climb of Jupiter Mountain 15-17 July
Jul. 26th, 2006 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaAfter being thwarted by illness and weather for two weekends running, we were finally able to get out to the Weminuche Wilderness for a three-day backpack. Our plan was to climb Jupiter Mountain, at 13,830 the 92nd highest mountain in Colorado.
We hiked in on the Endlich Mesa trail, which has a high trailhead (near treeline) and then climbs to over 12,000 feet before plunging down to City Reservoir (the Durango water supply - it's deep in the wildnerness, though) at around 10,600 feet. Then we had to climb back up to Lake Marie, again just about at treeline, 11,600 ft or so. We had been planning to camp on Silver Mesa, which would have made the round-trip to Jupiter shorter, but it rained quite a bit in the afternoon and we got a little lost around City Reservoir (due to some trail re-routing that was badly done), which caused us to cross the Florida river at a difficult and scary spot and also end up on the wrong trail which added a couple of miles (!!) to our hike, making it 9 or so miles with lots of elevation change. By the time we actually got to Lake Marie it was after 7, and I was exhausted. Britt was not too exhausted to catch trout for dinner, though.
The next morning we got going early; it would be at least a 10-mile round-trip to Jupiter's summit, and we were planning a route different from what the guidebook suggested. The standard route from our side of the wilderness would be to go over Columbine Pass, descend 1500 feet, and then go up the southwest slopes of Jupiter. The 'descent' part didn't appeal to us. We wanted to try going up to Columbine Pass, then following the ridge to Jupiter's summit. Hey, we saw mountain goat foothoofprints on the way! It must be possible!
Except that mountain goats have four-wheelhoof drive, and we don't. We hit two notches that made us descend and have to work back around them, including one rather thoughtful (but short) downclimb that was on the edge of being technical. The second notch had an interesting fin of gray rock in it, very different from the surrounding rock. Also, the weather was threatening to get truly scary, with the afternoon thunderheads starting to accumulate and roll over the big peaks. But it was very pretty, with the big 14ers of Eolus, Windom, and Sunlight ahead and to our left, and below us to the right the lovely Hazel Lake. And yes, that's the Windom our boat is named after. Britt's climbed it three times and I've climbed it twice.
After much arduous work we managed to make it all the way along the summit ridge and to the...false summit, grr, and then up some rather large blocks and to the summit yay! Needless to say, though, after the rigors of what we named Goat Ridge, we opted for the standard descent. During which we saw...mountain goats! They are totally unafraid of humans, and the baby mountain goat (kid?) we saw was made out of 100% pure cute.
Going up Goat Ridge
Summit yay! To my left is Sunlight Peak, to my right is Windom Peak, and the jaggedy curtain-shaped mountain farther to the right is Jagged Mountain, which we climbed a few years ago (along with Windom and three other peaks) and is one of the toughest 13ers in Colorado.
The cutest kid I saw all weekend!
Of course descending to the Columbine Pass trail on the, um, wrong side of Columbine Pass made our total peakbagging dayhike about 4000 vertical feet climbed and 12 miles. Oog. The next day we hiked out, taking care to use the correct trail this time; still, we had the big climb out of City Reservoir (where Britt tortured some trout) to Endlich Mesa, and we were definitely pretty tired by the time we finally reached the vehicle.
More photos are on my flickr page (16 in all, including the map)
We hiked in on the Endlich Mesa trail, which has a high trailhead (near treeline) and then climbs to over 12,000 feet before plunging down to City Reservoir (the Durango water supply - it's deep in the wildnerness, though) at around 10,600 feet. Then we had to climb back up to Lake Marie, again just about at treeline, 11,600 ft or so. We had been planning to camp on Silver Mesa, which would have made the round-trip to Jupiter shorter, but it rained quite a bit in the afternoon and we got a little lost around City Reservoir (due to some trail re-routing that was badly done), which caused us to cross the Florida river at a difficult and scary spot and also end up on the wrong trail which added a couple of miles (!!) to our hike, making it 9 or so miles with lots of elevation change. By the time we actually got to Lake Marie it was after 7, and I was exhausted. Britt was not too exhausted to catch trout for dinner, though.
The next morning we got going early; it would be at least a 10-mile round-trip to Jupiter's summit, and we were planning a route different from what the guidebook suggested. The standard route from our side of the wilderness would be to go over Columbine Pass, descend 1500 feet, and then go up the southwest slopes of Jupiter. The 'descent' part didn't appeal to us. We wanted to try going up to Columbine Pass, then following the ridge to Jupiter's summit. Hey, we saw mountain goat Except that mountain goats have four-
After much arduous work we managed to make it all the way along the summit ridge and to the...false summit, grr, and then up some rather large blocks and to the summit yay! Needless to say, though, after the rigors of what we named Goat Ridge, we opted for the standard descent. During which we saw...mountain goats! They are totally unafraid of humans, and the baby mountain goat (kid?) we saw was made out of 100% pure cute.
Going up Goat Ridge
Summit yay! To my left is Sunlight Peak, to my right is Windom Peak, and the jaggedy curtain-shaped mountain farther to the right is Jagged Mountain, which we climbed a few years ago (along with Windom and three other peaks) and is one of the toughest 13ers in Colorado.
The cutest kid I saw all weekend!
Of course descending to the Columbine Pass trail on the, um, wrong side of Columbine Pass made our total peakbagging dayhike about 4000 vertical feet climbed and 12 miles. Oog. The next day we hiked out, taking care to use the correct trail this time; still, we had the big climb out of City Reservoir (where Britt tortured some trout) to Endlich Mesa, and we were definitely pretty tired by the time we finally reached the vehicle.
More photos are on my flickr page (16 in all, including the map)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 12:36 am (UTC)Might be doing some low-level climby stuff on saturday, guests and weather permitting...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 01:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 02:31 am (UTC)Due to my inability to continue to give money to a company, Six Apart/Live Journal, who harassed women for having breast-feeding images as their default icons (tiny images that didn’t show anything) and then allowed a very offensive default image of a black man and the words “You Gonna Get RAPED!” as a default icon, despite many complaints, I’ve pulled my blog.
It’s a matter of principle. they are not getting my money.
I have a new blog You can find it here.
http://www.awildcelticrose.blogspot.com
I’m going to be reading my friends blogs through bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/
A few folks asked about how to make an LJ book, you can do it here www.ljbook.com
I’m not forgetting my friends, I just felt that I needed to take a stand.
~L
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 02:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 04:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 08:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 11:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:20 pm (UTC)Have fun with the climby stuff. We're hoping to get out again as well.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:23 pm (UTC)I wouldn't recommend this particular mountain (or really, anything in this range) for a beginner, but there are lots of relatively easy Colorado 13ers and 14ers. I've even seen children on some of them. And the views are just as magnificent.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:25 pm (UTC)And hiking is an excellent way to lose weight, although I guess it's sort of a catch-22 in that one needs to be in decent shape to do much and have fun with it. But walking in the mountains is so much more interesting than walking on a treadmill.
There are some really nice places to go near Denver! And the other advantage is that when it's blazing hot down on the Front Range, the mountains are nice and cool...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:26 pm (UTC)I will be your flickr friend if I can figure out how. I only use it for photo hosting so I haven't figured out what to do yet when people add me as contacts!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 03:32 pm (UTC)The 4000 ft is a combination of lots of ups and downs - I think that the vertical relief off of Jupiter is probably only 2500 ft. But I have climbed some mountains in the Sangre de Cristo range, which is east of here by a few hundred miles, that have a vertical relief over the San Luis Valley (one of Colorado's big agricultural regions - they grow potatoes mostly) of 7000 vertical feet. Looking down there is pretty wild, but it's more looking down onto a flat plain than down onto other mountains and valleys, not as pretty, I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 04:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 08:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 08:46 pm (UTC)For me it's not the lungs, it's the head... I clearly remember as a kid climbing Mt. Silverheels (13,822 ft), and wanting to find a large rock to bash my aching head in on. And that was still with the advantage of living at 5,280' above sea level. Altitude sickness == no fun at all... Ilana, how do you and Britt cope with altitude sickness? Drugs? Or just tough it out?
Eric W.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 09:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 09:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-27 11:58 pm (UTC)