Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
I usually climb Grizzly Gulch and descend A Basin. It's never taken more than 5 minutes to hitch a ride, even w/ the dog along.
I find that whenever I am counting on or hoping for a ride, I don't get one. I did this loop, up Grizzly and down American Basin, and walked down the road and didn't get passed by a single car to throw my thumb out to - on a summer weekend!
But when I did Castle Peak on a Tuesday in mid-September and was fully prepared to hike up the whole road, some guys picked me up not five minutes in.
No real point here - just that I'm always prepared to hoof it.
I climbed Handies last summer, ascending from Grizzly Gulch and then descending into
American Basin. I think this was a great choice.
Few people were climbing up on the GG side to start, then in the early afternoon upon coming into American Basin, we were met with
a huge display of wildflowers. Yes, there were more people, but the people and vehicles
were closer to the trailhead. By the way, as stated here, the last section from GG to AB
is pretty rough, another reason to park at GG and start there.
The GG side is a bit steeper it seemed and has a small steep scree section near the top, while the AB side descends along a nice grassy hill.
We climbed Handies from American Basin last August during the week. We camped at the Trailhead and we were the only ones there. Not a soul and we didn't see anyone until we summited at about 8:30 met a guy from GG route ...coming back down we didn't meet anyone until we were almost back to the trailhead. Maybe we got lucky but it was awesome!!! I will never forget the beauty of this hike and camping overnight was incredible!! a nice bon-fire cup of tea and American Basin behind us with a nightfull of stars ...by far the most incredible time of our lives!!!
You will love this!!
Hold your head up high, keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky, live like you're not afraid of dying, don't be scared just enjoy the ride!
If I was to ascend via GG and descend AB and hike back to GG trailhead, what distance does that add to the day?? (Assuming no one was around to give me a ride)
Me and my kids ascending via Grizzlies Gulch and then descending through American Basin a couple of years ago.. The extra 2.5 to 3 miles of hiking on the Alpine Loop road was beautiful and totally worth the extra time and effort. Here is a link for it if you want to check it out. http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I highly recommend the loop. It really isn't hard. (At least by 14er standards!)
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
Does driving time count?
If you have a really high clearance you can drive directly between trailheads.
Otherwise its another 3 hours to go to the other one.
huffy13 wrote:Me and my kids ascending via Grizzlies Gulch and then descending through American Basin a couple of years ago.. The extra 2.5 to 3 miles of hiking on the Alpine Loop road was beautiful and totally worth the extra time and effort. Here is a link for it if you want to check it out. http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I highly recommend the loop. It really isn't hard. (At least by 14er standards!)
I did the loop as well, July of 2008. It is well worth it. I had a lot of snow on AB side, no wildflowers yet, rugged and beautiful. GG side was opposite: sunny, views of Redcloud and Sunshine, and amazing scenery and wildflowers. I highly recommend seeing both sides if you can do it.
Beth
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." ~Christopher Reeve
huffy13 wrote:Me and my kids ascending via Grizzlies Gulch and then descending through American Basin a couple of years ago.. The extra 2.5 to 3 miles of hiking on the Alpine Loop road was beautiful and totally worth the extra time and effort. Here is a link for it if you want to check it out. http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I highly recommend the loop. It really isn't hard. (At least by 14er standards!)
I did the loop as well, July of 2008. It is well worth it. I had a lot of snow on AB side, no wildflowers yet, rugged and beautiful. GG side was opposite: sunny, views of Redcloud and Sunshine, and amazing scenery and wildflowers. I highly recommend seeing both sides if you can do it.
Beth
I loved the view of Redcloud and Sunshine from Grizzly Gulch. The view of Handies is great from that side too. We hiked this in September so we missed the peak time for wildflowers too. When we hiked the DeCaLiBron in July of 2008 I remember there still being tons of snow for that time of the summer. Did you ascend GG and descend AB?
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
