Fools, Eagle & Pika

Date: 8/5/2020
Partner: Kristi Henes
Trailhead: Fulford Cave TH
Summits: Fools(Class 3), Eagle (Class 3), Pika(Class 2)
Distance: 17.25m
Elevation Gain: 6200ft
Duration: 12hrs
GPX

Eagle Peak B 14ers.com Page
Pika Peak 14ers.com Page

We had considered sleeping at the trailhead the night before the hike.... however a relaxing evening in Dillon was too much to resist.

Our intial plan was to climb Fools Peak's north ridge then grab a beer in Eagle. However after talking to Joel we decided to make a bigger day of it and do a loop of Fools, Eagle and Pika Peak.

The morning of the hike, we left Dillon around 5:30am and headed to the Fulford Cave TH southeast of the town of Eagle. However after passing through Eagle and driving a few miles up E Brush Creek (415) we encountered a backhoe blocking the road. It was there that we learned that the road would be closed for the next month.

Given our tenatious nature we backtracked to Road 400, took it to Road 416 and across to the Yeoman Campground and up to the trailhead where our day would begin. Man oh man were we running late... but we weren't worried because there was nothing but blue skies in the forecast.

We hiked a lesurely 3.75m to Lake Charles, ate some chocolate and took in the incredible views. Oh what a place! We were excited for the famous scramble on Fools north ridge... but we were definitely not rushing.

The scramble up Fools definitely lived up to the hype... awesome C3/C4 on solid rock. However after reaching the summit we realized how big of a day lay in front of us. The loop looked huge and Eagle Peak's north ridge looked mean. After a quick bite and a summit selfie we started out for Eagle.

The hike to Eagle was mostly 2+ with some easy 3 mixed in. We took another short break on Eagle's summit before embarking on a classic scramble on Eagle's north ridge.

The ridge offered up plenty of quality C3/C4 scrambling and route finding. There are lots of options on this ridge. I was constantly asking myself if I was in the Sangres... this couldn't be the Sawatch. Travel was relatively slow and there were plenty of sub peaks to climb and descend. Pika seemed a long way off and we were not getting any closer.

After completing Eagle's north ridge, the tedious slog to Pika began. The best thing about hiking to Pika were the views. Lakes to either side and a great perspective on our route.

We took a short break on Pika's summit before descending more tedious terrain down the southwest slope to Lake Charles.

From Lake Charles, the hike back to the truck seemed to go on forever. We witnessed an incredible orange sunset through the trees and made it back just before dark.

If we had know the route would take us 12 hours I think we would have camped at the TH for sure. Maybe even picked up the pace at the beginning of the day.

While this was a long day... longer than the stats might suggest... it was amazingly rewarding. This route is a Colorado classic that I hope to repeat.