Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

"Mud season" is not a reason to avoid the mountains

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Created on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 17:03

Written by R. Scott Rappold

(Great Sand Dunes National Park makes a great spring destination, when the sand is cool enough to climb without shoes. Photo by Mark Reis)

By R. Scott Rappold

The Gazette

Most ski lifts have stopped running, the hours of daylight are longer, the temperatures are higher, and the snow that has draped the peaks since October soon will be running in the creeks, rivers and faucets of much of the West.

Welcome to the span of the calendar known as “mud season.”

It’s the least-popular time for a Colorado vacation. Most of the high country trails are inaccessible (to most of us) with snow or bog-like with mud.

Sidebar: Record snowpack has rafters' optimism flowing

But mud season is a great time to get outside in southern Colorado — for those who know where to go.

To help you out, we’ve created a mud season survival guide with suggestions for enjoying these underappreciated weeks ahead, when solitude is easily attainable and nature sings of renewal.

Stay close to home

Pikes Peak, at 14,115 feet, usually is one of the first fourteeners in the state to dry out, and it appears we’ll be hiking its slopes early this year. A snow-monitoring station at Glen Cove has recorded less than half the usual snowfall since October, with a snow depth of just 5 inches as of Tuesday.

At Barr Camp, the forest stopover along the trail to the summit, caretakers Neal and Teresa Taylor said last week via email the area had received just a third of the normal 150 inches of snow.

More snow is possible — as evidenced by the weekend storm that dropped several inches on the mountain — but barring a radical change, you’ll soon be able to hike the entire 12.6 miles of Barr Trail and hardly get your shoes wet. Other trails on the peak, with the possible exception of the north-facing Crags area, also will make great get-in-shape mountaineering.
Another great early-season ascent is the largely sun-exposed trail up 11,499-foot Mount Rosa, south of the Pikes Peak massif.

For cyclists, the Pipeline Trail in Pike National Forest should be rideable, and the trail network around Pueblo Reservoir is usually reliably dry this time of year.

Go south

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the chain that runs 300 miles from Poncha Pass near Salida into New Mexico, aren’t in our backyard, but for dramatic mountain scenery within a 90-minute drive, you can’t do much better.

The peaks rise 7,000 feet above the valley floor, without miles of muddy foothills to cross before you reach timberline. Most valleys have good trails leading to stunning alpine lakes and lofty summits.

Why should you go now?

“The Sangres are really hurting for snow. They’ve kind of been missed all year,” said Mike Gillespie, snow-survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Snowpack in many mountain basins is less than 50 percent of average for April, thanks to a winter of La Niña weather that has sent storms to the northern mountains of Colorado. That means snow will melt quicker, and snowbound trails and roads will be accessible early.

(Early season in the Sangres)

It’s still a good idea to check on road and trail conditions with the U.S. Forest Service before you head that way; in this area it’s the San Carlos Ranger District, 1-719-269-8500.

If attempting to climb one of the 10 fourteeners in the range, the website 14ers.com is a great resource for local conditions.

And while you’re visiting the Sangres …

Climb the dunes

Great Sand Dunes National Park, about 21/2 hours’ drive from Colorado Springs, is a place of stunning scenery that can get uncomfortably hot and crowded in summer. By June it can be tough just to find a place to pitch your tent in this corner of the San Luis Valley.

So go now. Spring is an ideal time to explore America’s highest sand dunes, formed over eons by sand blown against the Sangres. This time of year you can climb them barefoot without scorching your feet.

It’s also about the only time Medano Creek, the popular swimming and wading stream that runs by the dunes, will have much water this year. According to the National Park Service, snowpack in the mountain basin that feeds the creek is at 14 percent of average for April, so runoff season will be short and low.

Check conditions at Medano Creek

Go skiing

All the megaresorts have closed, but not for lack of snow; the mountains are still drenched in white. But you don’t have to hike to enjoy the powder because our old faithfuls, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, are still open for turns.

You can hit Loveland through May 8, and A-Basin has tentatively set closing day for June 5.

This time of year the freeze-thaw cycle often means the snow is icy early in the day and slushy by midafternoon, so you may want to hit the lifts after 10 a.m. and be done by 2 p.m. Have a big breakfast and then fire up the grill in the parking lot, especially if you’re lucky enough to get a spot on “The Beach” at A-Basin, one of skiing’s greatest party spots.

For those who love to combine skiing and beer (in moderation, please), A-Basin’s Festival of the Brewpubs on May 29 is a Summit County favorite. If you’re enjoying the beer more than the skiing, have a designated driver or stay in Keystone and take the Summit Stage bus to A-Basin. Cheap rooms abound.

(A-Basin's Festival of the brewpubs is a great way to wind down ski season.)

Lost Creek Wilderness

The closest wilderness area to the Springs (about 50 miles away for most entry points) is a favorite early-season destination for backpackers. Lost Creek is mountainous and quiet and contains serene valleys and bizarre rock formations.

At lower elevation than many wilderness areas, it melts out quicker, and backcountry campers will find flowing water without the swarms of mosquitoes that assault later in summer.

Day hikers should check out the Goose Creek trailhead, on Forest Road 211 from Deckers, which climbs high into a valley with views of the aforementioned rocks. Other good day hikes are possible from Twin Eagles and Spruce Grove trailheads, along Colorado Highway 77 north of Lake George.

Mountaineering legend Gerry Roach devoted a book, “Colorado’s Lost Creek Wilderness: Classic Summit Hikes,” to this wilderness. He recommends it for those with “spring fever.”

“In April and May, I have hiked with my snowshoes on, yet have been comfortable in shirtsleeves while watching a spring storm lash out at the high country 20 miles away,” he wrote. “Flowers appear early; tiny creeks bubble merrily into the Tarryall and Lost Creek drainages as plants turn green and spring warmth reigns.”

Click here for more on exploring Lost Creek.