A Micro-Adventure in the Gore Range

[Andy Chassé]

For this trip, I got together with Brett, a guy that had recently posted in /r/Coloradohikers – he was looking for a backpacking buddy. I usually go solo, but thought it would be a nice change of pace to have some company.

I put together a nice 27-mile loop that would bring us through the Gore Range and up and over the Tenmile Range. It was steep, but looked like a fantastic route.

After a not-too-awful drive down I-70 to Frisco, we arrived at the North Tenmile Creek TH and hit the trail at 3:45 on Friday. We followed Tenmile Creek for the first few miles, then took a turn onto the Gore Range Trail and headed for treeline and Uneva Pass.

 

Trailhead beer

 

One of the many crossings that would keep our feet wet for the entire afternoon.

 
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Treeline</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Lingering snow. Luckily, there weren’t too many spots like this, and this was by far the worst. We dropped down and around it.</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Looking back</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Looking ahead towards Copper Mountain</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>As expected the views at Uneva Pass were beautiful. Colorado high country is always a spectacular sight. Unfortunately, Brett wasn’t feeling so hot as we went over the pass. He had some pretty bad nausea that just kept getting worse. We took a few breaks through this, then headed down to Lost Lake. We had the option of setting up camp here, but decided to try to make Wheeler Lakes despite Brett’s worsening condition.</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Dropping down from the pass</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>MLD Core framed by Colorado beauty</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Dinner</p>
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<p class=”post-image-description font-opensans-reg”>Eventually, we hit a series of ponds in a big meadow about halfway between Lost Lake and Wheeler Lakes and decided to stop there. Brett couldn’t get food in and was super out of it. That put us at 9.4 miles for the afternoon.</p>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>Sunset</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>TT Motrail in the morning sun</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>Happy morning!</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>In the morning, we made the decision to cut the route short. Brett had no food in him, still had no appetite, and we weren’t sure what exactly caused the problems yesterday. We were looking at an 18-mile day with another steep climb. Not awful, but he didn’t want to risk it and I was okay with that because I didn’t want to have to wait around if he had trouble (and I mean that in the nicest way).</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>As much as I was really looking forward to the climb up and over the Tenmile Range, it was still a happy – and gorgeous – morning!</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container”>Wildlife! A rare sight for me, as my dog usually scares everything away – she stayed home with mom this time.</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container post-image-container–spacer” data-reactid=”.7.0:$dll7s8L”>Copper Mountain</div>
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<p data-reactid=”.7.0:$dll7s8L.2.0″><span data-reactid=”.7.0:$dll7s8L.2.0.$After a few miles of downhill, we hit Copper Mountain=1 Unfortunately, cutting the route short meant we would not be hiking any more trail today=1 Instead, we’d hop on the bike path and walk that back to Frisco=1 “>After a few miles of downhill, we hit Copper Mountain. Unfortunately, cutting the route short meant we would not be hiking any more trail today. Instead, we’d hop on the bike path and walk that back to Frisco. </span></p>

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<div class=”post-image-container” data-reactid=”.7.0:$IHTpzsU”>6 miles of this</div>
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<div class=”post-image-container” data-reactid=”.7.0:$IHTpzsU”>It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t ideal either. We still had some nice views along the path, but the bike traffic was nuts. We got back to the car at 10:45 after a quick 9.6 miles, putting us at 19 total. That’s a little on the short side for me, but what can you do? It happens. Overall, it was a nice little micro-adventure, despite the fact that we weren’t able to complete the planned route.</div>

[Andy Chassé]

Wow, the formatting got all screwed up this time. Whoops – sorry guys…enjoy the photos at least! ;)

[Ken Thompson]

I suggest doing a dummy first post for any post with multiple photos and copied text. At least then you can edit the software induced mayhem.

[Tim Drescher]

Bummer your trip got cut short. Interesting that you were looking to climb over the Tenmile Range as there are many point-to-point hikes within Eagles Nest from the North Tenmile Creek trail.

[Andy Chassé]

I wanted to go that way because I needed a loop and it seemed like the best option. I also wanted to knock out another segment of the CT…but oh well.

[Dean F.]

If you cut and paste from some other web page it will invariably result in messed-up HTML vomited all over the place.  This is because BPL forums only supports the tags you see listed at the bottom of the page, where it says You may use these HTML tags and attributes.

So, don’t cut and paste from other web pages to here.  Or, if you do, remove all of the HTML.

[Nick Otis]

Awesome pics. I love the microadventure–whether intentional or not! Gonna send a PM about your MoTrail & Core.

[Author]

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