Mount Princeton

Mount Princeton's summit sits at 14,196'. We set out to hike Mount Princeton thinking it would be relatively easy since you can drive to nearly 11,000'.

The hike kicked our butts though! The dramatic mountain is nearly all rock talus and loose scree fields. There were numerous snow crossings across steep pitches. It took us all day to get up and down this challenging first fourteener of the season. Rio and Loki were hurting from walking on the rocks all day - and they were both happy and relieved to rest in the snow fields and alpine tundra.

Capitol Peak

I'm WAY too big of a chicken to climb this mountain, but my husband hiked it with some friends and the GoPro footage is incredible (and terrifying)! Check it out! 

Gosh! Between those camera angles and that commentary, I bet you're speechless right now! :)

La Plata Peak

La Plata Peak is the fifth highest peak in Colorado with a summit reaching 14,336 feet. It has been one of my favorite fourteener hikes to date.

October was looming in the distance, and my husband and I decided we needed to head out for one more peak summit of the season. My sister was looking for a birthday adventure, and since this was her birthday weekend, she decided a summit was in order for her, too.

We arrived at the trailhead before sunrise and were surprised by how many cars were already there. With access just off on Independence Pass, this is a popular hike. After about an hour, we were greeted with a brilliant sunrise, which gave us a much-needed energy boost.

The wind began picking up as we neared the summit, and we were wearing all of our layers by the time we reached the top. It was worth it though; the views were spectacular and the smiles were bigger than ever.

Missouri Mountain and Clear Creek Campout

With summer nearing an end, my husband realized we had yet to camp with our families this summer. We quickly called everyone and made a plan to meet up Clear Creek Road outside of Buena Vista for a weekend campout.

Justin's sister and I began plotting an additional adventure which required us to meet a day early and climb a fourteener, Missouri Mountain (14, 067'). Missouri Mountain is a ten-mile round trip hike with 4, 500 feet of elevation gain. We set a date, and met for the hike. My sister and two friends also decided to join, making us a party of 5 strong women and 2 dogs.

Our alarm clocks went off at 4:00 am, and we huddled around the stove to make coffee. We were on the trail by 5:30, making good time up to Missouri Mountain's summit. The trail was great and well-maintained; we even passed by the Colorado 14er Initiative Group working on the trail. Once at the scree field, however, the trail became steep with loose gravel. We took our time and made it to the ridge quickly. The ridge is exceptionally long and beautiful, and I enjoyed walking the spine until I saw the final scramble, which required a bit of climbing. The guidebook calls this a class 2 climb, and it didn't say anything about any climbing - or scrambling for that matter.

Unfortunately, Loki (my puppy) and I didn't feel like we could maneuver the climb together, so we stayed back and didn't reach the true summit that day. We did, however, enjoy the beautiful views on our very private "false summit," only feet lower than the actual summit.

After the hike, my friends left and my family arrived. The next day we took our stand-up paddle boards down the road to Clear Creek Reservoir and played around. My mom and mother-in-law took to the boards and had a blast. That night, we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed some family time.

Mount Belford

To celebrate our second wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided to climb a mountain. Late June is still pretty early for mountain climbing, especially with all the late season moisture we got this winter, but we decided we would go for it anyways.

We chose Mount Belford (14,067'), accessible down Clear Creek Road outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. We arrived late Friday night and camped right off the road about a mile past the trailhead. With seven miles and 4,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of us, we went to bed early that evening.

In the morning, we got an early start, hiking the first mile and a half of switchbacks in the dark. The water crossing was very high, so we took a half-mile detour to see if there was a better spot to cross - there's not! So we took off our shoes and crossed the icy knee-deep water. After the water crossing we quickly made it to tree-line and began our ascent of Mount Belford.

We saw several other groups on the trail, but the mountain wasn't too busy. We made it to the top in time for lunch, but the clouds started building around us. We decided not to bag two peaks in one day, and we left Mount Oxford for another day.

I was grateful for the icy water crossing on the way down because my feet were sore from the first fourteener of the season. After a wonderful hike, we made it back to van-trouble; it wouldn't start. It turns out we had jostled the battery lose on the washboard road. Luckily, Justin had it up and running with enough time for us to make our dinner reservation at Mount Princeton Hot Springs. Of course, we soaked in the over-priced hot springs, too.

It was a wonderful anniversary, and I am looking forward to many more adventures to come.

Handies Peak

No matter how long I'm away, the San Juan mountains always feel like home to me. Their beauty is like nothing I've found elsewhere. While visiting family in Durango, CO this past weekend, we decided a bit of adventure was in order and we went hiking to the top of Handies Peak.

We all woke up at 4:00 am, and my step-dad drove us all to Silverton, up Cinnamon Pass and into American Basin. The drive was rough - four wheel drive was certainly required - and it took us nearly 3 hours!

Everyone was happy to get out of the car at American Basin when we arrived at 8:15 am. We began hiking right away. I imagine hiking this trail in July is spectacular, as it would be lined with wildflowers. Unfortunately we didn't see many wildflowers, but it is the end of August, so we were expecting that sad reality.

The trail is very scenic from beginning to end, and Sloan's Lake is stunning - especially as seen from above. We summited the peak at 10:30 am, and quickly drank our celebratory beers. At 14,048 feet, Handies Peak became my sister's first fourteener summit.

As we began our descent the storm clouds rolled in. My brother, sister and I shared stories and laughter while searching for geodes and spotting fat, happy marmots all the way to the truck. It was a day I'll never forget, and I'm so glad to have shared the experience with family.

Mount Sherman

“Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” - David McCullough

My husband loaded up the vansion and we headed over Independence Pass and into Leadville for the weekend to camp with family. And on Sunday, we decided to try our hand at the peak that's been dubbed "Colorado's easiest fourteener," Mount Sherman. 

We began our hike at 6:30 am; the trailhead is just a short distance from the town of Leadville, and was easy to find. The trail gets rocky and steep rather quickly; however, and we soon found ourselves scrambling up loose rock and gravel towards the high ridge in view above us. Switchbacks take you to the saddle where you join the trail from Fair Play and head up the ridge. 

For someone with a healthy fear of heights, like me, the ridge walk turned out to be slightly daunting but mostly harmless. We summited at 9:00 am, took a break and ate a snack. The sun snuck behind the clouds, and as the wind chill picked up, we decided to head back down. 

As we began our decent we noticed a steady line of people on the ridge heading towards the summit. I was happy to have missed the crowds. We were back at the car just before noon and were happy and grateful to have summited another of Colorado's mighty fourteeners. 

Cheers to Justin's mom, Diane, who didn't think she had another summit in her, but made it to the top of Mount Sherman triumphantly! 

CDT: Elbert to Hagerman Pass

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir

My husband's sister, Shannon, set out to hike a section of the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado this summer, and she asked my husband and I to meet her in Twin Lakes towards the end of her trip and hike the last four days with her. The section we were asked to hike consisted of summiting Colorado's two tallest peaks, Elbert and Massive! 

We met Shannon around noon in Twin Lakes and drove up to the Mount Elbert Trailhead where we spent the night. In the morning, we woke up early and began our hike up Mount Elbert. For a Monday there was a surprising number of hikers on the trail. We summited around 11:00 am, and took a few pictures. It was a cold and windy day, but we were thankful for a clear sky as we made our decent and camped another night in the van. 

The next morning we hiked seven miles on the CDT to the intersection of the Mount Massive trail where we made camp for the night. This section of the CDT overlaps with the more popular Colorado Trail, and we saw a ton of other backpackers. We also encountered many day hikers; the most memorable of which was a self proclaimed "experienced hiker" from Boulder asking, "Do I sound okay to you?" from where he sat off the side of the trail, about 2 miles from the parking lot. This day hiker was completely out of food and water; Shannon gave him the last 3/4 liter of water she had along with a pack of fruit snacks, a granola bar and a baggie of nuts. The hiker drank some water and began eating the fruit snacks. He called us angels as we traveled on.

We got a late start on Wednesday morning, beginning our hike up Mount Massive at nearly 7:00 am. I was nervous about the late start, but tried my best to move at a fast (for me) pace up the mountain. We were about a mile and a half from the summit when some clouds began moving in, but we continued up anyway. We made good time to the ridge line and were on the summit before we knew it. And what a spectacular summit it was! It is rocky and harsh and exactly what the top of a mountain should be. 

I was elated to have summited Mount Massive, but I knew we needed to begin our journey back down as the storm clouds were moving in, and I never like to be on a fourteener summit after noon. We snapped several photos then began hiking back down and were surprised by just how quickly the afternoon storm moved in. It started with a sprinkle, then turned to heavy rain and finally decided to hail! We were literally jogging down the mountain to find safety and shelter in the trees below. 

Once we were out of harm's way, we hiked further down the trail and again setup camp for the night. Thursday was our last day on the trail, and we hiked 9 miles on the CDT to Hagerman Pass Road. We made it to the road in just under 5 hours, and hitched a ride to Justin and Shannon's aunt's house in Leadville. 

The trip was wonderful, although tiring, and it definitely satiated my itch for more fourteener summits and backpacking! 

Mount Quandary

Mount Quandary: 14,265 feet

Whenever I get a holiday off of work I try to make the most of it, so as the Fourth of July rolled around I decided I better do something special. My husband had to work all day, but I called up an adventurous friend and spontaneously asked if she wanted to climb a fourteener with me on the 4th! She said yes, and we quickly figured out a plan.

I left Carbondale at 5:00 am on Friday and picked my friend up in Minturn at 6:00 am. We made it to the trailhead at 7:15, and began climbing. The overflow parking lot was already full, but luckily we found a spot to squeeze into. We knew going into the hike that it was going to be a busy day on the summit of Quandary!

We didn't hike through the trees long before popping out above treeline and into the steep rocky trail that made up the majority of the climb. I had heard mountain goats are a common appearance on the trail up Quandary, and we were delighted to spot so many on our way up the mountain. They are really spectacular animals; to be in the presence of so many was almost magical.

We summited Mount Quandary at 10:30 am and celebrated with a beer! We took several photos before finding a great spot to hunker down out of the wind. The summit was crowded when we arrived, but it slowly thinned out until there were only a handful of us left. As the afternoon clouds made their way towards us, we packed up and headed back down the mountain.

For a fourteener, the hike up Quandary is short and relatively easy. It was the perfect first fourteener of the season, and I'm looking forward to summiting more!