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Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:55 pm
by vivid1
Every year on my birthday I climb an easy class I or II 14er. A few months ago I adopted a dog and we've been hiking a lot. We've hiked up to 10 miles of easy flat trails so far, and up to 6 miles of intermediate trails, and have gone as high as 10,300 feet in elevation, so I think this year instead of doing a 14er solo, I rather do an easy summit hike with my dog.

The only easy summits that I can think of that allow dogs are Lily Mountain near Estes Park and Grey Rock west of Fort Collins but I've already done each of of those twice. I was hoping for a summit 10,500 -12,000 tall and an easy to intermediate trail around 5-6 miles long with not much scree or scrambling required. An internet search came up with nothing and my birthday is on Wednesday and I still have no idea where we are going so I'm hoping that someone can throw some ideas at me. I'm willing to drive up to 100 miles to do this hike and do some camping.

Here are some pics of my doggie on some of our hikes to give you an idea the kind of trails we've been doing. He's a pretty tough terrier :P

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Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:34 pm
by MattK
Congrats on the "new" pup. Man it makes me so happy to see a dog get a second chance at a great life, they all deserve it...and it looks like he's enjoying it so far. We adopted ours several years ago and she has been the best hiking companion, well best companion period, I could have ever asked for.

As far as hikes, I might suggest this one.

http://www.summitpost.org/meadow-mountain/153455

Easy hiking, great views. I will try and think of some others if I can.

Matt

PS. Have a good birthday.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:55 pm
by slowbutsteady
I would recommend Handies Peak from American Basin, out of Lake City. An easy 14er with beautiful views and good trail all the way. My wife and our 9 year old pointer mix hiked this one a few years back. Charles Baxter (slowbutsteady)

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:39 pm
by vivid1
slowbutsteady wrote:I would recommend Handies Peak from American Basin, out of Lake City. An easy 14er with beautiful views and good trail all the way. My wife and our 9 year old pointer mix hiked this one a few years back. Charles Baxter (slowbutsteady)


That one has been on my list to do but it's over 300 miles to get there. One of these days!

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:54 pm
by vivid1
MattK wrote:Congrats on the "new" pup. Man it makes me so happy to see a dog get a second chance at a great life, they all deserve it...and it looks like he's enjoying it so far. We adopted ours several years ago and she has been the best hiking companion, well best companion period, I could have ever asked for.

As far as hikes, I might suggest this one.

http://www.summitpost.org/meadow-mountain/153455

Easy hiking, great views. I will try and think of some others if I can.

Matt

PS. Have a good birthday.
Thanks! Cool. I've actually never even heard of Meadow Mountain, this might be the one. And I should have mentioned that I drive a front wheel drive low clearance performance hatchback, so some trail heads I can't get to if they require 4x4 high clearance vehicle, but my car does OK on most dirt roads.

Yea, this pup loves to hike that's for sure and we get out there once or twice a week.

Yale or Bierstadt

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:08 am
by MtnHermit
Yale has a paved parking lot. IIRC the pics of the dog rescue on Bierstadt showed a paved lot on Guanella Pass, not been there in a decade or more.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:03 pm
by MattK
To give you a couple more options, albeit they will be a little longer and/or a little higher than your set parameters:

St Vrain Mountain
http://www.summitpost.org/saint-vrain-mountain/154025
12,000', looks like around 8.5 miles. Can be climbed on its own or can also be combined with Meadow Mountain.

Mount Audubon
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-audubon/151123
13,000', something like 7.8 miles, easy trail, but a bit of talus hopping at the very top.

Sorry these are a little outside your criteria, but let me know if you want anymore ideas of stuff like this. I can't really think of too many more that are going to be under 12,000' and 6 miles.

On a side note, you may, or may not be aware of some of these, but here are some nice, lower summit hikes around Fort Collins that aren't Greyrock or Lily Mountain for future reference:
http://www.summitpost.org/arthur-s-rock/214903
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-mcconnel/152004
http://www.summitpost.org/crosier-mountain/187888
http://www.poudrewildernessvolunteers.org/trails/big-thompsonestes-park/12-round-mountain-trail

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:19 pm
by vivid1
MattK wrote:To give you a couple more options, albeit they will be a little longer and/or a little higher than your set parameters:

St Vrain Mountain
http://www.summitpost.org/saint-vrain-mountain/154025
12,000', looks like around 8.5 miles. Can be climbed on its own or can also be combined with Meadow Mountain.

Mount Audubon
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-audubon/151123
13,000', something like 7.8 miles, easy trail, but a bit of talus hopping at the very top.

Sorry these are a little outside your criteria, but let me know if you want anymore ideas of stuff like this. I can't really think of too many more that are going to be under 12,000' and 6 miles.


On a side note, you may, or may not be aware of some of these, but here are some nice, lower summit hikes around Fort Collins that aren't Greyrock or Lily Mountain for future reference:
http://www.summitpost.org/arthur-s-rock/214903
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-mcconnel/152004
http://www.summitpost.org/crosier-mountain/187888
http://www.poudrewildernessvolunteers.org/trails/big-thompsonestes-park/12-round-mountain-trail


Thanks, that's a great list. St Vrain Mountain, Round Mountain and Mount Audubon are on my to do list. I've already done Arthur's Rock and Mount McConnel.

The pup and I did Crosier Mountain a month ago, but we didn't make it to the summit. Ended up turning around about a mile from the summit. It was very hot that day and we ended up drinking all our water which was 3L :o I was going to save that one for later in the year since it's only 9,204 feet tall and a good winter hike.

I've actually hiked Crosier Mountain about 3-4 times now and I've never made the summit :lol: I think I get bored on this hike, plus the steep sections are so loose, I end up sliding a lot and my knees always hurt after hiking that one. I can't hike with my trekking poles while hiking with the dog, and those used to help on the steep stuff. I've only had this dog just shy of 3 months and he is not a good walker (yet) but he's getting better with each hike. He still gets distracted by squirrels and other critters and sometimes pulls hard on the leash (which isn't so bad if we are hiking upslope, but not so fun if we're hiking downslope). I know he can handle the hikes we've been doing so far (all he needs is a nap in the car on the way home and he's ready to do it again :lol: ) and I've been introducing him to longer and more strenuous hikes very slowly since I don't want to do too much too soon.

So after looking at Meadow Mountain stats and comparing those to some of the other hikes I've done, I think I need the "elevation gain" of the hike to be under 1,500 feet. Meadow Mountain elevation gain is 2,832 feet, I think that would make it a steep hike up to the summit.

I have totally forgot that I hiked Mt. Flora a couple years back and that wasn't very bad at all for a 13er since the elevation gain was only 1,832 feet even though the hike was 6.4 miles round trip and Mt Flora is 13,132 feet tall. And Berthed Pass is a nice paved trailhead. So I checked and on the other side of highway 40 is Mt. Stanley with elevation gain of 1,214 feet, the hike is 6.5 miles round trip and Mt. Stanley is 12,521 feet tall - I think this one is perfect. Thanks for all the suggestions, we will definitely be hiking some of those after we get the easier ones out of the way.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:50 pm
by MattK
Well those are both nice hikes...guess I didn't think of those with you having to come from Fort Collins. I really liked the nice long tundra hike on Stanley (once past the switchbacks). Well, hope you have a good birthday with the lucky pup.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:29 pm
by Dartmouth Hiker
It's a bit more of a drive, but Greenhorn Mountain south of Pueblo is a great, lofty peak with a short and easy approach. With the fall colors, it should be even more amazing right now. It's basically 2 miles of flat, easy trail and maybe 40 minutes of class 2 talus and you're on top. The views are incredible, with the great plains on one side and the Sangres on the other.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:39 pm
by vivid1
Here are a few pictures from Mt. Stanley, what a great hike :D

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Getting ready to climb the wall

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It was getting quite windy at this point

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The other side of the wall

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Atticus admiring the view or looking for chipmunks :lol:

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I'm getting better with the self-timer

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Summit!

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At the summit

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Time for a nap :lol:

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We were the only ones out there - so peaceful and beautiful

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:05 am
by LesterLong
I have nothing to add, other than thank you for the great story and pics. Best of luck with Man's Best Friend.

Re: Need an easy summit to hike with a dog this week

PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:59 pm
by MattK
Glad to see you guys had a great time. That is one happy (and cute) looking pup. The third to last picture is the best! :D

Matt