Colorado is the quintessential Rocky Mountain State. The Rockies are spread across parts of six states and two Canadian provinces, but let's be honest - Colorado takes the cake. Mountains cover a full two-thirds of the state. It's home to all of the highest peaks in the Rockies. And most notably, Colorado probably contains more distinct sub-ranges than any of its peers.
The CDT visits many of these sub-ranges - the San Juans, the Sawatch, the Front Range, the Mosquito Range, the Rabbit Ears Range, and more. There's no better introduction to Colorado than hiking all the way through it on the CDT.
But there are still plenty of mountain ranges that the CDT misses. Perhaps the most notable exception is the Sangre de Cristo, that Colorado-New Mexico border range that I visited last month. Another such range is perhaps the weirdest subrange in the Rockies - the Flat Tops.
Situated in west-central Colorado, the Flat Tops consist of a high plateau between 11,000' and 12,000' in elevation. Low peaks rise up from above the plateau, and dozens of lakes and tarns dot the landscape. The upper elevations rise just a little bit above treeline, giving rise to photogenic tree-smattered alpine meadows. Of course, the off-trail-hiking potential is off the charts.
Steph and I assembled a thirty-mile weekend loop of the area. While we wouldn't see everything (the Flat Tops Wilderness is the second-largest designated Wilderness in Colorado), the loop offered us an excellent first foray into the area.
Day 0
We drove about four hours from home, but owing to the long June days, plenty of daylight remained when we arrived at the trailhead on Friday night. We meandered perhaps a mile up the trail and after a little searching, found a truly excellent campsite with a peekaboo view of the nearby peaks.
Day 1
We packed up on Saturday morning and continued up the trail, gaining elevation ever-so-gradually. The excellent trail conditions proved a pleasant surprise, and before long we broke out of the trees at about 11,000'. We'd stay above treeline for the vast majority of the next twenty miles as we cruised the ridges that encircle the famous Trappers Lake.
After a few delightful miles, we watered up at a tiny tarn and made our way over to the famous Devil's Causeway. Over the years, a pair of glaciers - one flowing eastward, one westward - carved away the plateau, leaving a three-foot-wide strip with dizzying sheer vertical drops on each side. We carefully crept our way along the causeway to the other side where the plateau broadened back out. While certainly airy, neither of us thought that the causeway was quite as death-defying as the internet would have us believe. Certainly, trekking poles were a great aid.
We glided along the ridge some more, with strong west winds buffeting us. We spied another grove of trees on the map to give us some shelter during lunch, but alas, it was just a practical joke by the USGS geographers. We ended up huddling behind a pathetic patch of willows instead.
The afternoon dragged a bit, probably owing to my subpar conditioning, and the wind continued to howl. We kept meandering along the ridge, finally dropping a few hundred feet into a lake-filled glacial cirque. We finally made camp in a truly sublime meadow beneath a line of cliffs.
As the sun took its leave, the wind died in short order and the mosquitoes came out. But no matter, we were both pretty beat and were all too happy to crawl into bed.
Day 2
Temperatures dipped to around freezing overnight, and we found a few patches of frost on the ground in the morning. But in the absence of yesterday's blustery winds, the day warmed quickly. The bugs also seemed to appreciate the reprieve from the wind, though DEET did a fine job of keeping them off of me. Bugs typically pay Steph no mind... lucky!
As opposed to yesterday's ridgewalk, today consisted of a meander below various cliffs and buttes. In some ways it actually exceeded yesterday's beauty too - the more lakes and geographic features to hold our interest.
At long last, it was time to drop off the plateau down into the Trappers Lake basin. We followed another gorgeously-constructed trail down the headwall of a cirque and into a twenty-year-old burn area. The last few miles of the day, down an old crappy road through the burn, were perhaps the only miles of the entire weekend that didn't impress. Not bad, huh?
Overall
I'm still a complete newcomer to Colorado. Prior to moving here, my Colorado experience was largely limited to the CDT's corridor. It's exciting to visit all these lovely places for the first time. And judging from how much there out in this corner of the world, I'll be relishing that newcomer status for quite some time to come!
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