I had such a good time gettin' HIGHED UP on the 4th, I decided to do it again. Didn't get quite as high, but we did manage to take wrong turn after getting high. Occupational hazards, I suppose. CT from Kenosha to Breck, with a slight detour to Keystone Ranch via Red Trail, Hay Trail, and Horseshoe Gulch Trail. Derp. My buddy Hirsch on the climb up towards Georgia Pass:
Just getting a little bit highed up:
11,500' on the altimeter:
It might have been cold, but at least it was windy. Our HIGH point for the day at 11,800' on Georgia Pass. Normally I'd stop here and soak in the views, but the wind was whipping so we ducked down into some trees for a bit of reprieve:
Sweet panoramic shot from Georgia Pass.
A couple of Happy Campers for a couple of happy campers. Cheers, buddy!
Once on the descent proper from Georgia Pass, I saw this cooler left by a Trail Angel for through hikers:
We didn't get any pictures coming down the CT descent to Middle Fork... but trust me if you haven't done this descent DO IT. Roots, corners, rocks, and heaps of fun to be had on that bad larry. After you come off that, there's a few miles of rolling terrain to North Fork, and Hirsch busted a brand new chain amateur style. It wasn't long after that we met our second climb of the day, and immediately we knew the ride was gonna end up real pointy-like. About 2/3 of the way up the West Ridge climb, I was SUFFERING, so we stopped up for a bit and ate food, rested, and then decided to rally corner and take a few pictures...
Johnny "Gameface" McTurnsabiek:
Jimmy "The Root Smasher" Pedarelli:
After our photo session we finished the West Ridge climb, and just before the descent proper we saw this random cool pan:
From there we got about halfway down West Ridge, where the trail t-boned into another trail. There was a worn-out sign post that we couldn't really tell what it was trying to tell us, so after consulting a map and the GPS, Hirsch and I decided that we "definitely needed to go straight... ish" to get to where we were going. Ummmm... no. What we ended up on was Red Trail (which is another killer descent BTW) which took us to Keystone Ranch, which is . DERP. That's what we get for being SO HIGH. At any rate, we asked a few people along the way for directions, pedaled back up and over a ridge on the Hay Trail, took another wrong turn at the junction with the CT by blindly trusting a locals instructions, but finally made it to the car. Such a sweet ride, and an even better adventure.
Just getting a little bit highed up:
11,500' on the altimeter:
It might have been cold, but at least it was windy. Our HIGH point for the day at 11,800' on Georgia Pass. Normally I'd stop here and soak in the views, but the wind was whipping so we ducked down into some trees for a bit of reprieve:
Sweet panoramic shot from Georgia Pass.
A couple of Happy Campers for a couple of happy campers. Cheers, buddy!
Once on the descent proper from Georgia Pass, I saw this cooler left by a Trail Angel for through hikers:
We didn't get any pictures coming down the CT descent to Middle Fork... but trust me if you haven't done this descent DO IT. Roots, corners, rocks, and heaps of fun to be had on that bad larry. After you come off that, there's a few miles of rolling terrain to North Fork, and Hirsch busted a brand new chain amateur style. It wasn't long after that we met our second climb of the day, and immediately we knew the ride was gonna end up real pointy-like. About 2/3 of the way up the West Ridge climb, I was SUFFERING, so we stopped up for a bit and ate food, rested, and then decided to rally corner and take a few pictures...
Johnny "Gameface" McTurnsabiek:
Jimmy "The Root Smasher" Pedarelli:
After our photo session we finished the West Ridge climb, and just before the descent proper we saw this random cool pan:
From there we got about halfway down West Ridge, where the trail t-boned into another trail. There was a worn-out sign post that we couldn't really tell what it was trying to tell us, so after consulting a map and the GPS, Hirsch and I decided that we "definitely needed to go straight... ish" to get to where we were going. Ummmm... no. What we ended up on was Red Trail (which is another killer descent BTW) which took us to Keystone Ranch, which is . DERP. That's what we get for being SO HIGH. At any rate, we asked a few people along the way for directions, pedaled back up and over a ridge on the Hay Trail, took another wrong turn at the junction with the CT by blindly trusting a locals instructions, but finally made it to the car. Such a sweet ride, and an even better adventure.