20 Miles Alone in the Rocky Mountains

about a year back i got a message from one of our viewers named ryan that said if we ever happened to be in denver he could show us around i've always had images in my mind of it being a hiker's paradise but for whatever reason i had never been now i was going to be in town visiting family so i reached out to ryan and we arranged to meet in the indian peaks area for a hike our plan was to start at the hesse trailhead and hike into jasper lake then on the way back ryan would continue back to the trailhead and i would continue north to spend the night and explore other trails the next day so early on a saturday we met at the stop for the shuttle that would take us to the actual trailhead smoke covered the landscape as we drove in and we would later learn that that day denver had the worst air quality of any major city in the world nevertheless the shuttle arrived at hesse trailhead and we headed out on the trail [Music] okay so this is ryan and he found our videos by watching the japan videos they're right okay and then he lives out here and he's like let's go hiking now we're gonna go hiking let's do it [Music] okay so for today we're gonna try to get to at least jasper lake and if we can get to devil's thumb lake we'll go there too there's two different routes up here we're just gonna see which one to take and then we'll see what's best as we go [Music] yeah it really makes you wonder the story behind cars like this who why and how how mainly i don't understand how they got it back here it's wild to think about the people who drove it and left it here never thought that it's going to end up looking like this right but it's also like a really cool aesthetic yeah yeah some nice bullet holes in here [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Applause] so i'm not sure which way it makes more sense it wants us to go up this way yeah the sign says jasper lake and devil's thumb this way but you can get there from either one right you can yeah it might be a little bit longer if we take a left yeah let's go right then looks like everybody else is going left so we'll we'll zag when everybody's digging has andrew's botany rubbed off on you at all um that's probably a wrestler if any of the botany has rubbed off on it that'd be my guess it was actually an amanita mushroom when you first moved here how was the elevation change for hiking to get used to i definitely noticed it the first time around but i started running and cycling as soon as i got here and i think that really helped i'm definitely feeling it a little bit right now just like more winded than usual like i feel pretty good but i still feel it like hiking in uh the higher elevation areas yeah [Music] yeah it's great hiking here in the summer but you come out here in september october and all of this is yellow wildflowers look pretty good see anything edible we need andrew here i was pretty sure that i would like this place but already i'm like i'm gonna be coming back here frequently [Music] so [Music] do [Music] jasper to the right yeah same with devils okay you want to have a quick let's do it what type of cheese is this uh so this is pabino pavino do you know some cabbage cheddar which is um probably the best one here and then uh some bella vitano has like a really rich like fruity taste to it that is fantastic wow so uh bella vitano uh makes a lot of semi-soft cheeses okay super flavorful use like balsamic this one's like a very like berry flavor to it oh it does yeah man that is great i do love whole foods shoes section mm-hmm yeah yeah anytime you go there you can find something great [Music] that's some flavorful meat right there you should mention your brother's youtube channel yeah my brother has a youtube channel called continue play retro games i'm going to check it out yeah that's great [Music] all right we've done an hour and 58 minutes of hiking 3.62 miles now so far not too bad like a little bit of uphill like right now but beautiful weather sun's not too bad because of the haze also i'm actually surprised the weather's really clear usually in the afternoons you should get thunderstorms but you're clear for the next few days yeah i was looking at that i was really excited [Music] yeah this place is incredible i can see why the trail is so popular that they actually need a shuttle incredible it's not very crowded though which is great oh yeah [Music] wait wait wait you carried a cast iron pan for somebody for myself oh for yourself i would carry a 10 inch cast iron just because i wanted that awesome dinner experience so what did you um cook with it bacon and then like marinated chicken and potatoes oh god take like a ziploc bag and just have it marinate the entire time oh man yeah you can't beat that no you can't i brought peanut butter sandwiches granola and i got one dehydrated meal which is a pad thai so i figure at least the pad thai will keep me somewhat satisfied so we've been going uphill the entire time it's been uh 2 hours 40 minutes 4.71 miles and it hasn't been too rough so far and at least you'll have downhill the entire way back so yeah very enjoyable so far it's been a pleasure it's about par for the course for the types of trails you can do here as far as beauty goes oh my god yeah this is yeah even with the smoke i'm like wow yeah we will 100 have to bring the other guys back here and they will definitely appreciate it junction back there is eventually where we're going to split up once we get back from the lake ryan will keep going and i'll take the other path to parts unknown okay so we saw this little pond right here and we thought is this the lake but no no it's not even marked on the map so we still got a little bit more to go oh to be a body of water [Music] [Music] [Music] wow man [Music] yeah it's kind of funny i was reading reviews of the trail before i got here it's kind of hard to gauge those because people are reviewing this trail based on other trails in the area i'm like well i'm sure even the three out here is probably like a 10 anywhere else yeah difficulty can be a difficult on all trails as well you have no idea who it's coming from yeah there's only three difficulties there's only three on there i think it's like easy moderate heart oh huh [Music] so [Music] um [Music] okay so before we head back we're gonna just circle around the lake here check it out see what else there is over here jasper lake 10 out of 10. [Music] okay new plan we're actually going to turn around the rest of the lake's probably amazing there's probably more stuff but everything's amazing here and it's already about two o'clock we've hiked over six miles i want to make sure i've got enough juice left to actually get to a campsite tonight and then uh ryan's actually got a big bike ride tonight at 8 30. well you got some time to to rest up yeah the meal in yeah got a meal head back out [Music] [Laughter] you guys will see him again for sure nice meeting all of you all right see you man so it looks like my trail is just gonna kind of hug the side of the mountain here i'll have some elevation but not too much speaking of elevation i can definitely feel it so i am prepared for tonight to kind of feel the altitude we'll see how i feel in the morning but if i need to bail out my campsite should be really close to the trailhead where i'm exiting anyway i've got a little less than six hours of daylight left and i've got at least 2.5 miles to hike for now it's time for some solo hiking ryan fantastic meeting you fantastic hiking with you we will meet again i will bring the other guys back it's gonna be good times wow there's big mushrooms here [Music] so we've done around seven and a half miles man if i can keep it under the 12 mark i think i'll still be alive by tonight yeah it's too bad we couldn't get all the way to double slum lake but keeping in mind how much i have left to hike this was definitely the right choice and as uphill as this is i'm also getting the distinct sense that i'm going to be the only person on this trail i don't think this is a very heavily trafficked intersection [Music] [Music] it always amazes me no matter how many places i've been every place i go to manages to be unique in some way and also amazing in some way we haven't talked about it yet but all of this haze is just from wildfires probably way out west just drifting over here makes it kind of deceptive too because it feels like the sun's not that strong but it definitely gets sunburned out here oh all right slowly and steadily we'll get there third of a mile since we split up let's keep going gotta pep talks myself we just hit 11 000 feet i'm crossing my fingers that i won't get altitude sickness tonight but i'm also not holding out hope that i won't because already i am very winded when i did mount whitney i think we were about at the same elevation i don't remember any how many miles we hiked but it's gonna be a long day today it's almost three o'clock i should be done before six if i'm lucky but yeah we'll see we'll see we'll play by here [Music] i am beginning to see why this trail is not very well traveled i've done 0.9 miles in 40 minutes i am trudging it is a really good thing i don't have that much left to do today weather's pretty good though i gotta just rest here for a while though [Music] look at this man we're on the side of a mountain right now perfectly manicured lawn who's mowing it [Music] i'm struggling so so [Music] with any luck i'm not headed over that mountain i think i can see the trail over here and we're gonna go around it i don't know how much more uphill i can take i have been trudging at this speed it's been a brutally slow pace since me and ryan split up oh yeah that's the trail all right i think that was probably a marmot that thing was running across the whole field wow what a landscape man absolutely stunning oh man he's just chilling out on the rock he must be getting some sun wow i'm on level ground again it's like a whole different world uphill at this altitude versus just even flat at this altitude totally different totally different i feel alive again whoa that is a heck of a view man so some good news very good news so i'm about 90 certain that from where i'm at to a little ways up like maybe half a mile i'm in the backpacking zone that i have a permit for and it looks like down there there's going to be some perfectly capable spots but if not we can make a campsite down there no problem so right now i'm at 11 430 feet elevation this is mount arapaho and that is old baldy i don't know how tall those are but they got to be over 14 000 feet i've done one mountain that's over 14 000 feet was mount whitney let me tell you those are no joke they look as intimidating as they actually are doesn't even look like there's a way up okay let's go down find a campsite have a great night here we go so i just need to be a hundred feet from any stream or any trail and i can't go too much farther that area is looking pretty good up there over here is looking that bad okay i'm gonna do a little scouting and i'll report back in once i find something good all right i think we have found our winner right there if we can get through those shrubs that's definitely a winner it's right in there it's a little bit rough to get through but i think i might be able to manage you bear yeah it looks like there's already a path here too yo bear 29 look what we got here wow it never ceases to amaze me man you always seem to find the perfect campsite at just the right time it's almost as if everyone has similar abilities and likes the same type of campsites not bad not bad at all ah good so since we split up i did two hours and seven minutes 2.46 miles unbelievably slow pace i'm surprised i made it this far to be honest 9.9 miles total today i am beat it's 4 30 in the afternoon we're getting to sleep early today that's for sure oh man well i certainly already knew this but i can doubly confirm altitude sucks my head is definitely starting to hurt no full on altitude sickness at least just yet but when i was on whitney it came on in the middle of the night so i am preparing myself for that oh okay so it's like a nice long rest in the tent feeling a little better i might cook my dinner tonight but i might just eat some sandwiches i'll tell you one thing man it is cold [Music] [Music] it was hard to tell but i think that there was a stretcher underneath that helicopter so that might have been a rescue fortunately no rescue needed here i'm actually feeling better by the minute i'm just gonna keep relaxing here might eat dinner a little later might not i don't know i'm not really that hungry probably force myself to a little bit just in case i think that's probably just about all she wrote for me it is kind of weird how strangely inhospitable parts of the planet can be as a human when i'm at home at a nice low elevation i have water and food no sun bearing down on me oh yeah this is nice nice planet you can go up on the mountains it's hot it's cold it's windy sunny my head hurts from the altitude here's hoping i feel okay over the night see in the morning feeling pretty good this morning there's like a hint of a headache wanting to come out but it's not quite there first stop of the day will be diamond lake wow what a view to wake up to man so i decided to forego my water filter this time to save on some weight and i figure since it's just me i can boil my water and i also brought some little water purification tablets i've tested these and i can't remember how it tastes but if i can get away with it i'm not going to use these and i'm just going to boil but i will say water filter's not that much extra weight so i may just bring it next time but we'll see how the boiling goes [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] to think this is literally an hour outside of the city people who live here very lucky [Music] so i'm not 100 certain but i think that that's mount jasper and if it's not mount jasper could be mount neva those are both 12 800-ish feet so i'm supposed to be picked up at six but my gps can give them a signal to pick me up earlier i feel pretty good so i feel like i could do a little more yeah let's keep going get to diamond lake then decide [Music] look at this place yo what it's like almost a road here okay came from over here this is diamond lake and this is where i'm going eventually let's go check out the lake wow i can't believe this even exists oh my god dude [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] okay so i think there is a lake that's just past this hill here i also see some waterfalls over there so maybe there's a trail there i think i'm gonna go explore that then i'll head towards the trailhead well i don't think you could ask for a more perfect day unbelievable [Music] so this trail should take us to another lake i don't know if this lake has a name but let's go check it out at this elevation it's not so bad when you're on flat ground or going downhill but as soon as i start going uphill my body is just not having it it's like why why tell them that is human nature why this uphill right here is already enough to get me totally winded i definitely was not from the mountains that much is for sure [Music] the uphills have definitely not let up the lake is at least .8 miles in and probably half as much more so i'm guessing like 1.5 miles in honestly by the time i get to this lake and then back it'll be time to head to the trailhead to get picked up at least at the pace i'm going which is glacial [Music] well in an area filled with absolutely amazing views this might be the most beautiful place yet this might be the most beautiful place i've ever been [Music] i think these are the first people i've seen all day on this particular trail i've basically had the trails completely to myself except for the lake man this place i don't even know what this is this is just a tiny little lake this is beautiful [Music] wow that snow looked so high earlier we're like at 11 500 feet now i can't imagine this is going too much higher i don't think we're going up to there i think we're just going to the top of the grass this is quite a trek up what has been 200 worth it why don't we eat lunch at the top oh 300 worth it wow wow we actually made it to the snow see some snow right there with the red stuff in it i can't remember what it is algae or something it never ceases to amaze me man no matter how high in the mountains you get you can come up to an area that looks like it's a whole new landscape like there could be a whole civilization up here [Music] [Applause] wow check out this rock it's like it over there too i'm no geologist but maybe that has something to do with lava okay i don't think much longer now i don't think we're going over that mountain so it must be like right in the crevice just like the dip there i'm almost positive now that one of those is mount jasper there there mount jasper is 12 871. it doesn't look so daunting now that we're closer but that would still be a ways up pretty sure that's coyote or wolf poop a lot of hair in it tapered edge a fine piece of poop [Music] i'm not seeing much of a trail but i think i can just go further down and then follow the water into the lake and if it starts to look too dicey we can always turn around yeah let's just kind of beeline through the rocks here in fact i see a cairn over there that's a good sign can you imagine if you're the first person to come out here man that would be crazy i'm probably like the 10 thousandth person who's come out here and it's still pretty amazing that is kind of a weird thing is even if others have done it many times over it's just as fun and just as much of an experience to do it yourself [Music] so far this is perfectly traversable not too sketchy at all i feel like i'm so close man right over this bump i will say though once i can see the lake that's far enough for me we don't need to go any further than that it's got to be so close this is just like death stranding only i don't have any zip lines to get back down oh you snake yo marmot yo bear [Music] there she blows oh it exists we made it wow beautiful [Music] okay i think that's the end of my trip somehow cold and hot and sunny and windy all at the same time oh absolutely amazing place colorado 10 out of 10. now for the long long trek back to the rendezvous do [Music] huh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay this is my exit now looking at the gps it looks like there's actually a road that's earlier than the trail that i was gonna take out so if i can get to this road and it looks like it's passable i'm gonna go all the way to the rendezvous point on that road and that'll save me some mileage and some uphill oh man i hope that's actually there oh let's give it a go [Music] so [Music] just talked to another group and they said they don't remember seeing a road they came from the fourth of july trailhead which is where i'm going it doesn't look like it's that much longer if i take the trail so it's not a big deal but any shortcut i could take i will take it's 2 22 pm my rendezvous is going to be slightly earlier what a trail man what a trail this is an incredible place and to think it's just a small fraction okay i think this is that alternate trail but this is the main trail i don't know if i want to risk taking this trail just to try and cut it a little bit shorter especially since it's only 2 30. even if i tell them to come pick me up it's going to be an hour and a half of wait either way okay let's just finish the trail we're almost there [Music] just about there oh i can taste it [Music] oh that's a relief that is a relief [Music] oh man that feels good i think they have they have a bathroom hopefully they have water too i'm almost out oh man it doesn't look like it okay well nothing left to do but send out the pick-me-up signal i sent out some gps signals as i went so hopefully they know that i'm here and they're on their way but if not i'll just wait oh oh oh oh my god 10.24 miles 7 hours and 14 minutes wow this is butyl beautiful but brutal my god elevation man no joke okay i think that'll do it for this video thank you very much for watching i hope you enjoyed it we will be back here i am sure i don't know when but sometime we will be back in this area colorado is amazing anyways if you enjoyed the video check out our patreon at patreon.com adventure thank you very much for watching see in the next one [Music] so i decided to just walk down the road it's about four miles to where we got on the shuttle i figure if they're on their way i can meet them part way get in the car faster get home faster wow it's a great walk though nice and easy lots of weird stuff on the side of the road beautiful view [Music] so the post hike meal is gonna be korean barbecue oh my god i am going to eat all of the korean barbecue every item on the menu so it's sunday evening and it is not crowded it is one of my favorite feelings though being the last person out has kind of a bittersweet feeling to it i like endings a lot this is an ending of this video a poor ending [Music] yo ouch they say why but man if you can pay the toll you can get some sweet rolls i can taste the water sorry ah just gonna rest a bit more and finish the hike altitude why

Channel: AdventureArchives

Views: 12,148

Rating: 4.9800401 out of 5

Keywords: bushcraft, backpacking, hiking, camping, wilderness, survival, outdoors, travel, outdoor recreation, prepping, nature, 4k, wild, survival skills, ray mears, les stroud

Id: PdnB0LI8cNU

Length: 50min 7sec (3007 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021