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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: December 26, 2004
- Miles Hiked: 5.4
- Elevation Gain: 2,564'
- Hiking Partner(s): Brandon Kirby
- Description:
- Brandon emailed me before the holidays and said that he would be in
town and was interested in getting a hike in. After reviewing our
schedules, we decided to attempt a peak with reasonable access not too
far away from Denver. We met at the park and ride near Morrison
and headed up the Interstate. We were able to drive to within 1
mile of the standard trailhead in Stevens Gulch.
- The trail was hard packed from lots of travel and snowmobiles.
This was good since we only had one pair of snow shoes. We hiked
up to the trailhead and continued on around the east side of Kelso
Mountain on the normal trail. We could see spindrift along Kelso's
south ridge for much of the hike, but we were adequately dressed and
continued on. The weather was relatively pleasant.
- Once on the east side of the mountain, we picked a line and decided to
go up the slope instead of following the trail to the south side of the
mountain. We began to post hole and things slowed down quite a
bit. It was challenging, but fun. We worked our way up to
the ridge and then simply followed it to the summit. The views of
Grays and Torreys were good and the wind came in spurts, so it wasn't too
difficult to contend with. On the way down, we tried to follow our
route up, but much of it was already blown in. We caught a couple
of short glissades to speed the descent. The hike out was
uneventful, but we were glad to have gotten out for a workout to enjoy
our vacation.
- Maps:
- Click here
to view a 2D
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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www.
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