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| Mount Bethel From I-70 |
Well another day of crappy weather in the forecast, so what’s
new? A 70% chance of downpour and
possibility of thunderstorms had me really guessing on where to go. I really wanted to head up Rosalie, but with
a forecast like this I knew a shorter climb would be ideal. Since I was in the Loveland area the other
day and had been scoping out Mount Bethel I figured why not head up there. The pros of Bethel are the mileage should be
under 5 and the elevation gain is around 2,000ft vertical, so in theory this
could be a short climb. The cons, I have
to drive I-70 again through the tunnel construction which is a total bummer…oh
well, Bethel it is.
This is a simple TH to get to if you read my last report
because it’s the same one. For those of
you that didn’t read the last report this is for you: Take I-70 Westbound from
Denver and take exit 216. Take and
immediate right as you are coming off the freeway onto a dirt road. Drive to the end of the dirt road to a gate,
this is about half mile.
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| The Route to the Summit |
I decided to go with my heavy duty boots today since I knew
this route would be steep. They didn’t
feel too good at first along the trail, but soon felt better when I was
climbing through the boulders. I wouldn’t
recommend trail runners on this one, then again to each their own. Start up the old road past the gate,
eventually somewhere a little under a mile the road disappears and the path
turns into a trail. As you are making your
way around the south flank of Mount Trelease, Dry Gulch opens up and you will
have clear shots of Hagar and the Citadel along with Mount Bethel to your
right.
There wasn’t much beta online about this mountain, so I kind
of relied mainly on my own route finding abilities for this one. I knew from my vantage point on Trelease a
few days prior that there was a nice big gully heading up to the saddle, so
that was my plan, from there I would just improvise. I followed the Dry Gulch trail till I thought
I was to the main gully. I immediately found
a really good game trail and started making my way up the left side of the
creek. Just follow the trail as far as
you can, it will lead you all the way through the tree line to a split on a
small plateau.
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| The Summit Ridge |
From tree line you can make the choice to take the easy hike
to the saddle or just attack it head on.
Well I felt like a climb not a hike so I went straight up the steep
rocks. It was a lot of fun and only
class 2+, I would say it would be near impossible to make a class 3 out of this
route. The best part about heading
straight up is vertical feet start flying by pretty quickly. I guess my heart rate rises exponentially,
but that was something I monitored by adjusting my pace as I went. All in all there was probably a good 1,000ft
of direct in your face vertical that I worked my way up before reaching the
summit ridge. I recommend this route,
for a short hike you might as well make it interesting.
The point I came up on the summit ridge was only about 50ft
or so away from the true summit, so looks like I planned that pretty good. Once on top I could feel the chill in the
air, there was some moisture in the air, but it never truly rained. I put on my jacket and had a bite to
eat. I texted my friend LT and Kristi
and decided it was probably time to be on my way. I had no desire to be up high if there was
going to be a downpour.
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| Me on the Summit of Bethel |
Once down to tree line I could spot many game trails, just
not too many in the direction I wanted to travel. Eventually I found a few and they took me
down to the road about ¾ mile from my rig.
Once I hit the road I ditched my vest and had to loosen up my boots so
my toes could get blood again. On the
remaining bit of the hike I ran into two people on their way up Dry Gulch and
chatted with them for a minute. I was surprised
to see two additional cars on the road.
The good thing was I had the mountain and the summit to myself.
This climb was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it. Just be aware that it is steep both up and
down, but there are multiple variations that could be created in order to
summit. The climb reminded me a lot of
my days climbing mountains in Idaho and those are good memories to bring back. Since this was a little one, I just may have
to get out again tomorrow, but we will just see how it goes.
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| GPS Track |
Date: 8/7/2013
Starting Elevation: 10,560ft
Mount Bethel Summit: 12,705ft
Total Gained Elevation: 2,145ft
Class: 2+
Distance: 3.83 miles
Time: 2:49 moving, 1:00 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Solo
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