Backpack Training: Week 12 - Green Mountain Loop
We fell off the training bandwagon a little this week. Life got in the way so we skipped our two short hikes this week, but did get some walking in without our packs. However, we made up for it on Saturday by hiking up to the Green Mountain peak in Boulder, almost seven miles and 2700 foot elevation gain.
AllTrails outlines a route called Green Mountain Loop, which is the route we followed in the clockwise direction. Our starting point was Chautauqua Park. We purchased an annual parking permit online the night before from the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. It took us a little while to find a place to park, but we finally found a spot along Baseline Road just east of Chautauqua Park. It looked like the parking along the road and around Chautauqua Park was a different pay system than the OSMP parking permit, but the fees did not apply between Labor Day and Memorial Day. So it turns out we didn’t need to purchase a pass, but we’ll use it at other Boulder County trailheads throughout the year as many of the trailheads are not far from our house, even though we do not live in Boulder County.
Temperatures were above freezing and there were lots of people out hiking. Many popular trails start at Chautauqua Park, but once we turned off of Chautauqua Trail and onto the narrow and muddy Ski Jump Trail, we left most of the crowds behind. It wasn’t long before the muddy trail turned into slushy snow and then ice as we started the ascent up the Amphitheater Trail. The trail conditions did not improve on the Saddle Rock and E.M. Greenman Trails. Our progress was slow due to the steep and slick trail conditions, averaging only one mile an hour. This was the first time that we felt microspikes would have been better than the Yaktrax Diamond Grips (paid link) that we had on. Had we known ahead of time how treacherous the trail conditions were, we would have chosen a different hike. There was a short ladder to climb on the Saddle Rock Trail, but climbing the ladder was easier than walking on the slippery steep grade. The descent down from Green Mountain peak, along Ranger Trail and Gregory Canyon Trails had less ice and a little less snow, but we find going down a slippery trail is harder to do safely than going up a slippery trail. We were thankful we had gone up the harder trail conditions.
As we were sitting at the peak, eating our lunch, we realized that we had not let anyone know where we were. That was not a smart move, especially considering the trail conditions. We had taught our kids better than that, especially after the Aron Ralston incident in 2003. There was a cell signal at the peak, so we texted our kids what trail we were on and what time we expected to get back to our car. Then we made sure we texted them again when we had completed our hike. We remember going on hikes with our kids when they were young and we would leave a piece of paper in the parked car with the information of what trail we planned on following with the date and time we expected to be back, just in case something happened (that was life before cell phones). How long will it be before our kids will be babysitting us to keep us safe?
Right Buddy (RB) experimented with how to pack peanut butter for her lunch on the trail. She put some peanut butter in a silicon travel bottle (GoToob+ Silicone Travel Bottle with Locking Cap - paid link) that we bought from REI. It worked out pretty well. She didn’t want to put the peanut butter on the tortilla ahead of time out of concern of how messy it would be to pack. Carrying the whole jar of peanut butter in her pack, even though it was small, seemed like overkill. The peanut butter squeezes out of the bottle pretty well, but there were quite a bit of air pockets since RB did not put much peanut butter in the bottle. She felt that filling the bottle would probably work better until getting down to the last bit. The bottle also wasn’t that hard to clean afterwards since the cap screws off and the bottle opening is pretty large.
The Green Mountain hike didn’t seem as scenic to us as the Walker Ranch Loop hike the previous week, but that may have been due to us not looking around as much, since we had to keep our eyes on the trail and our feet while we were moving for our safety. We could hear the birds chirping and singing in the trees around us, but they always manage to position themselves behind branches so RB couldn't get a good picture of them. There were panoramic views from the peak, both of the plains to the east and the mountain ranges to the west. We stopped at the historic Green Mountain Lodge on the Ranger Trail where Long Canyon Trail branches off along Gregory Creek. While Left Buddy (LB) was filming Sixty Seconds of Serenity #2, RB was taking pictures of the beauty she saw in the little things around her, like the way the sun was lighting up the moss growing between the roof tiles of the lodge and the colorful patterns of the pieces of bark and pine cones laying in the snow at her feet.
RB fell once, but she was lucky that it was in the soft snow so she didn’t get hurt. LB fell once, too. While we were on the Gregory Canyon Trail, there was a section that had no snow, ice or mud; however, our footing was still tricky because of the steep rocks and boulders along the trail. LB spied a pretty rock outcropping out ahead of us next to the trail, so he suggested that RB go sit out on the outcropping and he would take her picture. RB agreed it would make a nice picture, so she handed him the good camera and headed down the trail. She took her pack off and started climbing out onto the rock outcropping. However, there were no horizontal surfaces and RB started having visions of twisted ankles or slipping and getting wedged between the boulders. It didn’t help any that there were gaps between the large boulders that provided a view of how far she would fall if she slipped over the edge and created doubts about how stable the boulders were. She didn’t go out very far before she reached the edge of her comfort zone. She decided she was far enough and sat down. The perfect picture was not worth risking her safety! LB snapped off a few pictures and then started down the trail to meet up with RB, stumbled on the rocks and fell. LB did not get hurt, but the UV filter on the camera lens gained a battle scar. Of course the only time during the day he's holding the good camera is when he falls!
Almost seven hours after we started our hike, we made it safe and sound back to the car. We were proud of ourselves for completing the hike with the high elevation gain in such poor trail conditions. Our bodies were a little stiff and sore the next day, but that’s why we call it training, right?
(RB)