Acclimating Day

Date to Climb: June 08, 2009

Event: Day Hike, Drive to Boulder

Pre-Acclimating Day Comments

If we stay down in Woodland Park we probably will probably wake and begin our drive to Boulder. Along the way we will stop for a six to eight mile hike.

Anywhere we hike will be high enough to help with acclimating. We just need to put in some miles and begin the process. Stretching our legs and lungs and training will feel good.

Eventually we will make our way to Boulder. Because we hate to drive in or add to traffic we will go to town either in the middle of the day or in the late afternoon, avoiding rush hours.

Post-Acclimating Day Comments

We woke at five and were underway at five-thirty from the campground north of Woodland Park. Heading further north on highway 67, we traveled the winding road through a backcountry area. Pine beetles had visited the area before us and left their marks on the trees. In places Amy commented that it looked like a bomb had gone off in the area it was so devastated.

After intersecting with 285, we traveled west to Guanella Pass Road. We had been to Guanella Pass two or three times before but always from the north, but this would be our first time from the south. WOW, the road up from the south was so much better than the road from the north. It would be well worth a trip to the area just to drive up the road.

From the Mount Bierstadt trailhead, we could view the plentiful snow on the mountain. We realized that the Sawtooth traverse which we had planned to do on June 19 was going to be really hard with the dog. Our plans then changed, we would walk up Bierstadt to about 13,000 feet today (June 8) to help us acclimate. Then, in a few days (Friday), we would return to climb the peak, without linking it to Mount Evans.

Our plans changed... see the Mount Bierstadt page.

We left Guanella Pass and slowly drove down to Georgetown using care to dodge most of the holes, divots, washboards, ditches, and construction.

Traffic was light and we arrived in Boulder around 5 at our good friend Mark's house. We would be there for a couple of days and then head west. The forecast was for snowy cold weather. We were looking at changes in our schedule to take advantage of the snowy conditions.