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.
Starting on Longs Peak in college, it's taken me about 20 years to reach 100 differently named summits of peaks over 13,000 ft. The hiking partner that I've done the most mountains with is my good buddy Brad. He and I went for a hazy day triple this time up by Breckenridge. All the haziness was due to the wildfires from Canada. We hiked a few miles up to Wheeler lake. From that point on, it was all off trail on tundra and talus. The steep climb up Clinton was work, but the rest of the loop was pretty easy going.
Mt. Democrat
Heading up Clinton
Quandary Peak from Clinton's summit
Looking down on Climax Mine from Clinton's summit
McNamee (right) and Trevor (left)
100th Summit - McNamee Peak
Traver Peak
Old junk left all over the place on these peaks from mining activity
Once we reached the summit of our third and final peak of the loop hike, I realized I forgot my camera on the McNamee peak's summit. Doh! Guess we have to repeat that one!
There it is!
Not excited to hike to the top of Traver again for our 5th summit, we figured out a way to bail between the saddle between Traver and McNamee. Then the long talus stroll back to Wheeler lake.
Looking back
Wheeler Lake
Near the lake, there are some falls that we decided to call "Paradise Falls". They may have an official name, but we don't care. We will forever call them by our renamed name.
