Radical Hill
We ran this right after running Red Cone and having a nice lunch in the meadow. The weather wasn't spectacular but it wasn't raining (yet). This is always such an exciting hill and it didn't disappoint us.
We started up the trail and it was pretty mellow. We were looking forward to the big hill of rock that was always a fun and optional obstacle, so we were really disappointed to find it closed and blocked with fencing. It was always such a fun diversion and it will be missed.
Kendall had a few issues in the early rocks with his big truck, but he made it through without any help. After that we passed the cabin at the bottom and started our way up the switchbacks.
The last switchback was just as bumpy and loose as it always was, making it an awesome challenge right before you get to the top and the trail gets easier. Mark had a rough time through it but after contemplating his line he drove right through it. It was a little scary to watch Kendall make his way up the narrow and steep hill in his truck, and he was happy to finally make it to the top.
When we got to the top of Radical Hill the Jeep owners started putting on tops and zipping in windows because the weather started to look bad. It was windy and pretty chilly, exposed above timberline. It wasn't much longer after that when it started to rain off and on, and it stayed chilly throughout the rest of the day.
We didn't have any concrete plans for our way down and back to civilization. When we came to the intersection for the Deer Creek trail, Walt and Mark turned off to head back for home while the rest of us continued on. We still had no official plans, and when we got to the intersection for the Saints John trail we kept going.
It seemed like we were heading up to an overlook and we weren't sure if the trail was going to continue, but it did. We ended up at a third intersection for the north fork of the Swan River trail network, marked with a sign. We saw a cabin up ahead a short distance so we kept going so we could go see it.
We ended up at the top of Wise Mountain, at a cabin. The cabin was nice and many people have stayed in it recently. There were a couple of people staying there and the cabin looked like a nice home. They had been hiking all day.
We could see almost all of the Breckenridge ski runs from there, and the top of one of the Keystone ski lifts. The views were incredible. The trail ended there, though, so we headed back down.
We decided to take the north fork of the Swan River trail on the way down, to head out to Breckenridge. The trail down was fairly straight and always a steep and steady descent. It would be a challenge to come up this hill, and nearly impossible if it was wet or snowy. It would be fun, though!
After we got down the hill and a little way down Tiger Road in Breckenridge we all stopped at a large camping area to air up and reconnect sway bars. Then almost everyone went to Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs for pizza. We all got some sun even though the weather wasn't always so nice. It was a great day!
Reports from Other Days: 6
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Radical Hill. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
