September 10th
Camp high, hike low. Well, this morning it was camp high and hike higher. I had a steady climb up to Hope Pass. It was cold and clear. I like getting a climb done straight away in the morning. I passed a fancy abandoned log cabin compound. It had at least three buildings plus what looked like a root cellar.
Hope Pass was interesting. I guess because of the name, somebody had attached some Tibetan prayer flags. At least I think they were Tibetan. I went to an impoverished public school and Tibetan was not one of the choices for foreign languages. It made me wonder how effective they were. After all, Tibet’s leader has been exiled something like 60 years and presumably at least a few of his fans have placed some flags somewhere.
Regardless, it seemed like a nice gesture. I continued down the eastern slope as the sun rose. I witnessed an amazing scene. Looking up at the ridge to watch the sun rise, I saw a couple bighorn sheep at the crest. The sun, from the other side, was heating up the wet ground and wool and sending a little steam up. Wow. I tried to get video, but by the time I got the camera out, on, in movie mode, and zoomed, the moment was gone. Still, I have it in my head. Oh, the valley I came down was Sheep Gulch.
As I came down off Hope Pass, I got to experience some dumb trail. Basically, for about 2 miles, the trail goes up and down slightly while it runs parallel to a forest service road. It must be these trail associati0ons have excess funds and feel compelled to build a trail even if it duplicates a perfectly acceptable dirt road nearby.
I then had a gradual climb up along Clear Creek. The weather was fine, so the steady grind uphill was not as bad. I went by a trail head that provided access to one of Colorado’s 14ers. They are passionate about their 14,000′ peaks and many residents consider it a rite of passage to climb all of them. This was Huron Peak on the maps, but the trail signs inflated the title to Mountain. Indeed, Huron needs all the help it can get at 14,003′. One mischievous teenager and a shovel could knock this one down 4 feet and it would be a mere Peak again.
Further still, I trudged my way up past Lake Ann. I needed to get over Lake Ann Pass to reach my goal for the day. Lake Ann, at 11,800′ is beautiful with a small island and glorious alpine colors. I finally cleared the Pass at 12,600′. It was so cool to reach the pass, have the sun shine and the wind blow as I began the long series of switchbacks down the hill.
Once I dropped below treeline, I began looking for level ground for a campsite. It was a good slope, so, as was becoming my habit, I raced darkness to find a flat place to cowboy camp. I ended up with something less than ideal near the trail and got a good night’s sleep.
backpacking over the hill 