Fairchild Mountain 8/18
18.2mi RT, 5500' EVG 9.5 hours
This was the first trip to the mountains for me in nearly three months after spending the summer in Kansas City for an engineering internship that I couldn't turn down, and I must have stayed in decent shape by going to the gym every now and then and taking a few short bike rides through the rolling hills of Missouri. I'd planned on doing something pretty short to get readjusted to hiking and climbing, so I started at the trailhead at 6:40 with Crystal Lakes and Mount Tileston in mind. A few miles up the trail I was surprised to see how fast I was going and that I hadn't needed to rest to that point, so I began thinking about something a little more challenging as long as I was feeling up to it.
I made the 6.3 mile hike to Lawn Lake in exactly 2 hours, which must be some sort of record for me over that distance. The last time I'd been to Lawn Lake was when I was a lot younger, so I took a break a on the shoreline and ate my clif bar. I followed the trail along the shore until it disappeared at the inlet stream, then regained the real trail by following a little washed out creek up to the small eroded path. The trail beyond Lawn was pretty soggy, but both sides were lined with wildflowers. At the Crystal Lakes intersection I passed a group of four coming down from The Saddle and they told me the weather looked fine, so I continued on. After crossing a rocky drainage and climbing along the side of the east ridge extending from Fairchild's summit, I left the trail and started to climb towards the top.
At this point I saw a little weasel who scurried into the rocks but poked his head out to watch me for a few minutes. I'd only seen two other weasels before, so it was cool to get such a good look at my third. The weasel wasn't the only wildlife I saw on the steepening climb to the top, midway up I saw a mottled ptarmigan, a group of four big bucks with velvet antlers, and a group of two humans across the slopes heading to the same destination. Towards the top the boulders became bigger and I played around in the class 3 for the added fun. The summit was pretty cold and windy, but a well constructed windbreak gave me a place to eat lunch and take pictures from.
I saw one of the other climbers nearing the summit so I began dropping down the way they ascended, which was the much more gradual, gravelly slope from The Saddle. I think that climbing the steep but direct ridge and descending the long gradual slope to The Saddle is a good way to climb Fairchild; you can stay out of the wind and get to the top as quick as possible being unable to see the weather coming at you, and later you can cruise down to The Saddle very quickly after you've decided what the weather conditions are. At The Saddle you get an awesome view up to Hagues, which looks very craggy and worthy of being Larimer's highest peak. After picking up the trail again I intercepted a different group of climbers coming down the ridge I ascended, which was funny since I never saw them on the summit despite being on essentially the same route.
Back at Lawn Lake I changed my socks and drank a lot of water to stave off the dehydration headaches that were creeping in on me. The 6.3 mile return from the lake went very slowly and my feet felt every rock I stepped on, but I made it back without getting too delirious. Interestingly I passed fewer people on the way down than on the way up, even though I was returning at peak tourist venture time. In total I saw many chipmunks, squirrels, marmots, pipits, a bald eagle, a weasel, four deer, a ptarmigan and 27 people.
This was the first trip to the mountains for me in nearly three months after spending the summer in Kansas City for an engineering internship that I couldn't turn down, and I must have stayed in decent shape by going to the gym every now and then and taking a few short bike rides through the rolling hills of Missouri. I'd planned on doing something pretty short to get readjusted to hiking and climbing, so I started at the trailhead at 6:40 with Crystal Lakes and Mount Tileston in mind. A few miles up the trail I was surprised to see how fast I was going and that I hadn't needed to rest to that point, so I began thinking about something a little more challenging as long as I was feeling up to it.
I made the 6.3 mile hike to Lawn Lake in exactly 2 hours, which must be some sort of record for me over that distance. The last time I'd been to Lawn Lake was when I was a lot younger, so I took a break a on the shoreline and ate my clif bar. I followed the trail along the shore until it disappeared at the inlet stream, then regained the real trail by following a little washed out creek up to the small eroded path. The trail beyond Lawn was pretty soggy, but both sides were lined with wildflowers. At the Crystal Lakes intersection I passed a group of four coming down from The Saddle and they told me the weather looked fine, so I continued on. After crossing a rocky drainage and climbing along the side of the east ridge extending from Fairchild's summit, I left the trail and started to climb towards the top.
At this point I saw a little weasel who scurried into the rocks but poked his head out to watch me for a few minutes. I'd only seen two other weasels before, so it was cool to get such a good look at my third. The weasel wasn't the only wildlife I saw on the steepening climb to the top, midway up I saw a mottled ptarmigan, a group of four big bucks with velvet antlers, and a group of two humans across the slopes heading to the same destination. Towards the top the boulders became bigger and I played around in the class 3 for the added fun. The summit was pretty cold and windy, but a well constructed windbreak gave me a place to eat lunch and take pictures from.
I saw one of the other climbers nearing the summit so I began dropping down the way they ascended, which was the much more gradual, gravelly slope from The Saddle. I think that climbing the steep but direct ridge and descending the long gradual slope to The Saddle is a good way to climb Fairchild; you can stay out of the wind and get to the top as quick as possible being unable to see the weather coming at you, and later you can cruise down to The Saddle very quickly after you've decided what the weather conditions are. At The Saddle you get an awesome view up to Hagues, which looks very craggy and worthy of being Larimer's highest peak. After picking up the trail again I intercepted a different group of climbers coming down the ridge I ascended, which was funny since I never saw them on the summit despite being on essentially the same route.
Back at Lawn Lake I changed my socks and drank a lot of water to stave off the dehydration headaches that were creeping in on me. The 6.3 mile return from the lake went very slowly and my feet felt every rock I stepped on, but I made it back without getting too delirious. Interestingly I passed fewer people on the way down than on the way up, even though I was returning at peak tourist venture time. In total I saw many chipmunks, squirrels, marmots, pipits, a bald eagle, a weasel, four deer, a ptarmigan and 27 people.
