I had sufficiently recovered from
my crash, and our 7-mile bushwacking misadventure (which I conveniently haven't blogged about), and needed to get in one more big hike before the snow comes this weekend. So, I set out to do a reverse of my
Alive Day hike, and hopefully bag the Twin Peaks this time.
The weather was absolutely beautiful. Bright blue skies, warm sun, short sleeves, and good footing on dry dirt and rocks ... for the first 2 miles, anyway. Plus, I was able to convince Doug to drive me almost all the way to the Oak Creek trailhead, cutting off at least a few feet of elevation gain. 😎
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| Just across from the Oak Creek Trailhead, is the "Box Canyon" sign. |
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| Can you find Finn? |
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| Ouray's Ampitheatre - from a few feet up the Oak Creek Trail |
The last time I did this hike, I went up from the Silvershield Trailhead and descended on Oak Creek Trail. But by the time I reached the 1.2 mile trail to Twin Peaks, I was exhausted. So this time, I tried going up Oak Creek, which was a more gradual ascent with better constructed switchbacks. And I was on the right side of the mountain to have sun for the first couple of miles.
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| Gold Hill from the Oak Creek Trail |
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| Where the trail splits - I asked the pups "which way?" Sunday ran up the hill, Finn ran down. We went up. |
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| Backside of Telluride peeking out there. |
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| Twin Peaks. Note the nobby thing sticking up on the right. You'll see it again from the top. |
When I reached the junction with the Twin Peaks Trail, I felt good. I was going to bag these peaks today!
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| The next mile was wicked steep. |
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| I got a lot of "WTF is taking so long, Mom??" looks from the pups on this part. |
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| The trail climbed around some of the red spires that can be seen from town. |
This last mile was brutal. 1100 feet of elevation gain on a snowy and icy trail. I definitely wouldn't have made it without crampons, and I wish I had had my mountaineering axe .... not because it was absolutely necessary, but I would have felt slightly more badass with it.
Just before I reached the treeline, I encountered a pair of hikers descending. They asked if I was going "all the way to the top" and warned me that it might not be suitable for the pups. I figured I'd assess when I got closer. A few feet later, I was at the saddle between Sister Peak and "the top".
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| First view above treeline. Recognize that nobby thing from a previous picture? |
I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture looking up - but it was a pretty narrow, snow-covered ridgeline leading to the tippity top. Sunday (my mountain goat disguised as a dog) started to run right up the ridge. Finn was a little a lot more nervous. I ascended along the ridgeline a bit further, but then decided that the descending hikers were right - it might not be suitable for the pups Finn. We also only had about 90 minutes till sunset, so I played it safe and decided to call it close enough to count.
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| Obligatory selfie at the turnaround point. I'm a lot happier than my expression would lead you to believe. |
The trip down was a blast! Slipping and sliding down the steep, snowy parts (with only a few noticeable bruises this morning). I was hoping to finally see some wildlife at dusk, but no such luck.
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| I can only imagine how beautiful this spot is in fall. |
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| This is where I start to get a little nervous about the sun setting while I'm still out here. |
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| How beautiful is that lighting? |
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| A glimpse of the RV from the trail, where I knew Doug was worrying about whether I had a headlamp. |
We made it out just as the sun dipped behind the horizon. Perfect timing. The unexpected bonus was that the river was low enough to cross right by the RV, cutting off another mile along the River Trail to get to the bridge. Another awesome day on the Ouray Trails!
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| These little paws snuggled in really tight once we got home! |
