A quick day hike on July 21st to Skyscraper Reservoir and Peak.
Needing a quick fix of outdoors time before my Wind River Range trip, I did a quick day hike to Skyscraper Reservoir and Peak.
Views would be had of the Continental Divide, a little off trail travel would be done and thunderstorms would be experienced. 🙂
A nice little day hike before a bigger trip.
I drove up to the very busy Hessie Trailhead and quickly power hiked my way past the crowds and made my way to Skyscraper Reservoir. Quickly left the area and went off trail to the ridge just below the peak itself.
Skyscraper Reservoir below
As I was making my on the ridge to the summit, a thunderstorm rolled in. And, at 11am, rather earlier than expected.
Hunkered down, ate my lunch, and noticed lightning a mile or so away on the other ridge! :O
After waiting out the storm quickly attained the summit of Skyscraper Peak.
Walked off trail a bit and headed towards the divide.
Noticed another storm was building, so figure it was time to get below treeline…and fast! 😀
Made it to the Bob and Betty Lakes area and snapped some photos.
Snuggled just below the divide, it makes for a scenic area.
Could not dawdle long as the storm was rolling in.
Not long after I reached the trees, the lightning flashed so brightly that I was blinded for split second. The thunder was loud enough the my ears ringed for brief while too…
The rain started and the wind picked up.
No matter. I had my secret weapon: Dark German Chocolate from my (soon-to-be) mother-in-law!
I reached the Mag Mobile and called it good.
A nice little hike before The Winds the following week.
TRIP DETAILS
- GETTING THERE AND ROUTE INFO: Protrails.com and Summitpost have the data for getting to the trailhead and hiking to the summit itself. I cam down to Bob and Betty Lakes and hiked back. Note: The Hessie Trailhead is uber busy. Busy enough where there is now a free weekend and holiday shuttle from the Nederland High School to ~1 mile before the actual Hessie Trail. (The actual trailhead is at the end of a somewhat rough 4WD road where high clearance is needed).
- MAPS: Sky Terrain's S. Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Peaks is my preferred map for this area.