SAXON MOUNTAIN SPRING GULCH

5/21/2008

Monday I made it almost all the way up the power line trail and there was no snow. Today I thought I would try Saxon Mountain from the other side and see what that was like.
I left the house a little after 9 a.m. It was a beautiful day for a ride. If I had enough energy and time I was going to check out Pavillion Point after all it was only 13 miles to Gunella Pass road. It kind of hurt but if I kept a slow steady pace Lamertine jct, was only a couple hours away and the power line another hour after that. I was moving along about 2-3 mph making slow progress. About 5 miles up started running into snow, At first I could get
around on the side then it was up to my knees. I was wishing for my gaiters after a while my feet were soaked and it didn’t matter any more. I kept pushing on, Pretty soon it was up to my waist and I was swimming trying to keep my weight on my shins so I wouldn’t fall through again. My legs were starting to bleed from being cut by the coarse ice crystals! I just kept thinking if I made it to the jct, the snow was going to clear up. Boy was I wrong! When I finally made Lamertine Jct it was 12:30 It took me about an hour to crawl through a couple miles of snow!! But there was an old snowmobile track that was still firm enough to hold my weight. I was hoping that it went to Highland Park of course not, The track was going to take me to Spring Gulch. At least I was staying on top of the snow for the most part. Now I was hoping the snow was going to clear up by the time I crossed the saddle to Spring Creek Jeep Road. Wrong again!! ONLY FOR A COUPLE HUNDRED YARDS. I pushed through the snow all the way past Lamertine. Four hours of slogging through the snow. That sucked. I was tired and still had to ride the frontage road home from Idaho Springs. Oh well it’s all about the adventure right? And I got an 8 hour workout. I think my computer only showed 6. I probably got an extra 5 miles carrying my bike.

26,6 miles 6 hours 4.4 AV ouch!