Mountain Hiking

by Harold Sears

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Why Hike?

In and Around
Boulder, Colorado

Front Range and East

Central Foothills

Back Range and
Indian Peaks

Rocky Mt. Natl. Park
South

Rocky Mt. Natl. Park
North

Farther Afield

Back East
In the Carolinas

Happy Highways

East Portal is the eastern terminus of the Moffat Tunnel, once the longest railroad (and water) tunnel in the world (at 6.2 mi.). One day in January, I snowshoed onto the South Boulder Creek Trail, following earlier ski tracks up into aspen and fir. On either side, the snow was brilliant white, with smoothly sculpted drifts broken only by scattered bunny tracks. At 1.2 mi., I passed the well-used trail up to Forest Lakes and continued up the creek.

The trail to Crater Lakes seems not to be marked or used in the winter. I did find a trail broken through the snow to the north and followed it up a steep fir-clad slope. There was light snow-globe snow sifting down out of a gray-blue sky. I came to a T-intersection, where my trail went a short distance to the left, to broken rocky cliffs, and a longer distance to the right, through deep soft snow, curving up, steeper and deeper. The tracks stopped. I pushed a little farther, but progress was glacially slow.

Another day, I stayed on the S Boulder Creek Trail and climbed to the SW. In the winter, without detailed GPS markers, I can't begin to stay on a summer trail. I know it's down there somewhere, but where, I don't know. I dutifully followed past ski tracks, even as they left the creek and climbed the slopes east of Haystack Mt. I emerged from the trees and crossed windswept wastes. Powdery snow whipped up off the peak and off the Continental Divide just a little farther west. Bright white clouds scudded across a deep blue sky.

In the winter, I can't go as fast, I can't depend on my trail, and I often don't arrive at any goal I might have begun with. Today, I did come to an unnamed rise on the north slopes of James Peak. I declared that height to be my destination.

 
Snow sculptures.

Someone built a classic igloo just off the trail.

Wind whipping snow off the back range.

Looking east from my high point.

Haystack Mt., just north of James Peak.

From Boulder, drive up Boulder Canyon Rd., hwy. 119, to Nederland. Go around the traffic circle and continue south on 119, 4.9 mi., to Rollinsville. Turn right on Tolland Rd. toward East Portal. Drive 7.4 mi. on this dirt road to Rollins Pass Rd. and a total of 8.1 mi. to the end of the road at East Portal.

Click on the thumbnail above for a piece of my trail map. A trail map for all of Boulder County is available from the Boulder Area Trails Coalition (find link on home page).

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Cautionary Note -- If any of the hikes described on this site sound like something you would like to do yourself, please use good judgment and prepare yourself according to your skills, your interests, and the season. What was fun for me under one set of circumstances might not be fun or even safe for another under other circumstances. Do not consider these descriptions to be unqualified recommendations.