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Trip Report: Mystic Island Lake and Fool's Peak.

I’ve wanted to do an overnight backpacking trip for some time. I’ve loved my day hikes, but just wanted a bit more. It was always sad when the day was over. I wanted the sun set. I wanted the sunrise. Thankfully, I have a like minded friend. He wasn’t a complete novice to an overnight trek. I was. 

I’m the kind of person who feels nervous and fearful of the unknown, if I’m not prepared. So, I read up on it. Started with “Ultralight Backpacking Tips” by Mike Clelland and “Allen and Mike’s Really Cool Backpack Book” by Allen O’Bannon. I trend towards minimalism, so I really liked the idea of taking a really light pack and being super efficient!


I managed to get my pack weight, including 2L of water and my Sony A7s camera (almost 4lb) down to a total of 22lbs. (I’ll include my packing list at the bottom.) Got everything loaded up into my Osprey Atmos 50L pack. (I was shocked when my hiking buddy Eric pointed out that our mutual friend Jay had actually designed the Anti-Gravy mesh back panel! It’s an amazing feature which leads me to think it’s the best pack out there.)

We selected our hike, our camp site, our summit. Eric, Caleb and I met up in the Denver Airport and headed straight into the mountains. Our goal was fly out of OK on Thursday morning and hike a bit more than 5 miles into the Holy Cross Wilderness and set up camp next to Mystic Island Lake all before sunset. Then, wake in the morning, summit Fool’s Peak and hike out before our evening meal, and fly home in the morning. A serious “Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Mama-Nature” sort of a trip. 

Who wouldn't want to hike here?!

I know, Isn’t that a little hasty and extreme? No time to acclimate? I planned it this way because I didn’t want to extend our time away from our wive’s and jobs any more than necessary. Plus, last year, I flew in from home, 700 feet above sea level and spent my first night at 11,200 feet without feeling too bad. Mystic Island Lake was only 200 feet higher at 11,400. Surely, I’ll be just fine. 



The hike in was great. Very low traffic, especially starting at 1pm. Started out with some Aspens and transitioned to just various pines. There was moss growing in the trees, which I don’t recall seeing in Colorado before. It wasn’t as heavy as the PNW or BC Canada, but great to see. Fairly steady incline, not oppressive. The 22lb pack was barely noticeable. The altitude was noticeable but, "I breathe heavy when I'm jogging, this feels about the same."

About two hours in, it started to rain. Expected. Must come prepared. I had a rain jacket and the emergency Pancho. (Save weight and keep your pack covered too.). Caleb had hiking shoes that claimed some sort of water resistance, but his feet got soaked. There are many brands of membranes out there… but I know Gore-Tex, it works, completely. So, I have stuck to it, and it hasn’t let me down. The rain isn’t really a deterrent. It only rained while hiking, and this actually added to the experience and atmosphere of the whole experience. Shrouding the mountains in a veil of mystery. Mood is so easily affected by the weather. Bright sunny crisp days, you just feel happy. But the peaceful introspection spurred on by the rain felt really good too.





Unsure of just how long it will take us to get to the lake to set up camp, I think we pushed it a little more than we would have had we known. We did stop for a few short breaks. Especially when we hit some good scenery. There is a lower lake a mile from the destination. This make a great stop.



Carrying on, we made it to Mystic Lake. Setting up a few hammocks was easy. It was about this time that I realized, "I don't feel so good." Nausea had set in. No headache though. Is this altitude? I've read up on altitude sickness, some general type of unpleasant symptoms for the mild cases. But, at only 11,400... just 200 feet higher than my single day change that I tolerated just fine before. Can it really get me this time? I have talked with a friend who runs all the time and works with an expert at the Houston Ironman institute. He has pushed his body at low altitude, and when he spends too great amount at time over high goal heart rate, he described feeling similar. 




When I'm hiking at altitude, I have no idea what my heart rate is, other than FAST. Going uphill and hiking at a good rate. 5.5 miles in about 4 hours is faster than my usual hiking (which averages 1 mile per hour). Maybe my heart rate was 180 the whole time? I plan to get a watch with a heart rate monitor. See what my rate is, see if I can correlate that with feeling lousy. Maybe I simply need to get into better condition for the pace we set.



I was set up in about 5 minutes. Easy. We got all three hammocks tethered to the same tree at the foot. Three separate trees at the head. I really liked the idea of hammock camping. No rocks digging into my back. No water trickling into my tent if it rained. But I didn't calculate all the parameters correctly. I chose a sleeping bag that was rated at 45 degrees F. I didn't realize how much colder it would be at 11,400 compared to where I normally stay at just under 10,000 feet. In the morning, the ground was frost. So, guess we his 32ish. But, had I known we would get down to 32, I still would have chose the same sleeping bag. "I'll sleep in my clothes and have a down jacket on. I'll feel good!" Almost. The top half of me felt great. I had hand warmers to put into my socks. Feet were fine. But all my warm is retained by little air pockets accomplished by fluffy down. That's what is supposed to separate me from the cold 32 degree air cycling below my hammock. But when you lay on down, it compresses to less than 1mm thickness. And is rendered near useless. So, my back was freezing all night! 




Eric was trying to get a fire going. I was really interested in this, I wanted to be able to start a fire without matches. They make awesome little flint tools that create a massive amount of sparks. It had just rained, so this was going to be a difficult challenge, but I was intrigued! But my nausea sort of killed my enthusiasm. I watched Eric for a bit, and though it was only 7:30pm, I was cold and felt pretty rough, so I just climbed in my hammock for the night.

Sleeping the first night at high altitude is also difficult for me in and of itself. But now, I'm shivering on and off all night and nauseated. I estimate I fell asleep for 15 minutes at a time, maybe four or five times. I remember thinking, "This sucks! This is not worth it."

But morning did come. I was alive. I heard a lot of animals outside my hammock, but the rainfly obscured most of the view. Finally, I did see a deer towards my feet. I don't know if he ever saw me, but he was close. I feel pretty safe in Colorado. Mountain lions attack small people. Almost exclusively the attacks on people in Colorado have been children 14 years and younger. We are three normal sized dudes sticking close together. I don't think they would attack. A friend of mine was sort of stalked by a mountain lion in New Mexico. He saw it watching him, but the cat never did any more than that. Jesse is about 6'3" much bigger than the cat. I will say, the thought of camping in Grizzly territory still doesn't sound like a good idea. I know thousands of people do it every year and attacks are rare, but I take some comfort knowing no grizzly bears have been officially seen in Colorado in a decade or more.

Morning came. 



And morning was still COLD. Come on sunlight! Make your way down the side of the mountain and warm us up!

I made some coffee. Ultralight mentality doesn't really allow for a grinder and aeropress. So, I bought some "Sudden Coffee" which is the best tasting instant coffee available and made some of that. Just heat the water, dump in, swirl, drink. Not bad. I also popped an Imodium so I wouldn't have need to have a BM while up on the side of a mountain. If we were out there more than 40 hours, I wouldn't have done that. 

During the night, I had to urinate about 3 times, each time the color was almost clear. "Man, I must have hydrated a lot better than I thought!" NOPE. Read up on it later. The low oxygen drives a faster respiratory rate. Higher respiratory rate drives down your CO2. Low CO2 drives your body pH up. Too high. So, you're kidneys get rid of bicarb (HCO3) to bring your pH back to normal. Well, kidneys need to pair the bicarb with water, so you diurese. You can lose around 10% of your plasma volume. This doesn't bode well for a day of exerting myself. But at the moment, I didn't feel that bad. Nausea had passed for the most part.

Breakfast, consisted of a ProBar Meal. Didn't pack anything that needed cooking/hotwater etc. keep it simple, most of my energies focused into seeing what is around me and hiking thru it.

Well, at 12,400 (500 short of the summit) I got tired of feeling like I was going to vomit or pass out from my exertion efforts. Dehydrated, over exerted, sleep deprived, altitude sick... whatever the predominant problem was, I was feeling pretty lousy. I made it to the shoulder of the ridge... so I could see the range on the other side of Fool's peak, and I felt content stopping there. We made it down, packed up, made it out... No big deal.

Exhausted, but satisfied. At the time I went thru it, pain predominated over the pleasure. After I had a real meal and some rest, the memory of the pain subsided and the memory of the pleasure persisted. I'll do it again. BUT... I will learn from my mistakes, and not repeat them.

1. Insulin the underside of the hammock, or sleep on some sort of pad that won't compress. (I'll experiment in may back yard this winter.)
2. Monitor my heart rate. Train better if we need to keep some sort of faster pace!
3. I would carry lighter food. ProBar Meal is heavy. I'll take a few, but will take some dehydrated foods that require hot water. It's easy to boil water.
4. Try to budget in a day prior to an a high exertion hike to let my body do the altitude bicarbonate diuresis and then Rehydrate prior to the hike.





Packing List:
PACK IN BACKPACK
Hammock
Hammock suspension
Hammock insulation/pad
Rain fly
Tent stakes (put in checked baggage)
Sleeping bag
Mosquito net
Ball cap
Hiking shoes & socks
Head lamp and batteries
Phone battery, cord, charger
Camera, memory card, batteries
Water filter (Sawyer Mini)
Platypus non-rigid water bottle, 1L. (for use w/ Sawyer Mini).
Stove (put in checked luggage)
Fuel (buy in Colorado)
Water pot
Titanium mug/pot.
Sudden coffee
Power bars, nuts, beef stick
Dehydrated meal
Extra socks, undies, shirt
Jacket
Rain Jacket (pants?)
Emergency Poncho
Zip locks
Gloves
Phone case
Camera clip
Trash bag
Chap stick
Imitrex
Ibuprofen
Kerlex
Inhaler
Sunscreen
Imodium
Tylenol w caffeine
Toothbrush

BUY IN COLORADO
Smart water, two 1L bottles.
Matches
Fuel canister

TRANSFER FROM CHECKED LUGGAGE
Stove
Flint striker
Tent stakes





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