Mt. Blanca 4th of July weekend!!

[pancake]

Hello all,

I am planning a trip to Mt.Blanca the forth of July weekend and wanted to see if there was anyone interested in going?

I was going to go to Holy Cross but with the new snow I am pretty sure it won’t be open.

We will be leaving the Arvada area around 13:00 on Thursday the 30th of June.

The plan so far:
Camping somewhere near the base of Mt.Blanca on Thursday night. We are hoping to be able to find a spot close to the trail head off the road. I have been there before but can’t remember if there are places to camp before the trail turns into a 4x4 trail:confused:? (Any camping information would be greatly appreciated).

We will probably start up the trail around 09:00 or 10:00 Friday morning. We plan on camping Friday night at lakeComo or Blue lake if it is not blocked by snow.

We have some friends going who want to do some hiking and sight seeing.

We will head down some time Saturday and camp at the bottom or head home Saturday night (still in the planning phase).

I have checked the weather and it has been in the upper 80s all month and no precipitation except for yesterday. I will be calling the ranger station in the morning to check trail conditions but I am assuming that it is clear on snow (at least to Como Lake).


Anyone have any thoughts, advice, or want to wheel Mt.Blanca:)??

[Volcom]

You can camp anywhere on the road up to Blanca. Just be careful, we ran into a rattlesnake at the trailhead in the bushes. I've ran it quite a few times. Here's the last couple trip reports from Blanca.

http://rockfrogs.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3220

http://rockfrogs.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1777 (Alot of the pictures are missing from this report, sorry about that.)

Here's what the access road looks like. It's several miles of bumpy hell. I'd suggest camping as high up as possible to avoid the heat and snakes. You can drive all the way up to Jaws 1 and then find a campsite. There's pulloffs all the way up for the hikers that drive as far as possible and hike the rest.
http://volcom.rockfrogs.org/Blanca2009/006.JPG

[sunk]

I had called down there last week to check on fire restrictions. There is no open burning allowed except for established camp grounds in exsisting fire rings. You may want to shoot the forest service a call to get updated information.

[pancake]

Thanks for the information :thumb:

When I call the ranges station to chevk on trail conditions I will ask about fires.

[Coonburger]

not gonna lie the whole memorial for that one dude kindof freaks me out a lil bit lol. well see

[pancake]

After calling the ranger station for Mt. Blanca and finding out about the fire ban for BLM and F.S. land we will be camping at the Great Sand Dunes Oasis (http://www.greatdunes.com/camping.html) on Thursady and Saturady Night.

We will be staying at Como Lake or Blue Lake after wheeling on Friday and head down some time Saturday..