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Thank you! I love the challenge of route finding, it is one of my favorite parts of a hike.

You know it! We are going to make it one way or the other. 🤘

It was a long day but very worth the trek, nothing was too difficult, just a big endurance test. We only saw one other group camping in Hitchens Gulch the whole day and we got the lake and both summits to ourselves. The smarter way to hike those would be to camp first lol, but we prefer to do day hikes and just go home instead, and adding in that drive makes a super long day. But that is an adventure I'll never forget as are a lot of these long day hikes. We both love the Never Summer Mountains and it was our first hike in them for this season/year. Last year we bagged Mount Stratus and two years ago we got Mount Nimbus & Red Mountain, and a different hike we got Mt. Richthofen from La Poudre Pass trailhead.

Wow, that sounds epic!! Thanks for sharing!

The way you went up sounds like the way we were first heading up going to the lake but you kept going that way on the east ridge of Cirrus while we turned and went straight to the lake instead. We overshot the lake a little bit on our way up, but on the way down we found the waterfall drainage and cairns which was an easy path. I honestly thought the scree was going to be worse on the standard saddle route, but it really wasn't too bad, just needed to slide some on the way back down it. The steep section is only at the very top getting up/down the saddle, the rest of it was just a walk up. Nothing has ever been worse than trying to go up to Mt. Richthofen from Lake Agnes, that is by far the worst scree I have ever faced. We spent a long long time getting up to that saddle from Lake Agnes, and by the time we did, we got turned around by rain and didn't make it after all that work. I'd never do that route again due to the large amount of loose scree up that route, it's loose the whole way up, from Lake Agnes to the saddle! We later successfully bagged Mt. Richthofen from the La Poudre Pass trailhead heading into Skeleton Gulch, now that was a fun hike up to the top. The scree up to that saddle between Cirrus/Howard was nothing compared to that Agnes route in my opinion.

@@MoodyPeaks To be clear, I'm not sure if that entire east ridge on Cirrus is easy class 3 -- the lower section (at and below lake level) looks like it might be worse than the what I encountered at 12400'. Good to know the saddle route isn't as bad as it looks though! On Richthofen via Agnes, the trick is to do it on snow in early July (it's often been my 4th of July hike). If you're comfortable on snow, I'd recommend that to avoid the scree! The only complication can be on high snow years near the summit, it might get sketchy to get through any remaining snow, but most years, that section is clear even if the bowl leading up to the saddle is in deep snow.

@@alquinn8576 Excellent advice on the Agnes route, thank you for the trip reports. If you ever go hike that area again, I guarantee you will have no issues going up that saddle between Cirrus/Howard. I also wanted to pick your brain as I believe you have extensive experience in the park. A side quest I've had since we've started RMNP hiking is to summit the 4 cloud peaks in the Never Summer Mountains. Two years ago we got Mt. Nimbus with Red Mountain, a year ago we got Mount Stratus, and this year we got Mount Cirrus. The only cloud peak left is Mount Cumulus. Do you have any experience or advice on making the summit of that peak? The only information I have is the route described in the Lisa Foster RMNP book at the moment.

@@MoodyPeaks Yes! I went up Cumulus 9/2/22 (I still have the Garmin track in my history). I found it subjectively to be the hardest cloud peak, though I may not have been 100% when I climbed and I'm not sure my route was the best... I stared from Co River TH up to Grand Ditch where I headed south towards Red mountain. After crossing Opposition Creek on the road and as I approached Red mountain, the Grand Ditch becomes a tunnel (the ditch is covered over) and that's where I crossed and started heading west. I wanted to avoid the forest, so I stayed on talus south of Opposition Creek until I finally crossed it at a high meadow at ~11250'. I continued west on the north side of Opposition until ~11700', then turned directly towards the summit. I didn't like the ascent route (too much talus!) so I went east and then northeast from the summit during the descent, passing 1/3 mile south of Pinnacle Pool and eventually joined up with Mosquito creek, which I followed back to Grand Ditch. This bushwhack is terrible -- much worse than my route on the way up -- and I ended up walking in Mosquito creek for the last quarter mile to avoid the overgrowth. Looks like it took me 7h 15m r/t but it felt much longer/harder than that! I almost think it would be easier to climb Red and Nimbus, then take the ridge north from Nimbus to Cumulus, though returning the same route would get tiring, and I'm not clear on a great way of getting off of Cumulus via any of the drainages. I have also tried to hike down (from Nimubs) via Opposition creek all the way to Grand Ditch but ended up doing the same thing -- hiking in the creek to avoid the worst of the forest overgrowth and downfall. I almost wonder if the best place to climb Cumulus is where Grand Ditch reaches the farthest point to the west in that section of road (right between Mosquito and Opposition creek) and just head straight up on the talus pretty much all the way to the summit. There doesn't seem to be any way to avoid talus, so maybe just minimize the distance on that stuff by taking a direct path. Note that I didn't find the talus dangerous at any point--just exhausting.

Thank you for sharing your mileage stats with me, I was always curious what the distance was from that side. A 25 mile day is a super epic hike. This hike here for us on Hagues has been our longest to date so far with right under 20 miles at the end.

The whole adventure was fun and had amazing views even if it took almost all day it was worth it. I'll remember many of these hikes for the rest of my life.

@@MoodyPeaks oh, I don't doubt that my friend. Even if eagle cliff ends up bein the only one I do, I won't forget it lol

You know it 🤘

It was a very long day indeed and it tested our endurance big time. We have been hiking and training in the RMNP for several years now just to try to make these harder RMNP hikes more doable. All that we have left on our RMNP hike list are the most difficult ones now and they are all testing our resolve.

😂 so true!

We are still recovering from both the Hagues Peak and Isolation Peak hikes. The reason we keep trying these long difficult hikes in RMNP here lately is because the hard hikes are the only ones we have left to put in the books there.

@@MoodyPeaks keep putting them in the books!!

Since you're doing these longer ones, I'm going to recommend Elk Tooth via Pear Lake as an idea. Similar mileage as this with slightly lower elevation gain. The ridge leading to the summit is mostly easy class 2 on solid rock, which makes it less of a slog than Isolation/Mahana.

@@alquinn8576 I have wondered about hiking to Elk Tooth before, but since Lisa Foster's book labeled it as a Class 3 approach I have not considered it yet. If it is mostly a Class 2 on solid rock like you say then it may be doable! We have also considered trying to get Ogalalla Peak from going up over the Junco Lake area. I read a hiking report of that route on a random website a while back and they thought that route going up/down near Junco Lake is way easier than trying Cony Pass which is a Class 3 from my understanding.

I hope we brought back some memories for you. The hike was epic and we will never forget the memories of that day either.

No way my ego can defeat my fear of exposure mixed with heights. I usually don't ever hike anything above a Class 2 or 2+. I would be willing to try some Class 3's but not with exposure added in.

We just did another hike this past weekend and I swear I was still feeling some fatigue from the Hagues Peak hike from the week prior. I stand by that it was an awesome adventure but also one of the hardest hikes of my life that I've done up to this point. The Isolation Peak & Mahana Peak combo from this weekend was also very tough, but at least the route finding was simpler than Hagues which was like a puzzle up near the top.

They told me they came from Mummy first and climbed the ridge over to Hagues so it was a little more straight forward that way, but as for coming down Hagues Peak, I'm not sure, they were too far up for me to tell how they did it. The last part was a little tricky I agree, but I believe if you just keep skirting around the side heading east-ish and go up how we did near the radio tower, that it is doable without being too sketchy. I do not like exposure and was somehow able to get up it.

How freaking awesome! You are the first comment I've seen on a video after meeting you during a hike. You guys are beasts! Those three peaks in one hike in one day is super impressive. And yes, our feet and ankles were sore for at least two days after that trek. Much respect

I agree with you. Now that I've had multiple days to absorb the hike, the easiest way back down is definitely going over Mummy Mountain back down to that Black Canyon trail intersection. If I did it all over again, I'd go same way to The Saddle and up to Hagues, then over to Mummy and down the way you described. And yes, I'm betting the climb to that saddle between Mummy and Hagues is easier on the way up versus down.

Best of luck on the hike and weather, wishing you the best on that adventure. The way we went up to Comanche Peak from Emmaline Lake on our video was probably the toughest route possible described in Lisa Foster's RMNP book. If you want a more moderate approach, I'd advise to start from the Corral Creek TH instead, take it over to Mummy Pass trail lower, then up the Mirror Lake trail, and cut off towards Comanche Peak there. But if you want the full boulder field hiking experience, by all means go the same way we did, it was tough but worth it for the challenge. And I love to hear it! BOOM!

Thanks! I'm definitely taking the mellower (though longer it seems) route from Corral Creek!

@@mikeess If you keep stats for your hike, I'd love to know them from that route to compare them to the way we went. I just remember after Emmaline Lake climbing through those boulders did take a lot of time for us to get to the ridge.

@@MoodyPeaks I use Zoleo so can't do measured distance but I can definitely keep track of time!

That is awesome to hear! Getting both peaks in one hike is a beast move, congratulations! That is why we make our videos, to give others visuals on the routes that we choose to help out on your personal route finding adventures. I regret to inform that we were so fatigued and overjoyed to reach the summit, that I thought Christine found the register when she didn't and we forgot to sign it! Facepalm. She didn't even know there was one until she saw the footage. 😂 But hey, at least we have the video evidence lol.

Yeah I had that Rocky Mountain high kicking in. I was slightly delirious. 😂

@@MoodyPeaks I'm jealous lol

Dude every skill from every hike I've ever done before lead up to this one, and it still tested all of my limits like never before. An epic journey.

@@MoodyPeaks I could tell by the way you were talkin at the end this time bro. You guys are badasses

Thank you! Hardest hike of my life....so far, lol. You are more than welcome to link any video. No problem at all. And as always BOOM!

Thank you so much!! 100% correct and still feeling that summit high!!

Thank you! It was an awesome challenge, no regrets. I have seen you hike some crazy exposure on your hike videos, very much inspiring!

Just watched your Kit Carson/Challenger Point vid last night. Very cool!

I haven't run into him while on the hiking trails yet, but we have chatted and discussed hiking! His hiking channel and Lisa Foster's RMNP book were the two main sources that helped us out when we started our RMNP hiking journey.

We are so fortunate to have never run into a predator during hiking in the RMNP either in the daylight or darkness. And yes, I feel like I'm in a found footage film with a headlamp on while hiking.

@@MoodyPeaks bro for real 😂

Oh you know it! BOOOM! 😂

It was so much fun!!

Thank you for the kind words. It means a lot to both of us to hear that. My main goal with our hiking videos has always been to give a visual representation of routes described in Lisa Foster's RMNP book, and to give our mileage and time so everybody knows what they are getting themselves into since she doesn't always give the full statistics in her book. The CCY route rules and you guys will enjoy it guaranteed no matter how many you get up to.

Man I wish! It didn't look too bad until we were right up on it. It just had a little more exposure than we were comfortable with. That area back there was still really cool to see up close.

i'm pretty sure it's class 3, but I stopped at the same spot because i was wetting my pants

@@MoodyPeaks and I dropped down into the forest on the return trip, which turned out to be a mistake, since it was a bit of a bushwhack and I had to regain the altitude (but interesting forest down there with lots of elk)

@@alquinn8576 It looked like a straight up vertical climb to me too, a class 3 or 3+, and if you did fall off the side you would go all the way down with no mercy.

This hike was a good tough challenge to get us back into things after a few weeks off. It has more than prepared us for some upcoming long summer mountain hikes.

It was our second time hiking from that trailhead overall, so we aren't very familiar with that area either. Last year we bagged Watanga Mountain & Mount Adams, but they are within the borders of RMNP. On this hike, we bagged our first peaks in the Indian Peaks Wilderness side. We were so glad the weather held out for us to grab both summits. Awesome hike, beautiful area.

We enjoyed our first time out in the Snowy Range and we plan to go back one day when it's melted to hike the entire loop and grab the other nearby high points.

I've never skied or snowboarded before, but I sure did enjoy sliding down near the end of the hike. It took off some distance and time from our totals.

We plan to go back one day when it's all melted off to hike the loop most definitely.

Yes, we most definitely would have. We took them off a little early on the way up and started post-holing almost immediately and put them back on. We kept them on on the whole way down, learning from our mistake. Post-holing takes so much more energy, it's way easier to just snowshoe in my opinion.

​@@MoodyPeaks ... I asked that question before I reached the end of the vid 😎 And, I agree... post-holing definitely makes climbing tough. I learned that the hard way.

It was such a fun and beautiful hike! Can't wait to go back!

I bet the Lookout Mountain hike would be much better these days in the snow since the whole area is just about completely burned. The views from the summit were still awesome, but the area was all depressingly burnt. It is unfortunate because I bet the Donner Pass trail to Lookout Mountain used to be really pretty. Where you used to be surrounded by trees and shade all day, is now a sunny hike the whole way with scorched earth. I hope the West White Pine Mountain hike is not burned as badly, we were hoping to get it this Fall when the leaves up there are changing colors.

It was our first time hiking out in that area so we didn't know what to expect. The only thing that was a bummer was most of the trail was in a wildfire burn scar. The only green parts were near the beginning, in the first mile of the Donner Pass trail when it was close to Buckhorn Creek.

Thank you! The summit views were worth it since we've never been before, but it was a one and done for us because 12.6 miles was a lot to hike through a burn scar pretty much the whole day.

Mummy Mountain was still a long hike so I won't say it's an easy one, but compared to other tough hikes we've done, this one was pretty straight forward with no bushwhacking and easy route finding above the treeline. We want to hike Longs Peak too, but the main reason we haven't yet is because it's so popular and busy. It doesn't interest me to have to wait in a line like a theme park to hike up to it so it's on the back burner for us at the moment. We prefer the hikes with more solitude and quiet and have really come to like hiking 13ers.

This one was definitely a bushwhack up! I'm glad that you discovered our channel! Nick's channel is great, we learned a lot about the hikes around here watching them over the years.

10 times in one winter?! That's awesome. It was our first time hiking it and we really enjoyed it. We both liked the scrambling near the end too, it made it more adventurous for a short hike. We didn't go over to the west summit this time, but will definitely grab it next time we are out that way.

No problem at all. That was my only goal with our hiking videos, to make them helpful, and something I would have liked to have when we started our mountain hiking journey.

Some parts were a little bit, had to scramble some, but nothing too bad. Now that we know the route, if we hike it again, it will go much smoother.

@@MoodyPeaks Hell yeah bro