Brad, Tim and I set out in my manly minivan to a trailhead that didn't require 4 wheel drive to camp out the night before a more strenuous hike up Centennial 13er Mt. Hope and neighbor Quail Mountain. When we got there, Tim realized he forgot all of his sleeping gear. Fortunately, I brought enough extra gear including extra foam pads, extra pillow, and an extra sleeping bag, all of which I was intending to use for myself. So I shared these items with him, but it didn't really matter as sleeping in a tent is not usually very effective anyway.
We woke at 4:00 am as we knew weather was looking rainy. We hoped to beat the weather at least while we were above tree-line for safety. This trail from sheep gulch is relentlessly uphill. We moved at a steady pace conserving our energy knowing we had almost 5,000 feet of elevation gain today. We reached treelike just as the sun was rising with stunning views over neighboring 14ers Mt. Belford and Huron peak.
We reached Hope Pass and surveyed the route up Mt. Hope. Route descriptions I had read made it sound like most of the route up was on tundra until the top where there was a bit of scrambling. This was inaccurate as the terrain was a mix of steep gravel and loose rock for a majority of the climb and slowed us down a bit. There were a few fun sections, but overall a tad unpleasant. The way down required a bit of route finding, and we had to backtrack a couple times before getting into steeper sections. In general, staying closer to the ridge as much as possible is advisable.
La Plata Peak from the summit
Mt. Elbert
Twin Lakes
Once back down to the saddle, we felt good and the weather was cooperating nicely so we had a good workout up the steep trail to Quail mountain. There are some cool mining ruins up there. While we sat eating second breakfast, a few ptarmigan started harassing us for no apparent reason. maybe they had some little ones nearby where we were sitting? They are some beautiful but loud little boogers!
Ruins with Missouri Mountain (center) Belford (left of center) and Harvard (far left)
Fighting over who gets the hiking polls on the way down
This one was overal a great choice for a day hike. Though the forecast called for possible rain before noon, we were dry the entire time. As soon as we got in the car just after noon, it started raining. Perfect! K's Dariy Delight is now our go to burger stand in Buena vista right on the main road on our way home.
A group of preachers from our church plus James wanted to do a climb of 14er Huron Peak this summer. I had climbed Huron twice before and wanted to do an alternate (Lulu gulch) route that included three 13ers as well as Huron. I assumed the guys would be cool with me just hiking alone and then meeting them on the Huron summit, but turns out most of them wanted to just do all 4 with me. Then, when we found that only one of them just wanted to do Huron and not the other peaks, we changed plans and decided to hike most of the trip together. This way, I could split off and do Browns and UN 13,471 while the rest summited Huron. That ended up being a better choice because we got to have some good bonding time during the hike debating denominational issues and telling dad jokes.
Markos has a cool rooftop tent setup that we used. It says it's for 5 people, but the 4 of us were pretty packed in there. Usually the number of people a tent says it can sleep is a generous number and you should subtract one or two if you want to be comfortable.
About as close as four straight men can get
We started at sunrise the next morning and made good time up the switchbacks. Once we reached what looked like a good branching point I left the trail and headed up the talus slope toward Browns. The terrain was not as steep as it looked and the hike was fairly pleasant. It was quick work to the unnamed peak from Browns and back. Then I descended back to a pond that we said we would meet at thinking the guys would be down there waiting on me. Turns out they took their sweet time on the Huron summit and I actually waited for an hour and a half for them to return. Were we able to communicate somehow, I might have just climbed up to meet them on Huron's summit. Oh well. It's always nice to get a few hours of solitude in the mountains.
Those 3 Apostles are so picturesque!
Huron and pond
Heading up to Browns
Missouri Mountain I believe
Looking over at Huron from the saddle
La Plata Peak at center
Huron form UN 13,471
That feeling when you get back to the parking lot...
KD isn't a huge fan of hiking mountains and she was at a church camp so the rest of the family made a day trip to hike a walkup 13er up I-70. Golden bear is a great family hike with a gradual trail or grassy tundra the whole way. Once you leave the parking lot, the sounds of the interstate are quickly replaced by the sounds of nature. Kolbs is such a curious guy and was asking questions the whole time as we leisurely walked up the switchbacks toward the saddle of Coon Hill and Golden Bear. There were tons of animals and wildlife along the route as we quickly came to a few short snowfield crossings...Cami's favorite:
It took under 3 hours to summit with breaks and snacks along the way. The day was pretty nice, so I decided to head over a connecting ridge to Hagar. I told the family I would give myself a one hour deadline to reach the summit or I'd turn around so they wouldn't have to wait on me too long. Moving as quickly as I could without getting too uncomfortable, I was just able to make it in under that deadline. The last push up Hagar is not so gentle, but steep and loose. The final summit pitch had some fun scrambling at the top.
Golden Bear Summit
Looking up at Hagar with the Citadel on the right
The way down was pleasant. Though it was an "easy" mountain, there is always a degree of danger involved in any adventure. While walking down, Kolby tripped on some rocks and scraped his knee up a bit. A reminder that nature is merciless and indifferent to human mistakes. He got some quick relief from his wounds with some Smashburger in Silverthorne.
Late June we had the opportunity to tag along on a Colorado River rafting trip with a couple other families in the McInnis Canyon area. We started out of Fruita, CO and traveled all the way across the boarder into Utah. It was a fun time in some beautiful country. The weather was very warm, but nothing that water can't fix! We stayed at two different campsites two different nights and went on a few hikes along the way.
