Wedgemount Lake

The hike to Wedgemount Lake (left) was a little brutal. From the trailhead the hike is 4 miles one-way, with a vertical gain of 3608 feet. I crunched the numbers, and assuming an 18-inch stride, for every horizontal step, 3 inches will be gained. In your house, this trail is would be stairs. It had no switchbacks, either. It was a grind. I hiked with Kim, a self-proclaimed computer geek from Sweden. The pictures were taken with her camera.

The trailhead was a 7 minute drive from the house, and we started hiking at 8:45am. It was a chilly morning, 33*F, but we quickly warmed up as we climbed. After two hours we hit snow, and the ascent to the lake took 4 hours.

The hike was beautiful. The lush damp undergrowth, towering trees hanging with Spanish moss, and the occasional frozen mushroom were a welcome change of pace from bone-dry CO hikes.

The final stretch of the hike rates a mention as "sketchy." It was the part of the hike Madeline would have hated. Basically, the trail followed the perimeter of a boulderfield, and a stream ran down the trail. The water had frozen over the rocks, creating what amounts to a high-alpine luge course. This, coupled with the 2-3 inches of snow, made for a wet, slick, steep scramble to gain the last 500 feet to the lake. Thanks for the gaiters, mom.

We ate lunch at the lake (peanut butter and honey sandwich, pumpkin seeds, chocolate, block of aged cheddar cheese), snapped some photos, and we headed down. All told we saw 6 people on the hike.

Kim had a bit of a rough day. In the first 10 minutes of the descent, she tore an 8 inch hole in the backseat of her trousers, right next to the center seam. I haven't posted a picture of he rip due to it's unfortunate location and her request that I not. Every time we ran into someone, she had to face them so they wouldn't see the hole. Thankfully, we had some duct tape. She also fell hard twice during the long, steep, slippery, icy descent, bruising her hip and shoulder in the process. I fell also, but I picked a good location and went down smoothly.

After we arrived home I watched "Miss Congeniality" while eating ice cream cake, played guitar for an hour, then watched "Grease," which was a kick. Here's some photos from the day. As always, click to see the full-size photo.

Me. The glacier behind my head can be seen from our house in Emerald Estates.

Kim.

I really miss Fort Collins beer. Really a lot.

Kim, in a giant hollow tree.

I went out on a limb for this photo op.