains all the way from Wyoming down into New Mexico. The hogback is comprised of sediments that were washed down from the Ancestral Rockies, then uplifted during the Laramide Orogeny beginning approximately 70-80 million years ago.

As you begin the drive up the road, it’s hard to imagine that this route actually used to be a two-way road. This is a seriously narrow road with steep drop-offs and no guardrails, so if you’re at all intimidated by heights (or depths), it might not be a good idea to attempt to drive on this road.

About a mile into the drive, you will come upon an area known as the Dinosaur Trackway. In 1999, University of Colorado paleontology student, William Kurtz, discovered a large set of dinosaur footprints imbedded in the rocks at the top of the ridge.

According to the Dinosaur Depot Museum’s website:

These tracks were made during the early Cretaceous Period, approximately 107 million years ago. During that time this area was on the edge of the Western Interior Seaway. A group of dinosaurs were walking side by side through the mud along the edge of an estuary, probably eating the plants. The tracks were then filled in by sand and plant debris, which hardened to preserve them as casts of the actual tracks. After the sediments were deposited, the walls of the basin were raised by the Rocky Mountain uplift that tilted the rocks on edge. This explains why they bulge out instead of being a depression like one normally thinks of as a “footprint”.

I find it utterly amazing that this road was heavily used for close to 100 years before someone discovered that there were dinosaur footprints right there all along!!

While not for the faint-of-heart, the drive along Skyline Drive is definitely worth the trip.

After arriving at Blue Lake, my hiking companion and I found a nice flat rock along the shore and had a very tasty lunch and a bottle of wine and enjoyed the incredible view. The clouds were getting darker and we did have to scramble for our rain jackets at one point, but the rain was light and didn’t last for long.

After lunch, we continued on the trail around the north side of the lake and were delighted to find a few scattered patches of Colorado columbines high on a rocky slope above the lake.

HIking around the northwestern side of the lake gave us an awesome view of the waterfall that plunges directly into the lake.

All too soon, it was time to start heading back, with numerous stops along the way for more photos of the incredible wildflowers and scenery.

For additional photos from this incredible Blue Lake hike in the stunning Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, click HERE.