Comments on: Five more Colorado backpacking loops

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Wed, 12 May 2021 18:49:28 +0000

In reply to Randy.

Hi Randy, The Lost Creek Wilderness gets hot in June and July.

I think the Eagles Nest loop may be a better one as if you take it at ~8 MPD, go slow and steady, and acclimate a day or two ahead of time you should be all set. Unlike Rocky Mtn NP or the Indian Peaks, you don’t need a permit either. Caveat – In most years I would not attempt those before ~July 1st. All depends on the snowpack. The area is nice for a hike in and doing basecamp-style trips as well if you’d rather not tackle the whole loop.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 12 May 2021 18:16:15 +0000

Hi Paul,
My wife and I are working on getting out and want to come back out to Colorado in June or July. Would like to do the Loss Wilderness hike you show in your book. I have hiked GC,Zion, At, but being a Illinois flat Lander would this be a good trail to start with? I figure 3 days to do since being older now.Or would you recommend a better trail?
Thank you very much for your time

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 03:41:34 +0000

In reply to Whitney. I did the loop in a day once. ;) All depends on the person and their navigation skills. Call it 2.5 days for the average backpacker.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 03:36:34 +0000

Thank you so much for the info. You’re helping me decide which trails to take for a last-minute trip in early August. How many days/nights do you recommend setting aside for Cataract Lake and Elliot Ridge Loop?

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 03:49:28 +0000

In reply to Another Kevin. I think the last sentence sums it up quite nicely "There is a French saying, that what is true on one side of the Pyrenées is false on the other. " :)

By: Another Kevin

Another Kevin — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 22:57:01 +0000

You make me seriously envious! (Not really, there’s awesome hiking near me, too. Just a different brand of awesomesauce.)

A quick note: You write: “GPS units tend to be off and add mileage. Consumer grade GPS and GPS enabled phones are excellent for pinpointing location but are not accurate for measuring distance.”

The problem is that GPS is actually TOO accurate (at least if it keeps reading high after applying an appropriately scaled noise filter). It’s the same problem as when you get a longer distance measuring the trail with a wheel than you do with a tape. Distance in the natural environment is scale-dependent, and keeps on getting longer when you measure it more accurately. Paradoxically, it often does NOT approach a limit when you measure it at a progressively finer scale. L.F.Richardson first noted this “coastline paradox” when he noticed that the Portuguese reported their measured border with Spain to be 987 km, but the Spanish reported it as 1214 km.

It was this “coastline paradox” that prompted Benoît Mandelbrot to develop the mathematical theory of fractals. There are lots of popular accounts of it, but a computer geek like you can most likely cope with the original paper at http://users.math.yale.edu/~bbm3/web_pdfs/howLongIsTheCoastOfBritain.pdf. At the very least, it would give you something to do in a long winter night, either make for interesting reading or else get you a little extra sleep. 🙂

By: Devin Quince

Devin Quince — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:32:42 +0000

Very cool. I am doing a quick overnight trip in the State Forest up to Kelly Lake to support a running race and these pictures make me even more excited.