I'm sure I have a blog from last summer titled the same. This 13,822ft mountain has long been my nemesis. Turned back twice by weather and once by Toms cranky ankle, it's been on my "list" for a few years. This year, I picked a good weather day and headed out with friends to tackle the 3650ft incline of this beast ENTIRELY off trail. This makes everything harder, and more fun (IMHO). We arrived at a parking lot at 7am, walked up the road about 100 yards and then set off into the trees, up a very steep incline, no trail, and proceeded to gain our first 1500ft in just 3/4 of a mile.
Overall a very fun, very challenging 6 mile hike - mountains, fresh air, plenty of laughs and a mountain summit...a perfect day in Colorado.
Soon, the sound of traffic from route 9 fades and we were left in the early morning silence of the mountains.
The trees to the right are what we just emerged from after fighting our way up that first steep incline. Whew, time for a snack.
Onto the tundra, interspersed with talus, scree...up, up, up.
We made it! This is the view to the west. Quandary Peak on the far right. We were very happy to have the summit to ourselves! I guarantee the peeps on Quandary were sharing their summit with no less than 20 other hikers.
Photo shoot time for our friends...
Back at the car, I guess my artwork paid off! Where's Andi? Taking the picture.
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