American Independence Hike

July 4, 2004. We were up in Frisco with the kids for the 4^th of July weekend. Carol and I had not planned on hiking this weekend. We invited Tim and Jill to join us for a celebration barbecue. They came up on the 3^rd and we had a nice time at the barbecue and picnic. That evening they asked us if we wanted to hike the rest of segment 9 tomorrow. We asked the kids if they wanted to hike or go to the parade. Laura wanted to go to the parade and the boys volunteered (kind of) to stay and watch her. So the plans were set to hike the remaining 12.2 (yeah right!) miles of segment 9. We left Frisco around 7:00 A.M and after dropping a vehicle off at Hagerman Pass, we arrived at Wurtz Ditch Road Trail Head. We start our days hike at 8:40 AM. It is mostly level walking for the first hour and twenty minutes. We reach a meadow with some beaver ponds that offer a view behind us of the mountains to our east. Soon thereafter, we enter a meadow at the beginning of Longs Gulch.

We stop briefly by the ruins of an old cabin where we have our first views of the mountains in the Holy Cross Wilderness. Somewhere up ahead, we will have to cross over them. Our stop turns into a snack break, picture break, and most important for Tim, a blister-care break. Once we get moving again, it isn’t long before we enter the Holy Cross Wilderness Area in the San Isabel National Forest. We take several pictures up the valley. The scenery here is incredible and it seems like a perfect place to celebrate our countries birthday. Purple mountain majesty and natures beauty is ours to enjoy. Soon, we cross West Tennessee Creek and begin our climb to the top of the ridge. It has been a slow steady climb to this point, but now we had 500 to 600 feet of elevation gain to conquer, in just under a mile. We soon pass the 11,000-foot mark and Carol’s problems start to slow her up again. She really is quite the trooper in continuing our journey. Perseverance is definitely a large part of her personality and I guess it keeps her going. That, combined with the enjoyment we both get out of the trail and the wilderness, keeps us going in this obsession that we started last year. As we climb higher, there are views to the southwest of Homestake Peak. The trail levels out with great views of the surrounding peaks in all directions. Not a sign of civilization anywhere, we are truly in wilderness.

At the saddle, we stop and take pictures by some ponds of upper Porcupine Creek. The ponds are in a meadow surrounded by beautiful alpine scenery. No porcupines are observed, just CNC in their hiking glory. According to the guidebook, we thought we had topped out at 11,480 feet. Guidebooks do not always tell the truth, or at least not the whole story. We cross Porcupine Creek and start a descent down into the trees. Not too bad, but also not for very long. As I read somewhere not too long ago, it was all downhill from here on up! We turn and start climbing. Soon we are switch backing up the mountainside. We climb up above tree line and still continue to climb. We can see the Ten Mile and Mosquito mountain ranges and creek-lined valleys below us. We finally top out at over 11,800 feet and stop for lunch. I have my old standby, PBJ and other assorted snacks. Carol prefers the snacks, pretzels, cheese, bread sticks, and of course trail mix. After lunch, we actually start to descend. We enter a meadow where there is primitive trail head parking at the edge of the wilderness area. Of course, the trail starts to climb again and Carol is none too happy with this. It doesn’t last long though, and we soon pass above Bear Lake. This is a beautiful spot, which would make for great camping, possible fishing, and exploring. The lake is actually about a half mile off the trail as we cross the creek that feeds it. The trail is not done with its uphill, as we climb over another small ridge.

At the top, we are able to see Mt. Massive and Hagerman Pass. We start a long gradual downhill with views of Turquoise Lake and Hagerman Pass road where we are parked. We lose over a 1000-foot of elevation over the next several miles. We reach the Lake Fork Trail Head and from there it is a gradual climb, and then, one last final uphill assault to the truck. We are well over our planned 12.2 miles and I push up the final hill thinking, I won’t stop until I get there, even if it kills me, which of course it almost does. When all is said and done, we have hiked 14.1 total miles. We finished at 4:00 PM and our moving average was 2.9 miles per hour with an overall average of 2.0 miles per hour. The total ascent was 3013 feet and the maximum elevation was 11,829 feet. With this completed, we have now hiked and completed Segments 1-11. Segment 9 Miles Hiked 14.1 C.T. Miles hiked 191.4