Exploring Colorado Becomes Redhead Down (Sep 2019)

It was 2:00pm when I parted ways with Pops in eastern California - our relaxing trip into the Sierras just the start of a 3 week journey for me. The next two weeks would be adventuring to - and then through - Wyoming and Colorado with some of the normal folks - Mike @Digiratus and Monte @Blackdawg (and his dad Steve), and also a new face to me - Brett @Squeaky Penguin.

I've been wanting to meet Brett for quite some time now, so I was definitely looking forward to the opportunity. But here I am getting ahead of myself already - first, I needed to make my way east. I'd save myself 18 hours or so by leaving from California vs. going home before heading east - but it was still an 18-hour drive to our rendezvous in Rawlins, WY.

With 24 hours to get there, I figured I would be just fine. Plus, the first leg of the journey would be amazing - I was driving through Yosemite National Park!

My route through Yosemite took me up and over Tioga Pass - one of the most scenic drives in the park if you ask me - and shortly after starting the climb, I was rewarded with a spectacular view. There, in the distance - El Capitan and Half Dome. Wow.

Check out the whole story (or at least the first part for now) in
Exploring Colorado Becomes Redhead Down - Part 1​

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With frequent stops, and another longer stop for lunch, it took us several hours before we finally set off on our final approach to Blackhall Mountain. In the end, it was another long climb - the summit, at 10,974 ft - just missing the mark we'd achieved earlier in the day.

But the craziest part of the day had already happened. You can read all about it in
Redhead Down #2: WTF, There's a Bat in My Tent!










catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2]


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September 18, 2019.

Too soon, we were through these distracting, colorful, Alders. Luckily it wouldn't be our last encounter with these beautiful trees, and besides, we were making our way up and around what we hoped would be another cool peak to add to our list of places we'd driven to the top of: Hahn's Peak. Visible at the top, an old lookout - no longer staffed - called to us to visit, and we made our way around the base of the mountain as we looked for a way up.

Read all about it in Redhead Down #3: We Cross into Colorado







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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]​

 

In and out of the trucks, we ultimately covered some 27 miles in just under two hours. All on reasonably graded gravel roads, we eventually saw Eagles Nest and Mt. Powell in the distance before we decided at about 6:00pm that we'd found a reasonable camp site and were going to call it a day, Brett - ever looking for the poser shot as evidenced by the #overlanding stickers on his #GFC - flexing his way the last few feet into camp.

Read the full story and get the low-down on 'the Gram at:

Redhead Down #4: Follow Me on the Trail, Not on the 'Gram








catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]​

 

September 20, 2019.

...Eventually, we found ourselves at the top of Cottonwood Peak. -ish. There are a couple caveats here worth mentioning. First, no road actually went to the top. Second, even the highest point of the road wasn't technically the top of the peak - it skirted along the southwest side by a few hundred feet - both horizontally and vertically.

And that was just fine with Brett - more than fine in fact! He jumped out of his truck and immediately challenged Monte to a race to the top. Of course, Monte being only slightly competitive meant that we really had to twist his arm to get him to accept the challenge.
Right. And on the count of three, they were off.

Find out who wins in Redhead Down #5: The Race









catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]​

 

September 21, 2019.

...Of course, we all made it - Monte declaring that this was even narrower than the back side of Webster Pass - but not without a casualty. Brett had been hugging the uphill side of the trail so tightly that he'd punctured his front, driver-side tire on a rock. It wasn't severe enough that he had to change it right there on the switchbacks, but he scooted his truck up to the top while the rest of us paused for a moment to snap an #instafabulous photo or two at a top-of-the-world sort of overlook, Red Cone in the distance.

Redhead Down #6: Chihuahua, Webster, Red Cone and Radical!​

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6]


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September 22, 2019.

...As we all set about our normal evening activities - prepping our tents and getting the fire pit ready - Brett had something else in mind entirely. This was a site worthy of a custom bench. However, unlike many of the locations we'd been, there was relatively little beetle kill here, and so he headed off with his truck to find - and drag back - the trunk of a dead tree. And then, he set to work with the chainsaw.

It's all covered in Redhead Down #7: The Day We Made a Bench​

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7]​

 

That sucks that the one mill and surrounding bldgs are gated off now. Hopefully, whoever is building there doesn't decide to demo them. I wonder who bought that area?

 

September 23, 2019.

Just as the trail had some gatekeepers obstacles near the bottom, so too were there some larger gatekeepers before we could proceed much further towards the top. Several of these offered easier and harder lines, our approach summarized nicely by this meme...

All the photos and the whole story in: Redhead Down #8: Exploring the Champion Mill









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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8]​

 

September 24, 2019.

...That last hour had been a rough one. And it's repercussions would be immediate and long lasting. They'd start the next morning as we started trying to clean up the mess and figure out what we were going to do next.

Read the whole story in Redhead Down #9: The Last Hour








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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9]

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September 25, 2019.

...We weren't - however - headed home yet. In fact, Monte and I had planned to let Mike get a head start home while he and I returned to Mt. Antero to bag our 14er, but...

Well, you'll just have to read all about it in Redhead Down #10: Dealing with the Fallout








And that, friends, brings us to the end of the adventure.
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10]

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