Grays and Torreys - Travis and Clara

Date of Trip: 27 August 2022
Climbers: Travis & Clara 
Location: Front Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: Grays Peak
Summit Objectives: Grays and Torreys
Total Time: 8.0 hours
Summit: Grays at 14270 feet, Torreys at 14267 feet
Starting Ele: 11280 feet)
Ele. Gain: 3667 feet
Distance: 8.5 mile

Written by Travis

With little more than an hour of planning, Clara and I headed out Friday night for a Daddy-Daughter backpacking-mountainering trip.  We decided we would pack-in for about a mile Friday night, camp, and then attempt to summit two 14,000' peaks on Saturday, Gray's and Torrey's (which are generally considered two of Colorado's easiest 14ers, out of the 58). Amy and the boys were staying home to rest and recover, as the middle school transition, in particular, has not been easy.  

We arrived at the trailhead at 630pm Friday evening in a driving rain. It's been a crazy monsoon summer in the mountains, and there was water flowing everywhere. Worse, it looked like it could keep it up all night. I was considering bailing completely, or at least camping in the Tahoe at the trailhead. But after about 45 mins, it did stop. And the forecast was for great weather today, so we set out. 

We made it past the willows and took about the first flattish spot we could find so as to get the tent up before dark.  Few really pack-in on these mountains (easily done in a day) so nobody was around, but there also aren't really any established sites. It was in the 40s and damp (very un-Colorado!) Clara was cold so we got her in the tent and into a sleeping bag while I cooked dinner just outside the vestibule.  I then filled her Nalgene bottle with boiling water to take to bed, a trick which she thought was amazing.  

The GPS said we were at 12,000'.  I remembered that I never sleep well at 12,000'. This trip was no exception.  We were about 100' off the trail, so we had people walking by shining headlamps at us, and talking, starting at 330am.  I cancelled the alarm I had set for 6, but at 645a, I figured we should get up. Clara said she didn't really feel like climbing a mountain, because of the bad night of sleep. I said, yeah, that's kind of how mountaineering goes. I never sleep well the night before a climb.  Amy and I have a saying, "the best days on the mountain often follow the worst nights".  

Well, she decided she'd give it a go. But only if we had some ramen for breakfast. Deal! I cooked it without leaving my sleeping bag. (It was 30s outside, ice on the tent fly, and the light rain that fell on us was apparently snow up on the mountain).  

We joined the conga line marching past us on the trail at 715am.  We stopped to filter water at the first stream access around 745 (we could hear the water at our hastily chosen campsite, but it was maybe a couple hundred yards away, so we used what I packed in).  

We headed on up to Gray's Peak.  I always do Gray's first for some reason -- maybe because it's Gray's and Torrey's, not Torrey's and Gray's? Clara kept saying she didn't think she wanted to do Torrey's too, so I kept reminding her to focus on the goal of Gray's and that we'd worry about Torrey's later.  We passed the mountain goats in their usual spot on the shoulder toward Edwards. It was a mamma and a kid. Clara also counted 7 pikas on the day. 

Eventually we summited Gray's. The trace of snow and ice had mostly turned to slush by now, so no big deal.  The weather was great as forecast, just some typical wind.  

Gray's was Clara's 2nd 14er, having done Sherman with Amy in 2020. (I had taken the boys back to the car as we feared Nate might be literally blown off the mountain that day.) Anyway, Clara was amazing. She was not the youngest on the summit though as there was a 9 year old girl tagging her 3rd 14er (she had just come over from Torrey's). 

We took some pics (including with the provided signs and brick, lol) and headed down to the saddle between the peaks.  I was pretty sure a little downhill would have Clara ready to go up again and indeed that was the case.  I told it her it always looks harder than it really is. She actually thought Torrey's was easier, because there are less switchbacks, just UP. More pics with provided signs and brick. (I'm so old that I remember when you had to try to remember what mountain you were on in each summit pic!)

We headed down, collecting my cached backpack at the saddle, then the water filter at the stream, before arriving at the tent. The crowds had mostly dissipated by now, but the weather was still perfect. Probably 50's at the tent, with an intense sun. Clara asked for a post-climb snack of mashed potatoes, so I whipped them up before packing up camp. Then we headed out the final 1 mile, getting to the truck at about 3 I think. Did I mention I was exhausted? Maybe this is how I always felt at the end of a day of 14ers, hard to say. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Clara did her first overnight mountaineering trip and got her 2nd and 3rd fourteeners, and her first "two-fer". I can't be more proud of her. She's learning what it's like to carry a pack, be cold, sleep like crap, and yet that climbing mountains mostly boils down to putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. I think I got my third climb of G-T (first with my buddy Terry in 2000 then with Amy in 2008 when we missed the turn to 13er Mt Edward's and "settled" for G-T. Maybe more, but that's what I remember at least.) And my first 14er summit in 7 years, my first fourteener post ACL tear #2, and first 14er in my 40's. Still at 42 of 58 overall I think but it's not really about me these days and that's just fine. 8.5 miles round trip. 3667' of elevation gain Clara's wildlife count: 7 pikas 2 mountain goats 2 chipmunks Couple dozen dogs, some of which were even on a leash One injured dog being carried down in a backpack Too many humans to count

High Line Canal - Segments 2 & 3

 Date of Trip: 21 August 2022
Adventurers: Travis, Amy, Andrew, Clara, Nate
Location: Douglas County, CO, USA
Trailhead: Highline Canal - Waterton Trailhead
Trip Objectives: Highline Canal - Segments 2&3
Total Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 9.7 mile

We've started a new family adventure project - to section-cycle the Highline Canal Trail, a 71-mile mixed use trail that runs next to a historic irrigation ditch that enabled the settlement of Denver. Segment 1 is in Waterton Canyon, which we have biked many times. Today we tackled sections 2 & 3 on the southern edge of Chatfield State Park. It was a fun ride on a glorious day! ... Until 1.5 miles before our end point, I noticed that Nate's rear tire was flat. 

He and I walked back to the shelter where Travis was going to pick us up in the van after riding fast back to the start. When I explained to Andrew and Clara what took us so long, they said, "Oh we both have flat tires too!" And Travis said, "yeah my front tire went flat."

After thoroughly inspecting all tires at home, it appears we rode through a patch of thorns. Out of 10 tires on this expedition, only 2 tubes survived. I thought I had escaped, but really there was just a thorn in my back tire sealing the hole it had made. 

So we spent the afternoon on bike maintenance -- picking thorns out of tires and replacing tubes. Oops!

Boundary Waters - Sawbill Lake to Cherokee Lake

Dates of Trip: 5-8 August 2022
Adventurers: Travis, Amy, Andrew, Clara, Nate
Location: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN, USA
Trailhead: Sawbill Lake - Entry point #38
Trip Objectives: Cherokee Lake
Distance: 23.7 mile

An epic summer (with no small amount of stress) requires an epic conclusion (with some off grid time to decompress.) A canoe trip in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) National Wilderness has been on Travis's bucket list for approximately 30 years. I had never heard of it until I met him, but it rapidly went on my bucket list too. Though permits are a bit hard to come by right now, because the Forest Service has reduced daily quotas to limit wilderness impacts from humans, Travis got on the ball when permits became available in January and speculatively grabbed one. We then spent the next 7 months (right up to the week before the trip) wondering if life circumstances would allow us to actually use the permit. Many other things were cut from our summer docket, but we fought hard as a family to keep this one. When we rolled into the Sawbill Lake Campground it felt surreal that we actually made it. 

The BWCA is 1M+ acres of pristine northwoods wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, west of Lake Superior. It flanks the Canadian border, and there is a corresponding wilderness preserve on the Canadian side as well, bringing the wilderness area to well over 2M acres, combined. In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the BWCA is a network of big and small lakes, ponds, rivers, and navigable creeks and marshes linked by short hiking segments over which you can portage your canoe and gear. On a single entry permit you are allowed to stay inside practically indefinitely. Fish abound - large and smallmouth bass, lake trout, northern pike, and walleye - and many of them have never even seen a hook. There are almost infinite numbers of route variations you can take. 

Prior to this trip, we had built nearly all the skills we needed (both adults and kids) -- we've backpacked, hiked in varied terrain under heavy loads, canoed in various conditions, and this summer, we were able to do a shake down canoe camping overnight trip to put the final piece in place. The only thing we hadn't practiced was the portage itself. 

Typically you rent some gear from a local outfitter. Outfitters can supply literally all the gear for your trip, or if, like us, you are already well outfitted for backpacking and general light wilderness travel, you can simply rent the super lightweight Kevlar canoes that are "easy" to portage - which you do by bearing the 40lb canoe on your shoulders via a yoke designed for the purpose. The portage weight can get up to about 50lb if you strap in your paddles and canoe chairs for the journey, which we did. Of course you can then throw a backpack on your back to add another 20-30lbs, which we often did as well.  Portages are measured in "rods" - a 16.5 ft length intended to approximate the length of one canoe (our canoes were 18ft.) As we were putting in at Sawbill Lake, we rented our canoes and paddles from Sawbill Canoe Outfitters . We spent the night prior to our trip in the frontcountry National Forest Service campground at the launch spot. 

On Friday morning we launched into Sawbill Lake with two canoes, gear, and around 50lbs of food. After checking in with the outfitter the previous evening, we had decided to aim to take three nights / four days and do the Cherokee Loop - a rather ambitious trip over the Laurentian Divide (which separates the Atlantic Ocean watershed from the Arctic Ocean watershed) around a 23 mile loop. The first day's journey took us up Sawbill Lake, across a 72 rod portage into Ada creek, paddling past sheer rock faces to a 78 rod portage to Ada Lake, followed by a challenging paddle up a marshy section that allowed us to cut off most of a 96 rod portage and make it about 8 rods instead, on a short paddle across Skoop Lake to the most challenging 189 rod, level 7 portage across the Laurentian Divide (approximately 0.6 mile one way), then a buggy though beautiful paddle down Cherokee Creek, across two beaver dams, into Cherokee Lake. It was... challenging, to say the least. All the kids helped to carry packs across portages and we were able to "double portage" all of them - meaning two trips across for me, Travis, and Clara, one of the trips with canoes on Travis and my shoulders. By the time we were working our way down Cherokee Creek, we were hearing thunder rumbles in the distance. We took the first campsite available on Cherokee Lake (site 900) after seeing a lightning bolt strike the opposite shore. We threw up camp - two tents and a tarp - just in time for the rain to start. Laying in sleeping bags, sore, banged up, and listening to the rain pound, we seriously questioned the wisdom of the expedition. 

But the morning dawned a new day, and everyone woke up mostly dry and in good spirits. We adjusted our trip plan to spend a low key day on Cherokee Lake with a second night, then go back the way we came and spend the final night back on the north side of Sawbill Lake, still inside the Wilderness. We made this decision feeling significantly challenged by the 189 rod, level 7 portage the day prior and knowing we'd be facing a 233 rod, level 10 portage if we continued on around the loop. We figured the devils we knew were better than those we didn't. This turned out to be a brilliant decision, as we had a lovely trip after that, with just the right amount of challenge. 

We spent Saturday hanging out in camp, conducting canoe explorations of Cherokee Lake, swimming, and fishing. A friend of ours had given us a shopping list to set us up with "everything you need to catch fish." After some practice casting from shore, we headed out in boats to the middle of the lake. Within a few minutes of casting with a jig and some fluorescent yellow artificial bait, Andrew had attention and then a bite... but as he was reeling in, the line broke. We ended up "catching" 5 fish, but every one of them broke the line and got away. It turns out that I didn't realize that fishing line gets brittle with age. Though I did know I was using old line, I hadn't bought any new line. Alas, I never got to use my brand new filet knife, my MN fishing license, or my new knowledge of how to dismantle a fish from studying YouTube videos before we left. We assume, based on the lake we were in that the buggers that got away were lake trout, but there is a chance they were northern pike. Somewhere out in Cherokee Lake there are 5 fish looking badass with our hooks in their lips. Sorry, fish. I wish you'd have been dinner. 

After our second night on Cherokee Lake we packed up camp and headed back out the way we came in. This time things felt a lot less challenging (though still challenging) because we were acclimated to the work and knew what to expect. There was much rejoicing after each portage that each, in turn, was done. Once back on Sawbill Lake we headed out to look for a cool site on an island (site 916) which did not disappoint. The sheer rock slabs of the island's sides made for some fun running leaps into the water. There was more shore fishing with no luck, a cool evening, and a little more gentle rain overnight. 

On our last day, we explored the north end of Sawbill Lake, scoping some of the other campsites for future reference, before making our way back to the outfitter at the south end of the lake. The dock where we took out seemed unreasonably peopley after four days in the wilderness with two large families there to swim. 

This trip was epic, and it was incredibly awesome. Mostly type 1 fun with only a few moments of type 2 fun. All of the kids expressed how awesome they thought it was and how much they wanted to come back and, well, after you've made your kids paddle and shlep gear through 23+ miles of wilderness, you can't really ask for much more than that, as a parent. We are all contributing ideas to what we want to do on our next trip to the BWCA, and topping the list is "BUY GOOD FISHING LINE."

All of the Simpkinses highly recommend the Boundary Waters for gorgeous, peaceful, invigorating wilderness adventure.

Spearhead Mountain

Dates of Trip: 24 September 2011

Climbers: hobo, tortoise, and bug (<5 months old)

Location: Mt. Evans Wilderness, Pine National Forest, CO, USA

Trailhead: Threemile Creek

Summit Objectives: Spearhead

Summits: Spearhead Mountain at 11244 ft

Starting Ele:  8960 ft

Ele. Gain:  ~2300ft

Distance:  6.75 mi

Aaaaaaaand, we're back!  After a beautiful pregnancy, a wonderful birth, and some recovery time, we are back in the hiking/climbing saddle with a third climber(-to-be) in tow.

Bug had done 2 nights of camping prior to this one, but we still hadn't been successful at getting the gumption for a hike afterward.  We took advantage of the fact that it is now fall, kids are back in school, and therefore the close-in dispersed camping is much easier to come by.  We camped at an established dispersed campsite along Guanella Pass Road on the banks of Geneva Creek.

Camp next to Geneva Creek

Hobo cookin', Bug rollin'

Bug put himself to sleep by hanging onto the zipper pull on the tent door.

Happy camping family

It's Cold!

In the morning we proceeded to the Threemile Creek trailhead early.  It was pretty chilly, and Bug was bundled up.  We did a long sleeved onesie as base layer, then a fleece sleeper, thick socks over that, cotton newborn mittens (need to get some fleece ones!) and his fleece hat with the earflaps.  Then we draped a fleece blanket over him once he was in the carrier.  It was his first outing in the Deuter frame backpack carrier, and he did great!  He fell asleep a couple times and fussed when he was hungry, but mostly he seemed to enjoy the scenery.  

The fall colors were in full splendor - we walked through several groves of glowing golden aspens.

Once we reached the base of Spearhead's summit cone, we determined (as expected) that the final push was a little too steep and bushwhack-y to bring the baby up.  So Hobo ran up to the summit while I waited with bug around 10800 and ate lunch.  I was contemplating saying that the hike had been enough for me, I didn't need the summit, when Hobo came back and declared "best summit register ever!!!" and told me I HAD to go.  So Bug stayed with daddy while I made my summit push.  I was very slow, but I made it and indeed it was worth it.

Waiting for daddy.

First of all, the summit register was in an old food jar of some kind.  The register itself was a small pocket notebook labelled "Woolworth's. 19c."  Classic!  The first page showed it had been placed in 1976.  There were very few entries (maybe 15 or so?) between then and now.  

Then, on page 3, appeared the name of Gerry Roach.  As in THE Gerry Roach - authority on all things Colorado Mountaineering, author of some of our favorite books, 12th American to summit Mt. Everest, 2nd person to complete the seven summits (highest peak on every continent), international mountaineering icon... Gerry Roach.  His summit log was dated October 8, 1983... just a few short months after he summitted Everest.  A-MAZING.  We have signed the same summit register as Gerry Roach.

It was just a beautiful day and a really fun hike.  It was "only" an 11er, but it was a challenge (I was SO sore the next day), and it was really great to stand on top of something again.

San Luis Peak

Dates of Trip: 28 August 2010

Climbers: hobo and tortoise

Location: San Juan Range, CO, USA

Trailhead: West Willow Creek

Summit Objectives: San Luis

Summits: San Luis Peak at 14019 ft

Starting Ele:  11500 ft

Ele. Gain:  ~3700ft

Distance:  11 mi

We drove out to the old mining town of Creede after work on Friday - a gorgeous drive.  We drove up the box canyon just north of Creede in the dark, the old mine ruins looming in the shadows.  We camped at what we thought was the trailhead and had a very pleasant night.

In the morning we discovered we were about a half mile from the trailhead, so we followed the other 14er baggers (not *too* many, as this is a non-standard route) to the trailhead at the end of the road and got on the trail.

This is a long-ish hike, as many in the San Juans are, but gentle and very scenic, cresting two passes before the summit push and contouring around their valleys.  There is a very disappointing section of significant elevation loss after the first mile or so, but other than that, it's very satisfying.

We made good time to the summit and spent about 20 minutes there, eating lunch and chatting with other hikers, and then rather suddenly, the sky started to cloud up and the temperature dropped.  There were still people on their way up, but we took the opportunity to drop down, quickly.  We got a few spatters of rain, but nothing too serious.  Still, we were in a hurry to get to a safer elevation and more protected area.

I got rather fatigued toward the end (which I'm blaming on being 5 weeks pregnant), which made the push back up that segment about a mile from the trailhead quite a slog, but I made it.  It was a really fun hike.

We ate dinner at a hippy burger joint in Creede before driving home that evening.

El Yunque

Dates of Trip: 21 August 2010

Climbers: hobo and tortoise

Location: Sierra de Luquillo Range, El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico

Trailhead: Bano de Oro

Summit Objectives: El Yunque Peak

Summits: El Yunque Peak at 3496 ft

Starting Ele:  2100 ft

Ele. Gain: 1400 ft

Distance:  5.2 mile

We were in Puerto Rico for a quick weekend mileage run/first wedding anniversary celebration, and were looking for something active to do.  On our honeymoon, we had been into the El Yunque Rainforest, but due to time constraints, we didn't really see too much.  We took the opportunity for a short, laid back climb.  It turned out to be not too hot, and the humidity was a welcome change from our usual dry Colorado-ness.

We hiked El Yunque the day we found our we were pregnant with Bug.

Father Dyer, Crystal, and Peak 10

Dates of Trip: 15 August 2010

Climbers: hobo, tortoise, and Jimmy

Location: Tenmile Range, CO, USA

Trailhead: Spruce Creek/Wheeler Trail

Summit Objectives: Father Dyer, Crystal, and Peak 10

Summits: Father Dyer Peak at 13615 ft, Crystal Peak at 13852 ft, Peak 10 at 13633 ft

Starting Ele:  11080 ft

Ele. Gain:  ~4000ft

Distance:  ~10 mile

I have a little bit of Class III experience from the past - mostly moves here and there, and a knife edge ridge with some exposure on Katadhin.  We have some more challenging Class III routes on the list, and therefore we went searching for an intermediate Class III experience.  We found it on Father Dyer's East Ridge.  Jimmy, a colleague of hobo's, came along.

We met up in Idaho Springs and got to the Spruce Creek Trailhead at around 7am, for a nice early start.  This is the same trailhead as the one for Mt. Helen, and in fact, to get to Father Dyer, you hike around the base of Mt. Helen.  But mercifully this time, the road was not blocked by a large pile of snow (it being August and all), and we were able to drive all the way up to the gate at Aqueduct Road.  We followed the Wheeler Trail around the base of Mt. Helen and into the basin surrounded by Father Dyer, Crystal, and Peak 10, our objectives for the day.

We left the road and began ascending a steep, but mostly grassy knoll that sits below the east ridge of Father Dyer.  Up to the left we could see the "Dyer Straits" ridge (so punny) that connects Helen to Father Dyer.  It did look pretty gnarly.  The East Ridge loomed in front of us, and after a quick break for some fuel, we started up, first Class II, then some Class II+, then finally the Class III jungle gym of rock.  Words cannot possibly express to you how much fun this ridge was to climb.  This was very possibly the most fun I've ever had on a mountain.  I love to climb on rocks!  I'm not afraid of heights, and I don't mind some exposure - there was just enough to give you butterflies in the stomach.  But what I really can't abide is loose rock.  I want to know that the rock I'm using for a handhold or foothold is going to stay put.  And this rock was *solid*.  Very solid, lots of great, deep handholds, plenty of cracks and ledges for footholds.  I was a kid in a candy store.  Observe:

We reached the top of the ridge too soon (it seemed), and made the summit after a short stroll across the talus at the top.  The weather was phenomenally gorgeous, so we lingered to eat another snack, while several begging pikas looked on, hungrily. 

We struck out, then, for Crystal Mountain - the only "real" mountain of the day, rising more than 300 ft from its saddles with both Father Dyer and Crystal.  (The editor would like to point out that this doesn't even matter because Crystal is the tallest one around, so it wins by default.)  It was tedious and sort of annoying work to navigate down and then back up on the blocky talus, especially in the shadow of such a thrilling beginning to the day.  This is funny because I think any other time it would have just been a great day on the mountain.  The other thing was that I had been nursing a moderately severe cough for a few weeks. Somewhere around the ascent up the summit block of Crystal, my lungs started to get really upset at me and I was having some trouble breathing well.  Still, I took my time, and before too long, I made it up to the top of Crystal, with spectacular views of Mohawk Basin, Pacific, Atlantic, and Quandary, complete with toothpick 14er-baggers on top.

We descended to the saddle between Crystal and Peak 10 and reassessed the lung situation before making the call to go ahead and make it a three-peak day.  Since the weather was spectacularly nice - not a cloud in the sky - I felt that we should take advantage and at least make a go of it.  We had "all the time in the world," so I could take my time, which I did.  When I arrived on the summit of Peak 10, I found Jimmy taking a nap.

We had visions of a wide grassy shoulder rolling down to the Wheeler Trail, which we would then pick up and loop back around to the road and our car.  It was *almost* this way.  Except for this one massive downhill section of small scree and rubble.  If there's one thing I dislike more than loose scree and rubble it's *downhill* loose scree and rubble.  And this on tired legs.  We made it down though, and willed our tired aching legs and feet back to the car.  My lungs were wheezy and full of fluid, and Jimmy ended up with a migraine, but it was hard to put a damper on such a great day in the mountains.

I was pregnant with Andrew, but I didn't know it yet.