Blanca Peak 8/98

August 8-9, 1998
by David Vest (Mud Dancer)

Blanca

Myself, Curtis with friend Mike, Terry with friend Steve, and Ray met at Southgate and departed around 8:10 am Saturday morning for Blanca Peak. We traveled down Hwy 115 toward Westcliff. From there we proceeded over Medino Pass, through the Sand Dunes to the Blanca Peak trail head. I was very surprised at how little water we encountered considering the rain we've had.

Blanca At the Blanca Peak trail head we met Bill and Glenna Donahue, they had been guests at the August 5th club meeting. Bill was driving his well equipped '85 CJ7 and ready to conquer the Peak for the first time. Terry also was a virgin of the Peak and looking forward to it. We headed up the trail, stopping a couple of times for Ray whose Bronco was vapor locking on him.

We arrived at Jaws 1 without incident and after everyone made it over without problems we continued up the trail to Jeep Rock. At Jeep Rock both Jeeps on the trip had to receive a little assist to get over, I guess that is why it is called Jeep Rock.

We continued up the trail, successfully tackling the remaining obstacles without incident. We crossed the four or five slide areas, from earlier this year, I find that they just add a little more character to the trail.

After arriving at Como lake, we set up camp and enjoyed an evening of BSing around the camp fire, courtesy of Bill who brought the wood. After retiring for the evening we were blessed with the yelling and occasional gun shot from a very inconsiderate group of four wheeler want-a-be's until 2 or 3 am. It is people like this that give the rest of us a bad rep.

Blanca Sunday morning we got up, broke camp, lined up and waved good bye to the Colorado Four Wheelers who had also made the trek up the Peak for the weekend (they were not the rowdy bunch) and had camped on the far side of the lake. After they had passed we went around the lake and headed on up to the upper lake. After we all had some difficulty getting up the rock, we enjoyed the views and remaining drive to the upper lake.

The marmots were more plentiful than usual, or so it seemed to me. At the upper lake, everyone except myself, Bill and Glenna hiked up to the third lake. When they returned, we headed back down the trail, stopping at Jaws 1 for lunch. After once again arriving at the trail head, we aired up and headed for home. I do believe a good time was had by all and the knowledge that we once again conquered the Peak will stay with us until next time.

Last modified Thursday, 03-Sep-1998 10:17:43 MDT

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