Back To School

On August 25, I hiked to the top of Mt. Princeton (14,197 ft.) It is my first 14er of the year (hopefully not the last), and the 14th overall. The trailhead I used is at an elevation of 8900 feet. Round trip for the lower trailhead is 13 miles. If I had I high-clearance vehicle, I could have driven 3.5 miles further up the road. I don’t have such a vehicle, so I walked it. I got to say, hiking all the way from the lower trailhead makes me feel like I really earned this 14er.

While driving to the lower trailhead in the wee hours of the morning, I noticed that it rained during the night. So there was lots of moisture in the air. As the morning went by, lots of clouds formed earlier than usual. It was a cool effect, but it pretty much killed the view from the top. The good thing about these clouds is that they were not the lightning producing kind. The clouds were also interesting for photography. I wish I had more time to take better photos, but I needed to focus on getting up and down the mountain while I still had some resemblance of energy. Anyway, I made it all the way up and back down again. So here are the pictures.

Looking east shortly after sunrise.  Above 11,000 ft

Clouds on top of Mt. Princeton's summit.

Looking east and seeing clouds creep up the Mountain

Looking back on the trail

Look, there is a Pika on that rock

Pika

From the ridge line, looking southeast

The trail to the top is in the clouds

From the top of Mt. Princeton.  Mt Antero

View to the northwest from the top

Me on top of Mt. Princeton

On the way down, looking towards Salida

Mt Antero

In The Wilderness

On August 11, I hiked to Macey Lakes in the Sangre De Cristo Wilderness. It is 14 miles round trip to the lakes. I parked at the Horn Creek Trailhead. I then hiked 3.5 miles along the Rainbow Trail to get to the trail to Macey Lakes. From there, it was another 3.5 miles to the upper lake. The trail is easy to follow to the lower lake. The trail to the upper lake is a little harder to follow. There is also a lake to the south of the lower lake. I went to that lake as well. That hike was half bushwhack, half trail. I probably added an extra mile going to and from this lake. The hike to the main lakes is not that hard. It is just distance, altitude, and a gradual up. Anyway here are some pictures.

Upper Macey Lake.  The lake is just below 12,000 ft.  The unnamed peak on the right is above 13,000 ft.

Upper Macey Lake

Small lake near the bigger upper lake

Small lake again.  Looking east towards the Wet Mountains.

Lower Macey Lake

The lake that is south of the lower lake.

All Those Yesterdays

Back on July 20th, I did a short hike with my friends Charles and Tina. We went to the Stultz Trailhead on Oak Creek Grade. Rather than hike the Stultz Trail, we went in the opposite direction to the top of some cliffs and then down into a canyon. It was quite scenic.

Tina and Charles

Tina and Charles - We hiked to the canyon below

We were on top of the cliff on the right

The next day I went for a hike in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I did the Cottonwood Creek Trail. It wasn’t the best of trails, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be a favorite of mine. It was not because the hike wasn't scenic, it is because I am spoiled with all the other grand hikes that I have done in Colorado. I wanted to go for a hike and get back in time for a US soccer game on TV. This trail worked out perfect for that. The trail had some nice views of Horn Peak which I had hiked previously in 2011.

View of the false summit of Horn Peak

Horn Peak

There and Back Again

On July 13th, I slipped in and out of that town by the big salty lake for a US soccer game. The US were there for their game against Cuba in the group phase. I flew in that morning and flew out that evening. It was cheaper that way, and I didn’t have to take time off from work. For this game I didn’t have the sweet seats that I had for the World Cup Qualifier there in June. I was in the upper deck, but that worked out well. I had shade, and I also avoided the 5 minute rain storm that happened at the start of the game. The view in the upper deck of a soccer specific stadium is actually quite good. I saw the game a lot clearer than I have in a while. The US won the game 4-1. Here are a couple of pictures and a poor quality video of my buddy Landon getting a penalty kick goal.

Warm ups for the US

Pregame handshake and a little rain

The Flintstones

On July the 5th, I went on a jeep tour out of Marble, Colorado with my mom and aunt. The tour went through Lead King Basin by looping around Sheep Mountain. We only got to an elevation of around 10,500 feet. That was a bit disappointing. We figured we would get above tree line. The jeep wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it was pretty cool. It was a 1954 Willys Jeep. On the jeep ride, I went by the name of Fred, and the jeep driver went by the name of Barney. Anyway here are some pictures from the jeep ride.

Columbine

Treasure Mountain

Snowmass Mtn (left) & Hagerman Peak (right)

Falls along the North Fork of the Crystal River

Mom having lunch

1954 Willys Jeep and Barney in Crystal

Butterfly and flowers

Crystal Mill

Crystal River above Crystal Mill

On July the 6th, I hiked to Cathedral Lake. (11,866 ft.) The lake is south of Aspen. The trailhead is not far from the ghost town of Ashcroft. The hike up to Cathedral Lake is only 3 miles. (6 miles round trip) So it gets quite a bit of traffic. Fortunately, I got an early enough start. I only had to witness the parade of people going up as I was going down. The lake itself is the typical beautiful alpine lake that you find in Colorado. Here are the pictures.

Pine Creek

Me at Cathedral Lake with the cliffs of Cathedral Peak behind me

Flowers at the lake

Cathedral Lake - looking towards Electric Pass & Leahy Peak

Me again

That’s it for the pictures on my 4th of July weekend. I left the Snowmass Village area on the morning of the 7th.

Until next time…

4th of July

My first real July post is for the 4th of July. I hiked Geissler Mountain. The mountain has two ranked peaks. I hiked the highest one which is Geissler Mountain East (13,380 ft.) The trailhead is located on Hwy 82 about a mile west of Independence Pass. The first part of the trail is real gradual, and the trailhead is basically at tree line. Round trip is probably only 5 miles. The hike is a real beauty though. Here are the pictures from the hike.

Geissler Mountain East

Looking back; near the source of the Roaring Fork River

Some type of weasel running across the snow

Independence Lake

Lost Man Lake

Looking at the final accent of Geissler Mountain East

Looking northwest from the top at Williams Mountains

View to the west from the top of Geissler Mtn.

Looking down at the Roaring Fork River and Linkins Lake

Independence Lake.  Mt. Elbert in the background on the left.

Me on top of Geissler Mountain East

Lost Man Lake

Flowers

After the hike, I drove to Snowmass Village where my mom and aunt were staying. I hung out there for the rest of the weekend.

View of Mt. Daly from a short hike out of Snowmass Village