Sheppy Quest 2008

Hankins Pass Trail 09/12/2008 - 09/13/2008

This year, I was beginning to think I would not be able to pull off a Sheppy Quest, and it depressed me a little. So, I decided to just schedule a weekend where I told people in advance that I would not be available. see my blogs: Sheppy Quest 2008? and It is gonna happen.

I picked to go to the Lost Creek Wilderness, which is where I went for Sheppy Quest 2005 (my last Sheppy Quest). This year, the plan was to go west on Hankins Pass Trail rather than north up Goose Creek.

In my more ambitious moments, my thought was to do the whole loop (see map to the left) of Hankins Pass Trail to Lake Park Trail to McCurdy Park Trail which will take me back to the Goose Creek Trail. But, I knew that would be tough. I decided to "play it by ear" and basically see how far I could get on the first day. As it turns out, not nearly as far as I would have to go to make the loop over a long weekend.

Usually, I head out the night before and camp close to the trailhead, but this time I slept at home and got up early (left the house around 5:00). It rained all night and I woke up listening to the rain on the roof of my house. Of course, the fact that it was raining did not necessarily mean it was raining up in the Lost Creek Wilderness, and chances were it would stop by the time I got there.

It took almost two hours getting to the trailhead. It did stop raining. Then, when I pulled into the parking area, it started again. I waited for the rain to let up a little while listening to a book on tape.


		Eventually I decided that the rain was not going to let up very much and besides, I was not going to melt. The picture to the left is a timer picture at the start of the trail head. You can see the burned trees from the Hayman fire years ago. Luckily, the Hayman fire got to about here, and then stopped. It appears that only the edges of the wilderness were actually burned.
The rain increased in strength. After only about half an hour (about a mile I would say), I found this rock along the trail with enough of an overhang to shelter me from the rain. I had breakfast of Rocky Mountain Treats Peanut Passion & Raisons Trail Mix under the rock. I thought it looked really good in the store when I bought it. It was really not that great. It was ok, but I will never get it again. Anyway, I ate breakfast hoping the rain would lighten up. It didn't. I read some of my book and wrote in my "journal" and stayed under the rock for about an hour. Finally, I decided (again) that I would not melt. I was pretty much completely dry when I started hiking again. It did not take long before I (and more importantly my backpack) was just soaked.
		Since, moving to Colorado, I've never backpacked in rain like this. But growing up in Washington State, I have certainly been hiking through rainy weather. I wished I had a back-pack cover, but at least I had water proof boots and a water proof coat. As it turns out, my boots and coat were not as water proof as I thought. Apparently I need to reseal seams or something. Anyway, after a couple of hours, I was probably as wet as I have ever been and worrying a bit about my tent and sleeping bag.
The rain finally stopped around 10, not far from "Hankins Pass" which I had identified as a potential camping site. This is a picture I took around the time it stopped raining. I took into account how wet I was and how wet I assumed my tent and sleeping bag were and decided that I would stop at the pass to hopefully give my stuff the rest of the day to dry. So, I found a campsite off the trail at the top of the pass. It was certainly not as far as I would like to have gotten if I were going to do the whole loop, so it was looking like I would set up a base camp here and do day-hikes from this base. Setting up the tent, I was pleasantly surprised that the tent was fine inside and the sleeping bag was a little damp, but not nearly as bad as I feared.
		And the sun came up (this is a picture of the first blue sky I saw of the day). It warmed up with a nice breeze and everything dried out very nicely by the time I had finished lunch. Only my boots were still damp inside and a new pair of dry socks took care of that just fine. I even considered for a little while packing back up and moving on to "Lake Park" for the night. But, I decided that since I already had the tent up, this would be my sleeping spot for the night.
And, then I decided to hike down the other side of Hankins Pass Trail to do some exploring. It was much steeper on the west side of the pass and what looked like about half a mile on the map was actually about 3 miles hiking due to switch backs. The sun really felt nice, and it was sort of fun to sit and watch the clouds race across the sky along with their shadows across the miles of trees.
		The sounds of the wilderness interest me. The sound of wind through the trees and the sound of little creeks running are very peaceful. There are birds and squirrels making their sounds, which fit in nicely to the whole experience. But quite often, the other thing I hear in the wilderness is planes flying overhead. It has never struck me quite as odd as it did during this trip. I am not sure why. I guess I was never listening all that closely.
The exploration over the west side of the pass took about 3 hours round trip. Somewhere along the way, I twisted my knee, which ended up being another factor in not doing the whole loop. When I got back to camp, I read some of the Bourne Identity and took a short nap.
		Here is a picture of the campsite around the time I started setting up for dinner. I was really looking forward to my yummy freeze dried back-packing meal. But, to my disappointment, I discovered that my "waterproof" matches were soaked. I am not sure what "waterproof" means, but these soaked matches were useless. They were, in fact, falling apart and obviously would not be better after they dried. I had no way to start my camp stove, so I did not have a hot meal. I ate my "snack food" for dinner. Not bad, but I really wanted a warm meal after being soaked so much of the day.
What sucks the most, is that I know better than to trust those matches. It is not a mistake I will make next time, but it is one I should not have made this time. Anyway, all things considered, I was fine and it just added to the adventure. After dinner, I hiked up "Lake Park Trail" a little bit. The falling sun made for some really nice views, but none of the pictures really turned out that great. As I came back down the trail to camp, the almost-full moon was up. It was very beautiful above the trees and granite rocks. Pictures I tried to take of the moon did not turn out at all.
		The next day, I got up and "day hiked" all the way up to "Lake Park". It took a little over an hour to get up there. Again, the rising sun with the shadows juxtaposed with sunlight on trees and mountains was just gorgeous. But, as always, the pictures just did not look nearly as nice. Part of me wished I had our new camera which has a real cool panoramic setting on it, but even that probably would have turned out less than perfect. Plus, I certainly would not have liked having the nice camera in the downpour the day before.
This picture is up at "Lake Park". It is a sort of "flat" high meadow with the typical Lost Creek Wilderness granite rock formation all around. It was a gorgeous day and very peaceful.
		This is also from Lake Park. I found a fire ring that was too close to the trail for wilderness guidelines. There was a spot beyond the fire pit that I would feel comfortable setting up a tent (more than 100 feet from the trail). This picture was from that potential camp site. And after this, I headed back to "base camp". With all the things going on, I decided to cut the trip short and head back down the trail. Quite frankly, I actually missed the wife and kids.
The view back down the trail was obviously nicer in the sun. My twisted knee made going down with the backpack on difficult. I do not think I would have been physically able to make the whole loop even if the weather would have been perfect and I had the benefit of a warm dinner (maybe even if I had not twisted my knee), so maybe it is a blessing that rain cut my journey short on the first day. I was exhausted most of the hike back down to the trail head.
		And, here is a view up Hankins Pass Trail from where it splits from Goose Creek. Such a nice day. I was so glad to be almost back to the car.
So, Sheppy Quest did not turn out quite as planned. Maybe that is better; it is more of an adventure when you do not know how things will turn out. I did not really do much introspective thinking on this trip, and certainly had no visions. One thing I found myself doing a lot of was thinking about Tracy and the boys. I did miss them. And, I beat myself up a little bit for being so selfish to take time to myself when I really should be spending time with my kids. They grow up so fast and as someone pointed out to me recently, no matter how much time you spend with them, you will wish you spent more once they are grown up a little bit. But, it is good for an introvert like me to get away from it all. I am also a little disgusted with myself how un-prepared I am for a long back-packing trip (even a not-so-long trip). I certainly need better rain gear and I should either be in better shape or have lighter weight equipment (probably both). Anyway, despite the challenges and disappointments, it was fun to get away if only for one night. If nothing else, I know am a little bit more knowledgeable of the trails. I might end up making it a goal to do this loop for next year's Sheppy Quest.