McCullough Gulch, Part II

Click here for Part I
Accompanied by a couple of chipmunks, I headed over to check out where the lake ended and creek began.
The view of the creek was admittedly more impressive a little farther back down the trail.
A steady rain began to fall right as I reached this black pond.
Did the weather have any more surprises? Hail, yes.
This is what happens to your trekking pole when you don't bring spare rubber feet or your baskets.
I think people actually drive vehicles over this bridge. I was reluctant to WALK across it.
The storm blew over right as I got back to the trailhead, with bright sun now reflecting dazzlingly off wet rock.
The storm was headed east, and so was I. But I gave it a nice head start.

I decided to get back home through Fairplay instead of retracing my route on I-70, which meant a stop at this Continental Divide overlook.

Was this the same storm off in the distance after I passed through Fairplay? No idea, but it looked impressive.

My drive took me past one of the more incongruous sights on 285 -- the Christ of the Rockies statue in Santa Maria.
And I got to see the new home of the Coney Island just outside Bailey. When we lived in Conifer this fine establishment was in Aspen Park, but I'd heard that it had been moved and refurbished. Still as popular as ever, though.

So the hike took just a little more than two hours to go about 5.6 miles roundtrip. The drive was a bit longer than I'd expected -- 180 miles roundtrip -- but still a beautiful way to spend a Sunday!

McCullough Gulch, Part I

My Father's Day treat was to get out for a hike. I tried to convince Zak to come with me -- and probably should have tried even harder -- but he politely declined. So I headed off to McCullough Gulch by myself.
The altitude was evident right off the bat. At 11,000 feet, there was still snow at the trailhead and I was huffing and puffing pretty quickly.
An abandoned mining site. Instead of investing in No Trespassing signs, whoever this belongs to should invest in cleaning up their junk.
The trail more or less followed this creek. The few times I lost track of the trail, I just headed back toward the sound of the rushing water.
I loved how vivid all the colors were looking up here.
This was NOT one of the places where the trail was hard to follow. Some pretty extensive chainsaw work had gone into a few stretches.
However, after crossing this rock field I meandered around a little bit before catching sight of another hiker.
The view back to the east near the end of the trail. Despite my late (1:30 p.m.) start, the weather so far was holding up nicely.

The imposing presence of Quandary Peak was a constant reminder of what I hope to get to in July and August -- some 14ers!

People who make cairns to mark the trail in rocky areas are doing God's work, and I love them for it.

The glacial lake at the end of the trail was breathtaking. Other hikers had the good sense not to mar the snow field with footprints, so the view was pretty unspoiled.

After a short break to munch down a Peanut Butter Gatorade Nutrition bar (awful, by the way), thickening clouds rolling in over Quandary were my cue to head back down.

Click here for Part II