Golden Gate - Overnight - Day 1

I had planned on a early overnight backpacking trip.  The challenge in planning this was I needed to find a reasonable location to hike,  a window of good weather, and no other time commitments.  All that merged into Wednesday, Thursday May 25, 26 in Golden Gate Canyon State Park above Golden.  I had picked out about a 30 mile path with several thousand feet of elevation gain.

I gathered all my 'stuff' and started practice packing.  However, every time I packed, I found I had either too much 'stuff' or my pack was way too heavy.  So after several sorts, tosses, and attempted packing strategies, my pack was packed and weighed in around 40 pounds.  That is still about five pounds more than I would have liked.

I drove up to Golden Gate, checked in to the backcountry campsite I wanted and headed to the trailhead.  The goal of the trip was to hike around the perimeter of Golden Gate Canyon State Park.  Golden Gate is just a few miles from Black Hawk, which was a significant mining town during Colorado's gold era.  The area was settled by ex-miners and others who made a living providing supplies to the town.

I headed up the Horseshoe trail toward Greenfield Meadow.  The trail was in good condition and the ascent was moderate.  But man, 40 extra pounds was sure heavy.  It took a while to get used to the extra weight and my pace was a bit slower than normal, but so far, so good.  I traveled to intersection of the Mule Deer trail.  I would stay on Mule Deer much of the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon.

Trail near Greenfield Meadows

The trail followed the side of the mountain around the western perimeter of the park.  The views west were nice.

Overlook

Nice Fishing Pond down there

One of the nice things about Golden Gate Canyon is that they have very good trail signage and many information plaques that tell about the history of the homesteaders and area.

The story of Hugh McCammon

Throughout the day, on north facing slopes, I still ran into small patches of snow.  Never enough to cause any problem.

Still some snow

As I started the slow turn north and east around Panorama Peak the view opened up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Lunch came at Dude's Fishing Hole.  I was ready for something to eat and a nice break; however, I didn't drop a line in the water.

Dude's Fishing Hole

Next was a long, steep ascent/descent along Snowshoe Hare Trail.  I love the trail names.  I was climbing over the ridge line that separates the western side of the park with the eastern side.  By three o'clock or so, that pack was getting heavy!  I finally reached the top of the ridge and began a descent to Forgotten Valley.  I had been to Forgotten Valley on a hike early last year.  I think it is one of the nicest places I've been to.

Forgotten Valley

The trail down was an old ranch road that ran along the creek.  Along the way, I found an old car.

Old Car

One of the things that makes Forgotten Valley so interesting is the well persevered and documented homestead of the Tallman family.

Main House at Tallman Homestead

By now I was like a horse headed to the barn.  I was on the last three mile stretch to camp.  I was getting pretty tired, so headed there straight away.  On arriving at my campsite, I made camp, supper, looked around a little, then headed to the tent to read and call it a day.

Campsite

Kitchen

Sleeping quarters

Bear Pole

Another nice thing they have at Golden Gate Canyon is the bear pole.  No need to find your own tree to put your bear bag up.

I called it a night and tried to sleep.  On to day 2.

Overall Track Statistics for Goldengate - day 1,   6397 data points

 Length 15.419 miles  :  Garmin Length 0.000 miles

 Start Elevation - 8159.91 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 9530.15 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 7801.71 feet

 Date of Hike - May 25, 2016

 Start Time - 10:07 AM

 End Time - 05:37 PM

 Total Duration -     7:30 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 4319.46 feet

 Total Descent - 4654.53 feet

 Net Ascent - -335.07 feet

 Maximum Grade - 19.52%

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 728.77 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.86 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 11.68%