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East Portal Trailhead

Trip

Backpack – East Portal TH - Heart Lake

A moderate 8-mile out-and-back takes you to Rogers Pass Lake in the James Peak Wilderness, in the shadow of the Continental Divide. If the group wishes, weather permitting on the second day of the trip we can do a day hike to the summit of James Peak (13,271 ft.)

Contacts

Urszula Tyl
Urszula Tyl
Primary Leader
  • Challenging
  • Mileage: 9.0 mi
  • Elevation Gain: 2,194 ft

This backpack will be weather dependent. We may end up doing a day hike. Please read the trip description to ensure you have the necessary fitness level and gear for this trip. We will do a gear check to ensure everyone is adequately prepared to spend the night in the wilderness.

Prerequisites:

Skills: You must be self-sufficient in the backcountry and follow LNT principles. This includes, but is not limited to, having the ability to find an acceptable campsite, pitch your tent, cook, and pack in the morning. 

Nutrition: Please ensure you have sufficient food to replenish calories lost while hiking and adequate hydration and filtration. A canister or ursack will be needed for overnight food storage.

Gear: We will review gear before the trip, but from your experience you should already have a good idea what you will need based on the location and anticipated conditions. A light pack allows us all to move more quickly and to cover more ground, so your pack and gear should weigh less than 30 lbs. Prepare for temperatures in the low 30s to 60F, wind, and potenial storms/rain.

Fitness: You must be comfortable hiking 1-1.5 mph on a challenging trail with a over 2,000 ft of gain with your pack.

General itinerary (full itinerary will be sent to participants prior to trip)

Sat: Meet at 630am at the CMC Basecamp to arrange carpool. Start hike ~8am at the trailhead. Route information here. It should take us ~3 hours to reach Heart Lake.  Once we decide on a spot, we will set up our tents, have lunch and free to time to explore, fish, socialize or play games. We can review and practice any backpacking skills if anyone needs a refresher.

Sun: We can summit nearby 13er James Peak (weather dependant). Otherwise we will pack up camp ~8-9 AM and head back to the trailhead. It will be all downhill losing about 1,926 ft. Please allow for up to 3 hours to return to the trailhead with breaks.

We will arrange a carpool at 6:30 AM and leave cars at the CMC Basecamp

Carpooling is strongly recommended as parking gets full very early at this trailhead. If you need to meet the group at the trailhead we will start the backpack around 8:00 AM at the East Portal Trailhead

Route/Place

East Portal Trailhead

Roster
Required Equipment

Required Equipment

10 essentials, Backpacking Gear (see list here)

Trip Reports