Hiking Colorado's Summits: A Guide to Exploring the County Highpoints (Hiking Guides) - Softcover

Mitchler, John Drew; Covill, Dave

Softcover

ISBN 10: 156044715X ISBN 13: 9781560447153

Publisher: UNKNO, 1999

Synopsis

A guide to Colorado's sixty-three counties includes information on hiking trails and each summit

About this title

About the Author

The authors have been hiking in Colorado for the pasty two decades. They ran into each other at a party for the Highpointers Club and soon discovered that the counties of Colorado held a new challenge for them. County highpointing, or peakbagging taken to a new extreme, soon occupied their summer vacations, fall weekends, and winter spare time. John and Dave were off and runing, and the result, four years later, is this guidebook. Dave Covill was born in Massachusetts and first discovered Colorado on a geology field trip in college. He soon moved to Colorado for good and works for an oil company in Denver. He lives in Evergreen with his wife, Beckie , and teenage son, Chris, and has absolutely no spare time. Dave has summitted most of the state highpoints and Colorado's Fourteeners, and always has an eye out for a new list. John Mitchler was raised in rural Illinois where he gained an appreciation of nature on his parent's farm along the Fox River. After working as a geologist in the coal fields of Illinois, he came to Colorado as an employee of an environmental engineering firm. A fascination with maps and a love of travelling have taken him to the highpoint of 46 states to date, and helped him become the first person to reach the highest point of every county in Colorado. John lives in Golden with partner Wendy, and has never met a highpoint he didn't like.

From the Inside Flap

The authors would like to dedicate this guidebook to all those outdoor enthusiasts who can't wait to get out and see something they haven't seen before, to go somewhere new, to find a special place that few have found before, and generally not follow in the footsteps of the rest of the weekend warriors. There are hikers who can't remember where they went last vacation, much less last summer. This book is not for them. It is for those who like to keep track of their accomplishments, shooting for a goal, checking off new places visited on the infinite list of the great outdoors as they go along. You know who you are; you make a list when you go to the grocery store, you write down directions when you need to drive to an unfamiliar neighborhood. You aren't afraid of a road trip, and you've camped out before just to save money. You keep track of who sent you a Christmas card, and most importantly, you remember all the mountains you've climbed and all the trails you've hiked. In short, you're a peakbagger, but you're tired of eating the dust of other hikers on the more popular peaks in Colorado, particularly on the fourteeners. You yearn for the solitude of the plains mesa and the rugged splendor of a seldom-visited thirteener. You anticipate the day, not too far from today, when you will jump in your car and make a quick escape to the trailhead of a nearby hill or peak that isn't famous, isn't difficult, isn't awe-inspiring, but it's all yours for that day. You are now a county highpointer. This book is for you. Don't forget to sign the register.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The best time to visit the peak for non-snow hiking is July through September. From the trailhead on, the route is packed with deep snow until well into June each year. If you don't mind crossing the tundra plateau during it's soggy state in spring, this can be a terrific time to visit James Peak and practice the art of glissade, sliding down the snow. The Colorado Mountain Club uses the permanent snowfield for field practice sessions for the excellent hiking courses they offer. The summer scene is a party with countless tourists swarming over this snow novelty with picnic coolers and frisbees. On the summit, Grays and Torreys are visible far to the south, Mt. Evans dominates the southeast horizon, and the Denver metro area is clearly visible to the east. James Peak is one of 6 county highpoints in Colorado that lie directly astride the Continental Divide and is one of only three county highpoints in Colorado that mark a tri-county junction. The special nature of the James Peak Roadless Area is reflected in the current discussions to designate it a wilderness area. If successful, this could create a 50 mile continuous band of preserved mountain landscape stretching north from James Peak through the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Comanche Peak Wilderness.

James Peak is named for Edwin James, who, in 1820 became the first person to record climbing a Colorado fourteener, Grand Peak, near Colorado Springs. Major Stephen Long tried to rename this peak after Mr. James, but the peak was instead renamed after the more popular Zebulon Pike. Dr. Charles Parry fixed this oversight and gave the name James Peak to the 13,294 foot mountain and then humbly donated his own name to a higher southern neighbor, 13,391 foot Parry Peak. Edwin James gets the last laugh, however, as his peak is a county highpoint.

Central City is the county seat of Gilpin County, which was established in 1861. The county was named for William Gilpin, 1822 - 1894, the first Territorial Governor of Colorado. Although Gilpin County is one of the smallest counties in Colorado, with its 149 square miles exceeding only the City and County of Denver, its early history is credited with beginning the permanent establishment of Colorado. The mining district 5 miles southeast of James Peak began in 1859 and was of such magnitude it began the establishment of Colorado and is known to this day as "the richest square mile on earth." Many camps were established in the area. Central City, so named for its central location, was a meeting place for miners from surrounding camps and it became more important than Denver. On May 21, 1874, a fire in Central City, started by Chinese laundrymen burning incense over coals in a religious ritual, destroyed nearly all of the dry frame structures. However, the town rebuilt under a new brick building code, including the famous Central City Opera House which was described as the most elegant between St. Louis and San Francisco. The county's economic base was revitalized in 1991 after Colorado voters approved limited stakes gambling for Black Hawk and Central City. Gilpin County's chief industry is tourism and gambling, although mining activity continues with gold, silver, lead, zinc, uranium and tungsten.

Camping and services: There are no campgrounds in the vicinity of the trailhead although primitive backpack camping is allowed along the route. The communities of St. Mary's and Alice have no services although a public phone is available at a building along the road, several hundred yards north of the trailhead. Full services are available along I-70 at Idaho Springs and Georgetown.

Southern Plains 52. Baca 53. Bent 54. Otero 55. Prowers

The Southern Plains are characterized by a great deal more relief than can be found in the Central and Northern Plains. The hikes here are short but interesting, and include mesas, buttes, and bluffs. These summits are further apart than one would think when first looking at a map, and a hiker should be satisfied with visiting two in a single day. This region is hot and dry, and water should be brought along on all hikes, no matter how short the distance. The Bent County highpoint, San Jose Ranch Mesa, is ideally situated between the other three in a triangle fashion, and can be combined with any of them easily in a day. However, advance permission is required before visiting the ranch. Consider making a weekend of it and staying in Lamar, La Junta, or Springfield. The Oklahoma state highpoint is just south of Carrizo Mountain in Baca County, and the volcanoes of eastern New Mexico are just to the southwest.

Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 156044715X
• ISBN 13: 9781560447153
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272