Humboldt Peak Trip Report 07/22/2014

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Humboldt Peak - 14,068 feet
Date Posted	07/22/2014
Modified	07/23/2014
Date Climbed	07/19/2014
Author	jmanner
Additional Members	AeroDan

Baby Jesus and 'Murica saved Humboldt Peak
I must confess that my main purpose for writing this report was to push Somewhat of a Prick's trip report further down the list. A little back story to this trip: In June of 2013, I took a group of Colorado Department of Labor and Employment employees up Mount Bierstadt in the vain attempt to change some life styles. That trip ended with everyone on Bierstadt sprinting down from the summit due to a 10 am thunderstorm/hail misery. That trip went so well that over this winter the employee relations council (ERC) asked me to "lead"another group this summer. As you can see, it was a lot of fun... After taking a list of what I consider "easy" 14ers to a committee, (of course there's a committee to decide the mountain: these are government workers) Humboldt Peak was chosen. Forget the reasons why, just remember that according to 14ers.com it is an 11 mile trip from the "easy" 4wd trailhead. Our group of 25 employees who originally signed up quickly dwindled to seven, plus four friends. A coworker (Michelle), 14ers member Aerodan and I left town for the trailhead. We had intended to camp with a coworker (Amy C.) and her boyfriend (Tony) at the highest possible point on the road. However, after getting to the 4x4 section of the road, my coworker's wish for immediate sleep exceeded her wish to risk damaging her car. They asked us to pick them up the next morning. After setting up camp at the rainbow trail parking area, under Aerodan's fancy tarp tent, we cooked out buffalo burgers, shish kabobs (which were delightful) and drank some Modus Hoperandi IPA. Unfortunately, Aerodan's bad attitude throughout the night made us realize that he probably hated the Baby Jesus, 'Murica and President Washington. We attempted to shame into repenting his anti-Jesus and anti-American ways, to no avail. The next morning we had breakfast and I was driving down the 4x4 road by 5:55 to pick the coworkers up from the 2WD trailhead. After I had collected the riders and start leading another truck, driven by a woman who has never driven on a 4x4 road (!!), we were back to camp by 6:30 and everyone was moving by 6:40. Michelle, Aerodan and another coworker, who had driven herself up, had decided to leave at around 6:05 PM. Even with eight people we made short work of the road from the trailhead to the Humboldt trailhead. From this point on, the group broke up into three groups: Michelle, Aerodan and Kisa in the front; Amy C., Tony and Myself; a Katrina, Amy P., Nancy, and Nancy's daughter and her boyfriend. It took us about three hours to travel the five miles to the base of the switchbacks. Humboldt the "hump" The view of the Crestones and Broken Hand Peak from the South Colony Lakes is absolutely amazing! First good view of Crestone Neddle I can't think of too many other faces in Colorado (that I've seen) which can compare to the awe invoking view of Crestone Needle from the lower Humboldt trail. After waiting for the third group to catch up for about thirty minutes Tony, Amy C., Katrina (who had caught up during the switchback portion, Lisa (who had lost Michelle and Dan on the road) and I started up the Class 2 (+?) section. In my opinion, the rock hopping on here is excellent: the talus doesn't move and there is just enough of it to make for a little bit of fun. It took us about an hour to get to the false summit where I wandered off to the north of the false summit and found some nice, although really short, scrambling. Once I had topped out, I saw Michelle and Dan shooting the breeze with this guy who was singing Led Zeppelin at the top of his lungs. Finally found them I was amazed that we had caught up with them! From here the whole group "scampered" up to the true summit and enjoyed what had turned into a beautiful sunny day, 50% chance of thunderstorms not holding true. So, 14ers.com might tell you it is 5.5 miles to the summit from the 4wd trailhead, however from where I parked to the car ~.4 mile from the trailhead I got a total distance of 6.6 miles making for ~13.2 mile day. Now that is a good day. However, my coworkers, who had be promised an 11-12 mile day were less than pleased. Regardless, the view from Humboldt was as inspiring as always and that, plus the Dales I lugged for everyone (except Aerodan), seemed to cool any bitterness. Amy C. and Tony enjoying a looks over the North side so-so views Folks making their way over the false summit At 1 we started heading down, beers in hand. It took us about one hour to get back to the saddle and from there we made short work of the switchbacks. At the turn off for Broke Hand Pass, Michelle and Aerodan convinced Katrina and I that the best way back was across South Colony Creek. In no mood to argue more than 5 seconds, I went along with it. So, thinking that we were just parallel with the correct route I went trudging along thinking about how we never saw any of the others... It took me a while to realize that we had crossed the valley and were now walking towards the other side of the valley! It was at this point I confronted Michelle and Aerodan about how they approached that morning. It turns out the goobers had walked right by the incredibly obvious Humboldt sign and had taken the Crestone Needle trail around instead. Thinking this was the correct way they pulled us along on the return trip (once home I realized this added about .8 mile each way; see map below for the two routes.) Finally, us catching up with them made sense! Mine roads... Regardless of the detour we made short work of the remaining four miles and were back to the car by 5 pm. Where we meet up with the others and took the required pictures and then headed back. The employees Everyone... On the way home Amy C., Tony, Michelle Areodan and myself stopped at Phantom Brewery in Colorado Springs for the required beer and high calorie foods. My opinion of the joint was so-so beer, good food and super cool location. Final thoughts on Humboldt: It gets poo-poo'd about it being a featureless hump, but having climbed both east and west routes and descended the southeast gully, I really enjoy this mountain and its environs. It isn't crowded, it has sufficient mileage and vertical for a good workout; the views are spectacular; and it's relatively close to Denver. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Baby Jesus and 'Murica saved Humboldt Peak

I must confess that my main purpose for writing this report was to push Somewhat of a Prick's trip report further down the list.
A little back story to this trip:
In June of 2013, I took a group of Colorado Department of Labor and Employment employees up Mount Bierstadt in the vain attempt to change some life styles. That trip ended with everyone on Bierstadt sprinting down from the summit due to a 10 am thunderstorm/hail misery. That trip went so well that over this winter the employee relations council (ERC) asked me to "lead"another group this summer.

After taking a list of what I consider "easy" 14ers to a committee, (of course there's a committee to decide the mountain: these are government workers) Humboldt Peak was chosen. Forget the reasons why, just remember that according to 14ers.com it is an 11 mile trip from the "easy" 4wd trailhead.
Our group of 25 employees who originally signed up quickly dwindled to seven, plus four friends. A coworker (Michelle), 14ers member Aerodan and I left town for the trailhead. We had intended to camp with a coworker (Amy C.) and her boyfriend (Tony) at the highest possible point on the road. However, after getting to the 4x4 section of the road, my coworker's wish for immediate sleep exceeded her wish to risk damaging her car. They asked us to pick them up the next morning. After setting up camp at the rainbow trail parking area, under Aerodan's fancy tarp tent, we cooked out buffalo burgers, shish kabobs (which were delightful) and drank some Modus Hoperandi IPA.
Unfortunately, Aerodan's bad attitude throughout the night made us realize that he probably hated the Baby Jesus, 'Murica and President Washington. We attempted to shame into repenting his anti-Jesus and anti-American ways, to no avail.
The next morning we had breakfast and I was driving down the 4x4 road by 5:55 to pick the coworkers up from the 2WD trailhead. After I had collected the riders and start leading another truck, driven by a woman who has never driven on a 4x4 road (!!), we were back to camp by 6:30 and everyone was moving by 6:40. Michelle, Aerodan and another coworker, who had driven herself up, had decided to leave at around 6:05 PM. Even with eight people we made short work of the road from the trailhead to the Humboldt trailhead. From this point on, the group broke up into three groups: Michelle, Aerodan and Kisa in the front; Amy C., Tony and Myself; a Katrina, Amy P., Nancy, and Nancy's daughter and her boyfriend.
It took us about three hours to travel the five miles to the base of the switchbacks.

The view of the Crestones and Broken Hand Peak from the South Colony Lakes is absolutely amazing!

I can't think of too many other faces in Colorado (that I've seen) which can compare to the awe invoking view of Crestone Needle from the lower Humboldt trail.

After waiting for the third group to catch up for about thirty minutes Tony, Amy C., Katrina (who had caught up during the switchback portion, Lisa (who had lost Michelle and Dan on the road) and I started up the Class 2 (+?) section.

In my opinion, the rock hopping on here is excellent: the talus doesn't move and there is just enough of it to make for a little bit of fun.

It took us about an hour to get to the false summit where I wandered off to the north of the false summit and found some nice, although really short, scrambling. Once I had topped out, I saw Michelle and Dan shooting the breeze with this guy who was singing Led Zeppelin at the top of his lungs.

I was amazed that we had caught up with them! From here the whole group "scampered" up to the true summit and enjoyed what had turned into a beautiful sunny day, 50% chance of thunderstorms not holding true.

So, 14ers.com might tell you it is 5.5 miles to the summit from the 4wd trailhead, however from where I parked to the car ~.4 mile from the trailhead I got a total distance of 6.6 miles making for ~13.2 mile day. Now that is a good day. However, my coworkers, who had be promised an 11-12 mile day were less than pleased. Regardless, the view from Humboldt was as inspiring as always and that, plus the Dales I lugged for everyone (except Aerodan), seemed to cool any bitterness.

Amy C. and Tony enjoying a looks over the North side

Folks making their way over the false summit

At 1 we started heading down, beers in hand. It took us about one hour to get back to the saddle and from there we made short work of the switchbacks. At the turn off for Broke Hand Pass, Michelle and Aerodan convinced Katrina and I that the best way back was across South Colony Creek. In no mood to argue more than 5 seconds, I went along with it. So, thinking that we were just parallel with the correct route I went trudging along thinking about how we never saw any of the others... It took me a while to realize that we had crossed the valley and were now walking towards the other side of the valley! It was at this point I confronted Michelle and Aerodan about how they approached that morning. It turns out the goobers had walked right by the incredibly obvious Humboldt sign and had taken the Crestone Needle trail around instead. Thinking this was the correct way they pulled us along on the return trip (once home I realized this added about .8 mile each way; see map below for the two routes.) Finally, us catching up with them made sense!

Regardless of the detour we made short work of the remaining four miles and were back to the car by 5 pm. Where we meet up with the others and took the required pictures and then headed back.

On the way home Amy C., Tony, Michelle Areodan and myself stopped at Phantom Brewery in Colorado Springs for the required beer and high calorie foods. My opinion of the joint was so-so beer, good food and super cool location.

Final thoughts on Humboldt: It gets poo-poo'd about it being a featureless hump, but having climbed both east and west routes and descended the southeast gully, I really enjoy this mountain and its environs. It isn't crowded, it has sufficient mileage and vertical for a good workout; the views are spectacular; and it's relatively close to Denver.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

AeroDan	screw baby Jesus and washington 7/23/2014 3:41am That is all.
dillonsarnelli	surf 'n salads 7/23/2014 4:26am Glad the security council gave you a 2nd chance man! Nice job and good to meet ya at the last Happy Hour!
Somewhat of a Prick	DAMNIT 7/23/2014 12:38pm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
njx9	Think we... 7/23/2014 1:20pm ...must've passed you on the way down. Me and a buddy were on our way back down when you guys were hiking up the gully to the saddle. Glad to see you all made it up before any weather rolled in (I think we got a little drizzle, but it looked darker up high when we were back on the road).
jmanner	Weather... 7/23/2014 1:21pm Yea, it turned into a great day in the Sangres! The Prick got his butt blasted off Harvard on the same day.
taylorzs	The baby Jesus is a false prophet... 7/23/2014 1:45pm The Flying Spaghetti Monster is your true lord and savior, 'Murica!
SnowAlien	Funny report 4/2/2015 7:45pm Government committee-approved peaks, ha! It's all good, I just don't get why this Aerodan guy keeps getting lost. :lol:
14erOHOLIC	God bless you. 10/29/2015 10:36am Great report. ( very cool photos, as well) I will never identify a Colorado 14er as "easy", that’s just asking for trouble.

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