Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
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Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
While attempting Pettingel today from the Herman's Gulch trailhead, about 1/4 mile in this horrendous smell permeated the air for another 1/4 mile. Upon noticing it, my partner and I discussed what it could be and the best either of us could come up with was burning poop. Not that either of us know the smell, but that's what our brains told us could smell that bad.
Additional details:
-> the smell hit us at maximum intensity and stayed that way until quickly fading right after a creek crossing
-> we were there very early and there were no hippies around (because I know someone is going to ask)
-> the ground was covered in a dusting of snow
-> there were no visible fires anywhere
The reason I'm posting about this is because on a previous trip to the Citadel last year in July, I also noticed the exact same smell in the same place, but my partners and I never followed through on identifying it. So, 14ers community, have you been a victim of the Herman's Gulch smell, and can you identify its source?
Additional details:
-> the smell hit us at maximum intensity and stayed that way until quickly fading right after a creek crossing
-> we were there very early and there were no hippies around (because I know someone is going to ask)
-> the ground was covered in a dusting of snow
-> there were no visible fires anywhere
The reason I'm posting about this is because on a previous trip to the Citadel last year in July, I also noticed the exact same smell in the same place, but my partners and I never followed through on identifying it. So, 14ers community, have you been a victim of the Herman's Gulch smell, and can you identify its source?
- justiner
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
Still thinking it's hippies.
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
methane?
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- BillMiddlebrook
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
Dead animal?
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- painless4u2
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
Unlikely, since they smelled it last year in the same place. I'm guessing a meth lab, maybe that house at the end of Herman Gulch Rd???
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- Iguru
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
Methane is odorless. When you smell a gas leak, it is the hydrogen sulfide mixed with it to give it a sharp odor for safety purposes.
My first thought was skunk cabbage.
I have smelled it near Crested Butte while mountain biking.
Doesn't really smell like a skunk, more like ripe gym socks the dog chewed on.
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- huffy13
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
It is a possibility that it could be a gas odorant leak from an odorant station on a natural gas pipeline. Those odorants are made of mercaptans, which are designed to compel a person to find the source of the odor because mercaptans are odors the olfactory system can't ignore. I work at a facility that manufactures gas odorants, a little goes a long way and some of those odorant stations are in very strange, out of the way places.
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- Derek
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
That trailhead, near i70, I always smell hot brakes from traffic starting eastward descent. Smell it pretty bad there sometimes.
My guess.
My guess.
- Iguru
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
You're right, mercaptans are the added odorant to methane for safety purposes.huffy13 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:14 pm It is a possibility that it could be a gas odorant leak from an odorant station on a natural gas pipeline. Those odorants are made of mercaptans, which are designed to compel a person to find the source of the odor because mercaptans are odors the olfactory system can't ignore. I work at a facility that manufactures gas odorants, a little goes a long way and some of those odorant stations are in very strange, out of the way places.
Hydrogen sulfide occurs as a result of organic matter decay, and can exude from a sewer known as sewer gas. It can also be present in unrefined natural gas however.
OK, it probably isn't skunk cabbage after all.
The more I think about this, it occurs to me that I have probably smelled what you describe, but no where near your location.
I wonder what it is too. I describe it as burning blood. Not that I know what that smells like, just imagining it as that.
Any crematoriums nearby? Livestock slaughterhouses?
Ethanol production is also suspect. Ethanol production plant nearby?
Last edited by Iguru on Sun Oct 10, 2021 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
I sometimes smell a strong bleach and rot smell. Its some kind of mass in a nearby pine tree. Ive always assumed in some kind of fungus.
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
Not methane (an odorless gas).
Mercaptans are added as as odorant to a natural gas pipeline. Hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic (and acts as a olfactory fatiguing agent). Maybe there's a underground gas line paralleling the north side I-70, but I doubt it.
No slaughterhouses, crematoriums, or ethanol production plants nearby. Really?
Meth lab, doubtful (sounds like QAnon conspiracy). The Herman Gulch TH is a busy place right off I-70. A meth lab there would have been found out by now.
I suspect the smells are emanating from the outhouse supplemented by peeps that aren't using the outhouse. And maybe some rotting vegetation.
Mercaptans are added as as odorant to a natural gas pipeline. Hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic (and acts as a olfactory fatiguing agent). Maybe there's a underground gas line paralleling the north side I-70, but I doubt it.
No slaughterhouses, crematoriums, or ethanol production plants nearby. Really?
Meth lab, doubtful (sounds like QAnon conspiracy). The Herman Gulch TH is a busy place right off I-70. A meth lab there would have been found out by now.
I suspect the smells are emanating from the outhouse supplemented by peeps that aren't using the outhouse. And maybe some rotting vegetation.
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Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail
what about the sewers from the Loveland ski area?
they can't possibly put all that into septic tanks - right?
there may be a sewer line running down I 70 to georgetown maybe??
they can't possibly put all that into septic tanks - right?
there may be a sewer line running down I 70 to georgetown maybe??
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