Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
MapScientist
Posts: 4
Joined: 4/13/2021
Trip Reports (0)
 

Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by MapScientist »

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?
User avatar
justiner
Posts: 4396
Joined: 8/28/2010
14ers: 58  8 
13ers: 138
Trip Reports (40)
 
Contact:

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by justiner »

Still thinking it's hippies.
wi2dw5ri7pc41.jpg
wi2dw5ri7pc41.jpg (29.74 KiB) Viewed 2756 times
rmattas
Posts: 139
Joined: 12/24/2012
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by rmattas »

methane?
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
User avatar
BillMiddlebrook
Site Administrator
Posts: 6910
Joined: 7/25/2004
14ers: 58  46  19 
13ers: 172 44 37
Trip Reports (2)
 
Contact:

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

Dead animal?
"When I go out, I become more alive. I just love skiing. The gravitational pull. When you ski steep terrain... you can almost get a feeling of flying." -Doug Coombs
User avatar
painless4u2
Posts: 1298
Joined: 7/14/2010
14ers: 58 
Trip Reports (8)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by painless4u2 »

BillMiddlebrook wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:39 pm Dead animal?
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???
Bad decisions often make good stories.

IPAs + Ambien = "14ers" post (Bill M.)

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
User avatar
Iguru
Posts: 676
Joined: 3/6/2006
14ers: 18 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by Iguru »

rmattas wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:28 pmmethane?
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.
I gotta get me an Avatar.
User avatar
huffy13
Posts: 1051
Joined: 8/2/2007
14ers: 22 
13ers: 8
Trip Reports (30)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by huffy13 »

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.
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
User avatar
Derek
Posts: 1156
Joined: 5/22/2006
Trip Reports (57)
 
Contact:

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by Derek »

That trailhead, near i70, I always smell hot brakes from traffic starting eastward descent. Smell it pretty bad there sometimes.

My guess.
User avatar
Iguru
Posts: 676
Joined: 3/6/2006
14ers: 18 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by Iguru »

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.
You're right, mercaptans are the added odorant to methane for safety purposes. :thumbup:
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.
I gotta get me an Avatar.
User avatar
Trotter
Posts: 1409
Joined: 6/5/2013
14ers: 58  5 
13ers: 220 2 8
Trip Reports (10)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by Trotter »

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.
After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. -Nelson Mandela
Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called Ego. -Nietzsche
User avatar
rijaca
Posts: 3387
Joined: 7/8/2006
14ers: 58  4 
13ers: 244 1 2
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by rijaca »

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? :-k
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. :-&
"A couple more shots of whiskey,
the women 'round here start looking good"
jibler
Posts: 676
Joined: 6/12/2008
14ers: 13 
13ers: 35
Trip Reports (18)
 

Re: Weird and bad smell near beginning of Herman's Gulch trail

Post by jibler »

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??
Keep looking up - Jack Horkheimer
Post Reply