[Journal entry for January 7, 2013; Ptarmagin Peak Trail, Silverthorne CO] Ptarmagin Peak is a broad mountain east of Silverthorne, Colorado. The peak itself is hard to see from the town; nor did I reach it on this hike. I set out from the Dillon CO Super-8 motel, where Dallas and I have been staying, at 9:45AM. I hiked downhill and crossed I70 at the Silverthorne underpass and then hiked back uphill along County Road 2021, passing the bear sculpture at the La Quinta Hotel, to the trailhead. The morning was clear and well-below freezing. Two neighborhood dogs were playing in the snow, which was about a foot deep. The views of two prominent peaks of the Gore Range west of Silverthorne, Buffalo Mountain and Red Peak, are great, both from the road, and later, the trail. I began by booting it, as the snow on the trail was hard packed by previous hikers. The Ptarmigan Peak Trail (blazed with axe marks on the trees) first crosses knob of a hill with quartzite outcrops and a few scattered pine trees. It passes a forest service sign which states that the Wilderness boundary is 3.2 miles distant. I had hopes of getting at least that far on today’s hike. After passing a power line, the trail enters the woods (or what’s left of them after the ravages of the pine beetle infestation) and heads north, maintaining a even uphill grade for a mile or more. The trail passes on clearing that looked to me to be an old landslide scar. The head of the amphitheater is a little uphill from me. The woods here are a combination of Aspen, most of which show considerable browsing damage from deer, and Lodgepole Pine, many of which are dead and some of which have already been cut by foresters. The trail switches back on itself several times as it crosses gullies and small streams, so as to maintain an even grade. These spots, sheltered from the morning sun, were particularly cold. Other parts of the trail cross open hillsides. These sections were pleasantly warm and had a nice view of Red Peak, too. The snow is crossed by numerous deer tracks. I saw many browsed areas where the deer have cleared away the snow and one spot littered with their brown fur. I passed one trail junction; a marked trail that lead downhill. And I passed a prominent overlook that commanded a nice view of the valley below and the Gore Range to the west. Finally, I reached a point where the trail seemed to split: to my left was a trail heading downhill, marked with tin-can-lid blazed tacked to trees; to my right was trail heading steeply uphill that seemed more heavily travelled but had no obvious blazes. I took the uphill section, since its configuration seemed to better match the depiction of the trail on my hiking map. I followed this trail for another hour, now wearing my snowshoes, for the snow here was deeper. Previous hikers had used telemark skis on this section. I followed the ski tracks and am not sure whether they followed the official trail or not. In about an hour of ascending some even but steeply uphill terrain, I reached a broad snow field, with good views westward towards Red Peak. I had lunch here, eating my sandwich while sitting on a log. As best as I can tell, I was in the part of the woods that was starting to open up, just short of the tree line. I then headed back, as I had arranged to meet Dallas in Dillon at 3PM. I never passed a Wilderness Bounary sign, so maybe I did not hike the whole 3.2 miles, or then again, maybe I was not on the official trail. About five hours.

[Journal entry for January 9, 2013; Ptarmagin Peak Trail, Silverthorne CO] In the mid-afternoon, Dallas and I walked the trail, together. We went only as high as the first switch back, where we had a nice view of Red Peak. The day was sunny but cold. The afternoon sun lit up the woods more obliquely than during my solo hike, two days ago, casting some beautiful shadows. About two hours.