Colorado, July 2010
We planned to take a 2-week vacation in Colorado, and with my arm still on the mend we couldn't plan on climbing. Instead, we decided to hike a bunch of 14ers, "arbitrarily" setting the goal of 14 14ers in 14 days. To give away the ending, we didn't complete the goal. We got distracted, Aaron had to return to work for two days in the middle of our vacation (!), and we had some bad (typical summer monsoon) weather. Excuses, excuses. Here are the pictures of what we did do.
We rolled up to the Wetterhorn trailhead around noon and evaluated the weather. Since it looked good, we rambled on up and enjoyed a lovely hike without any sign of afternoon rain. Here's the ridge between Wetterhorn (on the left) and Matterhorn (on the right).
Aaron with Wetterhorn's 3rd class summit behind him.
One marmot chewing on another.
Amy.
At the summit of Wetterhorn.
Aaron looking down on the hike out.
Amy on the 3rd class section.
Another look back at Wetterhorn and Matterhorn on the hike out.
There may be a few wildflower pictures on this page.
Although the weather forecast for the next day was practically perfect, it rained on us that night at the trailhead for Redcloud/Sunshine/and Handies peaks.
We woke early and headed off to hike Redcloud and Sunshine, an easy linkup. This is Handies across the way. After Redcloud and Sunshine, we got back to the trailhead and ate a leisurely lunch at the car before hiking up Handies in the afternoon for a fun, 17-mile day with three 14ers.
Snow on the trail up Redcloud in the morning.
Aaron approaching Redcloud's summit.
View, including Wetterhorn (the pointy one) and Uncompahgre (the flat-topped one) from Redcloud.
Summit long-arm shot.
Aaron on the traverse from Redcloud to Sunshine.
View from the summit of Sunshine (14,001!). Again, Wetterhorn is the pointy peak at the far left and Uncompahgre is the attractive mound in the middle background.
The descent from Sunshine either involves negotiating scree slopes followed by a loose, steep 3rd class gully or going back over the top of Redcloud. We chose the gully.
It wasn't a bad descent. Here's a badly-stitched panorama of Aaron on the hike out.
I can't begin to capture how beautiful the wildflowers were on this whole trip. So much variety.
After lunch, we hiked up Handies. Here's the view back across the way at the drainage we hiked in the morning, with Redcloud and Sunshine peaks.
Aaron.
Aaron at the summit of Handies.
Long-arm.
Aaron in the flowers.
Despite a turn for the worse in the weather forecast, we headed to Ridgeway next to hike Mt. Sneffels, the distinctive peak on the right.
The attractive north face of Sneffels. Aaron wanted to do the Snake Couloir, but I was afraid to, so we ended up hiking another route instead (the East Slopes) which is the descent trail for harder routes on the north face of Sneffels.
Aaron hiking up in the morning. This day began with us sleeping about 40 minutes late by mistake. Not good for a day with certain rain.
Amy hiking along. Snow: better than talus.
The East Slopes was fun; there was still a lot of snow in it in July. Would have been less fun without snow.
Aaron.
Aaron at the summit.
Obligatory long-arm at the summit. Although a big group beat us to the summit (they'd hiked the Yankee Boy Basin approach), we were alone at the top when we got up.
Lacing my boots at the summit for the hike down.
The sky was threatening by 11:30, groppeling soon after, and then raining.
However, plenty of time to take pictures of flowers.
Waterfall.
Pretty glad to be out of there.
Wheee...focussing in and out on Danika's geraniums.
The next hike we went on was Mt. Sopris, which isn't a 14er---by then we had given up the quest. The weather forecast was terrible for this day (40% if I recall) but the rain held off until at least 3:00.
Amy on the talus.
Aaron.
Marmot at the summit.
Summit long-arm.
All this hiking means blister management is key.
Looking up an aspen.
Flowers and flowers and stately Mt. Sopris.
At a campsite, Aaron uses his caveman methods to cut some wood for a campfire.
Indian paintbrush ("prairie-fire") and real fire.
Green stuff for dinner! Yummy!
Reflections in Sky Pond, Rocky Mountain National Park. We headed up to RMNP to climb some classics, but my arm was bugging me on Friday so we just hiked around that day.
Aaron and a marmot with the Cathedral Spires in the background.
Aaron and the marmot. Bold fellow....as they all are, unfortunately.
View down from Sky Pond.
Sometimes Aaron does not take Photography very seriously.
Amy at our campsite with Noah and baby Luna, and a big pan of veggies and tempeh on the stove. I am licking chocolate off my fingers and dressed like a space alien for mosquito protection. We'd climbed Hallett Peak this morning, but I did not bring my camera (can you imagine that!) because we planned to move light and fast and my current camera is clunky and medium-sized. I regretted it, though. The scenery was pretty up there.
©2010 Amy Jordan; Email Me.