Wild Basin is a huge drainage in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park. Hikes to the peaks at the head of the Basin always entail long approaches, usually 18+ miles round trip. It is aptly named: everything in Wild Basin is remote.
The "rules" for ridge traverses such as this are simple: You don't have to stay exactly on top of the ridge at all times, you just have to tag all named and significant summits along the way. It seems logical to require that one close the loop, which requires roughly 30 miles of travel.
The summits are: Lookout (10,715'), Meeker (13,911'), Longs (14,255'), Pagoda (13,497'), Chiefs Head (13,579'), Alice (13,310'), Tamina (12,420'), The Cleaver (12,200'), Isolation (13,118'), Ouzel (12,716'), Ogalalla (13,198'), Elk Tooth (12,848'), St Vrain (12,162'), Meadow (11,632').
This route was probably first attempted by Bill Briggs & Buzz Burrell in 2002, but the pair made it only to Mt Alice (CCW) before bailing due at least in part to smoke from forest fires. Bill made another bold attempt in 2007 by bicycling from Boulder, but again fell short, bailing off out from the saddle north of Isolation.
Comments
Wow! This route is breathtaking, but the constant talus hopping makes for slow-going. I made an "onsight" attempt of this route on Friday, having only been on the Longs Peak section before, and I was surprised by both the difficulty and the scenery on this route. I mean, I knew that it was going to be difficult and beautiful, but OMG! I bailed after descending Isolation at mile ~16. My loop ended up being about 26 miles with a final ~8 miles of on-trail/road travel. So, it might be a good option for those looking for a slightly easier version of this loop while still getting plenty of scenic gnar. Thanks for the inspiration Peter! Here's my track: https://www.strava.com/activities/12418323570