Ormes Peak (via Idiot's Way)
Without a doubt, this was the most raw hike I've done so far...so raw that I'd classify it more as an adventure than a hike. Not only were we totally hacking it through the "trail" (and I use that term loosely), but the drive there was totally rough. We had to leave Dragon's Dodge Stratus at the side of the road and hop into the bed of Seagal's truck just to get to the start of the hike because the road was totally vicious with HUGE bumps and holes. No joke, we were getting tossed around and catching some big air in the back. Totally fun (and a little crazy I guess).
We never actually did find a trailhead or parking place. But the road we were on circled Ormes Peak so we knew where we wanted to end up. So we found somewhere to leave the car and just started heading towards the summit. It wasn't really a hard elevation gain, but the terrain made the trip really difficult because there was no real defined trail to follow. We just made our way through the woods, traversing piles of rocks and finding the path of least resistance. It was definitely some good rugged Colorado fun on a gorgeous Easter Sunday. The summit was beautiful, with a clear view of Rampart Reservoir on one side and the west side of Pikes Peak on the other. Very awesome. Lots of rocks for a monkey like me to jump around on too.
The way back really made the adventure complete...because we couldn't find our way to the truck. After wandering and backtracking for a bit, we just decided to find the road and walk along it back to the truck...all of that added prob an hour to the trip.
We actually picked this hike because Seagal had this map that mentioned plane wreckage that you're able to see from the summit and that just sounded awesome! We found some object attached to a long wire and a 8 ft metal pole that I carried around for a bit, but no obvious signs of plane wreckage. And it's no wonder we didn't find any because the plane wreckage is on an adjacent peak called Blodgett Peak!! ah well. next time...
Elevation gain: ~500+ ft
Distance: ~3 miles roundtrip (?)
Directions: Take hwy 24 W to Woodland Park. Make right before McD's and then stay on road and follow signs to Rampart Reservoir. Go past the reservoir and make a left on Rt 303. It forks, and stay right on Rt 302. This is where the road gets really rough. A regular car definitely can't do it. Ormes Peak will on your left as you drive around the half-loop counter-clockwise. We drove all the way to the end of 302 and parked, and just went for it from there.
Here's a rough map to get to Ormes.
We never actually did find a trailhead or parking place. But the road we were on circled Ormes Peak so we knew where we wanted to end up. So we found somewhere to leave the car and just started heading towards the summit. It wasn't really a hard elevation gain, but the terrain made the trip really difficult because there was no real defined trail to follow. We just made our way through the woods, traversing piles of rocks and finding the path of least resistance. It was definitely some good rugged Colorado fun on a gorgeous Easter Sunday. The summit was beautiful, with a clear view of Rampart Reservoir on one side and the west side of Pikes Peak on the other. Very awesome. Lots of rocks for a monkey like me to jump around on too.
The way back really made the adventure complete...because we couldn't find our way to the truck. After wandering and backtracking for a bit, we just decided to find the road and walk along it back to the truck...all of that added prob an hour to the trip.
We actually picked this hike because Seagal had this map that mentioned plane wreckage that you're able to see from the summit and that just sounded awesome! We found some object attached to a long wire and a 8 ft metal pole that I carried around for a bit, but no obvious signs of plane wreckage. And it's no wonder we didn't find any because the plane wreckage is on an adjacent peak called Blodgett Peak!! ah well. next time...
Elevation gain: ~500+ ft
Distance: ~3 miles roundtrip (?)
Directions: Take hwy 24 W to Woodland Park. Make right before McD's and then stay on road and follow signs to Rampart Reservoir. Go past the reservoir and make a left on Rt 303. It forks, and stay right on Rt 302. This is where the road gets really rough. A regular car definitely can't do it. Ormes Peak will on your left as you drive around the half-loop counter-clockwise. We drove all the way to the end of 302 and parked, and just went for it from there.
Here's a rough map to get to Ormes.
posted by RMark @ 11:06 PM
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