Notch Mountain Traverse

Last weekend was pretty stellar. Went camping in Mushroom Bowl (behind China Bowl on Vail Mountain) Friday night. It was pretty secluded and we had a raging fire. After a short hike the next morning, I went for a quick mountain bike ride from Meadow Mountain to the Grouse Creek trailhead, and then climbed that afternoon with Blake. We wanted to camp that night, but couldn't decide where. We ended up deciding to hike up Notch Mountain the next day. I wanted to get more familiar with the area since many of our SAR missions are in that area. We camped in his new WilderNest on Tigiwon Road. That thing is friggin' HUGE!

We slept in on Sunday and got on the trail around 10:00 a.m. after a delicious breakfast sandwich. I'm hooked on them ever since my friend Alex introduced me. Bacon, egg over medium cooked in the bacon grease, cheese and jelly, all on toast. SO GOOD! The hike up to Half Moon Pass was quick with some good views.




Here is Blake just before the top of Half Moon Pass.




This was my first view of Mount of the Holy Cross from the trail leading up to Notch Mountain. It's pretty obvious how it got the name Holy Cross.




Spiderwebs were scattered around the top of the mountain. We found this guy feasting on a moth. He also had a few flies waiting to be eaten. That really made Blake happy.




From the top of Notch Mountain with Holy Cross impaling me.




Blake found a nice spot for a cheesy pose.





I may take up sword swallowing, but that's about all I'll swallow.




Goofed off on the top of Notch Mountain and then decided to traverse over to the other side of the notch. My friend did it the day before and gave us a little beta (scroll down for a definition) on how to get there. After a little easy scrambling, Blake found a key hole for us to climb through. It led right to the top of the south side of Notch Mountain.




Enjoying the view of the Holy Cross valley.




This is part of the Halo Ridge route. You hike from the Stone Hut around to the top of Holy Cross. I'm thinking of doing a big loop from Half Moon Pass to Notch Mountain, around the notch, around Halo Ridge to Holy Cross, down the ridge to East Cross Creek, and back up Half Moon Pass. It would be a LLLLOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG day, but a cool loop.




On the way to the Stone Hut. The rain showers were just south of us. We were pretty lucky to stay dry all day.





Alot of groups hike up to the Stone Hut to look at the Holy Cross. It has a fireplace and big picnic table in it. Since it is so high and exposed, there are a few lightning rods on top with wires spread all around outside to keep the hut from being blown up by a strike.




Inside the hut. Blake has a good eye for photography lighting.




Relaxin' on the table.




The hike down was really long. It took us just as long to get up Notch Mountain as it did to get down. You can usually hike down alot faster, but there were so many switchbacks that it took us nearly 2 hours. I tracked most of the trip on my phone GPS, so you can check out the map below.


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