As I sit in the Charlotte airport, I look out the window and daydream about hiking and possibly 14ers I would try…
The excitement grew as I boarded the plane and, of course, I fell asleep. The real excitement didn’t really hit me until we landed in Colorado and Preston took us to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and we got to see so many prairie dogs!
They are so cute and I loved hearing them squeak. They sound like toy dogs that bark constantly.
We drove to Breckenridge, stopped at Loveland Pass and saw the sign for the Continental Divide.
Day 1 Monday
Spruce Creek Trail to Mohawk Lakes Trail
It was really nice. The trail was covered in snow, but not deep snow, and it was not icy. We warmed up quickly in 30° weather. The lakes were really pretty. Each one of them was different, which was really cool, and the big alpine lakes were really cool. We ate our unbreakable sandwiches at the last lake, which was at 12,550 feet. We didn’t stay long because we were both starting to feel a little sick. On the way back, it was muddy from all the melted snow. We passed several people and talked to them about the hike they were about to encounter.
Once we got back to the car, we headed back to Breckenridge and walked around the quaint little town before having dinner at “Peak Of Asia.”
Day 2 Tuesday
Missouri Lakes and Fancy Lakes Loop Trail
We saw a moose on the side of the road on our way to the trailhead. He got away very quickly and we almost lost him, so we were lucky to see him. Maybe it was a good sign for our hike.
We begin with a beautiful descent through nature to the first lake. We moved at a good pace to the elegant lake and sat for a while.
My chest started to hurt on the next climb due to the steepness and rapid elevation gain, but I made it to the top and descended to Missouri Lakes. We sat at the top and looked out at the lakes for a while, watching them shimmer in the sunlight and move in the wind.
Finally we went down to the lake, where we again sat on a rock, had lunch and took a nap. After our brief rest, we packed up what we had left next to us and continued on our way. We passed another beautiful lake as we headed back to the car.
Day 3 Wednesday
Grizzly Peak and Cupid Peak via Mt Sniktau Trail
From the Loveland Pass parking lot
Today was a failure. We arrived early at Lovelands Pass and began our climb as the sun began to rise. It was windy but not terrible… until we reached the top of the hill, where the trail splits to go to Cupid and Grizzly on the right or Sniktau on the left. We had planned to do all 3 because we were better acclimated and really wanted to try it at 13,500 feet. It was very windy at the top. We crouched behind a rock wall, thankful it was there to protect us from the wind. We had a snack and warmed up a bit before getting up to try again. We started towards Mount Snikta and I got to 13,000 feet before turning around because I couldn’t feel my hands. It was painful. Preston continued as I walked back to the car. I made it halfway up the hill before Preston called me. He had reached the top of Shiktau and the wind had died down. He asked me if I would come back and try Cupid. I was upset because I really wanted to climb Shiktau, Cupid and Grizzly, so I turned around and went back up the rock wall. The wind began to blow again, stronger this time, as I returned to the rock wall. He bent down again and ate a sandwich before trying to cupid. We may have made it 0.2 miles before deciding it wasn’t worth the risk of falling and getting back up the rock wall and down to the car. We were both upset because we wanted to do the 3 climbs. We felt good physically and knew we could do it, but we were disappointed that we couldn’t do it because of the wind. We are not used to it and we did not have certain equipment that would have helped us. We made a plan as we drove back to Breckenridge. Tomorrow we would do a 14er, check the weather, get some new gear and try…no, climb! I was excited.
Day 4 Thursday
The big day
Pico Grises and Torreys
I was so excited that I struggled to fall asleep the night before our 14th and woke up 2 hours before my alarm went off, unable to fall asleep. I was so excited.
I woke Preston up at 3 when the alarm went off and we got ready to leave. We grabbed our bags, pizza, caffeine and headed to the trail. We started around 4:30 on our way to Grays and Torreys, which were about a mile away and part of the CDT. I was on the CDT for at least a mile! That’s longer than I’ve been on the PCT.
The hike in the dark was beautiful! The moon was shining and you could see all the snow on the mountainside. I didn’t really need a headlamp; the moon was so bright. We were above the tree line and enjoying the views as we ascended towards the main trail. We were able to watch the sun rise over the mountains as we walked, seeing all the different beautiful colors in the sky.
It was beautiful on top of Grays. We have lots of photos of the view and our first photo of the 14er summit!! Elevation was not an issue today, which was surprising. We had acclimatized well over the past few days. We walked down from Grays and up to Torreys, having a snack in between. The climb to Torreys was a little harder because it was steeper, but it was only about 10 feet shorter than Grays. At the top of Torreys we could see the 13ers we had attempted the day before, including the one Preston had completed. It was beautiful to be at the top. Torreys felt like we were on top of the world. It was exciting
We returned to the car at 12.
Day 6 Saturday
Dilemma Peak
After a day of rest and fun like Meow Wold, we decided to do another 14er on our last day in Colorado. I was excited!
We woke up at 3am, got dressed, had breakfast and headed to the trail at 4:30. We started around 4:45 as it took us a while to decide where to park. We walked up the trail in the dark with our headlamps. It was a good climb up the trail. It was cloudy, so there wasn’t as much light as Thursday. As we ascended we could see the sun beginning to appear between the mountains and the fog.
We made it to 13,000 feet, about 0.5 to 1.0 miles from the summit, before things started to get really difficult. Not only was the wind blowing hard, making it colder, but the trail became even steeper, making the last 1,000 feet of climbing difficult.
We reached the top around 8am and had a beautiful view of the west side of the mountain range. We sat and had a snack before descending back to the car. On the way down we saw 4 beautiful mountain goats. One was almost used and then lay down on the rocks. We wondered how warm they would be in their thick fur coat, as we were quite cold with the chilly wind. We watched them for a while when the wind died down for a moment.
We passed many people who asked Preston about the hike, since he was walking in the front. We were worried about some people, as it was a long, windy, difficult hike to the top, and people didn’t seem to have water, food, or layers.
We returned to the car at 11.
Sunday
I’m excited to be back home, but sad to have to leave Colorado once again. Preston and I sat at the Denver airport and reminisced about our 14ers, the lakes, and everything we did in Colorado.
Our goal next time is to do 7 more, so we can complete a total of 10.4 in one day, called Decalibron, which includes Mount Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross, which would put us at 7 and reach 3 new peaks that we haven’t reached.
Now is the time to plan winter vacations. Where will we go now…?
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(795x269:797x271)/big-brother-stars-baby-exclusive-101325-tout-b558cc628fe44d22acf1e5f5e7d09685.jpg?w=238&resize=238,178&ssl=1 "Las estrellas de ‘Gran Hermano’ Nicole Franzel y Victor Arroyo revelan el género de sus gemelos (Exclusivo)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(697x453:699x455)/chad-franke-kam-anderson-tout-101325-17204febe75941bba490445c5c2a318f.jpg?w=238&resize=238,178&ssl=1 "¡Chad, el hijo de Ruby Franke, se casa con Kamryn Anderson!")
