Leadville Weekend Part Two: Hagerman Tunnel and Hagerman Lake

Distance: 5.5 miles round trip
Elevation: 10,940ft - 11,530 ft
Elevation gain: 590 ft

Hagerman Lake

Hagerman Tunnel near Leadville is easy hike with stupendous views, intriguing Colorado history, and a glimpse into an ice-encrusted abyss. The abyss, the tunnel itself, is a 2,161 ft cut into the Continental Divide. It was the highest tunnel in its day, and when you wander through the mass of granite debris blown out by the army of Italian workers and stand before its gaping maw, you can appreciate the technical feat involved.

The rail bed along the first mile

A bonus on this hike is the drive to the trailhead along the south side of Turquoise Lake, which has its own appeal. While you can’t rent boats on the lake, many people bring their own and cruise the blue waters in search of the scaley ones.

There were about five water crossings in the first mile.

Towards the western end of the lake, the road diverges and a gravel road splits off to the left. There is a nice brown sign that says Hagerman Pass, so this turn off is not difficult to miss. At this point you are already journeying back in time along the original rail bed. The road is a washboard but passable by non-4wd vehicles. About 3.8 miles up this road, there is a large parking lot on the right and a boarded up tunnel straight ahead. This is your milestone to head to the right up a much rougher road. On this trip, we had a Toyota 4 Runner and a Honda Civic. There were a few tense moments in the Civic but it made it one more mile up the road to another large parking lot. This is the beginning of the trail.

The scenery around Douglass City. You can see a smaller cabin in the distance.

The first mile of the trail follows the flat rail bed of the old narrow gauge railroad. Wildflowers abounded on the edges and slopes and occasional views of the Sawatch Mountains make it a pleasant if slightly monotonous diversion. Around 1.2 miles, you come to a steep decent that is the location of a long eroded train trestle. This first trestle was 1,100 ft long and 84 ft high. Take a moment to gaze down into canyon but don’t follow the trail downward. Instead, back track a few yards and you will see another trail heading up hill and back towards the way you just came. Don’t be deceived by the map that comes with your trail guide what shows this road heading off more to the left. This is the right trail and it will veer back to the left in a quarter of a mile where it crosses the rail bed again.

Opal Lake seen from the upper rail bed

This short trail is far rockier than the smooth rail bed and ascends steadily. After crossing the rail bed, it will arrive at the site of Douglass City, the camp that held the aforementioned Italians. The ruins of this city exist in a sequence of meadows strewn with granite rock and surrounded by high cliffs. We counted at least ten log cabins in this area.

Final approach to the tunnel

In the short distance between the tunnel and Douglass City, there is Opal Lake, a nice tarn to the left of the trail. It looked serene but the swarms of mosquitoes that greeted us made it significantly less so. If fact, we wanted to eat lunch at the tunnel but had to keep moving to avoid being sucked dry. The copious amount of Deet we were wearing was no deterrent to these rejects from a Japanese monster movie.

Hagerman Tunnel. The flat surface at the bottom is a thick layer of ice

So is Hagerman Tunnel a worthy destination? It is a rough-hewn hole in the mountain with a glacier for a floor. It drifts mysteriously to the right and out of view. It is horribly tempting to enter the tunnel but it is very dangerous to do so. Who knows how many crevasses exist in that glacier and how easily you could disappear into one. It is very unique and intriguing, so yes, it is a worthy destination. The views and wildflowers are added bonuses.

For the return trip, don’t go back through Douglass City but head north along the rail bed. This will pass pleasant Hagerman Lake. On this trip there were a crowd of backpackers lounging and fishing in its brown colored waters. We saw these folks when we were starting and there were more dogs than people and each dog had a pack in which he carried his own food. I need to get my dog a pack so she can carry our extra water!

Elephant Heads (Pedicularis groenlandica), which grow in moist meadows at moderate to high elevation. Also included are many-colored Paintbrush and a patchwork quilt of other species.

Close up of an Elephant Head

If you are in Leadville, put this hike on your list. It won’t help you train for Mt. Massive but it will be a pleasant diversion just bring the Deet and be emotionally prepared to keep moving.

Summer Weekend In Leadville Part I: Walking off Dinner

Sunset over Turquoise Lake as seen from the west side of town
Once again a group of us are at the Leadville Hostel to hike, feed, and otherwise be entertained by the juxtaposition of toxic waste and stunning views that is Leadville.


You don't have to wander far to get off the pavement in Leadville. There are dirt roads everywhere that traverse the hills and sage.
As per usually Wild Bill made a scrumptious dinner fit to feed a peak bagger. Portion control is not my biggest virtue particularly where good food is concerned, so we took the dogs for a walk in the hills behind Leadville. It did not burn off dinner, it did make us feel better. The farther you wander the higher you go and the more stunning the views become.

Birthday wishes...

Today is Debbies B-day so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEB! This is her 23rd year celebration...we received some great notes from all of you...for those that didn't get a chance take the time to drop her a comment below...

HAVE A WONDERFUL SATURDAY!

Scarecrows, hedges and gardens...

Each year our village holds a scarecrow competition with prizes awarded for the best 3 at the village fete. Unfortunately I do not know who won the prizes because I couldnt hear the announcement above the excited noise of the kids but I was so impressed with the scarecrows that I had to share some photos of a few of them with you.


Mary Poppins


Dorothy



Cruella DeVille


Pinnochio


The Scarecrow

There is a little road that runs around the back of the village playing field where the fete is held and there stands one of the most wonderfully creative hedges I have seen. There is probably a name for this style of clipping but I call it a "cloud" hedge. I think it's beautiful. Don't you just love the little door?!


Back in our own garden some things are finally starting to look better due to the sun we have had the last few days.



We have lived in our current house for a year and half so this is our second summer here. An elderly lady used to live here on her own and the garden was too much for her so over the years it became over run with weeds and builders/window fitters and who knows else have left piles of rubbish, metal, broken windows etc all over the garden. There were no borders at all. We worked so hard to clear out the rubbish, dig borders and remove weeds all while we were still trying to sort the house out from the move.


It was extremely hard work but I think it is finally starting to "pay off".

thank you for being a friend...

yes, i'm so behind on everything, though mostly just email replies and blog posts... ha!



exploding brain matter.... i've been super busy, flying from one thing to another, flying from one project to another, meetings, researching, scouting, too many plans at hand, things i'm not familiar with (big kisses and thanks to b, for helping me talk through my pages of messy plans and reports), reading (i don't get people who don't read!! books are fountains of knowledge!! or read junk. which renders reading useless.) the new collection, and more tricky problems, i even had to hold off my urgent trip to the workshop to settle some matters.... so i apologise from the bottom of my heart if my email liaises with you suddenly got cut off the past couple of weeks or so. ooppss!!! sorry!!!!! today was the one and only day that my mind is partially cleared, for the past couple of weeks or so. it could just fill up by the end of sunday, again.

and yes, littleoddforest didn't win! so don't be too hot and bothered about it, if you still are :p {{ poke }} i love you all and you have been kick-ass friends. the awesome customer emails i've been getting! thank you all so very much!! :D but i'll have you know that i went ahead with whatever big plans i had and had already gotten the new machine way before the results were announced. but a resounding yes, still! because one of my favorites whom i was rooting for (besides myself), won!!! congrats to i'm your present for being nbt 2008's final winner!! :D i'm so getting one of her cute outfits for myself as soon as she has restocked!

and the main point that got me logging in to type out a post, is because the world has lost sophia (estelle getty) .... :( i grew up with the golden girls, yes, i grew up watching funny frisky feisty old women, as a little kiddo. every sunday night, i think? can't remember. the golden girls rawk. layne, meredith, and i, used to have a golden girls bedtime party back in college in chicago, in my apt, i was the only one with cable, and on the lifetime channel, they showed like, 24 freaking hours of golden girls episodes. back to back. they didn't even have that many ads. i mean, in the first place, it would be pretty hard to sell ad spaces on that kind of tv channel...lol. at first no one wanted to admit they loved the golden girls, until we discovered each other's mutual closet (no longer closet i guess) love for them, and so the party was set! with chinese food delivery (round the corner from my apt was THE BEST zhi-char ever!! way better than the sub-standard ones we have now in singapore food-courts) and other junk stuff of course. and when the wine started kicking in, we started singing along...

yes, go ahead and judge us. ha!
and then it escalated to include law & order repeats, which was also shown on that channel, when casey found out about our secret party. he was a weird one, he loved quoting stuff he learnt from that tv show in our political thought class, which was a pretty darn serious debate class. and he liked to end off his little thing with "oh, i learnt that from observing xxxxx from watching law & order..." yikes!!!! hahahaha

there were so many things i wanted to share with you, but as i type this sentence out, my mind is starting to fill in by itself again. so soon. it's like automated land-reclamation... i've just thought of something to include in my plans. gotta go write it out now.. ciao for now, cute peeps. it's the weekend!!! go outside! laugh, play, and be merry! muacks!


p.s.!!!
i've edited the job posting below! it's still open!! thanks for the ton of "hire me please!" emails so far!!

p.p.s.s.!!!
i managed to slip in a couple of new bags in the shoppe a couple of days ago! i know many items are sold out now, but fret not!! the shoppe will be restocked very soon!!!

Fun + Casual = Awesome

We had such a fun shoot with the Kilton family, when they contacted us they told us that the last time they had a family portrait it was totally posed and they hated it. So we let them break out of the monotony of most average family shoots. We went to Bridal Veil Falls for this way fun family shoot where the majority of the time every one was pretty much soaked, even my jeans were soaked up to my thighs! It was nice to cool off from all the heat ;) At first the kids were kind of shy around the camera, but toward the end of the shoot they were acting like total models! Thank you so much for being so a fun family to hang around and shoot!

Oh and a shout out to Andrea Kilton who booked us for the photo shoot, she lives super close to Will's parents and they've know each other for years, but hadn't seen her for a while until we saw her with her awesome catering group Culinary Crafts at the wedding reception we photographed for Craig & Stacy at the Provo Court house. I must say if you want an event to be catered Culinary Crafts is the one to go through!

Click images to enlarge

Bear Lake to Odessa Lake to Moraine Park Shuttle

Distance: 9.2 miles
Elevation: 9,475 ft at Bear Lake, 10,675 feet at Lake Helene, 10,020 ft at Odessa Lake, 9,530 ft at Fern Lake, 8,800 ft at Fern Falls, 8,150 ft at Moraine Park.
Elevation Gain: 1,200 ft


Odessa Lake from the overlook
This classic shuttle hike in Rocky Mountain National Park is part breathtaking adventure and part death march. It starts at Bear Lake, goes up to Lake Helene, then down to Odessa Lake, Fern Lake, Fern Falls, the Pool, and then finally Moraine Park. The trip to Bear Lake and the return from Moraine Park is via the park’s shuttle bus, so you don’t have to worry about bringing extra cars.


The trip starts at Bear Lake
This route has all of the elevation gain up front. There is a 1,200 ft of elevation gain in the first 2.5 miles, with the steepest section being in the first 0.5 miles. At this point the trail splits off with the left heading towards Flat Top Mountain (a worthy hike), and the right heading towards Odessa Lake. This part of the trail is mostly in the trees. One of the guys on this particular trip mentioned he loved walking in the trees and seeing all the dappled sunlight. I am glad he was enjoying himself because I was falling asleep and wondering how far till the views. I am a spoiled Coloradoan for sure. I want to be dazzled by tundra and peaks.


You know you are close to the gorge when you reach this small lake on the right. Across from the lake you can see a rock field and Notch Top
You know you are getting close to the views when the trail breaks out of the trees in to a wide meadow. To the left you can look up and see the two distinctive rock piles on the Flat Top Mountain route. On this trip, this meadow was still blanketed in several feet of snow.


Specular views abound on the overlook reached via the social trail on the right
Shortly past this point is a small lake off to the right. This is a nice spot for a water break. At this stage I was beginning to perk up because I knew the views wer just ahead and what views they are. Odessa and Fern Lakes lay within Tourmaline Gorge, a majestic valley filled with peaks (Flat Top, Notch Top, and the Little Matterhorn), lakes (Helene, Odessa, Fern), and waterfalls (Grace, Fern, and Marguerite). In my opinion, this gorge is the most dramatic in the park. If all you did were to hike to this point, the trip would be worth it.


Lake Helene
Just before Lake Helene (on the left) is a social trail that feeds off to the right. This trail ascends to a small rock pile upon which is a broad shelf suitable for an alfresco dinner party for you and 10 of your closest friends. This lookout provides a 270-degree vista both up and down the gorge. Odessa Lake sits far below like an oasis among the pines. Grace falls is clearly visible part way up the slope of Notch Top. Upon Ptarmigan point, the snows still clung in a delicate cornice.


Grace Falls
If you can tear yourself away from the view on this lookout, do take the short trail to Lake Helene to the left of the main trail. You will find at the stream crossing a peak into the lake that seems flush with the eye. The trail does continue around the east side of the lake, which affords a close up of Grace Falls, almost wispy in the distance.


Trail down to Odessa Lake
At this point the trails descends sharply down through rock and skree, hugging the west side of the gorge. Around a third of the way down, there is a snow bank that remains late into the season. It was particularly thick on this trip and it we had to go off trail thirty feet or so to cut across it at a shallower angle. These sorts of snow banks are no fun when slippery from the sunlight. A pole eases the crossing. The trail does eventually return to the trees on the final approach to Odessa Lake.


Cross the snowbank with Notch Top in the background
The trail to the lake splits off and backtracks sharply from the trail down the gorge. The short trip to the lake is a scenic wonder in and of itself. It follows a bustling stream embraced by Chiming Bells with the Notch Top in the distance. The southern shore of the lake contains a wide, sandy “beach”, which is perfect for a group lunch. The view here is unparalleled. The far northern shore of Odessa Lake is marshy and glitters verdantly in the sunlight. When I am Odessa Lake, I am filled with calm and am always thankful this little piece of heaven is in my back yard and most importantly is far from the hordes of visitors that invade Glacier Gorge every summer. At this point in the journey, we had covered 4.1 official miles. I say official because the jaunt to the overlook, the walk around Lake Helene, and a stroll around part of Lake Odessa is not covered in the overall mileage.


The creek into Odessa Lake
It is only another 0.6 miles from Odessa to Fern Lake. The trip is mostly through the trees but it is here in the shade of boulders that the wildflowers seem to grow. On this trip the most common were Columbine Tansy Aster, and Indian Paintbrush. The best part of Fern Lake is the approach through a large boulder field. Fern Lake, while attractive to anglers, is less dramatic than Odessa primarily because it sits lower in the gorge and most of the peaks are partially obscured by trees. An attractive backcountry ranger cabin is here but alas they don’t serve ice cream from the porch. On this trip I would have paid handsomely for some ice cream for it was very hot and very buggy. I am not used to bugs in the Rockies but this years late snows have seemed to make them particularly numerous and voracious.


Odessa Lake viewed from the "beach"
For me, the journey from Fern Lake to Moraine Park is a death march. The trail is rocky, steep, buried in trees, and monotonous. It is 1.1 miles beyond the lake before you reach Fern Falls. For sanities sake, you’ll want to linger here a bit. Fern Falls is decent waterfall. It is tall and broad and is the primary destination for folks heading up the trail from Moraine Park.


Fern Lake
Another mile beyond the falls brings you to the Pool, which is a welcome break from the grind. It is a small gorge filled with churning water. Several large rocks surround it, suitable for baking in the sun on a cooler day. On this trip I had to stop myself from jumping head long into the ice-cold tumult.


Twin Flower (Linnea borealis) grows in cold woods and bogs. It blooms from June to August. At this point on the trail we were approaching Fern Falls and things were getting more moist
The last slog back to the Fern Lake trailhead is 1.7 miles. The terrain is very different here than higher up the gorge. Ferns abound, the creek is broad and wide next to the trail and there are some interesting boulders to walk through. Still, by this point, most adventurers are foot sore. The last time I did this trip, we were caught in a raging downpour. I would have gladly accepted such a dunking on this trip because it was indeed hot. I think Denver had reached a lofty 102 that day and the elevation of Moraine Park was not cutting the heat by much.


Fern Falls
The cars at the Fern Lake trailhead are a welcome site and do take a moment to sit on one of the benches and rest to prepare for the least fun part of the hike. It is another 0.7 miles up the dirt road to the shuttle point and after a long day, this trip can be more arduous than any difficult 14er. Fortunately, I was with a large group and we were discussing our post-hike food options, which put pep in my step and made the trip less trying that it otherwise would have been alone.


The Pool
In all honesty, I prefer to hike down to Odessa and back up to Bear Lake when I hike alone but most people prefer the shuttle because you get to see it all, and you don’t have to back track up hill. I have never done this shuttle going the other way, starting at Moraine Park and ending at Bear Lake. It certainly would be a better training hike that way, gaining 2,600 feet of elevation by the time you reach Lake Helene. One of these days I will do that. If you don’t mind trees, this shuttle hike will be glorious from start to finish. If you are finicky like me, then it will be a mixed bag. Everyone should do it at least once however. It is a quintessential Rocky Mountain National Park experience.