12-5K

Last night I spent the evening on Pawnee Pass, in Indian Peaks. While camping is not allowed in the eastern part of the wilderness area - given its popularity and the potential for high impact - one can camp on the western part of the Pass. Leaving work yesterday, I busted through town, made my way up to the trailhead, and was on the trail by 6:30. Sunset was officially at 7:30, so I knew I had to make good time to be on the pass before it was too dark. The last parts of the hike are the steepest - I knew that I didn't want to be tackling scree and snowfields without any daylight at all.

I made it up to the top in 1hr 45 mins. Slow-going, on the one hand, as that's only a pace of 26 min/mile. On the other - given the conditions - I was moving along nearly as fast as I've hiked yet - so I was happy with my time. Towards the end of the hike I was bathed in alpenglow, and then worked my way forward through the murky grey of the early evening. By the time I got to the top, it was nearly completely dark out. Stumbling around on the saddle of the Pass, I was absolutely exhausted. I finally found a good place to set up camp in a little hollow of grass with rocks large and small on all sides.

Pawnee Pass tops out at 12,550 feet. That, in combination with fierce winds ripping over the Divide, made for a very cold evening. While my water didn't freeze, the temperature must have been just above freezing. At the trailhead at 10 this morning, with the sun high in the sky and over 2,000' lower in elevation, the temperature was 46 degrees.  So, for all my compatriots who were at sea level last night - we had very different night's sleep!

The scenery was spectacular. Looking east I could see the lights of Boulder and Denver and a fierce lightning storm erupting over them. To the west, I could make out Grand Lake and the scattered lights of the smalls towns surrounding it. This morning, a blanket of clouds covered Grand Lake - like it had been tucked in for the night. And the stars, as you might expect, fiercely pin-pricked the sky above (that is, when I dared peek out of my bag...)

Going forward - if one is thinking about sleeping above treeline - here are my thoughts. DON'T begin your hike an hour before sunset. DON'T decide that you don't really need a tent when the jetstream seems to be about 2' above your head...

(apologies for the quality of the pic - the camera ran out of power)

 And most importantly, DON'T use the sleeping bag your mother gave you in 1989 that seems not only threadbare and has down falling out of it, but must be rated for the frigid temperature of 85 degrees...!

That said, DO, do it again.