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| Hiking | 4.10 Miles |
1,191 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.10 Miles | | | |
| 1,191 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Part II of our day consisted of continuing on FR203 past Ellison ranch. It became apparent that picking the Cherry Creek side was a good move in light of the weather 'cause everything above 5,000' was socked in. The road was about as soft and saturated as I've ever seen it and I was sliding quite a bit even in 4 wheel drive. Alex had to move on rock out of the way for passage and I underestimated another on the way. On the way back there was significantly more rocks on the road and fortunately I was able to get around one that was not there on the way up that was not going to be moved by us. I have to wonder about the truck parked at the Devil's Chasm trail head on our way back because I'm sure there were multiple additions to the road even after we left due to the moisture and cold. The road is in relatively good shape except for rocks and the softness. On this day we hiked in fog, rain, snow, graupel, sleet, with a short sunny period. This was probably why it was so quiet and desolate. I was surprised to see the truck at the Devil's Chasm trail head. The canyon views were spectacular, with the clouds, snow, and fog. We followed the trail from the large stone with the petroglyph/pictograph? Where it splits to go either to pueblo canyon or cold springs. It was conspicuously absent? Maybe not visible with all the moisture.  Anyway, no point in going up the canyon proper as the visibility was poor. Took a detour and bushwacked below the trail as I'm still trying to find the pesky lower dwelling of which I have never been able to find pictures. It will remain elusive for another trip. I was able to cross off another area and believe it is one level below where I was able to search in the cliffs because of the saturated mud and ice. We then went up to v:1:136 which was extremely challenging in the mud. I left 3-5' slide marks with 5 toes on the way up and down to indicate where it was slick for Alex. Ok, those tracks both uphill and downhill were desperate attempts to not fall while uncontrollably surfing the mud.
When I was exploring below evidently I kicked off some rocks that upset some birds and made Alex wonder if I had fallen to my death. It was probably good that I didn't tell him that I left the keys in my pack with him when I did this exploring.
I have gone past, but have not stopped at v:1:136 for a long time. After eating something below we went in and explored the dwelling. The cave room felt about 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the dwelling once the flies calmed down it was rather pleasant in there and I found while exploring that my wet clothes (everything) dried out pretty quickly. I noticed some details I hadn't seen before including the mortar and stone that was used to fill in a seam within the cave itself. All in all, it was a great day and the weather really wasn't that bad. I found the old goretex ski patrol jacket still did a good job of keeping me dry and held up pretty good to the thorns. I also found saturated catclaw much easier to crawl through and much less painful. Thanks again to Alex for coming out for a good day of exploring.  |
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