marmotstew
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Post by marmotstew on Jun 3, 2020 12:24:08 GMT -8
Thanks cweston. That looks like an interesting area. The south fork looks like an area if I got too tired, or lost 😀, I could just throw off my pack and call it a day. Might have to try and make it up there this summer.
Sorry didn’t mean to hijack the thread. Yes the winds is where you should go.
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Post by cweston on Jun 4, 2020 7:34:43 GMT -8
Thanks cweston. That looks like an interesting area. The south fork looks like an area if I got too tired, or lost 😀, I could just throw off my pack and call it a day. Might have to try and make it up there this summer. The red is the approximate location of the abandoned trail. The blue is bushwack. The yellow is above treeline off-trail. The meadow where the red portion ends is very scenic and would make a lovely camp. The bushwack is rough. And so far as I know, there really aren't any camps along the way that would feel like a satisfying turnaround point, but YMMV. The lakes at treeline are fantastically scenic and would make a beautiful camp. When I did the route, we planned to make camp there the first night, but didn't make it: we made a crappy woods camp at the foot of that climb, because we were just too whipped to do the climb, and we weren't sure there was enough daylight left. Starting at the 4wd Brush Cr trailhead instead of the Grandview Cemetery (where we started) would help in that regard.
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marmotstew
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Post by marmotstew on Jun 5, 2020 8:07:19 GMT -8
Thanks again cweston. Perhaps I would set up camp at those lakes. And then do bubble as a day hike the next day.
Again sorry about the hijack. But we all think you should go to the winds.
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Post by oldbill on Jun 5, 2020 8:26:49 GMT -8
Just checked out the Bubble Lake TR. What a great spot! I've spent nearly all my trips exploring the Winds and NW Wy. Mostly considered CO as just too crowded to really get a wilderness experience. Crestone and Gunnison were the first introductions to the Rockies as summer vacations as a kid in Kansas. This really inspires me to get back there. Thanks!
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Post by cweston on Jun 5, 2020 11:47:35 GMT -8
Just checked out the Bubble Lake TR. What a great spot! I've spent nearly all my trips exploring the Winds and NW Wy. Mostly considered CO as just too crowded to really get a wilderness experience. Crestone and Gunnison were the first introductions to the Rockies as summer vacations as a kid in Kansas. This really inspires me to get back there. Thanks! Nice. Where in KS did you grow up? (Maybe we've already had this conversation?) The Sangres and Gores are my most frequent locations: best combination of proximity, terrain, and relative lack of crowds. Bubble Lake has become more popular than it used to be, which is to say that there's a decent chance you may see other people there, whereas 10 years ago virtually no one went there. But much of the eastern Gores remains trail-less and practically devoid of human presence.
On my last trip to Bubble, I saw people on the Knee-Knocker route who did not look equipped and experienced for that kind of travel. With the route becoming more popular, I think it's only a matter of time before some trips there end tragically. In addition to some very tough terrain on the route, where falls could be a real possibility, there are a lot of ways a person could get lost in truly wilderness terrain if they get off route. That happened to my son and I*, and we ended up in some of the nastiest terrain I've had the misfortune to travel.
(*We weren't lost--we knew exactly where we were, be we were off route.)
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Post by oldbill on Jun 5, 2020 13:42:19 GMT -8
We might of, but my memory is full of holes! Lived in Hutchinson and Wichita. Relatives in Salina, Great Bend, Garden City and Topeka - mostly gone now. Family still has a farm N of Hutch. Seeing the Rockies for the first time was an experience that kicked off a lifetime of mountain adventure.
Definitely bookmarking that TR. Know that feeling of being off-route in gnarly country. Bushwacking can be really tiring without game trails. Offtrail above treeline is so much easier. Yeah, it doesn't take much to have an accident become critical, even for the prepared. I still don't carry SPOT or Inreach, but need to rethink that as much as I travel solo.
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