Gooney Riders: General Mountain Adventures

Chris and I took some time off of work this week...well, Chris took time off of work, and I sorta just continued with my general trend of just working sometimes...and we went to go play in the mountains. I had three goals this summer, Arapahoes, Longs Peak, and the Grand Loop. Arapahoes checked off, so Thursday afternoon Chris, Charlie and I headed up to Longs Peak to camp out and climb the peak Friday. Hit a traffic jam in the parking lot...there had to be at least 200 cars in it, and when there weren't any backcountry camping permits left for the night, we were more than happy to hightail it out of there. New policy - only go near 14'ers in the spring, with skis on our backs. Settled on James peak instead and headed up East Portal for a night camped near Heart Lake. Buffalo, pesto and pasta provided dinner - yum. Slept out under the starts, there were a million of them. It's been a while since we didn't use a tent for sleeping, I found myself lying awake longer than usual looking at the sky. Morning was sunny and perfect for a quick hike up James peak. Scouted out some good ski lines for the spring before rain started at 10:30 and we hightailed it down, chased by thunder. Back at camp, cooked some grilled cheese sandwiches before thunder and rain chased us under the tarp for coffee and a nap. Back in Boulder, decided that the weekend plans for the Grand Loop were still a go, regardless of the dire forecast for rain and thunder. Sure enough, woke up to rain. Hurray. RC, Heather, Evan, Erin, and I set off down 93 anyhow. The initial plan was Coal creek-Oh my god road-Mt. evans-Berthoud-WP for the first day. Heather's dad, Evan, was deadset on doing the whole thing. Decided that if the weather was bad, forgo Evans and just head to WP. Started up Coal Creek when Heather's derailler hanger decided to snap off. Single speeded her bike and sent her home with the plan of her driving up to WP that night and riding the second leg with us. Well, I think it would have been a fun ride...had I not run down from James peak the day before. I think I had the single most pathetic day I've ever had on a bike. I was dragging ass to an extreme degree. Not pretty. At Idaho Springs, after an awesome descent down Oh My God road, I announced I was headed to Winter Park. Erin came with me, Mike and Evan headed up Evans. They got turned around at 11,900 ft by thunder...but impressive none the less. I, on the other hand, dragged my sorry butt up Berthoud for a fast descent down the other side to the condo where Chris and Charlie were waiting, after riding Rollins Pass instead. Those were the hardest 80 miles and 9000 ft of climbing I think I've ever done on a bike. Heather showed up with Bama in tow to drive her car back the next day. All she had to bribe him with was free food and beer. He slept on the porch covered in blankets. Sunday, lucky, started sunny as we quickly dropped nearly 1000 feet in elevation to Grand Lake, before having to pay $10 a bike to get into Rocky Mountain. What a joke, a car filled with 8 people only costs $20. Parks pass next time. I decided that the best way to get up Trail Ridge was to go as hard as I good for as long as I could...and hope that when I blew, I wasn't too far from the top. Worked...sorta. The last couple of miles were painful, but the first couple of switchbacks were like Alpe D'Huez. Zoo at the visitors center, people were taking pictures of us like we were wildlife on our bikes. Funny stuff those flatlanders do. The road was impressive, I'll give it that, though the descent was a traffic jam of cars, taking all the fun out of going downhill. What a disapointment. Donuts in Estes, one final big climb out before a screaming fast/wet descent to Lyons and a Gooney's paced ride back to Boulder. 120 miles, 8 hours, 5000 ft or so of uphill. I spent many of the 200 total miles pondering how much I could sell my road bike for. But in the end, it was fun. 120 miles didn't kill me, so for road rides number 3 and 4 for 2006, I think the weekend was an all around sucess. Then when we got home, Charlie was taking a shower when the cold water faucet popped out of the wall and proceeded to spray gallons of cold water everywhere until we managed to find the water main to the house and shut it off. Plumber came while we went to the Sun to drink beer...after all, what else are you going to do when there's no water in the house. Save water...drink beer. Mike has more pics posted from the weekend, he was the camera man as my camera requires a few swift taps against the nearest rock to work properly, and I didn't quite feel like dealing with it while in oxygen debt.

Last post, I said that Lara was one of the 5 toughest people I know. I'd now like to inaugurate her into the top 5 bravest people I know.

Her last day in town, Mike had to work and Chris and I were planning a trip up South Arapahoe Peak, with the possibility of traversing over to North Arap. if the weather held. Lara decided to join us, even though we were planning on walking out the door at 5:30 am.

Having been on the 4th of July trailhead twice this spring already, I was amazed at how easy it was to walk up it in tennis shoes and no skies/boots/backpacking gear on my back. Within two hours we were at the top of S. Arap without a thundercloud in the sky, so we decided to try the traverse. After all, N. Arap is just half a mile away, as the crow flies. We figured a half hour there, half back, off the mountain by 11.

Turns out the traverse is pretty knarly, with some definite no-fall zones, some pretty good drop-offs, and in all honesty, I was sorta hoping Lara would want to turn around. But when we got to the really scary scrambling part, she was the one to say, 'Lets keep going.' We ran into Mountain Man, gardian of the glacier, friend of the marmots toting a 60's era orange frame backpack along the way, and decided that it couldn't be that scary if he was doing it. 10:30, a hour after we left S. Arap we summitted N. Arap. Highest of the Indian Peaks, overlooking Arapahoe glacier, city of Boulder watershed, it was sweet. Lara was impressed, she ate a LaraBar to celebrate.

Traverse back was less scary, I evven managed to walk upright on the narrow section I shimmied on the way there. Hung out at the top of S. Arap for a while, ate sandwiches, took a lot of pictures, enjoyed the view.