Mount Powell, not quite this time

The week in Vail was wrapping up. It seemed appropriate to finish on a big hike. I set my sights on Mount Powell. Spoiler alert, I wasn’t successful.

Mount Powell

Mount Powell is the highest 13er in the Gore Range at 13,580′. Climb 13ers says it can be “easily climbed as a day-hike”. The round-trip is about 11 miles with a little over 4,200′ in elevation gain. This didn’t sound to bad, and wouldn’t have been if things hadn’t happened the way they did.

The route for Mount Powell starts at Piney Lake. The trip to Piney Lake from Vail requires you to take Forest Road 700. This dirt road has a lot of potholes and washboard sections but doesn’t require a 4WD. Trust me, I saw several sedans creeping along (e.g. Honda Accords) and even a Tesla (what?).

I headed out a little earlier than the other hikes this week to allow myself time for the distance and elevation change. As a bonus, I was able to see the moon setting behind a ridge on the way. The trailhead parking was empty at 7:00AM and the temp was 25°.

A few quirks at the trailhead

Before arriving, I hadn’t checked my topo maps. The GAIA GPS and Garmin Earthmate apps have been syncing my planned routes reliably to my iPhone and Garmin Explorer+. They also have all the topo maps downloaded for offline access. Well, I’d forgotten that I had to restore my iPhone from backup to get activity tracking to capture GPS data. Thank you Apple. In the Jeep, I realized the restore from backup did not include my previously downloaded topo maps and there was no cell service to get them loaded. Without many options, I decided to rely on the topo maps on my Explorer+ and headed out.

Nice beginnings

The trail starts out around Piney Lake. Later in the day, this trail becomes very popular because it is flat while providing great views of the lake and mountains. Most people follow it about 2.5 miles to some cascades. No one was out yet, so I had the place to myself. Even in the early morning light, the views were spectacular.

Navigational Challenges

The hike along Upper Piney trail is one of the easier hikes I’d experienced this week. It’s pretty easy to make good time without excessive huffing and puffing. Before long, I’d already gone 2.5 miles to the area where people check out the cascades. I knew this was close to where I should be turning left to head into the gully up to Mount Powell. There was a rock cairn that sure seemed like the right marker. Shortly after that marker, however, the trail seemed to end with a downed tree so I headed back to the main trail. That was a mistake.

As you can see from the GPS track, I continued on the main trail for about another 1.25 miles. I knew I was past the point to go left based on the tiny topo screen of my Explorer+. There just didn’t seem to be a trail. I did get to see some nice cascades and the hike was really pleasant.

As I approached 4 miles of hiking, I figured my chanced of making Mount Powell were gone. I’d simply wander back and explore the river a bit more. I figured I’d need better topo information to make it next time.

On the way back, I saw a small trail leading up from these falls and thought I’d do a little exploring to see if that led me in the right direction.

The “trail” I’d spotted was from people exploring those falls, not a real trail. It was fun scrambling around so I continued to climb around and came across a dispersed backpacking camp. Just past that, what do you know, a rock with a cairn on it and a trail that looked to head the right direction, up and northeast. Why not head up that way?

Continued quest for Mount Powell

The trail here was much steeper. You can see it starting at mile 4.25 in the GPS track. This felt more like what I was expecting. Around mile 5, I stopped to rest and thought I’d see if I had cell phone service. Surprisingly, I did and was able to load the GAIA GPS map for the area I was in. It was nice to confirm I was on the trail and see about how much further I had to go. Maybe my day was going to get better?

Another .5 mile of climbing/hiking the trail and I entered into a beautiful meadow below the Knee Knocker Saddle. It looked like a great backpacking spot around 11,000′.

At the end of the valley, the western side Mount Powell’s false summit was clearly visible as well as the Knee Knocker Saddle. Here is a 360 view of that point. And no, I do not have a radio voice so sorry about the narration. 😉 The views from this point are really fantastic.

With video work done, I headed up. The GPS track is useful to see how much the incline increases with the hike up to the saddle. It felt like it was over a 45° incline, but who knows. It’s hard to tell while you’re climbing it and focusing on catching you breath! The trail was loose dirt and scree transitioning to a field of loose talus at 400′ below the saddle. It was at this point I decided to take stock of how things were going.

Tough decision to turn back

As I sat on a rock just before the talus field, I felt like I was pushing myself a bit. Having done 14ers, I know there are steep and unsettling sections of some trails. Today, however, I just wasn’t feeling it. The “detour” had added a few miles to my hike and I was 6 miles in. The idea of climbing another 1,600′ to the top of Mount Powell just didn’t seem realistic. Plus, the scramble across the talus field wasn’t appealing. I decided to enjoy the views and head back down. At least I was able to get a picture of a cute pika and a Black Rosy Finch.

For perspective on the section of the trail, I imported my GPS track into Google Earth and captured this screenshot.

Hiking back

It took a while to descend back into the valley which helped reinforce my decision. I met a couple at the end of the valley. They had full backpacks and had just finished the climb up from Upper Piney trail. The didn’t look tired at all. They were headed over the saddle to Bubble Lake. They were clearly better hikers! There were some good views on the way down.

Identifying the navigation error

It was a bit frustrating to see where I’d made my error. As I followed the trail to the intersection of Upper Piney, I saw the cairn I’d passed on earlier. Yes, the tree disappeared for a bit where the tree had fallen across the trail. If I’d investigated the area 15′-20′ above it I would have found the trail. Maybe I’ll give this a try some other time. For now, I think I’ll focus on a backpacking trip.