48 hours out there.

 A dumb peakbagging goal: P366.  

A P366 means you visit the summit of a ranked peak of your choice, the P, on every calendar day of the year, including February 29th, non consecutively.  Four years ago I decided to start my own P366 project.

My thoughts: it would still get me outside.  It would still keep me relatively close to home.  It would take a known time, though slower in winter due to condtions and generally quicker in the summer.  And it would be a bigger goal, something to work toward vs just being out there, not that there's a problem with that.  

My peak of choice was Button Rock Mountain.  I'd already gotten the grid on it (a summit in each calendar month), and had about 20 total summits when I started.  It's closeish to home.  The shortest route takes a known time.  And while all routes end the same, there are a number of access points and trails and combinations to get to the top.  

My longest day so far has been around 36 miles, while the shortest gets me 4 and change.  I've hiked it, ran it, mountain biked it, snowshoed it, wallowed it, and skiied it.  I've gone completely off trail a number of times to explore different aspects, faces, and to find some scrambling.  

As it turned out, I needed the last three days of August.  And I also had off work, with no other obligations.  Thus I started the day with errands, packed up, and headed to the mountains.  

Twas' the Friday before the day of Labor, and traffic was a little extra but I got there eventually.  I'd already packed my bag up, and headed out.  The goals: summit Button Rock Mountain August 29th, 30th, and 31st.  Do so with as little repetition of trails as possible.  (Re)Summit as many other peaks as possible along the way.  

Since my next definite source of water was toward the end of day 2, I started with 5 liters.  Ugh.  I was worried that wouldn't be enough.  Fortunately, the weather was largely overcast and cool.  Unfortunately, it also rained a good bit.

Starting up.

I definitely felt the weight of 5 liters of water, but was in no rush to get anywhere.  

I started on a trail that's pretty new, and more oriented towards downhill mountain biking, keeping my eyes and ears open for any riders.  It was just me and a few rain drops.  

I reached the summit of Button Rock Mountain in about an hour and forty minutes, but had my phone stashed due to the on and off rain.  I continued north and then east from there, following trails until near the summit of 7791.  Funny, for years I've looked around the plateau of land out there and spied good places to set up a tent.  Here I finally was.  

I thought about visiting the summit of 7791 then, but decided to get set up, make dinner, and relax a little.  I didn't have to go far too find a good place, and pitched the tent close to the top.

Quick n' easy.

I took a look around and found a tree to put the bear bag in, and made dinner.  Skura's beans and rice again- a favorite and nearly 700 calories by itself.  Add a few tortillas and dessert and I had lots of energy to burn the next day.  

I got everything set up inside my home for the night, put the bear bag up, and snuggled in.  I was almost asleep when my Inreach alerted, a nice message from my daughter.  I was almost asleep again when the rain came...

It rained, and then it rained a little harder, and then a little harder.  It wound down eventually and I was glad I was nice and dry!  I feel asleep soon after, and heard the spatter of rain a few times through out the night.  

Up in the morning.  My tent was soaked inside and out, and not thinking, I stuffed it back in the sack and put it in my pack along with everything else.  Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring a drybag as a stuff sack for my sleeping bag.  

Note my nice dry spot!

Packed up, I headed off.  Breakfast was Nature's Path toaster pastries, mainly because they have 50 more calories than Poptarts, and an Awake chocolate bar.  This gives 610 calories and 100 mg of caffeine, and can be eaten on the go.  And go I did, a short stroll over to 7791.

Button Rock Mountain from 7791.

Unaltered and generated by Actual Intelligence.

I took a steep and slabby trail up towards Button Rock Mountain, extra fun in the wetness.  But soon enough summit 2/August 30th was in the books.  

Summit views.

From there, I headed south to Six Benchmark.  It's third class to the top, but short.  Arguably better views than Button Rock Mountain, as you can see down to the east as well.

Down to Ralph Price Reservoir.

Back to Button Rock Mountain.

Onward to the day, and clouds.

I sat here for a few minutes, mostly because I could get LTE service and tapped into the matrix to order a coffee my favorite roaster was releasing on this morning.  Ahh, modern life.

I took a trail down, then another trail, and yet another to reach the next peak of the day: 7998.  I signed in, took a few minutes, and headed on, down on roads and trails to Coulson Gulch.  Already I could hear the mating calls of the greater western OHV.  Hurray!

Six Benchmark from below.

Down Coulson Gulch.

Another trail.

From Coulson, I took a series of trails out toward my next goals- 8577 and North Sheep Mountain.  With the great LiDar surveys, North Sheep moved, as it was found the high point to the south of the previously indicated location on USFS/GS maps was higher than the random point in the middle.  Well, this is exactly across the St. Vrain from South Sheep Mountain, and since neither point is ranked, arguably where it should've been all along.  

More trails-sorry for the vaguery here- and I was atop 8577.  Lots of lady bugs, but less than last time.  

Views from the summit.

Then I followed yet another trail (at times, as it's winding and not direct) and off trail to the southern end of the peninsula of land which terminates into the abyss of the creek, almost 1200 feet below.  North Sheep is third class; I left my pack at the base and scrambled up.  Annnddd it started raining, big ole fat rain.  And small hail.  Hail no!

The St. Vrain, way down there.  The random white things are hail.

I got down quick.  Not the best place to be in rain.  I got back to my pack, got the rain jacket out, put it on... and the rain stopped.  Back off, but I kept it out.  

I headed back from whence I came, again cutting the trail here and there to take the most direct route.  All was going fine, but as I started to descend a bit as I approached road 118, it started to rain again.  I put the rain jacket back on, and it sped up.  I got back to the main trail, and even more rain.  I decided to sidehill and skip a short'n'steep descent and climb, and yet more water.  

I know trees aren't the best idea, but what else are you going to do?  I spied a boughy fir, and got as close to the trunk as possible.  Rain jacket and softshell pants or not, I was soaked.  Every longer outing seems to have a low point and this was mine.  I was thinking about heading back to the car to warm up and dry off, and maybe even heading home.  I must've been holed up there for 15-20 minutes.  But it let up.  

I was facing west and the sky looked lighter in that direction.  There was only one choice: continue on.  Back to the road for a short stint, and then yet another trail.  I made it to the spring, realized I forgot my small collapseable cup to fill up with, and filled up anyway though it took longer to wait for the flow vs being able to dip into the basin.  Ah well.

Back up a little, and where I wanted to break off to head to my final summit of the day, 8824, and the sun came out.  I took another 15 minutes to stand there and warm up.  Took off my wet stuff and hung it on a tree to dry a bit.  It wasn't long before I was feeling alot better, warmer and happier.

Up again.  I made the summit and then thought about where to set up.  There was an appropriately flat spot right there, though I initally planned to head southeast and set up where things flatten out, another area I've looked at for years.  Laziness and sunshine won.  I decided to set up right there.  It was in the sun, and I got the tent up asap and all my stuff spread out on the branches of a fallen tree in hopes of drying things off.  

It was then that I discovered if you stuff your wet tent into a non seam taped stuff sack, all the water on it will squeeze out of it into your pack through out the day.  And get everything under/around it completely soaked.  Live and learn.  Even more glad I put my sleeping bag in it's own dry bag in my backpack which is essentially a big dry bag itself.

Sunshine and natures drying rack.

I warmed up even more with dinner.  The sun set enough that I was no longer in direct light, so I got everything set up and got in.  I kept one of the doors to the tent completely open through out the night in hopes things might dry off a little.  

And discovered (yet another) folly in my ways.  From here, I could still clearly hear the OHV mating calls.  Someone blasting music down there.  A dog barking.  If I'd went down to where I thought I'd end up, I would've had this peak and a fair amount of space between me and the road.  It probably would've been nice and quiet.  Next time!

I don't know what happened, but I used to always sleep fairly poorly on the first night of a trip, and worse than usual outside.  But after the last one to Cameron Pass, there's been a paradigm shift and I'm now sleeping like a baby.  Which is an interesting expression, because babies don't sleep that well in my experience.  

I woke up to my alarm the next morning.  I could've slept more, but was meeting up with Dan at a certain time and place for the last few miles before heading home.  

Summit sunshine.  I visited again since I was right there.

Not a load bearing tree, but a bearing tree.

I packed up and headed out.  Fancy poptarts, chocolate, and freshly filtered water for breakfast.  After a short stretch through some trees...

I got back to a trail that used to not exist.  Then another trail, and another.  I planned to take the more fun but longer way back to Coulson Gulch, and thought about cutting it short, but decided that was a dumb thought.  

And it was.

I was around a small loop and down before I started hearing motors again.  And it was Labor Day weekend, so maybe a little more than usual even.  

Vroom!  Or stand still.

I met Dan at Coulson Gulch, or rather, he met me as I almost went by him!  We headed up the mountain, taking a trail I've taken many times before, but not on this trip so far.  We made the short off trail to the summit, sat, and talked for a bit.  

August 31st.

Dan and I headed back down to the main parking area.  My car was still there.  Phew!

Another paradigm shift in thinking: an overnight or two doesn't have to be at some destination location.  Heck, I can (and have since) jumped in the car, driven up here, hiked an hour and set up.  Spend the night and head out the next morning.  It's nice to sleep outside!  And fun to have a mini adventure right in my own backyard so to speak.  

I'm purposely not including a map- some of these trails still exist in my mental GPX device only, and I want them to stay that way.  In total, I tracked 35.33 miles and 8127 feet of gain in 17:53 of moving time, with day 2 the longest and most elevationous by far.  

Button Rock Mountain via Hall Ranch.

It's been a bit internet world.  Fear ye not, I've not stopped hiking.  In fact, I've added another dimension to my time spent in the mountains, and have been running a bunch.  

I've hated running for most of my life.  I blame high school gym class, where we had to run the mile.  But we were never given any instruction on how to run, and I'd go out too fast and blow up within two laps of the track.  

In seeking routes to do for training, visiting peaks has, at times, gone to the wayside.  But as the weather warms and the snow starts to melt, I'm looking forward to getting up in elevation, and running some high peaks.  

With a not great weather prediction for this week, I decided to stay lower and revisit an old favorite, but to take a different and perhaps more interesting route to get there.  Thus, I found myself at Hall Ranch, geared up and ready to go. 

Everything hurt at first, but the scenery certainly inspired.
I started up the Nighthawk Trail, the pedestrian and equestrian only option.  It's a nice one.

Higher up, and nearing the first intersection of the day.

You can continue along the Nighthawk Trail to join Nelson Loop, or take a left to head west to Button Rock Preserve and Ralph Price Reservoir.  This road is the same access road that intersects Nighthawk near the beginning, Bitterbrush twice, and Nelson twice.  

I took a slight right to get on the Button Rock trail.  While not technically difficult, it is just a little more fun to run than the old jeep road.

But the fun doesn't last long, and soon you rejoin the road for about a mile.

The Button Rock trail picks up again on the right.  This intersects Sleep Lion once you enter Button Rock Preserve.
I took a right on Sleepy Lion for the fun and fast technical downhill.  Then I took Longmont Dam Road up to the ranger station, and the shoreline trail west.  The trail skirts ranked Boulder County peak 7071, and also provides access to Cook Mountain, another ranked Boco peak.
At the far end of the shoreline trail, you meet up with Longmont Dam Road once again.  Why not just take it through?  Well, because it's private, and signed on the reservoir side, and as I would soon discover, fenced and gated on the other side.
I took a right on Longmont Dam Road, then a left at the first old jeep road to head for Coulson Gulch.

The old jeep road.

In Higgins Park, nearing Coulson Gulch.  I was feeling pretty good thus far, and enjoying the scenery.  I've seen lots of remnants of the lives people once had up here.  It's difficult to imagine living in this place 50 or 100 years ago, as it would be hard and time consuming to get to now, even with a modern 4wd vehicle.  

This road eventually runs into Coulson Gulch, trail 916.  It's a modest climb at first, but some steeper sections come, generally in the first mile.  I've included this trail on a few runs recently- this was the first time I managed to hit it while still feeling pretty good.  The uphill went smoothly, with the climb taking about 35 minutes.  By the time I reached the top, I was 15 miles in.  

At the top of Coulson Gulch, and pretty far from my starting point.
I took a right here, joining jeep road 118-1 for a very short time, before taking a steep trail on the left up to a trashed campsite.  I took the once thin exit trail out of this site, which I recently discovered had been given an interesting name by someone...

Best trail name ever?  It's short, but fun to ride, and fun to run.  At least it's much better than staying on the jeep road!
I got off the trail at one of the pull outs along the jeep road, and headed down a steep section before taking a right into another one of the pull outs along the road.  Here, you join a now blocked off shoot of the road (118-3 on your Forest Service map), and then hit some sweet single track on the right.  It winds up and up, and eventually joins the remnants of the road, which have now been largely reclaimed by nature.  It's back to single track in most places.
I took a right on to the trail that meets the loop around Button Rock Mountain.  I'd originally planned to run the entire loop, but the day was getting on, and I decided to just hit the summit and turn around.  Plus, I still had to go all the way back to Hall Ranch!

I hit the summit at 4:10 PM.  I was 18.33 miles in, and I was feeling the isolation.  I made sure to pay attention to footing on the way down, to avoid both injury and snakes! 
A quick snack and I was on my way.  I'd abandoned my plans to head up higher due to the weather, and it had been nice so far.  But as they say, if you don't like the weather in Colorado, just wait ten minutes.  It went from sunny and warm to cold and snowy in a heart beat.

Back on the jeep road for a short stint, just before the snow hit.
I continued along the jeep road (118-1 to 118-2A), losing elevation before reentering the Button Rock property.  This trail is on the USGS map, but not on the Forest Service map.  It is on the excellent MapBuilder Topo layer on Caltopo, a good place to look to find the trails that aren't on any other maps.  It parallels Rattlesnake Gulch while staying up from the drainage a bit. 
Things look promising at first, with distinct single track visible beyond the entrance. 

But what's that sign say?  Hard to tell, but looks like, "The trails in this area have been seeded to restore vegetation".

The effort was successful, because it quickly goes from easy to follow single track to this.  Maybe there's a trail there?  It becomes pretty difficult to follow, but I'd suggest bearing to your left when you feel like you are off the trail.  There are some electrical boxes along the descent.  Unknown if they still go to anything or what they might go to, as there are no residences in the area.  

I finally hit a more distinct road, and was grateful to be on some easier terrain.  I'd planned to take Longmont Dam Road back, but here discovered that this side is fenced and gated, but not signed as private.  I suppose I could've used that argument if a resident were to confront me for being on the road, but instead I descended along the road back to meet the shoreline trail.

Higher up on the road.  At least it was a few easy miles before the undulations and rocky technicality of the shoreline trail. 
Soon I was at the dam, and took the short trail down to join the old road that runs back to Hall Ranch.  I decided to take the road for a longer stint, rather than take a short downhill on Sleepy Lion to rejoin the shorter western section of Button Rock trail.

But I had to take the more eastern section.  You could also follow the road on the right if desired. 
I got back to my much earlier departure place from Nighthawk, and took the short connector to Nelson.  I ran the more fun (in my opinion) north side of the trail, and then hit Bitterbrush. 

I paused briefly at the top for a look down the trail.  Only two.something more miles to go!  This is one of my favorite sections of trail to run at Hall.  It's pretty fun to hit the downhills at speed.

And a look back at where I was.  Interestingly, you can't even see the summit from here.  I encountered a few friendly mountain bikers on the way down, and got back to the car shortly before 8 PM.  What a day!  I changed, drank the extra water I'd brought along, and headed for home.
It's a day, but this provided a fun and interesting approach to this peak.  I ended up covering 35.83 miles with 5399 feet of elevation gain in 8 hours, 18 minutes, and two seconds, a 13:54 minute per mile pace.  It was certainly a good training run.  I felt pretty good for almost all of it, and this was my longest and fastest paced effort to date. 
Link to run map on Caltopo.

Two days in March.

I haven't posted at all this year; this doesn't mean I've stopped getting outdoors, in fact, much the opposite!  However, I've mostly been running the same trails over and over, and not doing many peaks.  Last week I got the email from Jamel:

Hello Gentlemen,

How about a 14er before the end of winter?

While I have been following a training schedule for the ultra I signed up for in July, with nicer weather coming I feel like I need to be flexible.  The week in question called for one long run of 27 miles, but I felt ok about splitting that up into a 7ish and 20ish mile day.  Gentleman?  I'm more of a dude.  And I'd get to spend some time outside with two nice people.  And Quandary is the only 14er I have done that I haven't done in winter.  

March 15, 2017.
The weather looked pretty good, but with predicted gusts up to 40 mph, wind would again be a factor.  Our hope was the the mass of the peak itself would help to block the worst of it.

We all decided to leave the snowshoes at home, and headed up in microspikes only.  The winter trail was well packed, with no postholing at all. 

We kind of slept in and started around 8.  The going was relatively easy.  In some ways, hiking in winter can be easier as the snow fills in all the rocks and gaps of the trail, giving you a nice ramp to walk up.  But in other ways, it's much more challenging.

We met and broke treeline, and could see a small line of people heading up.  While Gary and Jamel had been above 14k in elevation the week before, it's been almost two years since I've been that high.  I was very curious about how I'd feel, and worried that I'd be pretty slow since I haven't been at any elevation in quite awhile.

Some moody clouds added to the experience. 

The "trail" as it were, reaches a plateau around 13000 feet.  From here, things get steeper as you make the final thousand foot push to the summit.  I was expecting the suffering to kick in here, but the three of us passed every single person ahead, largely as we didn't have to stop to take many breaks.  To my surprise, this continued for me up to around 14000 feet.  I did have to take a few short breaks from there on, but the summit and wind came soon enough.
The summit is somewhat flat, and fully exposed to the wind.  It was some work to make the final few hundred feet.

Gary on the summit, about to measure the wind speed (44 mph) and temperature (23 degrees).  It really didn't feel too bad, and I was thinking I could have lightened my load for the day alot, but of course you never know that before hand.

North Star Mountain and points south.
We didn't spend long on the summit due to the wind, and enjoyed the hike down.  The temperatures were rapidly rising, unfortunately I'd dressed for the cold and could only shed so much.

The snow started to get sticky, and back at the car it felt good to change into short sleeves and jeans.  We made the drive back to Boulder and split up there.  A fun day with you dudes!
Quandary is considered one of the easiest 14ers.  In winter, that consideration remains true, however conditions make it more difficult than in summer.  Please make sure you are adequately prepared for the weather.
Quandary Peak, 14265 feet, in Winter:
7.03 miles round trip, 3269 foot gain.  Moderate+.
March 16, 2017.
Twenty miles planned for the day- originally I planned to go to Hermit Park and do Kenny Mountain and a few others in the area.  Fortunately, I checked Larimer County's website before I left and found the trail I would need to take wasn't open yet.  On to plan b.

Secret splendor.
The trail up is fun, steep at times, and technical.  It's one of my favorites to mountain bike.  It's quickly become a favorite to run.

Through the trees.
My first goal of the day was Button Rock.  I've done Button Rock Mountain before (just a few times), but I'd never climbed this rocky prominence that is visible from many points in the area.  I was going around a slabby outcrop when I decided to poke my head up and see where I was.  I could see the summit just a little bit ahead. 

Button Rock from the slabby point to the west. It certainly looks steep and imposing.  It's listed as fourth class on LoJ, but I'd agree with the trip report that it feels like something more than that, perhaps 5.don't tell mom.

Looking back to the slabby point west from the summit of Button Rock.

Here's the route I took up and down, on the north side.  The moss kept things interesting; the crux was a mantle and rock over on rounded edges.  The climb back down was even more interesting.  While I can't say this was the easiest way, it looked like it to my eyes.  To be fair, I also didn't explore all the aspects, so maybe there's an easier way. 

Back on some easier ground.
I picked up the trail again, and headed toward peak 7790.  There was some dead fall along the way to slow things down, but the distance went quickly.

Peak 7790 on the right. 
The loop was fun, though the uphill on the way back was a little difficult.

Button Rock from below. 
I took the trail until the four way junction.  Right would take me back to where I started, but by my estimate, wouldn't get me enough distance.  Straight ahead, a rocky and unfun descent.  To my left, some more climbing on fun trails and the summit of Button Rock Mountain. 
I originally planned to do the whole loop here, but started later than I hoped and I also forgot a headlamp.  So I decided to just hit the summit and turn around.

A short and fun scramble to the top, where I discovered that someone else had visited the peak this day.  A narrow miss!

The sun dropping on the horizon gave some interestingly long shadows. 
There is a short but steep climb on the way out, but soon enough it was all glorious downhill. 
I finished this twenty in just over six hours, getting around mid 18 minutes per mile, though in the low 17s if you don't count the time navigating the fifth class to Button Rock.  I'm ok with that.  It's reasonable with room to improve.
I feel like I normally have to go up higher and farther to avoid seeing anyone, but I did not see a single soul on this day, though I came close.  And I'll begrudgingly admit it: running is fun!
Button Rock, 7790, and Button Rock Mountain via ?:
Button Rock, 8039 feet: 5.5 miles,  1379 foot gain.  5.easy (or easier).  Moderate+.
7790: 8.07 miles, 1130 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
Button Rock Mountain, 8450 feet: 13.36 miles, 1790 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
As a whole, this day covered 20.08 miles