Blake via the Lake

July 8, 2017

This is a hike I have wanted to do for a long time. This one I had to choose my partners carefully, as it is fairly difficult, but with Katharina out of town for a couple weeks, I decided to avoid the partner selection and instead chose to go the solo route. I camped at the farm, falling asleep just after 21:00, so was up at first light around 04:30. A quick breakfast and a short drive later brought me to the trailhead and I found myself strolling down golf course alley at 05:45. I was the first to sign in at the gate, where a young fellow waved from the window of the guardhouse. Lake road went quickly under blue skies. At the lake I stopped for a brief visit to Rainbow Falls, which is more spectacular than I remember it being. I began climbing Sawteeth up the Weld trail, and the blue sky turned to black, which then turned into a downpour Even though I was pretty warm, I decided to throw on my rain jacket to keep the worst of it off. Fortunately the rain stopped after twenty minutes or so and the sun came out again. This was a constant theme I experienced all day. I reached the summit and was rewarded with some dramatic views of the weather patterns scattered across the Great Range. I sat down for a sandwich and remained just long enough for the next burst of rain to begin. The descent down towards the Warden's camp on Upper Ausable Lake was lovely as this trail sees very little use. A couple spots were slippery mud though and I took a few inglorious spills as I decended the steep trail. Nevertheless, most of the way was a scamper and in almost no time I had reached the Warden's camp. The carry trail was an absolutely beautiful walk along the river, which after crossing on a well constructd bridge brought me to the Elevator Shaft. I have wanted ot climb this trail since I first heard the name... and it lived up to its name. My pace slowed, as I was now feeling the effects of already climbing and decending one 4000er today, plus the 400 km I had put on the bike this week was being felt as a deep ache in my leg muscles. I crawled on upwards. As I finally topped out of the shaft and approached the col, the silence of my hike up to this point was shattered by lots of hooting, yelling, and hollering of some party coming down Colvin. I decided to speed up and get to Blake ahead of them. Upon reaching the summit of Blake, I pushed on to the next bump which was labelled Lookout Rock on my map. This was well worth the trip. As I sat gazing out at the view down on the Lake far below, eating my second sandwich of the day, I could hear the loud troup on top of Blake, far enough away that my solitude was maintained. Another rain shower caused me to pack up and go. Back over Blake was painful, and the climb up Colvin even more so. I passed one group of five, heading towards Blake, the first other hikers that I had seen all day. At Colvin's lookout rock, I stopped for another break and then clambered up to the summit. This time it was not rain that forced me to leave, but a worrisomely close crack of thunder. I decended the Colvin step and other scrambles as quickly as I safely could, wanting to lose some elevation from from beneath the storm. It ended up that the growl was much worse than the bite, and soon it dissipated into another bought of sunshine. If I was not tired before, now I was really beginning to feel the burn in my legs. I met one fellow who had just hiked Dial and Nippletop and we chatted for a bit before I sped ahead. Nearing Fish Hawk and Indian Head cliffs, I resisted (easily) the temptation to do these side trips. I started meeting many people who were heading up to Indian Head, most stopping to ask for directions. Another bought of rain kieboshed my plan for a final sandwich at one of the pretty falls along Gill brook, so I ate a granola bar as I hiked instead. I hit Lake Road and slogged the last 4 km as quickly as my tired little legs would take me. The glorious sunshine came out again and I dried myself out as I walked, finally digging out my last sandwich and eating it on the go as I was starving. I caught up to a group that had hiked Blake and I figured these must have been the noisy ones. Friendly folk they were though, and I walked and chatted with them a bit along golf course road. After a 10.5 hour day, I arrived back at the car, somewhat exhausted, but happy to have ticked this hike off of my bucket list.

Golf course road in the early morning light.