Thursday Adventure: Uncompahgre Peak At Last (or, A Tale of Two 14ers)

One of the rewards I offered in my Labyrinth of Flame kickstarter was a peak climb--and one of the folks taking me up on that was a friend whom I first met when we were both undergrads at Caltech. Catherine and I bonded over our shared love of SFF books and TV shows, and she was such a good friend that when I finally got a car in my senior year, she let me drag her along on various wilderness adventures. In those days my enthusiasm far exceeded my knowledge, which often led to rather traumatic experiences for my hiking partners.

Like the time I decided to do my first 14K peak: White Mountain, the third-highest peak in California at 14,252 feet, and the highest in the Inyo-White Mountains, which face the mighty Sierra Nevada across the sagebrush desert of the Owens Valley. (In other words, they're the Bolthole Mountains in the setting of the Shattered Sigil books.) Now, White Mountain is about as easy as 14K peaks get--far, far easier than any of the Sierra's jagged 14ers. The trailhead is way up at 12,000 feet, and all you do is hike an old 4WD road to the summit. No problem, right?

14,252-ft White Mountain, taken near the start of the 4WD trail. (No cars allowed on the trail; it's there because an old research station sits at the summit of the peak.)

No problem except for that little issue of altitude. Bright-eyed, naive 19-year-old me was vaguely aware that altitude could be a problem for hikers. So, I reasoned, the best bet would be to camp as high as we could the night before, to give us time to get accustomed to the thin air before we started hiking the next day. We drove straight from sea level to the 12,000-foot trailhead and camped nearby.

Any experienced hikers reading this are cringing. The correct way to acclimatize to altitude is by sleeping low and doing a series of gradually higher hikes. For most unacclimatized people, attempting to sleep at 12K feet is a recipe for disaster.

And so it proved. The next day, one friend, Jason, had such bad nausea and headache he wisely didn't even attempt to hike the peak. Catherine and another friend (whose nickname was "Dangermouse", or Danger for short) felt pretty miserable but gamely decided to give it a go. I, meanwhile, was ready to perkily skip my way up the peak--I didn't know this at the time, but I'm one of the genetically lucky few who feel no negative effects at altitudes up to 14K. In fact, I felt GREAT. (Hypoxia for the win!)

The White Mountain hiking crew: me, Danger, Catherine. Picture actually taken by Jason a day later when the four of us were about to backpack into Cottonwood Basin. Nobody wanted me to take their picture at the start of the actual White Mountain hike because they all felt grumpy and awful after their sleepless night at 12K feet.

So we hiked, and Catherine and Danger felt progressively more miserable, while idiot me brightly encouraged them to keep going. Danger finally hit the wall about a mile short of the peak and stopped, saying she'd wait for us. Catherine was the only one to make it to the top with me, and she was not having a good time. When I brightly suggested that perhaps the stunning views made the misery worth it, she looked across the Owens Valley at the massive, snowcapped wall of the eastern Sierra, and announced grimly, "I could have seen this out of a plane." (Looking back, it's proof of how good a friend she is that she said that instead of punching me.)

View of Owens Valley and the high Sierra from summit of White Mtn. 

Catherine on the summit. Because she's just that tough, she did summon up a smile.

As we went downhill, so did my friends' health. By the time we rejoined Danger, she was so altitude sick & exhausted she was irrational ("I don't want to move. Why don't we just spend the night here?" Me & Catherine: "Um, we don't have any more food or warm clothes and it's well below freezing at night. We will DIE OF HYPOTHERMIA.") It wasn't until Catherine and I started seriously discussing the best way we could carry Danger off the peak that she finally, reluctantly, started stumbling downward. We didn't make it back until after dark. Thankfully nobody got seriously hurt--although Catherine ended up needing physical therapy for her knees, which she strained on the descent--but it was far from my finest moment as a trip leader. (Danger said the next day, "I think I prefer nature walks.")

I've learned a hell of a lot in the 22 years since then, for which my friends are devoutly thankful. Catherine, too, is a far more experienced hiker, although she had never again attempted a 14K peak. Until now! Last year when she signed up for my peak climb reward, we discussed options, and settled on 14,308-ft Uncompahgre, the tallest peak in the San Juan range in southwestern Colorado. Uncompahgre isn't killer steep and has a good trail for most of the way, barring one short section of class 2+ scrambling up some loose rock. If you have a 4WD (a true 4WD, not a Subaru), you can muscle up a narrow, rocky road to reach the Nellie Creek trailhead, from which the peak's summit is a mere 3.75 miles and 3,000 feet. Catherine and I originally planned to do Uncompahgre together last fall, but the timing didn't work out, so we decided to wait for this fall instead.

This past Thursday, we climbed the peak at last, and it was an absolutely spectacular hike. Gorgeous weather--not a single cloud in the sky, which is quite rare in Colorado!--plus a hint of fall colors visible in aspens and tundra, and we saw hardly anyone else on the trail (an even greater rarity on a 14er). Best of all, Catherine felt a million times better than she did on White Mountain all those years ago, thanks to training and acclimatization. No such thing as a bad day in the mountains for me, but the best days of all are spent enjoying beautiful views with good friends, and this hike was one of my favorites of this year. Just check out these pics:

Our campspot the night before the hike. 

Evening light on a ridge above our campsite

Catherine at the trailhead. Since thunderstorm danger isn't that bad in September, we were able to start at the more reasonable hour of 7am instead of the more typical pre-dawn wake-up

Our destination awaits: Uncompahgre's massive summit block

The trail starts off nice and gentle

We strolled through a broad basin

Catherine heading for the ridge (at lefthand side in pic). Just look at that sky!

Gold and scarlet colors in the tundra as we pass a side peak 

The views started to open out as we gained the ridge

Ridgewalking ever higher

Terrific views of surrounding peaks: Wetterhorn and Matterhorn at left, Coxcomb on right

Snack break before we tackle the climb through the summit cliffs

Nothing like scrabbling up a pile of loose rocks (the route goes straight up here, no trail)

Catherine ascends (in shadow) while another climber eases down (the trick is not to knock rocks down onto anyone else). We only saw a few other groups on the trail, which made for a nice change from most of my other 14er jaunts. We did still cover the spectrum of Colorado hiking stereotypes, though, as we saw: 1) young couple with their golden lab, 2) solo young stud striding along in sneakers and carrying rope, having just ascended a far more sporty route than ours, 3) trio of nimble senior citizens that kicked our asses in hiking speed, 4) solo badass woman with her pack-wearing dog

Getting a little easier again

Now we're home free! Summit just ahead.

Catherine on the summit of her first 14K peak since White Mountain. 

Me having a truly excellent day

Peering over the edge of the summit cliffs: holy hell, that's a long way down

Looking west, toward Wetterhorn (foreground) and Sneffels (distant high point in background)

With the sky so clear, we could see forever across the San Juans

Looking down below the peak. 

We spent about an hour on the summit, and had the gorgeous views all to ourselves

The hard part is always going back down

The views make up for it, though

A secret waterfall

Tundra colors

Swiss cheese boulder

Almost back to the trailhead

Why climb mountains? As a famous mountaineer once said, because it feels so good when you stop.

Australia adventure: sailing the Whitsunday Islands on the Solway Lass

I am back from Australia! Yet still horribly jetlagged, even days after our 30-hour marathon of traveling. (30 hours on planes and in airports and yet it was always Wednesday. Eternally Wednesday.) I always forget how much worse jetlag is when traveling from Australia to the US, as opposed to the other direction. When we go TO Australia, I just feel tired for a day or two and then I'm fine. Coming this direction, I wake up in the middle of the night and no matter how tired I am, I can't get back to sleep until hours later. My seven year old has even worse of a time! Only way I've found to combat the problem is to try for plenty of fresh air and exercise during the day, but that's a tough prescription for an exhausted adult, let alone a cranky kiddo who's ready for a meltdown at the drop of a hat.

Our month spent down under was so worth our current pain, though. As proof, I plan on doing some posts sharing pics from our various adventures--starting with the biggest & best, our multi-day sailing adventure in the Whitsunday Islands.

I've been to northeastern Australia before: my husband and I spent our honeymoon on Bedarra Island, near the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef. Yet I'd never been to the Whitsundays, which are a collection of 74 islands and islets off the Queensland coast near the backpacker's town of Airlie Beach. The southern Great Barrier Reef is many miles further offshore (105km from the mainland), but the various Whitsunday islands have plenty of fringing coral and marine life, making for some very nice snorkeling.

I'd heard the area was best seen by sailing, and given how much our son had enjoyed an afternoon cruise on a tallship in Sydney Harbor on a previous Australia trip, we decided to sign on for a multi-day live-aboard trip on another "pirate ship." We chose to sign on with the 2-masted square-rigger Solway Lass, which has a really interesting history, having been captured as a prize of war and sunk twice since she was built in 1902. (Don't worry, the sailing company totally refurbished the boat since the last sinking.)

The trip was absolutely wonderful, despite some less-than-wonderful weather. June is winter in Australia, and is supposed to be the dry season in the tropical regions. We found the dry season to be, well...not so dry. We had an entire week of high winds and rain squalls; but in between the squalls, thankfully we did get some lovely intervals of sun! Check out these pics:

An omen of things to come: a rainbow over Airlie Beach on the day we began our sailing adventure

The passengers: Solway Lass can carry 30+ guests, but we had 21, plus 6 crew. The passengers comprised a whole mix of nationalities: Spanish, German, Canadian, Indonesian, Chinese, American, Australian, and more.

When the sun is out, the water is an incredible shade of blue

The kiddo and I hanging out in our favorite spot at the bow. Strong winds made for an exciting rollercoaster ride when crossing the open sea between islands. A few passengers got badly seasick, but we lucked out and had no issues. Except for the occasional drenching with spray when the bow plunged into a particularly huge wave, wooo! The islands had plenty of sheltered anchorages so we didn't have to worry about wave action at night.

The crew were very kind to our son, who was the only child on the trip. Here, Dan the bosun (on right) has dressed him up as Captain Jack Sparrow, while bartender Steve watches from his stool. (Yes, the ship has a bar. Plus we were fed very well, thanks to Tim the chef, who was great about making meals for our gluten-free kiddo.) 

We snorkeled in sheltered bays and off little islets like this one. I'd heard the Whitsunday reefs aren't as good as the outer reefs, but honestly I thought the snorkeling was incredible at some of the locations, with tons of gorgeous corals and fish. I don't have any pics of those because we didn't bring an underwater camera. In winter, the air temps are still nicely warm but the water is quite chilly. I brought an old 3mm diving wetsuit and was fine, but our son didn't have a wetsuit. On the boat they provided "stinger suits", which are lycra suits meant to protect against irukandji jellyfish stings, but they're too thin for any real insulation/warmth. The poor kiddo could only stay in the water for a few minutes before he was shivering too hard to snorkel. If we go again, I'm bringing wetsuits for all of us!

We got to do a little hiking as well as snorkeling--here we've been dropped off at a beach to do a walk up to an overlook of famously beautiful Whitehaven Beach.

View of Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach. Most of the island beaches have "sand" that's really chunks of broken coral--not so nice to walk on barefoot!--but Whitehaven has soft, powdery silica sand thanks to a quartz-laden ancient volcano caldera out in the bay.

The colors of the water were amazing

Father and son bonding time on Whitehaven Beach

Sand, sky, and waves: a perfect morning

In the shallows left at low tide, you might find rays and little lemon sharks

Our son loved helping with the sails

Sail ho!

The pirate flag flying proud

The ship had a Tarzan-style rope swing that provided much entertainment for all, especially our son.

The drop to the water is enough to fit in a back flip or two...though none of us but the crew managed that without bellyflopping

Sploosh!

My turn on the swing

Hanging out in the bow net. You aren't allowed to climb in the nets while the ship is moving, but while anchored, they are fair game

Robert enjoying the view from the sun deck

Whitsunday sunset

The rope swing wasn't the only excitement at anchor. More fun was had by jumping off the bowsprit (which is a loooooong way above the water!). Even the captain came out to watch our kiddo take the leap.

Map of the Whitsundays in the ship saloon with our route and anchorages marked. Blue Pearl Bay and the Maureen Cove area had some of the best snorkeling. 

Our son the pirate captain. He can't wait to go sailing again. Neither can we, actually...we're signing up for sailing classes on our local reservoir to learn the basics. Maybe one day we'll rent & sail a ship ourselves to explore more of the Whitsundays! Although we'd also be very happy to go on the Solway Lass again.

We took the sting out of saying goodbye to our sailing adventure by splurging for a night afterward at the Coral Sea Resort in Airlie Beach. Our room had a terrific view and a very comfy hammock on the balcony.

Playing mega-chess at the marina

Our final Airlie Beach sunset

So yeah, one of our favorite adventures ever. If you ever have the chance to sail on the Solway Lass, don't hesitate. But that's not the only fun we had in the Whitsundays! Next post, I'll share some pics from Hamilton Island (and maybe the Barrier Reef, where I did have an underwater camera).