Colorado Summits: Old Baldy, South/North Arapaho Peaks Traverse (Summer)

 

“I seen prettier places. Not too many.” –Camp Counselor Carl

 

I can’t believe I have been rooted in Boulder all these years and, until today, had never tread upon the two Arapaho Peaks. Geez, you see them every time you drive west on Arapahoe Road in traffic-choked downtown Boulder, and from most other urban points as well, you’d think I would have hoisted my fanny perpendicular and marched up there much, much sooner!

Apart from their iconic position looming over our town, the entire hike itself is spectacular and I happened to pick a near flawless, “classic Colorado”, summer day to enjoy it (as above). A whole new playground of jagged snow-blotted peaks, high mountain lakes, alpine meadows, and tumbling waterfalls has just been revealed to me–and it is just an hour from home (well, to the trailhead, anyway)!

Ahhh’ll be back!

Some notes:

–Hiking by 3:30a.m., I summited the Sound of Music, meadow-like, Old Baldy for sunrise photos first, then made my way up jagged South Arapaho Peak to meet up with some friendly and buena honda 14ers.com folks who were planning the Traverse (alyssacait23, WishIWasInTheMts, hilo21, and Tornadoman). I big thanks to them for the moral support and the route finding assistance!

–Some hiking times for you–if you move at least at an average speed: Plan on an hour from the Fourth of July Trailhead to the turnoff onto the Arapaho Glacier Trail (at 2 miles), another hour to the saddle between South Arapaho and Old Baldy (Arapaho Glacier viewpoint), then another hour to summit South Arapaho. For bonus points, from the saddle below South Arapaho, a 15-20 minute trip up easy terrain will get you to Old Baldy’s summit just to the east. For the spectacular South-North Arapaho Traverse itself, plan on an hour each way under dry, summer conditions. Once back to South Arapaho Peak, getting down into the thicker air to your vehicle might take 2 1/2 hours or so, depending on how badly you wish to reward your orthopedic specialist.

–Google Arapaho Peaks at 14ers.com for more specific beta than you really need. And, I highly recommend this trip report by bergsteigen for more great photos of key areas along the traverse.

—Stats: Round trip, to climb South Arapaho, traverse to North, and return, is about 10 miles and involves some 3,300 vertical feet of climb/descent–excellent 14er prep! Add another mile and another 250 vertical feet if you include the Old Baldy option. Key Elevations: Old Baldy is 13,038′, South Arapaho is 13,397′, and North Arapaho measures 13,502′–the latter the highest peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the highest point on the Continental Divide north of I-70 (Longs Peak isn’t precisely on the Divide).

–The beautiful: A wonderful, spidery waterfall that crashes across the trail maybe a mile into the hike…the wildflowers that were everywhere at nearly all elevations (mid-July)…green tundra grasses…fat, furry marmots fed by said grasses…at least three semi-frozen alpine lakes (one is below Arapaho Peaks “Glacier”–look closely off to the south for the other two!)…and, of course, the top o’ the Divide views all the way from Pikes Peak and Mt. Evans/Bierstadt to the south, through Longs Peak to the north.

—The Traverse: Follow the faded Arne Saknussemm arrows, the rock worn by many boots, and the intermittent packed dirt path whenever it appears. Also, refer to bergsteigen’s excellent report/pictures as mentioned above, along with my images. As others have noted, the slab that gets so much press is indeed a short low Class 4 crux, especially upon return as you have to scoot down to it with some exposure, but I didn’t find it particularly hard or scary. There were two other spots I would say were just as attention-getting…first, a 6-8 foot drop off right on the ridge that might catch you by surprise–just back up 20 feet or so and scramble down some short Class 4 to the west…second, a dirt chute leading up into a final notch before the summit of North Arapaho Peak (although this last can apparently be easily avoided–see notes with pictures below). This adventure would definitely be good prep for some of the Class 3 or 4 14er traverses or routes.

—Arapaho Glacier: It is shrinking rapidly. One hundred years ago it was twice the size it is now.

—Human beans: I stopped counting beans after I hit one hundred folks while on my way down–grand total was likely around 150. The vast majority were to be found down low in the first 1-2 miles of the hike. Up high on the mountain, as far as I could tell perhaps 20-25 folks did the traverse, or were planning on it, on this day (a Saturday). Eight of us collected at North Arapaho’s summit cairn at once and we were the earliest bunch there at around 9a.m.

–Your vehicle and parking: I saw mostly trucks and Colorado-issue Subarus at the end-of-the-road parking areas, although there were a surprising number of standard 4-door sedans mixed into the crowd. Just go slow and be careful with your Mom’s Honda Civic on the rough road! I had no problem parking right next to the trailhead signs at 3:30a.m., but the lot and the road were packed when I returned later in the day. Maybe try a weekday if you prefer solitude on this route.

—Photography: I carried my three Nikkor lenses (14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/4), Nikon D800 body, tripod, and also the small-but-awesome Sony RX100iv–a good 12 pounds of photo gear in all. The idea was to use all the heavy, nice gear for sunrise and up to South Arapaho’s summit. For the traverse, I left my big pack and just carried the small Sony (24-70mm equivalent) around my neck/shoulder and, in a small daypack, the D800 with the 70-200mm attached. Online, you probably can’t tell which images were made with the big Nikon versus the tiny Sony–photo machines are pretty good these days.

For some selected images, with commentary…:

The best light for photography is often just before the sun comes up…In this view from Old Baldy’s summit looking north, how many of the Indian Peaks can you identify? Of course, in the far distance is the famous flattop summit of Longs Peak with Mt. Meeker just to its right:

 

Sunrise above the clouds on the eastern horizon. Wildflowers were profuse, from the trailhead all the way to the summit of North Arapaho Peak:

 

Ra sends its Egyptian god rays down over the Great Plains:

 

Looking across the grand glacial abyss at today’s objectives, South Arapaho Peak second from left, and the broad North Arapaho Peak on the right. The traverse between the two goes mostly Class 2 with maybe three, very short, Class 3+ to Class 4 cruxes. Imagine the glacier below twice as big as this–that was how it was one hundred years ago:

 

A close up view of South Arapaho Peak. The route climbs the rocky slope just back from the obvious angled ridge (Class 2 boulder scrambling), over the pointed false summit, then on up to the more rounded actual summit. The tortured rock of the east face was stunning in the golden morning light:

 

Just right of the middle of the broad summit of North Arapaho Peak, you can barely make out the giant cairn, looking much like a small turret, which marks the high point:

 

On the upper end of Barker Reservoir, the land of “Ned Heads“–Nederland–catches the day’s first sunlight. Off in the hazy distance, the high busy-bee buildings of downtown Denver are visible:

 

The double humps of Grays and Torreys Peaks will be familiar to 14er aficionados, with the Class 3 Kelso Ridge coming off of Torreys Peak toward us. Note the bridge and road, or railway–can someone tell me what that is and where it goes?

 

Dropping off of Old Baldy by about 6:30a.m., I am quickly back at the Old Baldy-South Arapaho Peak saddle (Arapaho Glacier View). The trail/route up through the boulder garden to South Arapaho’s summit can be seen just behind me:

 

If you stay near the ridge as you climb, the views get increasingly more spectacular. The Arapaho Glacier area is just below, and farther downstream are a series of some 13 lakes which are the source of Boulder’s water supply–and severely off-limits to any kind of human recreation, or even presence (water supply workers, rangers, bears, mountain lions, deer, skunks, coyotes, and moose excepted). Can’t have Jack and Jill and their dogs peeing in our water, dontcha know:

 

The Longs Peak/Mt. Meeker massif dominates the view to the far north, compressed artificially in this scene with a telephoto lens at 200mm:

 

The triangular end of the road is where you’ll find the Fourth of July Trailhead. The heavily eroded Arapaho Glacier Trail can be seen carving through the alpine tundra:

 

Lake Dorothy, at just over 12,000′, is another popular destination hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness–note the well-worn footpath. Can someone help me identify those three high peaks in the distance on the left? 14ers? [According to DanR on 14ers.com, those three peaks are Peak C, Mt. Powell, and Eagles Nest of the Gore Range (L to R), all 13ers. Mt. Powell (or Peak B) is the highest of that range at around 13,580′. Thanks, Dan!]

 

There was still ice in the two lakes just south of Mt. Neva! Will it melt entirely before things start to freeze up again in October?

 

The 14ers.com Foursome appears over the false summit of South Arapaho Peak, on their way up (from L to R, Hilary, Andrew, AJ, and Alyssa). Thanks for letting me join you for the traverse!

 

The following images cover the traverse over to North Arapaho Peak…

An overview of the terrain ahead…the first section is fairly easy walking, with yellow alpine bouquets spilling out among the rocks to touch and calm the pounding heart:

 

It is possible to follow the ridge directly much of the way, but this may require some extra Class 4, or even Class 5, scrambling. Very often, when faced with an obstacle not to your taste, the answer is to move to the west side as indicated below with the long white line/arrow. The option depicted by the short vertical arrow would involve a couple of short bouldery moves. One of the fading red-brown route arrows is visible in this picture:

 

A view of the middle section of the traverse. The lone human bean contemplating love, beauty, fate, life, and death in this grand universe is a guy very familiar with the route who was trying to follow the ridge as directly as possible:

 

Looking back from whence we had come, another lone human bean can be seen on the South Arapaho Peak summit. That is the Mt.Evans/Mt. Bierstadt fortress in the distance on the right:

 

The emerald pool just below the incredible shrinking Arapaho Glacier. Is it just me, or can you see a face of a cat or a bear in the snowy ice?:

 

The first crux, “The Slab”, seems to get all the press, but I thought the third crux, the “Dirt Trough”, was at least as stimulating. There is a second crux in between these two that can’t be seen in this view. Here, Andrew, AJ, Hilary, and Alyssa (L to R) are enjoying some brief easy walking before “the business”. That’s probably Mt. Albion off to the right and behind.

[NOTE: Concerning the “Dirt Trough”, AlexeyD of 14ers.com writes this: “One small beta note: the dirt gully you mention right below the summit block of N Arapaho can actually be entirely avoided by scrambling up a blocky ramp on the left. This option is no harder than easy 3rd class, with almost no exposure, and deposits you just above the gully into the short, blocky class 3 chimney above. Honestly, though, there are many different ways to do that traverse, and I look forward to discovering some new little variation every time.”]:

 

A couple of images of The Slab…Alyssa shows us how its done while Hilary awaits her turn. It is probably easier to the right but less exposed in the center. I thought it felt a bit more exposed on the return, as I scooted down to the actual smooth slab itself:

 

AJ and Andrew follow quickly behind:

 

Many more humans have now made it to the South Arapaho summit for conga lessons (on left) while another follows behind us on the ridge. The arrows indicate our route up to “The Slab”, which is directly below my feet:

 

I love separating out abstract images from the grand landscape. Does a smaller bite of the scene reveal more about the true nature of things than a more standard, all-inclusive, wide-angle shot?

 

We will avoid the two big gendarmes just ahead by moving across the shadowed slope to the left (Hilary, AJ, Alyssa, Andrew, L to R):

 

You can make things harder than necessary if you like–it’s called “spice”! Here, AJ is working down an optional Class 4-ish crux, with Hilary below and Andrew and Alyssa above. The easier route crosses just under this rock band:

 

We followed the faded arrows most of the time–if we happened to see them–just like those who followed Arne Saknussemm’s initials in The Journey to the Center of the Earth:

 

This section you might call “The Narrows”. It was slightly exposed but fairly easy to scramble across. Not sure if I would say it was an official crux. The last difficult bit can be seen guarding the summit above us, the “Dirt Trough”. Don’t worry, it isn’t as bad as the pictures make it out to be:

 

Again, things were easier than these pictures might insinuate. The arrows show our route leading up to the start of the short “Dirt trough”, what I considered the third and final crux:

 

Pause every now and then to take a break from the bigger drama…commune with the more intimate landscapes. Worthwhile advice for life as well:

 

Here, you are looking down the “Dirt Trough” and along almost the entire traverse back to South Arapaho Peak. The notations and arrows point out what I considered the second (or middle) crux. The “Abrupt Drop” is about eight feet high and is a nice boulder problem you can try to climb up on the return but harder to climb down. You can see some folks in red approaching this area:

 

Once past the “Dirt Trough”, it is an easy saunter across the primitive soccer field to the giant cairn holding down the high point:

 

Hanging out at 13,502′ on a perfect, no wind, no T-storm day:

 

Summit poses:

 

Silver Lake is the larger body of pure Rocky Mountain water. It’s all headed for the sinks, toilets, and baths of the Boulder Bubble. That ridge in the foreground would be a nice hike/scramble, but it is off-limits being as it is inside the boundaries of the untouchable Romulan Neutral Zone called the Silver Lake Watershed:

 

The last few images cover parts of the return to un-civilization awaiting us far below.

From part way down South Arapaho Peak, here is a nice portrait of Old Baldy, the site of my sunrise photo shoot a few hours and an eternity earlier:

 

One last view over the shoulder of the stage for today’s most excellent mountain adventure:

 

This should give you an idea of how many people are out and about on the weekend in these parts. This is a telephoto view from the edge of the alpine tundra before starting down the main switchbacks on the Arapaho Glacier Trail:

 

The Arapaho Pass Trail is the obvious line, with Mt. Neva the pointy peak above. Down in the valley, the sand-colored mounds about halfway up the obvious trail mark the location of the abandoned Fourth of July Mine. This entire basin looks promising as a giant, gorgeous, wilderness playground for future trips:

 

This had to have been a pretty harsh place to work for those smelly, hard-working and drinking, miners of yore…ah, the attraction of precious metals:

 

On my way up, at 4a.m. or so, and in the light of the 3/4 moon, I only saw the glow of this thin thread of tumbling mirth across the canyon. Here it is, laughing away, in the light of day:

 

Better yet is the waterfall that directly crosses the trail with about a mile to go back to the trailhead. It was definitely worth a stop to pull out the tripod and a snack. In the bright light of day, I had to use a variable density filter (Singh-Ray) to slow the shutter speed down to about 1/5 second for the look I was after. This was a fitting final fiddle stop to cap off an exceptional day in the Rocky Mountains: