Today's Goal: Leave from home, bike almost 4,000 vertical feet via some excellent trails, drop the bikes, hike another 3,500 feet of elevation to summit Mt. Rosa -- the peak Zebulon Pike mistakingly thought was the tallest peak in the area.
THEN...take a bearing and bushwack to find the cave that Pike and his men sought refuge in on their first exploration of the area.
THEN...take a bearing and bushwack to find the cave that Pike and his men sought refuge in on their first exploration of the area.
Starting from home, we biked some of the best single track in Colorado Springs in our approach. The bike alone was incredible and would normally by itself be considered a good day in the mountains. But....that's not enough if we're chasing Zebulon....
Route Plan Map | View Pike's Cave!! in a larger map |
Once to the planned bike drop, we began the trek. James was pooped at this point, so I got to get a good workout by towing my hubby. The trek was slow, but we made progress to the summit of Mt. Rosa. We had a narrow window to summit because we saw the weather rolling in. Luckily, we had just enough time to enjoy a snack and get some pics from the top.
Zebulon's Mt. Rosa Summit:
Mt. Rosa Summit with my hubby...
Pointing to where the cave is from below. Thunder began, so we took our bearing and got off the summit via a little class 3 scrambling. Then, the ridge tamed, and we followed that to near the cave. We were very close and zig zagged around the area....but we missed the cave. Later, I looked at my gps track of our route and we were stinkin' close! But the weather was getting really sketchy, so we had to get down. Next time, we will find the cave! | James dunking his face in the cool creek water. |
On the way down, we discovered a beautiful new trail and followed it, running downhill back to our bikes. From there, it was a beautiful fast descent back home via some wonderfully exhilarating single track. Despite not finding the cave, it was a REALLY fun day....