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.
There was a group of friends we had scheduled to do a 14er hike last week, but right at the last minute, they all bailed for one reason or another. So J and I got to have some good bro time and decided to drive a little farther and climb on of my favorite San Juan peaks. I no longer have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, so we backpacked 4 miles up the 4 wheel drive road to the upper trailhead and hung out with a campfire.
We woke for an early start as there was a chance of thunderstorms before noon that day. As we reached treeline, we were rewarded with a colorful sunrise on the mountain. I ran ahead to take some photos off the trail in the wildflowers. J must have missed me and hiked way up the trail figuring I had gone farther ahead. I didn't notice him passing on the trail and we got separated. I went a ways back down the trail and couldn't find him, so I figured he must have went up ahead. I finally caught back up to him as he was heading toward the saddle. Whoops!
Once on the ridge around 8 am, it began to rain a bit and became quite windy. We continued up through it because it looked to us like those rain clouds would soon burn off. After some unfriendly warnings to turn back from other hikers, the clouds did indeed burn off and the weather turned out to be very nice for the rest of the hike. We enjoyed some fun little scrambles toward the summit. The top of this mountain is one of the most interesting with some of the best views IMO. There is a spot where you can stand and the cliff below looks like it drops about 2000 feet and gives some good butterflies.
Wetterhorn Peak
Handies Peak
Sneffels (right of center)
Precipice Peak
Dragon's Back?
We had some great conversations on the way back down including creating our own "rules for men". For example, a man should never dye his hair for any reason. A man should know how to shoot a gun and start a campfire. A man should do at least 80% of the driving on family road trips (our wives don't like to drive)...etc...etc. I'm thankful for the good memories and a fun and rare hike with my brother, especially with how busy he is with his business - Dry Out Restoration.
Nellie Creek Falls
About half way down as we were packing out on the road a friendly couple from Texas who owned some land in the area offered us a ride the rest of the way down. Thanks Texas couple! You saved our knees some soreness.
Jimmy Brad and I had a perfect weather window where we fit in a hike to Snowmass Lake (and Snowmass Mountain for Brad) right at the summer solstice. This one had been on my list of iconic Colorado backpacks for over a decade, and it did not disappoint. This spring has been so rainy and one of the craziest weather seasons I can remember. A couple days before our hike in to this lake, it snowed a couple inches at this location. Though this was the first day of summer, it looks more like winter up there!
When we arrived at the lake, there was only one area that was snow free for campers to set up tents. We had to get close with a few other groups, but everybody was friendly with no problems. That night sleeping was miserable, being right next to the lake with the wind blasting over it all night was restless. Brad woke and left for the Snowmass summit at 1:30 AM. From about then until dawn, there were various parties getting up and getting ready to hike not too quietly so, again, sleep was not good. Jimmy and I got up to watch a fantastic sunrise over the lake. The clouds made cool shapes that contoured the edge of the peaks. Though we didn't know it, right at about that time Brad was standing on the summit. After having breakfast, we attempted to hike out and find the trail toward Buckskin Pass hoping to hike Buckskin Benchmark. Unfortunately, the snow was continuous and became a post-holing slog. After a few miles of this, combined with a trail we couldn't find, we decided to turn back to camp. We arrived back there at 9AM just after Brad returned. We all decided we had accomplished our goals for the trip, so we packed up and headed home instead of staying for a second night.
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