Escaping The Nutshell

Parked at the Lookout Mtn Trailhead on the western edge of Meeker Park. Sure was hot this morning for 8,800 feet. Headed north on unofficial trail toward the closed St Malo Retreat Center.

2014-07-05 Cabin Creek mudslide

Reaching Cabin Creek, we turned west, up the drainage. This creek was once surrounded by lush vegetation and trees. Now there's just bare dirt, rock, and broken tree debris. Radically changed during the landslide and flood of September 11-13, 2013.

Headed upstream in search of the source of the landslide. At first the landslide terrain was fairly easy going. Eventually though, in getting steeper, it also became more rugged. At about 10,300 ft, we had enough and headed southwest toward the Meeker Ridge. No break here, rough going through krummholz, then steep boulder field.

Finally break out into alpine meadow. Topped out at 11,900 feet, paralleling Meeker Ridge. Crossing to other side of ridge, we headed down toward the Lookout-Meeker saddle. Took Lookout Mtn Trail back to parking place.

Started hike at 10:03, and finished at 16:35. Altitude difference from lowest (parking at about 8800 ft) to highest (11900 ft) was 3100 feet, and the total distance traveled was about 7.5 miles.

Tracks for entire hike. GPS ran out of batteries a couple times, so there's missing segments.

USGS Report: Landslides in the Northern Colorado Front Range Caused by Rainfall, September 11–13, 2013