Lost Man drainage, CO

As many of you know, my son had to bail on the trip we had planned. My spouse, who likes camping and hiking but not so much BPing, decided to come with me. This was a pleasant surpise, but required a different trip that what I would have done solo or with my son. (I'm not using her name because she prefers to keep a low digital profile.)

Saturday, July 29: we drove (from Kansas) to Frisco, CO and spent the night at a cheap hotel on Main Street, after a predictably-futile attempt to get one of the five sites at the Cataract Creek CG. All the Green Mountain Reservoir CGs were full. (I did not know that they are all fully reservable now. Boo.)

Sunday, July 30: We had a nice breakfast in Frisco and headed further west--I knew there were FCFS campgrounds and diffuse camping possibilities in the Twin Lakes area, just across Independence Pass from our eventual BPing TH. We ended up at the Parry Peak CG just above Twin Lakes--it's a nice USFS CG that I've camped in before.

Monday, July 31: We did a warm-up dayhike from our camp. 10 miles round trip with about 2,700 ft. gained (to about 12,000 ft) to the alpine area at the base of Hope Pass. I should have called turnaround earlier, but I think spouse was determine to prove to me that she was fit enough to do this. Climbing high and sleeping low was good for acclimation, too.

Tuesday, Aug 1: We were going to start a 4-day BP this day, but my elderly MIL had gone to the hospital the night before and was scheduled for surgery, so we decided to take a rest day to be able to keep in touch and shortened the BP to 3 days. (My MIL is fine. We did not have cell signal at the CG, but could get it a short drive away in Twin Lakes.)

Wed, Aug. 1: Day 1. 5.5 miles, 1,250 ft gained

We packed up camp and took the spectacular drive over Independence Pass to the Lost Man TH at 10,500. We were planning to hike from the higher Independence Lake trailhead (they form the two THs of the U-shaped Lost Man Loop), but decided that with our late start, coming up through the parkland lower basin on day 1 would be better than starting in the alpine and needing to keep a pace in order to clear Lost Man pass before the storm.

This is really a delightful trail. No dues-paying in heavy forest: it's all open meadow, parkland, and bits of open forest. By Noon it was threatening and drizzling off and on, but no serious rain. A perfect trail for someone not so into BPing, because it is easy, and very scenic right out of the gate. Also, beetle kill has not affected this area much.

We passed South Fork Pass and made a beautiful balcony camp right at the end of the trees, at 11,600 ft., by about 2:00, and napped.

The rain didn't arrive in earnest until about 7:30: we took hard rain and graupel the rest of the evening, but not much wind or close lightning. It remained overcast and was not very cold.

Looking up-valley from camp:

Storm Clouds over the Williams Range:

Thur, Aug. 2: Day 2. 5.0 miles, 1,100 ft gained/lost (side trip from camp)

Being at a basecamp allowed for a leisurely morning with a second cup of coffee (a luxury of time, effort, and supplies that I never indulge in). We hiked from our camp up-valley to Lost Man Lake at about 12,600. It was a beautiful day (it never actually rained at all, although it was threatening mid-day). The wildflowers were especially spectacular on this trip. Spouse had not been in the alpine much in recent years, so she really enjoyed the flower show. We were back in camp by about 1:30. We could have stayed longer at the lake, but at the time a storm seemed fairly imminent. All was well when we returned to camp--the marmots were keeping their distance.

The whole 8 miles from the Lost Man TH to Lost Man Lake is very scenic, and pretty easy hiking, with a few only moderately steep sections.

This night was clear and cold.

Looking down the Lost Man drainage:

Lost Man Lake with the Williams Range behind:

Fri, Aug. 3: Day 3. 5.5 miles, 1,250 ft lost (reverse of day 1).

Another leisurely morning (which was good, since it was around 30º at dawn). We reversed day 1, and hit the car at about 12:30. We had to drive down to Aspen (yuck) to get cell service and work out details of visiting our daughter in Denver. We ended up spending Friday night at her place, going to Barbie with her, and having a great little visit before heading home Saturday afternoon.

Mule deer pair near camp (one is wearing a radio collar):

Sat., Aug 4. The drive home really sucked--we were going in the same direction as several big storm systems, so we were in the thick of it for much of the way through Kansas. Yuck. We got home after midnight.

Overall, it was really wonderful. We had a lovely week together with only a little squabbling, I had a successful high country trip after a couple busts, and I discovered some new terrain. I would definitely come back to this area. And then we got to visit our daughter.

Spouse would certainly be capable of longer days than this, but that means earlier starts, possibly getting caught in storms, and so on. I think this worked out really well, and allowed for everything to be fairly breezy and stress-free.

If you had a shuttle, or were willing to hitch-hike, you could do the whole Lost Man loop (about 9.5 miles) from the upper TH, with only about the first 2 miles/1200ft uphill, and then all downhill from there.