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Beak Peak

March 20, 2004

Eric, Todd, and I set out for a leisurely Sabbath afternoon hike from the NCAR parking lot at about 1:40 pm. We ascended via the very steep Fern Canyon Trail and descended via the Bear Creek Canyon Trail.

Equipment and Clothing

    This was a class 4 gadget hike (on a scale of 1 to 5). I took a number of gadgets to do some comparison between my two GPS systems and altimeter watch. About the only gadget I didn't take was my weather gadget, which measures wind speed, temperature, humidity, etc.

So here's what I carried on the hike:

    I used the jacket briefly at the top. I had packed fleece glove liners, but forgot to put them in my pack. It was a bit colder than I had expected, so in retrospect, a light fleece would have been helpful. I sweat profusely on the way up, so I probably should have worn a hat or headband, and taken a bandana to wipe my face with. Also, a lens cloth for my glasses would have been very helpful. Some of my pictures were messed up because sweat was on the camera lens. Also, the trail was quite snowy and icy after leaving Fern Canyon, making for a treacherous ascent. I should have brought my Leki Trekking Poles, but I think it also would have been useful to take crampons, and maybe even an ice axe for that last stretch before the summit. But we survived going up -- coming down that trail would have been more difficult. Finally, the amount of water I took in my hydration pack (70 oz.) was appropriate, since I still had some at the end of the hike. I had a couple snacks, but didn't eat them until after the hike.

Mileage and statistics

By adding up the mileage from the Trail Map on the Maps Section of the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Website, I get a total of 8.0 miles:

0.6 miles    NCAR parking lot to the Mesa Trail

0.4 miles    Mesa Trail segment: NCAR trail to South Boulder Creek Trail

0.3 miles    Mesa Trail segment: South Boulder Creek Trail to Bear Creek Canyon Trail

0.1 miles    Mesa Trail segment: Bear Creek Canyon Trail to Fern Canyon Trail

1.4 miles    Fern Canyon Trail

1.8 miles    Bear Peak West Ridge Trail

1.7 miles    Bear Canyon Trail

0.3 miles    Mesa Trail segment: Bear Creek Canyon Trail to South Boulder Creek Trail

0.4 miles    Mesa Trail segment: South Boulder Creek Trail to NCAR Trail

0.6 miles    NCAR Trail: Mesa Trail to NCAR Parking Lot

    In comparison, my Garmin eTrex Vista GPS reported a distance of 8.46 miles. Part of the difference might be explained in part by the difference in starting point and ending points, as we parked at least a tenth of a mile from the trailhead. The Timex Bodylink Speed + Distance System conked out before the end of the hike, but it was running more than half a mile behind by about the 5 mile mark. I think it was having trouble keeping the signal in Fern Canyon and in the trees going up the West Ridge. 

Total Vertical Climb:     3276 feet according to eTrex Vista GPS, 3000 feet according to Alta Sport Altimeter Watch

Moving time:     2h 36m

Stopped:     0h 44m

Moving average:     3.2 mph

Overall average:     2.5 mph

Performance

  Here are graphs of my heart rate and speed during the hike. About halfway down, the GPS shut down (low batteries?), so there is no speed record for the last part. The first graph shows the portion of the hike from the NCAR parking lot up to the summit and then the first part of the descent. The second graph shows the rest of the descent, until the GPS shut down. The third graph shows my heart rate for the remaining portion of the descent.

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