Home, sweet home (Mike's Sierra Designs tent).
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
Elevation: - trailhead approx. 9,400'; highest point reached approx. 13,600'
Location - North
of Grant and south of Georgetown in Colorado.
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I have probably been up the Scott Gomer Creek drainage via the Abyss Lake trail more times than anywhere else (at least seven or eight times). A quick hour from Denver it is on the back side of the Mt. Evans/Mt. Bierstadt massif, in the southwest corner of the Mt. Evans Wilderness Area. The Abyss Lake trail hikes up a long valley four miles to where it meets with the Rosalie trail. This is where Mike and I typically camp. The first set of photos are from an overnight camping trip we made on December 11-12, 1999 (hover over the pictures to see them full size). We camped at our typical place near the junctions of the Abyss Lake and Rosalie trails.
Home, sweet home (Mike's Sierra Designs tent).
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
Mt. Bierstadt from camp. The saddle is plainly visible as the flat spot just to the right below the summit.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
At that point you can head on up another three miles to Abyss Lake, or take the Rosalie trail northwest all the way to Guanella Pass. Or you can do what we typically do, which is head off-trail straight for the south ridge of Mt. Bierstadt (14,060'). Once you've bushwhacked through the aspens and get above timberline, it's a nice ridge that can be walked all the way to the summit. Mike has summited via this route after camping overnight. We've never made it to the top together, however, because we usually try to do it in the same day we've hiked in and set up camp, and by the time we reach a saddle at about 13,600' the weather has turned sour, or we're tapped out, or whatever. Still a good hard "hike", though!
Mt. Bierstadt from the saddle. So close! Shows how "tapped" we were that day not to just finish the last 400' of elevation gain and get it done.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
Looking down at Frozen Lake (12,650') from the saddle.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
Mike on the saddle. Looking southwest down the Scott Gomer drainage, with South Park opening up in the far distance.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - December 11, 1999)
Me on the saddle. Looking southeast across Frozen Lake towards Epaulet Mountain (13,523').
(Photo by Mike Slinkard - December 11, 1999)
It is also in this basin that I have set my record for the lowest temperature I've experienced during a camping trip: -20° on a solo overnight trip. Even with a sleeping bag rated to -20°, it was cold (and it was after that trip I started packing booties in the winter). On another solo overnighter it snowed about 20" overnight. Between the snow piling most of the way up the sides of the tent, there was then also breaking new trail through knee-deep powder snow shoeing out the next morning. That was interesting! Then Mike had an encounter with some bears on a solo trip he made here a few years ago. Not bad for such a "pedestrian" trail!
I don't have any real trip reports from any of these sojourns, just a bunch of photos.
This second set of photos are from a day hike we made on April 22, 2001. Again, we went for the summit via the southwest ridge. This time proved no different, but we did no worse, either. The weather pitched in and made leaving the saddle at about 12:00PM with the summit unattempted seem a prudent decision.
Looking up the road towards Guanella Pass from the parking lot at the Abyss Lake trail head (about 9,400'). Squaretop Mountain is hidden around
the right hand corner.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)
Mt. Bierstadt from Scott Gomer Creek at about 10,500'. Virtually the identical spot as the summit shot from the earlier trip.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)
Mike with Mt. Bierstadt in the background. Note the perfect weather that is going to radically change in the next two hours.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)
Dorky shot of me with Mt. Bierstadt in the background.
(Photo by Mike Slinkard - April 22, 2001)
Mike climbing towards ridge. Guanella Pass is low spot on ridge in mid-right background.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)
Mike with the summit behind him. Note how different the weather is now.
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)
Me with my favorite South Park in the background. Very happy at the moment. Scott Gomer drainage in background, Kataka Mountain (12,441') over my shoulder.
(Photo by Mike Slinkard - April 22, 2001)
Mt. Bierstadt from the same place as the starting pictures, above, but now obscurred by the weather. Quite a change in two hours!
(Photo by Jim Lehmer - April 22, 2001)