Conundrum Peak Trip Report 08/22/2016

Peak(s):	Conundrum Peak - 14,037 feet
Date Posted:	08/22/2016
Date Climbed:	08/19/2016
Author:	oldschool

Bittersweet trip
Some trips just seem to be colored a tad grey.....for many reasons. Whittling down my list of 14ers and the chance to do Conundrum came about. Jumped on my motorcycle on Wed the 17th and headed for Aspen. Bike ride out to Aspen Beautiful skies while on the bike south of Moab I slept out in the desert that night just north of Moab. I have spent lots of nights there as I lived in Grand Junction for many years and would go to Moab as a day trip lots. Woke early and jumped on the bike and headed for Aspen. The weather looked less than ideal and as I was on my bike I knew I couldn't go up the road very far to the dispersed camping sites. So I rode up Castle Creek road, parked where the pavement ends, and carried 2 loads of my gear up to Site 7. I got my tent set up, got my gear stashed inside, and headed for Aspen for some food. It was about 1:00 pm when i hit Aspen. Went to the Grateful Deli for a sandwich. I decided to head back up to my campsite about 3:00 as the skies were darkening. I parked again at the pavement end, covered my bike, and hiked up to my site. I was planning on meeting Kieth at 4:00am to do the hike together. As it was storming pretty good, i was tent bound for the night. In actuality it had snowed on the mtn. I saw some headlights dash across my tent about 8:30 pm...figured it was Kieth. My alarm went off at 3:00 am. I was up making coffee and oatmeal. Push off time was set for 4:00 am. Kieth was up and off we went right at 4:00. Walked the road which was wet but not muddy. Easy walk to the fork in the road.....Pearl Pass or Montezuma Basin. We hung the right after a bit of confusion. Kieth and I chatted as we had never met before. A ways up the road we stopped to lose some layers and another solo hiker named Pete showed up. We all joined forces. We took the left side of the moraine and was able to avoid any snow. Pete heading up the right side of the moraine We were making good time but I was hurting as I was suffering from bad nausea. The sun is coming.... (I posted on the Forum about it) We were all pretty even as far as pace went but I was lagging a bit. Pete set the pace and was faster than both Kieth and I. There were a few parties in front of us and some behind us. You can see the light snow that fell Almost to summit of Castle Castle/Conundrum saddle View over to Conundrum We made good time and all 3 decided we were going to do both Castle and Conundrum. I had done Castle already and really just needed Conundrum. We decided to wait to plan our exit strategy...go back over Castle or down the gully on the C/C saddle. I had brought my phone with me so I could send a text when I got to the top. The day before, when I was in Aspen getting my sandwich I got a call from my gf Tracy about my 3 year old dog, a Catahoula named Puppy. She had collapsed the day before on a hike and was at the hospital with her. I was hoping for an update on the summit of Castle. I did indeed get a text..my dog had passed during the night. Bittersweet ascent to be sure. I am a dog lover and have been my entire life. Labs, Border Collies, and Catahoula's. I honor and respect dogs very much. At such a young age it was very confusing as to what could have killed her in such a short period of time. I have had my Puppy on 20 mile mtn bike rides..she is strong. It is believed it was poison she may have eaten...I will never know. My Catahoula.. I always called her Puppy Puppy on her 1st summit..Huron 7-2013 We continued to Conundrum..me with tears in my eyes. I didn't say anything to Kieth or Pete. My nausea was bad and my sadness didn't help. We all made Conundrum and decided to exit down the gully off the saddle and not go back over Castle. The snow the night before made the descent actually quite nice as the ground was a bit tacky with the melting snow and not so damn slippery when it's bone dry. It saves lots of time going down that way! Looking back at Castle on way to Conundrum Me on top of Conundrum...number 50 photo by Pete photo by Pete photo by Pete The entire trip took us 8 hrs car to car. The mileage using the "shortcut" put us at just a bit over 10 miles. My Catahoula had done just one 14er with me....Huron. My Border Collie....15 of them she has been my companion. My Lab named Bodie also was on top of 15. I shall miss Puppy. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Bittersweet trip

Some trips just seem to be colored a tad grey.....for many reasons.

Whittling down my list of 14ers and the chance to do Conundrum came about. Jumped on my motorcycle on Wed the 17th and headed for Aspen.

Beautiful skies while on the bike south of Moab

I slept out in the desert that night just north of Moab. I have spent lots of nights there as I lived in Grand Junction for many years and would go to Moab as a day trip lots. Woke early and jumped on the bike and headed for Aspen.

The weather looked less than ideal and as I was on my bike I knew I couldn't go up the road very far to the dispersed camping sites. So I rode up Castle Creek road, parked where the pavement ends, and carried 2 loads of my gear up to Site 7. I got my tent set up, got my gear stashed inside, and headed for Aspen for some food. It was about 1:00 pm when i hit Aspen. Went to the Grateful Deli for a sandwich. I decided to head back up to my campsite about 3:00 as the skies were darkening. I parked again at the pavement end, covered my bike, and hiked up to my site. I was planning on meeting Kieth at 4:00am to do the hike together. As it was storming pretty good, i was tent bound for the night. In actuality it had snowed on the mtn.

I saw some headlights dash across my tent about 8:30 pm...figured it was Kieth. My alarm went off at 3:00 am. I was up making coffee and oatmeal. Push off time was set for 4:00 am. Kieth was up and off we went right at 4:00. Walked the road which was wet but not muddy. Easy walk to the fork in the road.....Pearl Pass or Montezuma Basin. We hung the right after a bit of confusion. Kieth and I chatted as we had never met before. A ways up the road we stopped to lose some layers and another solo hiker named Pete showed up. We all joined forces.

We took the left side of the moraine and was able to avoid any snow.

Pete heading up the right side of the moraine

We were making good time but I was hurting as I was suffering from bad nausea.

(I posted on the Forum about it) We were all pretty even as far as pace went but I was lagging a bit. Pete set the pace and was faster than both Kieth and I. There were a few parties in front of us and some behind us.

We made good time and all 3 decided we were going to do both Castle and Conundrum. I had done Castle already and really just needed Conundrum. We decided to wait to plan our exit strategy...go back over Castle or down the gully on the C/C saddle. I had brought my phone with me so I could send a text when I got to the top. The day before, when I was in Aspen getting my sandwich I got a call from my gf Tracy about my 3 year old dog, a Catahoula named Puppy. She had collapsed the day before on a hike and was at the hospital with her. I was hoping for an update on the summit of Castle.

I did indeed get a text..my dog had passed during the night. Bittersweet ascent to be sure. I am a dog lover and have been my entire life. Labs, Border Collies, and Catahoula's. I honor and respect dogs very much. At such a young age it was very confusing as to what could have killed her in such a short period of time. I have had my Puppy on 20 mile mtn bike rides..she is strong. It is believed it was poison she may have eaten...I will never know.

My Catahoula.. I always called her Puppy

We continued to Conundrum..me with tears in my eyes. I didn't say anything to Kieth or Pete. My nausea was bad and my sadness didn't help. We all made Conundrum and decided to exit down the gully off the saddle and not go back over Castle. The snow the night before made the descent actually quite nice as the ground was a bit tacky with the melting snow and not so damn slippery when it's bone dry. It saves lots of time going down that way!

Looking back at Castle on way to Conundrum

The entire trip took us 8 hrs car to car. The mileage using the "shortcut" put us at just a bit over 10 miles.

My Catahoula had done just one 14er with me....Huron. My Border Collie....15 of them she has been my companion. My Lab named Bodie also was on top of 15. I shall miss Puppy.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Pika	:/ 8/22/2016 7:36pm I'm sorry about your Puppy. Losing a dog is just as painful as losing a human companion.
Yalegirl09	So Sorry 8/22/2016 7:37pm I'm SO very sorry for your loss. She was beautiful. I am a dog lover too, and I know that's an awful thing to go through. Congratulations on getting Conundrum though! Glad the gully was easier with the earlier snow. It was fairly unpleasant without it.
painless4u2	Bittersweet... 8/23/2016 3:54pm yes. Congrats on #50, but very sorry about your Puppy. Such a pretty girl, too.
Jay521	Sorry... 8/29/2016 1:49pm ... not much else to say..
waltoncito	Thoughts from AZ 8/30/2016 6:21pm Mike, you and I connected back in December to do 4 peaks. I really enjoyed hiking with you and am very sorry to hear about your Puppy, totally sucks. Hope our paths cross again...I'm planning on KC/Challenger next week.

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