Two weekends ago we made good on some plans we had been brewing up for weeks. To run away to Colorado for the weekend and climb four 14'ers. We left Friday night after Josh got off work and drove straight through to the campsite at 3am. The road to the trailhead was a little more than my car is used to, but Josh coaxed him up to a nice spot to pitch our tent for about 4 hours of sleep. We got up bright and early the next morning, hoping to beat the weather to all four summits.
Backcountry car camping at its finest. Just park on the side of the road and throw up your tent...
This was our view from the tent in the morning. A great way to wake up in the mountains.
All four peaks sit within an 8 mile loop, and the elevation gain was strenuous to say the least. Especially for two people who had been at 900 feet less than 12 hours previous and were running on 4 hours of sleep and a lot of pop tarts.
First summit was Mt. Democrat.
There was a literal traffic jam up and down the summit of Democrat. One hiker near us estimated 400-450 people summited that day.
Not as many people were doing the whole loop, but we kept pace with several groups throughout the day. At one point the altitude was kicking my butt and I had to rest. I was contemplating heading for the car when a 10 year old kid stopped next to me to take his inhaler and then kept going. I decided if he could do it, I wasn't quitting.
Mt. Cameron was somewhat anti-climatic, with what looked like a baseball field of gravel for a summit.
But it did boast some incredibly beautiful views.
Onward and upward (again) we headed to peak number 3.
Mt. Lincoln had an actual summit peak from which we could see Mt. Quandary. Side note, two years ago when Josh and I and another friend went to Colorado and climbed Quandary was significant to me in two ways. Not only was it my first ever peak, it was also after that trip I decided I wanted to marry Josh. I figured after 5 days together hiking, climbing, eating camp food and not showering and I still liked him we probably had a good thing going.
The hike to Mt. Bross consisted mainly of traversing a huge gravel field. Apparently this used to be a mining area although we couldn't decide if the gravel was a result of the mining or had been there before.
Peak number four in roughly 5 hours! As I mentioned (several times) to Josh during the hike, doing more than one peak in a day requires a different type of mental psyching than just one. Because you have to do that summit push four times...
What goes up must come down. The most intense part of the whole hike was descending back to 11,000' to the trailhead. I have never seen anything so prolongedly steep in my life. Not to mention scattered with loose rocks and dirt.
I would have given anything to have my trekking pole I accidentally left in the car. And this was the 'flat' part.
Although the descent was somewhat painful (especially for our quads!!), we were rewarded with some beautiful views at the bottom.
And so many wildflowers. This was Josh's first summer time visit to the mountains and both of us were awed by how many flowers there were.
I kept trying to pick favorites but eventually said I loved them all equally.
When the terrain finally became level again I stopped to: A. snap this pic of my hot hiking buddy in a field of wildflowers by a mountain lake and B. to kiss the ground in my gratitude for its flatness. We were also super grateful to have beaten the bad weather.
Our adventuring goal accomplished with a whole day and a half left to spare, we decided to do what we never do and splurge on a nice hotel. Priceline hooked us up and before we hit Denver we had reservations. What we didn't know was the Westin had actually been over booked the night before and room service was scrambling to get everything ready. We arrived 45 minutes after the soonest possible check-in time and our room wasn't ready. Needless to say, we spent the next 45 minutes waiting for our room sleeping in the parking lot of a 4 star hotel. Sometimes sleep can't wait for room service...
After check-in we toured around our 'neighborhood', getting dinner and relaxing. Fortunately for us, we could always find our way back to the hotel because we could see it from a mile away...
It turned out to be worth the wait for our room. This was our view. After a relaxing evening and a morning rest in the hot tub to help our exhausted legs, we headed for home. Thanks for the fun times Colorado, hopefully we will see you again soon!
