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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Treeline</p>
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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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Looking back</p>
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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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Dropping down from the pass</p>
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MLD Core framed by Colorado beauty</p>
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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>
