Devil's Causeway, Yampa CO, Aug 26th-27th, 2005

My friend John, who works for Intel in MA, came out to visit me and Wendy in Fort Collins, so we decided to take a camping/hiking trip. I looked into the Steamboat Springs region, and was recommended by someone on the frisbee field to check out Devil's Causeway, located a bit south and west of the Steamboat, ~200 miles from Fort Collins. The Causeway is a thin ridge with 100 foot dropoffs on each side, surrounded by 12,000 ft flattop mountains. Not for the feint of heart!

Aug 26th

I got into work at 6:45am Friday, and left at 1:30pm to meet up with John and Wendy. Wendy and John had bought tons of food, as well as campfire equipment, hotdogs, and smores components. After making a wrong turn and almost reaching the Wyoming border, we cut back down to route 14 across some back roads. The scenic long cut was pretty, and we continued over the continental divide (seems like that happens in all my trips), and on to Yampa. We had plenty of options as to where to camp, and picked a place just 1/2 mile from tomorrows trailhead.


The view from a lookout above our campsite. The campfire is smoking...

We had bought some wood on the way, and cooked up some dogs and corn on the fire pit. Later we roasted marshmellows and made smores.
Wendy conducts the cooking fire. The corn nearly caught on fire before we put some foil underneath...

It was a great feast, and I was bummed I didn't bring my guitar for afterwards...

Aug 27h

It was a COLD night. We all were cold and woke up early, a little before sunrise. Of course this is a good thing for picture taking, so we all climbed up to the lookout and watched the sun rise. Quite spectacular.



Top Row: Before sunrise...
Bottom Row: After sunrise...
Left: From the lookout point...
Right: Looking across the nearby pond...

We packed up after breakfast, and loaded the car.
You can see the lookout point on the left, and 2 small waterfalls on the right...

We took the 2 minute drive up the dirt road to the trailhead, and hiked past a lake, and up some gentle ground towards the ridge.


John supports the leaning tower of Wendy as we enter the Flat Tops Wilderness. One side of the Causeway is seen in the background...


A reflective lake we saw on the way...


The final acent to the ridge is in the background...


I waited for a bit while John and Wendy climbed ahead (look for the white speck). This is a view of the north side of Devil's Causeway...


Wendy peers ahead at the ridge, doubts forming in her mind. The ridge is narrow, with 100 foot drops to either side...


John goes first, pausing nicely for a minute while I took a bunch of pics. The Chinese Wall is in the distance, running to the right...


John and Wendy stand straight legged on the ridge, where a slight breeze might just send them toppling over the edge! Not really...


Then they sprang into action, and made it the rest of the way across...


Then it was my turn to cross (after I went back on the ridge to get this picture taken)...


A look back at Devil's Causeway, the knife edged ridge. A small black speck of another person is seen on the far side...


We kept going west, on our planned 9.5 mile loop hike, along the flat top of this canyon/valley...


We walked for quite a long time on the flat and relatively dull trail, until it became apparent we needed to ditch the trail and scramble over to the canyon edge to make our way back...


When we got to the edge, we saw a vast and lush shelf below, with lakes, and heard a plethra of "baaahs". We brought the binoculars and saw ~400 sheep in the distance...


We decided to swing by the sheep and then head back along the shelf edge on our way down. But first some food and rest...


Last night, while eating carrots, one slipped and landed in my water bottle. That reminds me, I should probably empty my bottle, cause I think it's still in there...


Some scenes as we headed down the slope to the shelf, and towards the sheep...


Eventually we got to the snow patch full of sheep. The grunts from the sheep were intense...


There were some black sheep in the bunch. Wendy's attempt to pet them failed, as they kept moving away...


We sang some nursery rhymes, Little Bo Peep, and Baa Baa Black Sheep...


We planned to reach this large jutting lookout point on our way back...


Another look at the plank...


Halfway up the plank, I looked back to see the steep dropoff from this flat top area...


John and Wendy walk the plank. It was a scenic view of the flat tops across the valley, and the lakes below...

After this lookout point, we still had ~5.5 miles left to get back home. We had to bushwack a bit along the shelf before we got to the trail, and followed it down the valley, past a number of lakes, and to the car. The hike came in ~11 miles, and my watch said 2900' cumulative gain.


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