Displaying items by tag: 13ers

Pyramid Peak and Thunder Pyramid as seen from Maroon Peak in 2012

At the start of 2018, I told myself that this would be the year that I would complete the Centennials (the highest 100 mountains in Colorado). For no great reason, I wanted to finish my goal before I turned 40 (I'm 39). It was a somewhat lofty goal considering I had lost my job in January, started a new job in February, and was not in the best physical shape of my life. I started this goal officially in 2009 and game out of the gates in a hurry. I had a headstart, having started climbing peaks when I was 4-years-old (1982). I had completed 22 / 100 by the end of 1998 when I was in college, but took a very long hiatus after that. I only completed 5 more peaks from 1998 to 2008. That means that between 2009 and the end of 2018, I completed 73 of the highest 100 mountains. That feels substantial. In January 2009, I built this website and began documenting my journey. This trip report may be boring in some ways so bear with me. It is my way of reflecting back on this journey and reminiscing on a goal completed. The following summaries don't include repeat peaks or other peaks not in the highest 100 that were climbed those years. 

• In 2009, I completed 20 summits on the list.
• In 2010, I completed 12 summits on the list.
• In 2011, I completed 14 summits on the list.
• In 2012, I completed 5 summits on the list and finished the 14ers.
• In 2013, I completed 5 more summits and then moved to Oregon.
• In 2014, I completed 1 more summit (how sad).
• In 2015, I completed 2 more summits (still very sad), but moved back to Colorado at the end of the year.
• In 2016, I completed 3 more summits.
• In 2017, I completed 3 more summits.
• Finally, in 2018, I completed 8 more summits and my goal. My average per year that I was actively seeking the goal was 7.3 - not bad!

A mountain goat gazes upon Pyramid and Thunder Pyramid from the summit of Maroon Peak

Regarding the subject at hand: I have been dreading Thunder Pyramid ever since gazing upon it in 2012 from the summit of Maroon Peak. The vantage from that position makes Thunder Pyramid unclimbable, the White Gully leading to the summit a straight-up nightmare. I had heard horror stories (all greatly exaggerated) of the looseness of the rock on Thunder Pyramid and many very exceptional climbers, including David Morano and Steve Gladbach, have perished on her slopes. The mountain was ultra-hyped in my mind and I was completely prepared for anything I found due to that hype. Anxiety is a powerful driver for some of us and I'm no exception. 

As always, you can see and download my full route and GPS tracks over on the incredible app, Gaia GPS, which I use on my iPhone to plan, track, and follow my routes on these trips. It is absolutely invaluable and worth every cent. I personally love that you have full access to all USGS topo maps and National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps as well. You can use the app while in airplane mode and even save maps for offline use. To get a nice discount on the application, follow this link and you'll also support my efforts to keep this site running.

For this trip, I decided to pack quite a lot of camera gear (by the way, these are affiliate links and using them helps me pay for this site and to bring you better content):

• Sony A7R2 Camera
• Laowa 15mm f/2 lensaowa 15mm f/2 lens
• Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 lens
• Sony 55mm f/1.8 lens
• Sony 70-300 FE telephoto lens
• Feisol Tournament 3442 tripod

As usual, I used the beta from Gerry Roach's High Thirteener Guidebook. I was still using the 1st edition of the book; however, his new edition is available on Amazon after many years of waiting - rejoice! Also, huge shout-out to my good friend Kane Englebert who called me to give me some excellent tips on climbing this peak safely - thanks man!

I decided to invite my two best friends for this final climb: Silas Musick, who has joined me on 16 of the highest 100 peaks; and, my friend Todd Myers. Since Todd was training for the Imogene Mountain Run in a week, he opted to just join us for the backpacking and stay in camp during the climb. The plan was for Todd and I to meet Silas in Aspen and then drive to the Maroon Bells parking lot together. Todd and I left Durango at noon on Friday. We met Silas at 6 PM in Aspen and we were all at the trailhead and ready to hike at 7:30 PM. We were planning to backpack to Crater Lake, set-up camp, and then get up really early for our attempt on Thunder Pyramid. Silas also had North Maroon on his radar and so we knew we would be in the area for a few days. The three amigos began our trip up from the lake in high spirits.

 I was surprised to find that Maroon Lake had a rope surrounding it - which will not bode well for those looking to photograph it during autumn colors. Already, we found lots of people that simply disregarded the signage to stay on the trail, despite a sign being visible on the rope every 20 feet or so. Seriously, how hard is it for us as humans to simply obey rules? Do folks feel like they are above them? Anything for Instagram? What's going on here? You may not agree with the rope, but if you're going to enjoy public lands, you need to follow the rules. While they may sometimes be poorly implemented, we should still follow them. For more on the Forest Service's decision to rope it off, see this link.

We arrived pretty late at our campsite and set-up in the dark. There was an abandoned tent at our site - one of those cheap Walmart tents. I sure don't envy the job of the Forest Service to keep these places looking halfway decent. The total disregard of Leave No Trace principles is quite astounding. OK, off my soap box! Silas and I set our alarms for 3:45 AM and hit the sack. 

We woke up at 3:45 and left camp at 4:00 AM. The forecast for the day was not great; however, it was also looking like the best weather window for the weekend. We anticipated early storms and lots of clouds in our future and wanted as early of a start as possible. While this meant hiking up the first section of Thunder in the dark, we felt it was a good choice. 

After hiking about 10 minutes, a young man by the name of Austin stopped us on his way down from above asking if we had cell phone reception. We of course did not and explained that you would have to go all the way into town to get cell reception. He explained that his father, Brad, had altitude sickness and asked him to go down to get help. We explained that the most important thing was for his dad to get down and for someone to help him do that. We urged him to go back up and get him. He reluctantly agreed and hiked with us to the Thunder Pyramid turn off. We wished him luck, made sure he had food and water, and went our separate ways. More on that story later!

We had a tough time finding / following the trail from the cairned turn-off for Thunder Pyramid. We ended up bushwhacking up steep forested garbage until we reached the first cliff band. We followed that cliff band to our left to a weakness and followed that weakness up to another cliff band. This pattern continued until we found ourselves above treeline looking back on the Maroon Bells before sunrise.

The sight of Thunder Pyramid above us was certainly sobering. Clouds were already forming to the north and we felt like the hardest parts were still yet to come. We knew the next step was to identify a steep gully of talus and follow it more or less to the base of the famous white gully. We decided on the gully to the left of the really large one filled with junky talus.

The talus was not too terrible or awful, but it was certainly made of the same garbage Elk Mountains stuff we had grown distateful of on Maroon and Pyramid in previous climbs. I personally found it quite inviting compared to my experience on Cathedral Peak!

As we ascended the gully, the light over on Buckskin Benchmark to the northwest was looking quite fine!

And naturally my gaze was constantly drawn by the Maroon Bells. What a magnificent pair of peaks to be able to stare at throughout the day.

Silas was armed with cell phone and Spot GPS, and I was armed with my Sony A7R2 and my cell phone equipped with Gaia GPS. Technology has really come a long way in a short amount of time since I started documenting these climbs! 

As we climbed up into the gully, the views above Len Shoemaker Ridge were getting really nice. I don't love climbing on the rocks in the Elks, but damn they make for great scenery! 

Below you can see another good view of the gully we chose to climb up, which I felt was very solid class 3 climbing all the way up until we turned off to the left.

More views of the class three climbing...

And finally the sun hits the Bells and makes me a happy dude.

I took advantage of the great views of the Bells to showcase the terrain down below us in the gully. I think this photo does a good job of showing you the complexity of the rock in this section.

I also found myself quite enamored by Bellview Mountain, which is seen left (south) of the Bells in the photo below. I really would like to climb that one someday. I bet its an incredible vantage of the Bells; aptly named indeed.

Once we reached the top of this gully, we saw a noticable trail heading left up a very steep dirt and rock slope below the next cliff band. We decided to take it. I knew it would probably lead to the base of the white gully. The trail is what I describe as a "climber's trail," aka - not very solid, very loose, and very steep!

After reaching the top of this section, our view of the Bells really opened up and I could not have been more happy with it.

Indeed, the famous white gully came into full view and revealed our future. I was excited to reach this section finally. There was a decent trail all the way up to the base of the gully from here.

As predicted, the white gully was much less daunting up close than from afar. Many of climbers warned me of the loose nature of the rock in the white gully and I was prepared for anything.

It was at this point that I decided to film the rest of the journey to the top with my GoPro Hero 4. I created a 30 minute video which is in hyperlapse format with pauses at key moments. I'm not a professional video editor nor do I have the time to edit this to give it full justice, but I figure it serves as a nice beta for folks wanting to know more about the white gully, the final segment, etc. Also, its fun for me to look back on later in life. 

About halfway up the white gully, we began to get great views of all the 14ers in the area. The below shot really intrigued me. It includes Maroon, North Maroon, Snowmass, and Capitol all in one frame. Nice! By the way, I did not find the white gully to be loose at all! We chose to stay high on the left side in the white stuff and it was very solid. Once exiting the gully to the right, things get much dicier. 

We exited at 13,400 ft. just as Roach suggests. There's a pretty obvious spot to exit below some cliff bands. We had to pick our way through some very nasty rock and maybe strayed a bit too far right into the next gully when we should have stayed high on the "ridge" here, but nothing was obvious at this point. We just went a couple feet at a time, making sure to stay close to each other and stay very mindful about potential rockfall above and below. It is more a mental exercise than a physical one from this point forward.

Just below the saddle between Thunder Pyramid and Lightning Pyramid, we found it best to cut under more cliff bands and stay high on lighter colored rock as pictured above.

Once we reached the saddle, it was very clear where to go next and we were feeling very excited to be so close to the top!

I let Silas go first as I wanted him to film me ascending the final section. 

They very last section, which you can see on the earlier YouTube video, was pretty simple to find the solution too, but it did require some easy class 3 chimney climbing. A real joy, to be honest. We just had to be ultra careful about the loose rock above the chimney, as it was ubiquitous and precarious. Below is Silas' film of me arriving at the summit. What a crazy feeling it was.

Nerd move! Number 100!

Upon arrival, the first order of business was for Silas to surprise me with a letter written by my mom and dad for Silas to read upon us reaching the summit. It was so incredibly heart-felt and I teared up big time. The video of me reading it is below. Thanks mom and dad! 

And of course, here's the photo they sent with it - me standing on my first 13er - Fairview Peak at age 4. Good stuff!

It was so great celebrating this one on top with Silas, who I think was more elated than me! 

It was also really cool to have a view of Pyramid from here, which I finished the 14ers on in 2012.

The scale of these mountains is so hard to describe in photos; however, I think adding me to the frame helps.

I had a special surprise for Silas too. I brough my 100summits.com T-shirt with me and a sharpee so he could check off the last box for Thunder Pyramid. What a great feeling!

I wonder why they call these the Pyramids?

Silas caught me in the act of composing a photo while there. I really wanted something to show off the gnarly rocks in the foreground while including all of the great peaks of the area, so I had to get really low!

And the result:

Another angle:

I felt like I needed a shot of Castle and Condundrum too, even though the light to the east was quite harsh. I think they still look quite formidable from here though. It was crazy to think just a couple weeks ago I was on Cathedral at sunrise looking this direction.

We also noticed a pair of hikers on top of Pyramid. This photo really shows off the scale of that peak well.

I decided to sign the summit register and have Silas video it for posterity.

I also felt compelled to kiss the top of the mountian for some reason before departing. It was fun Thunder Pyramid - thanks for the ride!

The journey down began and I was still on cloud 9 but knew we needed to be extra safe on the descent. There were sections near the summit that had decent exposure and made Silas quesy to look back at me on the edges. I was like, "what's the big deal?" :-)

Upon reaching the saddle the view down was sobering. It looked incredibly nasty. Fun.

We made our way down carefully, picking mostly the same route as before, except we stayed a bit higher towards the top of the ridge instead of going south into the gully.

The rock here is especially loose and nasty. Great care should be taken to navigate down. I got some fun action shots of Silas in the act.

Don't fall!

Here is a good view of the spot we chose to turn off from the White Gully, only in reverse.

Upon reaching the white gully, we were equally excited and dismayed by the appearance of a mountain goat below us. Despite our efforts, he kept climbing right up the gully towards us and eventually above us. We now not only had to contend with our own rock fall, but also the rock fall from the goat. Fortunately, he did not knock any rocks down on us!

Reaching the bottom of the white gully was a relief, and, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the weather had held up!

I absolutely love the next shot of Silas gazing at North Maroon (which he climbed the following day).

We made it to the turn off for the very first gully and found that dirt/rock section to really suck - here's a good view of Silas entering that section. It was super steep and very unpleasant. 

We opted to follow the far left gully to exit, which was much less steep but much more loose and filled with nasty talus. At least the view of Len Shoemaker ridge was good.

Every step in this gully was dangerous. It was a real ankle destroyer. 

Upon reaching the flat surface below the talus field, we stopped to admire the foliage - the tundra had turned yellow and orange, reminding us that fall had arrived.

A look back up Thunder Pyramid below some waterfalls we found - a glorious sight indeed.

We picked our way down pretty much following our ascent route - here you can see one of the sections where we navigated below and above two cliff bands by following a nice rocky section.

At treeline we found some very large plastic peices that we think were from a downed helicopter. They appeared to be part of the cockpit and were about 2' by 2' in size. Silas carried them out. We reached the base of the peak without incident! Success! Upon reaching our campsite, we found a Ranger talking to an older gentleman who seemed a bit out of breath. I confirmed it was the father we had told the son to go back to get earlier in the morning. It had apparently taken them this long to get him down to our campite near Crater Lake. He thanked us for helping his son Austin, saying when Austin came back for him, he had fallen asleep. They eventually airlifed them both out from the lake, which quite the specticle to witness. I got some photos and video of the event.

It was impressive seeing the pilots navigate the lake with the helicopter.

Once the drama stopped, I stopped to get some photos of the surrounding area with my telephoto lens. The light in the steep gullies below North Maroon was particularly mesmerizing. 

And of course we celebrated with camp beer!

After telling Todd about the climb and settling in for the night at a new campsite, I decided to head down to Crater Lake for some night photos. Using my new 15mm wide angle lens, I was able to get the whole lake, both Bells, and the Sleeping Sexton in one photo. Nice.

I was particularly excited to re-create a photo I shot here several years ago with inferious camera equipment - the Milky Way in the valley gap between the Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak. I think it was quite the success. 

Day 3 - a rest day for me and a climb of North Maroon for Silas. I spent a great deal of the day putzing around with my camera and talking with my friend Todd. We were confronted by a Forest Service Ranger for camping in the wrong location. Apparently the correct site 6 was further back away from the trail than we realized. The sign we camped near said site 6 and was heavily impacted. He forced us to pack up and move to another spot. We were happy to comply. Note - the signage is pretty spotty and not very useful in general. Many camp sites have huge signs saying "restoration in progress, no camping," and others have no signage at all. It is wildly inconsistent and the marked sites are, well, not very well-marked. Noted. Since Silas was away on North Maroon, we had to figure out how to coordinate the move. We packed all of Silas' gear up into his pack and moved to site 8 (which was WAY better, by the way). We came back to site 6 and Silas had just arrived back from North Maroon. Perfect timing! I decided to get some photos of a squirrel that was throwing pine cones on the ground (which is hilarious to watch).

I also decided to get some abstract shots of a rock covered in moss... boring for some, probably, but interesting to me.

And of course, the setting moon was fun to photograph over the Sleeping Sexton.

After we all napped in the rain at site 8, I set-off to photograph the area with my telephoto lens. The foliage was just starting to change color and I really enjoyed phtographing the area.

After the rain, there was a significant waterfall that appeared above us below North Maroon, and it was also fun to photograph.

A very large weather system moved into the area around 4 PM and we were glad we were not climbing. I had a vision in my mind of snow being dropped onto Pyramid and Thunder Pyramid during the storm and thought there could be a possibility that the storm would break at sunset and produce some amazing results. I really wanted to commemorate the trip and experience with one last photograph of Pyramid and Thunder Pyramid in these conditions, so I sold Silas on the idea of hiking all the way back up North Maroon's slopes to get a good view of these two peaks at sunset. We hiked in the rain for a couple of hours up the trail for North Maroon, which was pretty miserable. Honestly, who does this?

When we arrived, I stopped at the very long boulder field below North Maroon, which was very wet and slippery. I noticed a climber at the other end of the boulder field who was moving incredibly slowly back down the mountain. He was maybe moving one rock per minute. He was obviously in pain. I later learned his name was Scott and he was from Woodland Park, CO. I yelled out to him.

Matt: "Hey man, are you OK!"

Scott: "Yep, just hurt my ankle and can't put any pressure on it."

Matt: "Do you need any water or Ibuprofen?"

Scott: "I'm good man."

Matt: "Well, I'll wait for you up here to make sure you get down OK."

Scott: "Thanks man, appreciate it."

Silas and I waited below the boulder field for another hour and he still had not come down. I decided to climb back up to the boulder field and found that he was really high above the trail. I went to him and helped him get down to safety, one step at a time. He was badly hurt. We gave him some ibuprofen and wrapped his ankle in an ace bandage and he went on his way down the mountain.

The clouds and light were quite dramatic and I was really holding out hope that the clouds would break for just a minute to light up the peaks with alpenglow.

Alas, my wish was granted! I was so elated! Silas caught the whole thing on video.

I really loved this scene. Not the best, compositionally, but damn, the light! Pyramid and Thunder Pyramid covered in snow with alpenglow, just as I had envisioned. Yes!

I am really proud of this image. I had the vision. I had the perseverence to try to get it. I was prepared. Execution was good too. Hallelujuah, this is what its all about for landscape photographers!

The light to the north was pretty great too! Looking down on Crater Lake and Maroon Lake was quite a treat.

After sunset, we left. On the way down, we ran into three hunters, a father and two sons who were hunting Mountain goats. They said they saw our injured hiker earlier and he was doing OK. Good! We returned to camp very late and ate a very late dinner and had beers. What a great trip! The next morning, we packed up and head out at 10 AM. Naturally, upon arriving at Maroon Lake, the shit-show of tourists not obeying the Forest Service signs was even worse. I loudly but politely asked several parties to not cross the rope and that they should read the sign. I bet the forest service hates this new system. I can't imagine policing it 24/7. 

I think I looked pretty menacing with the plastic helicopter cockpit part we found...

A successful trip deserves a trip for beer and pizza. We stopped at NY Pizza in Aspen for our celebration meal.

Wow, that concludes this report. My final Centennial! 

A few thanks are in order -

Thanks to Silas Musick for being such an amazing climbing partner. We celebrated on 14 of those 100 summits together and I consider you my best friend - all because of our mutual passion for mountains and the outdoors. You're a beautiful human.

Thanks to Natalie Moran for taking me up Jagged, Dallas, and Teakettle. You're a fabulous climber and a great person.

Thanks to Terry Matthews (RIP) for accompanying me on my first class 3 climbs in 2008 when I got back into this pursuit. You are missed.

Thanks to Ethan Beute - our climbs on obscure 13ers kept me going - miss you man!

Thanks to Regina Primavera - you're a great friend and it has been fun catching summits with you since 2011.

And lastly, thanks to my parents for getting me going on this crazy journey 35 years ago. The photo Silas posted was actually my first 13er - Fairview Peak - I was 4 yrs old.

I created my little website in 2009 mostly to teach myself how to build one but also to document and share my journey with my friends and family. I know my dad regrets not having something similar to look back on. Hope it’s at least been somewhat useful to others as well.

Next up? I have no idea. I don't think it’s the bi-centennials.

I have some photography projects I want to tackle, including a book of photos of the Centennials...

Here is a photo that might help folks see the general route we took:

And a link to the Gaia GPS track:

Cathedral Peak as seen from Grizzly Peak in 2013

2018 is the year! I WILL complete the quest to climb the highest 100 mountains in Colorado! Cathedral Peak marked #99 and was only one of two peaks standing between me and my dreams. I set off for Aspen at noon on a Saturday. My plan was relatively simple yet ambitious: Backpack to Cathedral Lake, set-up camp, photograph sunset, find a composition for the Perseid Meteor Shower, photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower, sleep (maybe), climb Cathedral Peak in the dark, photograph sunrise from the summit. Seems doable, right? I have made it somewhat of a tradition to photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower whenever I can. Last year's was a total dud due to the moon being full, so I chose not to photograph it; however, the year before I photographed it from the saddle between Pigeon and Turret, which was also ambitious (and quite rewarding). I was hopeful for a similar outcome at Cathedral Lake.

I have been dreading the climb of Cathedral for several years. Most people climb it in early summer when there is ample snow in the incredibly steep couloir leading to the summit saddle. I personally dislike snow climbing, but also did not have high hopes for climbing up that gully when it was all hard dirt and rock; however, I needed this peak and so it was on! 

As always, you can see and download my full route and GPS tracks over on the incredible app, Gaia GPS, which I use on my iPhone to plan, track, and follow my routes on these trips. It is absolutely invaluable and worth every cent. I personally love that you have full access to all USGS topo maps and National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps as well. You can use the app while in airplane mode and even save maps for offline use. To get a nice discount on the application, follow this link and you'll also support my efforts to keep this site running.

My full stats for this particular climb, which included summiting Cathedral Peak (13,943 ft.):

• Peaks climbed: 1
• Miles hiked: 8.5
• Time: 5 hours, 23 minutes
• 3,987 ft. elevation gain

For this trip, I decided to pack quite a lot of camera gear (by the way, these are affiliate links and using them helps me pay for this site and to bring you better content):

• Sony A7R2 Camera
• Sony 12-24 f/4 lens
• Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 lens
• Sony 55mm f/1.8 lens
• Sony 70-300 FE telephoto lens
• Feisol Tournament 3442 tripod

As usual, I used the beta from Gerry Roach's High Thirteener Guidebook. I was still using the 1st edition of the book; however, his new edition is available on Amazon after many years of waiting - rejoice!

I reached the Cathedral Lake Trailhead at 5 PM. It was not very full and that made me smile. I embarked up the steep trail which Roach describes as unrelenting and pretty much did not stop until I reached the lake. The hike is steep but the trail is great and the scenery is wonderful as well. 

As you climb the trail, the view opens up quite a bit across Castle Creek to reveal Ashcroft Mountain. 

The fireweed had all grown super tall and looked really eerie. 

As I continued up, the eastern flanks of Malamute Peak began to reveal themselves. 

The area just before the lake has ample camping and some great sites near the stream. I opted to find a spot a little higher up near some small trees with a wonderful view of Cathedral Peak (center) and Leahy Peak (right). 

I set-up my campsite at 6:30 PM and began hydrating my dinner. Knowing I would need a good hour for it to hydrate, I hiked to the lake and found some spots to photograph the sunset from. It was really pretty and I was the only person up there except for a fisherman, who left shortly after I arrived. Being the only soul around at a high mountain lake is equal parts scary and serene.

The sunset looked like it would open up over Cathedral Peak, so I repositioned myself on the eastern shore for some great shots of Cathedral Peak.

The light was bright, intense, and really colorful.

I decided it was time to go back and get ready for bed. I enjoyed one last gaze at the parting light before bed.

I set my alarm for 1:30 AM so I could photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower. I ended up waking up at 11:30 PM to some strange sounds (maybe just wind). I decided to get up and set-up my camera for the Meteor Shower. The Milky Way was ablaze to the south and I was loving it. 

I found a nice compositon including Cathedral Lake and the Milky Way and set-up my camera to shoot on a time-lapse automatically every 31 seconds. I lay on my back and watched the meteors for about an hour or so - it was one of the best displays of the Perseids I could remember. Huge streaks across the sky. It was pitch black - no light from cities, no moon. I decided to leave my camera there all night and get some sleep. I wanted to shoot sunrise from the summit of Cathedral.

I got up at 3:45 AM, found my camera again, packed it up, and began my journey in the dark up Cathedral, following the description in Roach's book. I was not able to find the "mining trail" he describes until about 500 feet of elevation gain above the lake. I bushwhacked up a steep grassy slope and encountered the great trail heading west. I followed cairns all the way to the base of the infamous gully, where I watched the beginnings of sunrise. The gully itself was atrocious. It was some of the nastiest terrain I can ever recally climbing up. Class 3 loose dirt and rock. Maybe snow climbing would have been fine after-all! Oh well, I suffered up the steep gully and made great time. 

The terrain between the saddle and the summit was pretty interesting. It reminded me of Vermillion Peak or Hagerman Peak. It was loose in spots but relatively easy to find good solid holds. Some care was needed to ensure a good route up, but all-in-all I did not find it overly difficult to ascend. I reached the top just in time for sunrise, which was glorious to say the least! 

I was so focused on the Elk Mountain 14ers to my west, including the Maroon Bells, Pyramid Peak, and Capitol Peak that I had forgotten about Castle Peak to my south. I caught it in the corner of my eye and my jaw dropped. Castle never looked so good in the early light. So much red!

Of course the Elk Mountain 14ers looked amazing as well. 

This telephoto rendition showcases all the great peaks, including, from left to right, Maroon Peak, Thunder Pyramid (my last Centennial), North Maroon Peak, Pyramid Peak, and Capitol Peak.

It was a magical display of light and might.

It was maybe not the most incredible display of color that I remember, but it was a damn good sunrise, and I was proud to have photographed another sunrise from the top of a Centennial. 

The clouds and haze from the California wildfires added some interesting dynamics as well.

#99 was in the bag! Next up - Thunder Pyramid!

The Cathedral summit marker, looking great after 59 years.

I did not spend a ton of time on the top. I let my friends and family know I had made it to the top and then I made my way down. I reached the gully again in no time and prepared myself for hell.

This next photo is looking back up the gully from just a little ways down. It was so steep, loose, and nasty. 

More from the nasty gully, to give you a good sense of what it is like when dry.

I finally reached the bottom of the gully and my feet were sore. What a nasty spot. I don't recommend it.

The next photo shows the highest cairn I was able to locate before the gully, in case anyone needs a good marker for their climb. Going down from here was pretty easy on a well-marked trail on precarious but mostly solid rock and boulder.

Here is a look back towards the start of the gully.

And another view of the gully from a little lower.

I loved the castle-like rock formations here, they were really cool to look at.

The eastern wing of Cathedral was especially impressive, towering over the whole area like some sort of watchman.

I made it back to my campsite at about 9 AM. I felt great about my time and my legs and feet were feeling strong still. The next photo shows a zoomed in view of the gully (right of middle) and shows just how crazy steep it is.

I took one more parting panorama of the area from camp to remember the day.

I could not help but get a telephoto black and white shot of the pinnacles east of Cathedral - so impressive!

Farewell Cathedral! Your eastern friend Leahy Peak looks way more inviting! =)

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my photos and description. One more to go!

North Apostle and Ice Mountain as seen from Grizzly Peak in 2013.

2018 will be the year that I finish my lifetime goal of climbing the highest 100 mountains in Colorado. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself to stay motivated! Having climbed Dyer Mountain back in May, and Silverheels, Buckskin, and Stewart earlier in June, I found myself faced with only four mountains left to complete my goal: North Apostle, Ice Mountain, Cathedral, and Thunder Pyramid. Having Fridays off of work most of the time, I was faced with some options in terms of climbing - I could leave Friday from Durango, find a camp-site, climb on Saturday, and then drive home; or, I could do something stupid. I went with stupid. My friend Silas (featured in many trip reports here) was climbing Capitol Peak the same weekend and I really wanted to climb that again with him. I decided I would try to squeeze both climbs into one packed weekend, at the last second. So, I packed my car with both backpacking and car camping stuff and left my house in Durango after work on Thursday at 8:30 PM to drive to the trailhead for the Three Apostles. I ended up arriving at the trailhead at 1:00 AM and slept in my car until 3:45 AM, at which point I left the car and began my journey on almost no sleep. Huge mistake...

I've been eyeing the Three Apostles for years. I first admired their incredible stature when I was much younger on camping trips with my parents around Winfield. I remember one particular year going on a camping trip with my parents and my friend Jeremy where we hiked up into the upper basin and could see the Three Apostles - they looked intense! My next foray in seeing them up close and personal was in 2010 when I climbed Huron and Browns with my friend Mike Vetter - I recall being quite impressed with the peaks then as well. My latest encounter with them was watching the sunset from the summit of Grizzly Peak to the northwest of the Three Apostles and seeing a huge rainbow over Taylor Park. That was awesome! That particular trip, I hauled a huge telephoto lens up to the top with me and shot North Apostle and Ice Mountain at sunset. Good times!

As always, you can see and download my full route and GPS tracks over on the incredible app, Gaia GPS, which I use on my iPhone to plan, track, and follow my routes on these trips. It is absolutely invaluable and worth every cent. I personally love that you have full access to all USGS topo maps and National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps as well. You can use the app while in airplane mode and even save maps for offline use. To get a nice discount on the application, follow this link and you'll also support my efforts to keep this site running.

My full stats for this particular climb, which included summiting North Apostle (13,860 ft.) and Ice Mountain (13,961 ft.):

• Peaks climbed: 2
• Miles hiked: 10.8
• Time: 10 hours, 34 minutes
• 3,657 ft. elevation gain

For this trip, I decided to pack quite a lot of camera gear (by the way, these are affiliate links and using them helps me pay for this site and to bring you better content):

• Sony A7R2 Camera
• Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/2.8 lens
• Sony 55mm f/1.8 lens
• Feisol Tournament 3442 tripod

I found the trail going up to the Three Apostles to be very straight-forward. I followed the decent trail beta from Gerry Roach's High Thirteener Guidebook. I was still using the 1st edition of the book, which I'm told has some route errors for this mountain; however, his new edition is available on Amazon after many years of waiting - rejoice!

The trail follows the same trail as Huron for a while; however, there are several branches off of the trail to keep note of. Generally, you keep going straight. There are two signs before you are officially on the Trails Illustrated Apostles Trail 1445. I took a picture of one of them on the way down as seen below. I especially enjoyed seeing someone pencil in that if you were at this particular sign, and were climbing Huron, you had gone too far. That's how you know you're on the right trail for the Three Apostles. Having departed my vehicle at around 4 AM in the dark under a full moon, I had optimistically hoped to shoot sunrise from the summit of North Apostle (or nearby). Due to having almost no sleep, this proved impossible. Once I hit treeline, I found my pace slowed significantly.  

I reached treeline at about 5:30 AM and the scene really opened up above me. You could make out the Three Apostles easily. It was at this point I realized I was not going to be able to shoot sunrise from the top. Oh well, there were not any clouds anyways, so it would have been a boring image. Having followed the Roach route description as opposed to the 14ers.com route description, I was aiming for a high lake below West Apostle and Ice Mountain. I figured that would be a fantastic spot to get some sunrise shots as well. The trail petered out after treeline and so I was forced to bushwhack through some willows which were quite wet still. Huge mistake again. Have I ever said how much I hate willows? After reaching the end of the willows, I followed the weakness in the drainage east towards a huge cliff band below North Apostle. From the end of there, I followed a steep dirt and rock slope south towards the base of the lake described by Roach. On my Gaia track you can see my ascent as the most southerly part of the route as opposed to my descent which was a little north of the lake. 

Above the dirt and rock slope, I found myself in a strange spot. There was a huge rocky and cliffy section between me and the lake. I could try to go around to the south or cut across the rock face for some fun scrambling. I chose the latter and it was fun. I would not recommend this section if it were wet; however, it was fun to navigate and climb on. It was easy class 3 / hard class 2. A good warm-up for Ice Mountain for sure! Having reached the lake, I looked for some spots to take shots at sunrise. There were not a ton of options or time, so I found myself looking north towards La Plata and Huron. 

The early light kissed the tip of West Apostle above the small lake and made for a very fun scene to shoot with the Loxia 21 lens. I was wishing for a wider lens for sure, but nothing a two-row panorama stitch could not overcome. The waters were crystal clear and quite still.

I spent some time enjoying the lake and snacking to regain some strength. I was really feeling the fatigue from the lack of sleep and was hopeful that food and water would help.

The light over on La Plata was pretty great too - accentuated by some pretty purple flowers on the ground between the huge boulders that were strewn about below the Three Apostles.

I wanted to take one final shot before leaving the lake and found a nice reflection of the lower sections of North Apostle, which were these awesome cliff bands and spires. Good stuff.

The path up from the lake seemed to be pretty straightforward. I just followed the grassy and rocky slope up near the creek coming down from snow-melt. The slope contoured up towards the base of North Apostle. It seemed that there were two ways to go - through a notch in some rocks next to the south wall of North Apostle or around the notch and around. I chose the notch.

West Apostle in early light

As I climbed up, I stopped to admire the running water under the boulder field. There's something about that experience that always brings a smile to my face. Sometimes the most simple things in nature are the most relaxing and impressive.

I continued up towards the notch below North Apostle and looked back to admire the early morning light that was shining on Harrison Flats to the west. The whole area just looks amazing from here.

As I climbed, there was a lot of rock fall happening on Ice Mountain, caused by mountain goats, likely disturbed by me and my huffing and puffing. I call them jerks in the video, but I'm joking. It should be noted that these goats could pose a huge safety concern for anyone doing the snow climb route of Ice Mountain, so beware!

The rocks above the notch and below the North Apostle / Ice Mountain saddle were absolutely horrific. They were huge boulders, many of which were loose, on steep terrain. Special caution should be taken while climbing to the saddle.

Upon reaching the saddle, a good view of Ice Mountain avails itself and caused me to take pause. It looked really gnarly from this vantage point. Paired with my exhaustion, this view was pretty demoralizing. I was not sure I was going to be able to finish Ice Mountain on this trip. I kept climbing up to North Apostle.

The route from the saddle to the top of North Apostle was quite simple and pretty fun, all things being equal. The east face of North Apostle was pretty intense to look down on. I would hate to take a fall here.

I reached the summit of North Apostle at 8:30 AM and was really tired. The views though - they were amazing. Huron was quite impressive from this vantage point.

I let my friends and family know I was safe on top of North Apostle and took a panorama with my wide angle lens. Huron at far left, Ice Mountain at far right. Lots and lots of 14ers in between.

Huron and La Plata looked really fantastic from North Apostle, and I wanted to make sure I showcased Huron in at least one shot, with the huge valley below it.

I head back down towards the saddle, eyeing Ice Mountain's impressive and dangerous stature the whole time. I was one part excited and one part nervous. The route looked really intense from this spot; however, mountains always look harder than they are...

About halfway down the saddle, I ran into a gentleman named Dempsey Andrews from Denver. He asked if I was planning on doing Ice Mountain and I said that I was. He offered to allow me to join his group - himself and two other gentlemen that were waiting for him on the saddle - Kyle and Jerry. I was excited to run into a group that was also doing Ice Mountain and said I would join them, absolutely! Jerry planned on hanging out on the saddle so it was just Kyle, Dempsey, and I for the ascent of Ice Mountain. They were great climbing partners. Dempsey is an English as a Second Language teacher and Kyle is a financial advisor. Dempsey used to do high alpine rescue and so I felt like we were in good hands for the climb. Fortunately, Dempsey had downloaded the route description from 14ers.com which was very clear to follow compared to the one I found in the 1st edition of Gerry Roach's book. Dempsey lead us up, following cairns the whole way. It was surprisingly excellent rock and a ton of fun.

I found myself taking the rear most of the way up and as you can see above, care was needed to plot our route on loose rocks and boulders. We mostly followed the ridge and then found a nice set of gulleys to climb up towards the end.

The final section of the route before the summit was very difficult class 3 / easy class 4 and reminded me of the Wilsons in the San Juans. There were good foot and hand-holds to be found, but each needed to be tested for stability. We kept our distance between climbers and played it safe.

All in all I really enjoyed Ice Mountain's route here. It was pretty easy to follow and offered up numeous challenges that were fun to tackle.

Kyle ascends the final pitch of Ice Mountain

We reached the summit at 10:00 AM and enjoyed the views. It looked like the weather would hold up for us to get down safely, but we knew that the clouds appeared to be forming some of their awesome lightning jam.

I got a cool shot of Kyle on the very final section before the summit - what a mountain! We enjoyed the summit views, called loved ones, and head out. It was a short stay. The downclimb for the 1st section was facing in and quite slow. 

As long as you take your time on the downclimb, it should not be too bad. It is very steep and loose though, so great care should be taken on each step.

As you can see above, the terrain is nasty but really awesome to be in. These are the types of peaks I long for each year. Ice Mountain does not disappoint if you seek exposure and a challenge. We did encounter a small amount of rain above treeline on our way down and some lightning was starting to strike nearby; however, we were able to avoid the storm for the most part. We took a blend of my route up and their route up for our path down and I found it to be very solid - we stayed high and went into the trees southeast of the willows and avoided the willows altogether. Finding the trail again was easy with Gaia GPS and the hike out from here was completely uneventful. 

With only a small handful (10) of the highest 100 mountains in Colorado (Centennials) left to climb, I have become quite picky about my approach to choosing the trips I embark on. For my first climb of 2017, I chose to ascend 13,940 ft. French Mountain and its soft-ranked neighbor, 13,876 ft. Frasco Benchmark. These are two fantastic 13ers hidden in the Collegiate Range between Colorado's highest mountain, Mt. Elbert, and Colorado's 2nd highest mountain, Mt. Massive.

A KML file and overview of my hike are available over on GaiaGPS - which is my absolute favorite iPhone app! You can purchase it here and help support the site.

This was my 5th time in this basin for a climb, and hopefully the last (prior trips included climbs of Casco, Massive - twice, and Oklahoma). The crowds have become overwhelming due to the proximity of Colorado's two highest peaks. I drove in from Durango on a Friday afternoon, arriving around 10 PM to find only one flat spot to park my car at the trailhead for French and Oklahoma near South Halfmoon Creek. I slept in my car. I fear that one day these areas will be placed on a permit system due to the over crowding and popularity of 14ers (probably with no help from yours truly in writing these reports). The lack of respect for other people and the environment has become tragic. Within 50 feet of my parking spot at the trailhead, I found several areas where people used the bathroom and left toilet paper just laying right there on the surface - all within 10 feet of the creek, no less. C'mon people. Anyways...

This particular area will always have a special place in my heart and mind. I climbed French / Frasco Benchmark's neighbor, Casco Peak, on July 5th, 1986 when I was just 7-years-old. When my dad and I reached the summit, we noticed weather moving in but it did not seem too threatening. About 15-minutes later, our friend Dave arrived and asked if we heard the sound coming from the lightning rod. We found the long metal rod protruding straight up into the sky near the summit and it was humming with electricity. I remember wearing a ball-cap with one of those small metal bulbs on the top and it was humming too. We all raced to get off of the summit, and the lightning and thunder began to crash around us, with rain pouring down on the rocks. We all made it safely down the wet granite rocks, but it was my first exposure and experience with lightning and it always left an impression on me, later informing my trepidation and habits around start times and weather awareness in the mountains.

I set my alarm on this trip for 4:30 AM, hoping to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. The alarm sounded and I quickly got ready to go. I decided to wear my Chacos for the first 200 feet of the hike since I would have to cross South Halfmoon Creek, which was raging with about 3 feet of depth. My feet became ice cold, but welcomed the comfort of dry socks and shoes right after the crossing. The beta for this climb was pretty straight-forward - hike up the road until it terminates at the Iron Mike Mine and then ascend straight up the south face of French. Pretty simple! The ascent up into the basin where the Iron Mike Mine at was pretty steep at first, and required a second stream crossing after about a mile. The first light behind me to the east was pretty fantastic though.

Once up near tree-line, the whole basin opened up to reveal Casco Peak, French Mountain, and a whole lot of willows. 

The clouds to the east were still magnificent above Mount Massive, seen here paired with Alpine Fireweed wildflowers in the foreground. 

South Halfmoon Creek's headwaters were much tamer at the higher elevations and provided an excellent lead-in for the upper basin.

As I continued hiking up the road, my gaze kept returning to the east, where the clouds danced with the mountains.

The southern shoulder of Mount Massive was a prominent feature that constantly kept me looking back at it. I have fond memories of climbing Massive in early winter conditions in October of 2009.

As I climbed higher into the basin, the sun cast some interesting light on the southeast face of French Mountain, offering a preview for what was coming soon.

Above treeline, the route up French became quite obvious. In the photo below, you can see the route quite nicely - I basically went straight up, left of the snowfields and then crossed to the middle between the two snowfields and then up to the saddle. 

My legs were feeling great, and I pushed hard to make good time up French's south slopes to find this nice grouping of Sky Pilot flowers with Casco Mountain (right) and La Plata Peak (left).

Upon reaching the saddle, I saw there were two other climbers ahead of me. Just two climbers. I love 13ers. 

I chatted with the two climbers, who were doing French, Frasco, and Casco. They asked if I was doing the same. I explained I had already done Casco and that I was just hoping to get French today. They were really nice guys. Reaching the summit of French was about as straight forward as you can get on a mountain climb, as a simple and easy trail went from the saddle to the summit. The views were spectacular.

Once on the summit, I plowed through some lunch and took a panorama looking north/west/south, including La Plata Peak, Grizzly Peak, Casco Peak, Frasco Benchmark (middle), and the Elk Mountains in the distance (Snowmass, Maroon Bells, Capitol).

La Plata Peak commanded my attention - I just love the gnarly view of it from this side. The Three Apostles including Ice Mountain are seen left of La Plata (and comprise 2/10 of the Centennials I have remaining).

The view of the Elk Mountains from this part of the Collegiates has always been something I greatly appreciate as well. Snowmass Mountain (right) is an all-time favorite.

I decided to make the trip over to Frasco Benchmark, which was surprisingly quite enjoyable with some minor scrambling along the ridge. The benchmark was pretty obvious, but I was left wondering why they just say Frasco and don't include the elevation... oh well.

A look back at French from Frasco...

From Frasco, I really enjoyed the view of Casco Peak and began to see that clouds were forming for the daily afternoon thunderstorm. I was glad I was not continuing on to Casco. I really like this photo for some reason - the balance between La Plata (left) and Casco (right) is compelling.

I decided to go straight down what Roach describes in his 13ers guidebook as the "Fiascol" couloir between Frasco Benchmark and Casco Peak. It was pretty much what you'd expect - fun scree and dirt boot skiing. I kind of like this terrain - I can go really fast down it! As I descended, I took a photo of Casco Peak - it looked like the storms were going to hit soon.

Once down the scree field, I took a photo looking back up the gully - nothing special, but it shows the route!

Back near the Iron Mike Mine, I found a huge field of wildflowers which made a nice foreground for Colorado's highest mountain, Mount Elbert. 

After reaching the car, I drove out and decided to drive to Colorado Springs to enjoy my 20-year High School Reunion. I'm old. 

If you are wondering what kind of camera gear I take with my on my climbs, check out this page - it has links to all of my gear, which is now a mirrorless system to minimize weight and maximize my ability to reach those summits. Reach out if you have questions!

Hope you enjoyed this trip report! Next up: No idea! 

Again, links to my GPS track are at the top of the trip report. Until next time...

After visiting Ice Lake Basin in August of 2013, I knew that I had to return to the area to photograph the wildflowers there at peak season (mid-July). After moving back to Colorado in November of 2015, I knew that one of my first destinations would be the Ice Lake Basin area. I also wanted to get my wife into backpacking so I got her equipped with some light gear and we both began exercising together to get ready for the primetime hiking season. Since my wife was new to backpacking, I decided to get our pack weight as low as possible. My friend Todd Myers loaned us a great book on Ultralight Backpacking by Mike Clelland which offered some great tips to get our weight down. The items I picked up for my wife included a new sleeping bag, a new sleeping pad, and a new backpack. We were able to get her pack weight under 15 lbs, which I think is a huge success. Here's the short list of gear we picked up for her:

1. REI Joule Women's Sleeping Bag - my wife sleeps super cold and this bag kept her nice and cozy at 12,500 ft, and it only weighs 2 lbs 2 oz. Success.

2. Therm-a-rest NeoAir XLite Sleeping Pad - while this is probably the lightest sleeping pad I've ever seen and it packs down to almost nothing, my wife complained it was a bit too small. Get the longer version. 

3. Osprey Tempest 30 backpack - this pack was the perfect size for what she was carrying and weighed under 2 lbs. Awesome.

For myself, I picked up a new backpack as well, the Osprey Exos 48 - a perfect size pack for a tent, bag, pad, food, cookware, and my camera system. 

We weighed all of our gear using a kitchen scale and used the awesome gear planner from Erik the Black to calculate our total weight. The whole planning thing helped my wife get into the ordeal and get excited, I think. 

Lastly, we invited some of new friends from Durango, including Todd, Autumn, and Ellen. Good times were for sure going to be had! From my last adventure up to Ice Lake Basin, I knew about a shortcut by taking the road up to Clear Lake and then parking at the 1st switchback. This saves about 1,000 feet of total climbing. We arrived at the small parking area, which was empty (a good sign for sure). Our adventure began immediately by crossing the strong creek coming down from Clear Lake. This was my wife's very first stream crossing and she did it like a champion. The trail was steeper than I remembered and my wife struggled a great deal on the way up, but our group was supportive and I was SO proud of her determination. She rocked it! As we entered lower Ice Lake Basin, we had a decision to make - to continue on to Ice Lake Basin, to stay at the lower Ice Lake Basin, or to go to Island Lake, which was somewhere I had never been. The group unanimously voted to go to Island Lake since we anticipated the weekend to be quite busy with wildflower peepers and we thought Island Lake would be a little less busy. I personally had no problems with this since I could head over to Ice Lake no problem to take photos if I wanted. We made quick work up towards Island Lake as sunset approached and I captured a shot of the last light as we gained elevation quickly. The wildflowers were insane. By the way, you can check out the map of where we went and the GPS / GPX file over on Gaia GPS, who generously gave me a free Pro account. I love Gaia GPS - such an awesome app! You can purchase it here and help support the site.

Upon arriving in the upper basin near Island Lake, the whole area opened up to the South and East, revealing views of the Grenadiers, the Chicago Basin 14ers, and Rolling Mountain (right). As you can see, the yellow paintbrush were stunning. 

Our group found a great spot right by Island Lake to camp and we proceeded to get set-up. We were alone at the lake (or so we thought) and just loved the solitude. I knew that I would have some great opportunities for some photography at night - I had studied the projections for the moon's brightness, location, and time of rise/set as well as the location of the Milky Way and the time it would rise and set - all using a handy app called PhotoPills. Since the moon was looking to be quite bright and nearly full, I knew that I would shoot in two sessions - early at night for the bright moon illumination, and later in the very early morning after the moon had set. So - I set off to take some photos using the bright moon light to provide some ambient light in the basin. The Milky Way was barely visible, but the moon provided some light to bring out the flowers in the basin and the summit of U.S. Grant Peak. 

The lake was mesmerizing. I could sit there and take it in for hours. 

After wandering around for awhile taking photos, I decided to re-join the group at our campsite and go to bed. I set my alarm for 2 AM so that I could find a cool spot to photograph the Milky Way. Sleep is over-rated. None of us slept all that well - it was eerily quiet and everyone could hear everyone else move in their bags, open and close zippers, etc. It was pretty tough to get any sleep. I got out of the tent at about 1:45 AM and looked for a good spot to shoot the Milky Way, as planned. I found a little shallow lake nearby that had a nice view over towards the Ice Lake Basin 13ers. I was able to find a way to place my tripod in the center of the lake (it was really only about 3 inches deep), and loved how I could get the reflection of the Milky Way in the water. An amazing sight, for sure!

I really wanted to get a 180 degree panorama of the full Milky Way reflected in the water, and was able to pull it off after some work on my settings. The airglow (those high, green looking clouds) was looking awesome as well.

I played around a little with my headlamp as well, wanting to add a human element to the scene. I think it worked out pretty nicely.

I went back over to Island Lake to set-up for one last shot before going to back to bed. This was a photo that I shot as a tattoo concept that I have been thinking about for awhile - imagine the flowers or a campfire at the bottom on the wrist and then the tattoo works its way up the arm to the mountain and then the Milky Way. I think it would look great, personally.

I went to bed again around 4 AM, getting about 4 hours of sleep total. We all woke up and enjoyed the amazing view from the lake and noticed some hikers heading up U.S. Grant Peak. I threw out the idea of doing the same and everyone agreed to give it a shot. So, we made breakfast and got ready for an adventure up U.S. Grant Peak. Normally I do a lot of research before climbing any peak; however, for this one, I decided to just see how things would go and turn-around if needed. I knew there was some challenging class 3 or 4 sections but had no idea what would be in store for us. Exciting!

Off we went towards U.S. Grant peak - our goal was to gain the saddle between the two small areas of snow to the right of the peak above the lake seen above.

While we were hiking up there was a large group of day hikers having a bit of fun on the island - one even took a backflip off the lake. I'm thinking that was pretty damn cold. More on that later.

We reached the last section with grass and that is where my wife decided to rest while we continued on. She had an amazing view to take in.

There was a very lightly travelled trail up to the ridge up the muddy dirt and scree. My legs were feeling great so I took the lead, which was awesome because then I could stop and take photos of my friends climbing up. This was a particularly memorable climb because it was Autumn's first mountain climb in Colorado, one I'm sure she will remember.

The higher we got, the better the view was, which eventually opened up fully to reveal the San Juans in their glory, from Pigeon all the way over past Vestal and again past Jones and Handies (right to left).

Upon reaching the ridge, I was greeted with a glorious view of Mount Wilson (left), Gladstone (left of center), and Wilson Peak (center). It was great seeing them from this vantage point since I had just climbed Gladstone and Wilson Peak the weekend before from Bilk Basin.

Ellen and Todd joined me on the ridge to take in all of the awesomeness.

From the ridge we took a right turn and followed a very solid but slightly loose trail straight up the ridge. Here is a view looking down that ridge.

The view back down to Island Lake dominated my mind as we scrambled up the relatively easy class 2+ scree.

Eventually, looking back we could see Pilot Knob's gnarly summit block behind us over in Ice Lake Basin. The group continued the slog up the loose scree, which was pretty manageable. 

I live for this kind of terrain but I think my friends thought I was a little crazy for enjoying it. The rock was pretty much what you'd expect in the San Juans.

We eventually found ourselves in a steep orange gully with great hand-holds on the sides which was fairly loose. Sticking close to the wall made for pretty easy navigation.

The full beauty of Ice Lake Basin presented itself as we gained elevation, showcasing both Ice Lake and Fuller Lake. The weather looked like it would hold for the whole day.

Honestly, I think I could have stayed up there for hours on end, taking in the views in every direction. It was just the reason I moved back to Colorado.

Island Lake pretty much stayed in view the entire way up, a nice beacon and reminder of just how high we had climbed in such a short amount of time.

At last we reached the crux of the climb, which I had no idea existed. We got to this wall and wondered if we had taken a wrong turn or if we needed to go around, or, what? Upon close examination I decided it was the only way up. It consisted of three or four relatively exposed moves up to a small ledge, which wrapped around to the right. I went first and Ellen decided to join me. Todd and Autumn decided to stay behind because it looked too difficult. 

When Ellen and I got to the top, about 3 minutes later Todd and Autumn joined us - we were so excited that they decided to come up the wall. Even though the shots are out of sequence, I thought it best to show how hard the wall looked, on our way down, with Todd and Autumn still needing to downclimb it (below).

The top was magnificent. Here's Ellen topping out on a summit filled with purple wildflowers (their name always escapes me).

From the summit you could make out every major summit in the San Juans, including Uncompagre and Wetterhorn (top center).

My gaze kept going back over to the San Miguels to the west. They were so damned impressive.

Next, a 180 degree view showing most of the San Juans and Ice Lake Basin, and Island Lake. So amazing.

A quick group photo was in order, so I set up the tripod and self-timer. All I remember is that Todd invented a new food item on top - a burrito consisting of Peanut Butter, Fritos, and slices of apple. Apparently it was quite delicious.

After enjoying lunch, we head back down, without any issues at all. We all faced-in on the crux and it was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Now, remember above where I said the lake was cold? When we were about 1/2 way down the ridge, I noticed a group of people huddled around our tents at the lake. I was not too concerned until I saw them open Todd's tent. My first reaction was, "what the heck are they doing, trying to steal beer or something?" I raced down the mountain at a quick pace and caught up with the group. As I approached they asked if they were invading our campsite. I replied, "well, yes, kind of...". They apologized and said that their son (probably about 14) had swam in the lake and was getting hypothermia and needed somehwere to lay down and warm up, and was that OK? I felt horrible for thinking they were doing something bad and replied, "of course not - not a problem at all, and that makes total sense!" The rest of our group arrived and we helped them ensure he had food and was warm before they departed the basin. We rested up and as the sun dropped lower and lower I decided to get the camera out and take some photos of sunset at the lake. It was a pretty nice one. The marsh marigolds and fireweed looked awesome.

The last light left an impression on the fireweed that I knew would look fantastic in camera. I think I was right.

After dinner, I decided that I wanted to hike back up to the top of the grassy area below the ridge for U.S. Grant. I know that sounds crazy but I had a vision for some shots looking back over the lake at sunset. I hoped the clouds would stick around, and they were looking like they might, so I took a chance and hiked back up the mountain again. Todd thankfully joined me and kept me company. Unfortunately, the clouds did not cooperate much, but I think I still got some decent shots, including one with the nearly full moon in it.

As the last light kissed the tops of the Chicago Basin 14ers, I took advantage and snapped off a two-row panorama to include the pink sky (which was a bit hazy from fire I presume), the lake, and some wildflowers.

It was quite a memorable sunset, for sure. Flowers + sunset + Island Lake + San Juan Mountains in alpenglow = awesome. 

We head back down to our tents and got some much needed sleep. I never did make it over to Ice Lake for sunrise wildflower photos. Maybe next year! As a reminder, you can take a look at my GPS and/or KML file for this hike over on Gaia GPS. Prints of my photos are always available on my photography website (if you see one you like and can't find it, let me know). Thanks for reading! 

After an amazing day of rigorous hiking which culminated in a successful summit of Half Peak by Sarah Musick and I, we slept at our fantastic campsite in the picturesque valley below Cuba Gulch, near Lake City, Colorado. Instead of taking the longer, more scenic (and steeper) route to Jones Mountain via Cataract Gulch near our campsite, Sarah and I opted to drive over to American Basin and approach Jones Mountain from that side. Usually, climbers looking to summit Jones Mountain approach it from Silverton; however, because Sarah and I were already on the Lake City side of Engineer Pass and were driving a Suburu Forester, we decided to take an alternative route. I had researched our route ahead of time by consulting the out-of-print and quite handy 13er guidebook by Gerry Roach. Upon arrival at the American Basin trailhead for Handies, Sarah and I set-up camp and she decided to quickly hike up Handies since she had never done it before. I decided to stay behind and rest my legs. My ankle was still quite sore from my basketball injury two months prior and my legs were feeling pretty heavy yet from our climb up Half Peak. I spent the afternoon napping by my camera while taking a time-lapse video of wildflowers in American Basin. Upon Sarah's return from Handies we celebrated by opening up some Odell Myrcenary, one of my favorite Imperial IPAs. Good stuff. 

After enjoying our beverages, I convinced Sarah to hike up American Basin with me for some photography. The clouds were setting up nicely for sunset and I found a sweet little waterfall which made a nice combination with American Peak in the background. Sarah shot a quick panorama of me setting up a shot in the basin with her phone which depicts the scene quite well I think. 

And here's the shot I was setting up to take...

I also decided to hang out past sunset and well into the night in order to get some night photos. I always wanted to get a Milky Way selfie and I thought this spot would be perfect for that shot.

I also set-up for a Milky Way panorama from this spot, relying on the faint light of the moon to light up the hillside.

After freezing my hind quarters off, I decided to head back to camp and hit the sleeping bag for some sleep. Knowing the weather would be great, we decided we would start early enough to get some photographs of the basin at sunrise, but not so early that we would be hiking in the dark. Our route took us up the main Handies Peak trail and then off-route for most of the rest of the day. After hiking about 1/4 of the way up Handies, we split off the trail and started our leisurely stroll up the fragile tundra and wildflowers below American Peak. As the sun began to rise, American Peak began to light up with sweet alpenglow.

The view of UN 13,535 behind us wasn't so bad either...

After enjoying the awesome sunrise, we began to head up the un-trailed section to the west saddle of American Peak. Our target was the lighter colored rocks as seen below. We planned to just bushwhack our way up the side of the mountain. 

The climb was not too bad - the hardest section was the loose scree and dirt just below the saddle. 

We were quite excited to reach the saddle and get our first glimpses of Jones Mountain.

Our route took us up a very faint trail to the ridge between American Peak (left) and Jones Mountain (right). The hiking was pretty easy going.

Once we were between Jones and American the views opened up a bit and we could see just how rugged Jones looked from this vantage. The summit of Jones is seen at the far right.

We headed down (and then up again)...

Upon reaching the summit of Jones Mountain, we ran into another hiker and his dog. My mind was blown when I realized that the other hiker was Mike Megorden, a friend of mine from high school! We played on the high school football team together. Pretty small world!

Sarah and I celebrated our 16th summit together with views of the Grenadiers and Needles behind us. What an amazing view. Oh, how I had missed this part of Colorado!

I set-up my tripod and shot some panoramas using my telephoto lens. The air was still a bit hazy, which added some interesting tones to the photos. Looking south.

Looking south-east.

Looking east. You can see the rugged ridgeline of American Peak.

Looking north east - featuring Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. 

Looking north.

Looking north-west.

Zoomed in on Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. I think this one would look pretty nice printed large.

After enjoying the views we decided to head back down. We were contemplating American Peak and would need to make a decision when we hit the American - Jones ridge. The weather was looking 50/50.

A glimpse sideways at Jones' north face reveals how rugged it really is.

I was pretty amazed at how great the flowers still looked for this time of year. Here's a shot of some alpine sunflowers with Jones in the background.

Sarah and I rested at the ridge and decided not to take on American Peak - the weather was starting to look a bit questionable; however, the tundra was quite inviting for nap-time.

Sarah and I took our time heading back, enjoying the great scenery on the way.

Back on the American Basin side, we ran into a huge field of wildflowers which I had to stop and take photos of. I really want to go back and get this same shot at sunset or sunrise someday. Here's a shot Sarah took of me composing my photo.

And the crown jewel shot of the day - a mix of awesome wildflowers with the shoulder of Handies Peak in the background at the right. American Basin truly is one of the best spots in Colorado. 

Sarah and I got back to our campsite and packed up. We decided to drive back to Lake City and up Nellie Creek for our next adventure: Uncompahgre Peak. I had done Uncompahgre back in 2000 with my dad, but was excited to see if I could get some photos at sunrise from the top. We cracked open some more tasty Odell brews and prepared for our next adventure...

I hope you enjoyed following along for this adventure up Jones Mountain. Next up: Colorado 14er Uncompahgre.

This is the first installment of a three part series, exploring some amazing peaks in southwest Colorado near Lake City.

Living in Portland, Oregon has certainly slowed my progress towards climbing the highest 100 mountains in Colorado. Last year, I was only able to summit one mountain on my (at the time) remaining list of 17. This year I wanted to change that a bit. I started planning very early in the summer to spend about a week in Colorado trying to work on finishing my goal. I made plans with my best friend Sarah to head to the San Juan Mountains to tackle some of the more remote peaks I had remaining. Sarah still had the need to complete two 14ers in that area, including Handies and Uncompahgre, so we would certainly be able to string together some plans that included peaks on both of our lists. I flew in to Colorado Springs from Portland on August 19th with my wife. It also happened to be our 9th wedding anniversary. We had dinner with awesome old friends at a new vegan bar in Colorado Springs called the Burrowing Owl. I tried hard to sleep well that night, knowing Sarah would be at my door at 4 AM for our trip to the Lake City, Colorado area to begin our week of summiting peaks in Southwest Colorado.

For this trip we decided to car camp, which turned out to work really well. We played almost the whole trip by ear, not really planning any specific days in advance other than having the knowledge on how to get to various trailheads. I utilized my new F-Stop Loka backpack to ensure my Nikon D800 and the Nikon holy trinity (14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8) were secure and ready for adventure. I have to say in advance that I really liked using this pack for climbing mountains. Enough gear talk though - let's get to the adventure! Bear with me on this trip report, as it is the beginning of a great adventure that is very important to me. The photos progress in quality as we go!

Sarah picked me up at 4 AM and we drove to Gunnison to buy groceries. I was absolutely exhausted from the night before and slept a bit in the car. Of course Sarah took full advantage of this and took a photo (a lot of the photos here are hers).

Upon reaching Gunnison, we decided to buy a bit more food for meals, having only packed some dehydrated meals. We stocked up on tasty supplies and head for Lake City, one of my favorite spots in Colorado. Our first objective on this trip was to get as high as possible on the road leading to the trailheads that service Half Peak near the old ghost town of Sherman. I knew through research that the main trailhead was lower and that there was another trailhead much higher that offered a seclusive alternative route up Half Peak via Cuba Gulch. The advantage of using that upper trailhead would be that we could also use the area as a base camp to accomplish other goals, like Handies Peak, Jones Peak, Niagra Peak, and American Peak. If we did not decide to use that trailhead as a base camp, we could easily go up the road and hit American Basin, so it was a logical place to start. 

Sure enough, we found an incredible campsite just about a quarter mile before the end of the road and the start of the Cuba Gulch trailhead. The campsite offered perfect access to water and was nestled between an amazingly beautiful gully coming down off of the north side of Half Peak and a huge granite rock formation making up the bulk of the northern side of the valley. Having been away from Colorado for a year, I was quite honestly in heaven. I just loved the spot. 

 What a beautiful area.

After setting up our camp site we decided to assess the weather. The time was 11 AM and the weather looked absolutely fantastic. Having summited several high peaks in the afternoon and evening in the past, I was fairly confident that we could climb Half Peak with a late start as long as we kept an eye on the clouds. We both decided that we'd give it a shot and head for the trailhead, a mere 1/4 of a mile away. My main concerns for this week were altitude sickness and my ankle, which I had severely injured in June playing basketball pick-up game at a park near my apartment in Portland. The ankle was still sore and not 100%, but I felt pretty good in my great boots. 

Sarah and I quickly reached the trailhead and shot some photos there, per tradition.

You could rest assured that locating Sarah at any point of the day's adventure would not be a problem. 

You know you miss Colorado when even after 2 minutes on the trail you let out a silly laugh like a child when you hike through some willows. Sarah stopped to see if I was OK and I just said that I was really happy to be in Colorado and she replied, "I figured that was what was going on." The amount of wildflowers on the trail was quickly evident and a very pleasant surprise. I figured they would all be long gone by late August; however, the trail was filled with tons of them!

The Cuba Gulch trail was just about perfect - not too heavily used, but not a total bushwhack. We found it to be a very nice adventurous trail off the beaten path, for sure. The climb up into the gulch was a long one, with the steepest sections happening only right at the start. We stopped only a couple of times - once at a really great footbridge over a waterfall for a requisite selfie.

I have to admit, it was pretty amazing to finally be back in the Colorado backcountry with Sarah - we have climbed so many awesome peaks together.

After about an hour and a half of hiking up through the dense forest and wildflowers, Cuba Gulch began to open up. 

We followed the description provided by Gerry Roach's awesome 13ers book and found the end of the Cuba Gulch trail right before a huge open area of willows. We knew that from that area we'd need to navigate ourselves up a slope to the east following game trails. I opened up my topo map that I had borrowed from my dad and verified our position based on our surroundings and formulated a plan.

The slog up from here was pretty brutal - only faint game trails and lots of willows adorned the hillside before us. We finally prevailed though, and reached a nice plateau with views looking east at the rest of our day. Holy crap - we thought. Is that really Half Peak? That long, insane trek? All the way up that huge valley in front of us? Yep. Check out the huge ridge line! I don't think Sarah was too thrilled. Based on the map, I knew we'd need to cross that huge valley, as high as possible to the right and then hit the saddle between the lower peak on the right and Half Peak on the left. Giddy up.

I spent some time here admiring the view of Half Peak - it really was quite a sight to see. The scale, the distance, the sheer awesomeness of the cliffs of its faces - everything was just so great to behold.

We decided to keep going - there were very few clouds in the sky, which was filled with light layers of haze likely produced by the recent huge wildflowers in the state of Washington. As we continued on the upper reaches of the basin, following the most southern slopes to avoid willows, I spotted a huge moose down in the basin below us, quite a distance away. This was a rare opportunity to utilize my heavy 70-200 lens to photograph him. He was really far away and so he still looks quite small, but you can easily make out his huge velvet antlers. 

As we continued up the long basin, I could not help but admire the view of Half Peak's west face - it really stood out prominently among the area's peaks. This peak really has some very interesting features and looks totally different from all angles. We got to see it from the north a couple days later and it looked completely different.

Sarah caught me taking some photos of Half Peak's impressive cliffs.

It is worth mentioning that Sarah has been training for the Pikes Peak Ascent, while I've been training to taste all of the different beers that the great city of Portland, Oregon can offer. With that being said, I spent a great deal of the hike behind Sarah, which afforded me the opportunity to take lots of photographs of her as we climbed up. 

As we reached the end of the basin's flatter section, we encountered some good up-climbing sections on loose, but very manageable rock. 

The views from the upper basin were of course very good. We appreciated the lower 13ers and high 12ers that were visble from here, including this prominent point to the north of us, which I have yet to be able to identify. 

We continued up very faint game trails until we began to identify some cairns in the distance, which belonged to the Continental Divide Trail, which headed east and south from our junction.

There were a lot of vantage points by which I could photograph Sarah looking really awesome on the ridges and trails. 

The numerous opportunities to photograph the scenes before me offered a nice respite from the steep climbing off-trail.

Once up the steep part of the basin, we stopped for a minute to enjoy the view. At this point I passed the camera off to Sarah to get some photos of me enjoying our surroundings.

It is safe to say that I was really enjoying being in "my happy place" - the high country of Colorado.

It was at this point that Handies Peak (big, center) and American Peak (far left) became visible. It was nice to see a couple of our future objectives.

It might be hard to make out Sarah in this next panoramic photo, but it does help to show the massive scale of the scene before us here. Half Peak, which is very large, is actually just a small peak in the center of frame, with the American Basin peaks to the left. What an amazing approach Cuba Gulch provides!

It was about here where we met up with the Continental Divide Trail, which immediately showcased two mountain bikers. It was quite a surprise to run into these two mountain bikers, and I could only imagine where their journey was taking them.

Half Peak made a nice backdrop for this mountain biker on the Continental Divide Trail.

The Continental Divide Trail made for a nice leading line up to Sarah's visage in the distance. I was really enjoying all of the photography opportunities, but my legs were getting really tired.

As I caught up with Sarah, our gaze was pulled to the east, where some very prominent peaks loomed in the distance. In this case, our view was of the mighty 13er, Carson Peak. 

This was the point of no return. We had reached the terminus of the basin and the start of the huge ramp that was Half Peak. The ramp was at least 2 miles long by my estimate, perhaps even more. Unfortunately, I don't have any map software installed on my Mac to be able to measure the distance accurately; however, I can tell you - it was quite long! We spent a good 60 minutes hiking up this long ramp and about 2/3 of the way up we reached the start of the scrambling ridge section that I was excited  to tackle. If you own Roach's 13er book, you'll recognize this view of Half Peak - the only photograph he shows in the whole book of the peak!

The hike up this beast took a toll on my legs, but I was super pumped to get closer to the top!

We continued up and found ourselves really enjoying the more difficult terrain on between the two flatter sections of the peak.

The clouds were holding nicely, intermixing with the haze to produce some really interesting effects, juxtaposed with the rugged terrain at our feet.

The ridge up Half Peak offered lots of amazing places to enjoy the rocks and view.

After a few more minutes of grunting up Half Peak's barren slope, we arrived at the summit, elated and exhausted. 

I was pretty lukewarm about the light, photographically speaking; however, I think this 180 degree panorama turned out pretty well. This is the view looking south-west-north from the summit. How many 14ers can you spot?

The views of my two favorite peaks - Vestal and Arrow (left and right respectively) were fantastic, only obscured a bit by the haze. I really liked how this black and white shot turned out. Again, nothing super special, but the subject is one of my favorites in the world.

This next photo from the summit was looking north east. I had to really study my google tool to figure out that it was a shot of Quarter Peak in the foreground, and I'm pretty sure that's the 14er Sunshine behind it - or at least, I think that's what it is!

This next one should be easy - Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre!

Sarah was taking our time on the summit to text our wives to let them know were still alive and OK on the summit. I just loved how Vestal and Arrow rose above her to the left.

Sarah of course took the opportunity to take some shots of me enjoying my craft from the top of the world.

Geeking out.

A glance down to the north and west presented some really intersting cliffs on a decending ridge away from Half Peak towards the trailhead - what a magical place.

Next up - a wider panoramic view showing Handies, Wetterhorn, Uncompahgre, Sunshine and Redcloud. Not bad. Quarter Peak dominates on the right.

After basking in the glory of being on top of Colorado's 86th highest mountain, we decided it was time to head down. We did not want to get caught in the dark above tree line and it was already 5 PM. The look down from the top sure was good though...

As the sun began to set, the light just kept getting better and better on our decent. I just loved this next photo - the catwalk of a ridge from Half Peak leads the eye through the bottom half of the frame and up to the more grandeur scene to the north, including the rugged Chicago Basin 14ers and Vestal & Arrow. 

We reached the bottom of the huge ramp in no time at all, but my legs were just destroyed! My ankle was sore, I had taken several Ibuprofen, and I was pretty tired. We had to eat. The huge cairn marking the Continental Divide Trail seemed like a great place to stop.

As the sun went down I found energy levels increase. The light was getting to be really great and I knew that it was going to be a magical sunrise. Sarah caught me taking lots of photos of flowers, which I could not help myself from doing. What can I say - I'm a sucker. I was too lazy at this point to get the tripod out though! Haha!

Sunset was quickly approaching, and golden hour had mostly arrived. The back-lit wildflowers were just incredible.

I found this awesome rock formation and captured a great sunstar right through it, which also illuminated these wildflowers in the foreground. Yes!

Half Peak at sunset just looked magical.

Descending the upper basin was like being in a Western movie - it was so surreal being all alone up there walking into the sunset. 

I found endless opportunities to photograph the scenes we stumbled upon, like this awesome huge stand of wildflowers with the killer sun colors lighting up the sky above.

And then I found these awesome flowers, perfectly arranged before the setting sun. What a beautiful basin to enjoy.

It was really hard peeling myself away from this area - the light, the flowers, the view, the stillness to the air - it was all just so therapeutic. 

I think Sarah was getting a kick out of it also; however, I knew she was hungry and anxious to get back to the trail below.

The colors in the sky were rapidly changing from moment to moment, likely exacerabated by the haze and smoke in the air. I didn't really mind! 

The pinks and purples were starting to color the sky - making for a very pleasing sunset.

As we reached the lower reaches and the end of our view of Half Peak, I found myself gazing back often. It probably did not hurt that the sky was exploding with color.

I even stumbled upon a small patch of Indian Paintbrush - which complimented the scene in a quite lovely way. 

We finally reached the end of the upper basin where the drop off back into Cuba Gulch lay before us. I wanted to stop one last time up there to get some shots of the sunset, which had really produced some great color in the clouds to the west - see!?

One parting shot of Sarah before the downclimb into the nasty willows gave us our final view of Half Peak.

After a very long slog in the dark through Cuba Gulch, we finally reached the car in the dark at 9:30 PM, but not before encountering what we believed were two elk on the road between the trailhead and our campsite. They were quite stubborn and were scaring us a bit with their glowing eyes and strange behavior; however, Sarah's rock-throwing skills (not at the elk, at the ground) scared them off into the woods. We reached camp, cooked dinner, and crashed, despite the amazing night sky that was above. I just could not stay awake to photograph it. Not to worry though, in my next two trip reports for our next days of climbing, there will be plenty of night sky photos to make up for it. For now - enjoy one last parting shot of Sarah's feet while she was doing dishes the next morning - I just know she'll love it!

P.S. I'm pretty sure that Roach lists this hike at 11 miles RT; however, I think it was closer to 12 or 13 miles total.

Coming soon - my trip reports of Jones Mountain and Uncompahgre Peak! Hope you enjoyed this trip report of Half Peak via Cuba Gulch. If you'd like to inquire about any of the photographs, please do visit my photography website, or on Facebook! Feel free to leave a comment below as well. Happy trails!

UN 13,832 and UN 13,811 (UN = Unnamed) have been on my radar for quite a few years now. My dad and I were hoping to tackle them both back in 2009 but weather steered us elsewhere. I've also eyed them as a potentially fantastic winter climb from the Williams Creek TH, but have not had the ability to string together the time to pull that off either. So, when I figured I had the opportunity to take a vacation day and do some climbing, I quickly picked out these two gems. I coached my son's first t-ball game and then afterwards drove to Lake City for an estimated 1 AM arrival at the trailhead. I planned to meet my friend Regina there (she was coming down from Denver via Highway 285) and get a few hours of sleep before we set off to climb early Friday, June 1st.

Interestingly enough, UN 13,832 and UN 13,811 are the only two mountains of the highest hundred peaks in Colorado (Centennials) with neither an official nor unofficial name. These two fantastic thirteeners (ranked #90 & #99 respectively) are located just east of the 14ers Redcloud and Sunshine near Lake City, Colorado. If you're like me, you are wondering why these two mountains in the highest 100 are unnamed. These unnamed mountains are located within a large section of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, specifically, BLM's Redcloud Wilderness Study Area. According to Summitpost, "in 2004, these two mountains were "protected" from being named when the USGS turned down a proposal to christen them after two of Colorado's mountaineering pioneers, Carl Blaurock and Bill Ervin. Apparently the policy is to not approve new names of mountains within wilderness or wilderness study lands, and a competing Blaurock/Ervin naming proposal was selected for a pair of peaks in the central Sawatch Range."

With all that being said, I needed something to do to keep me awake on my drive down to Lake City... so I focused on trying to think of clever names for these two mountains. With the close proximity to Sunshine and Redcloud, I figured it might be fitting to name UN 13,832 something to do with the moon. The sun shines, then it sets... the clouds get red (Redcloud), then the moon rises. How about "Moonrise" for UN 13,832 and "Not Last" for UN 13,811 (since it's ranked #99 / 100)? Let's see if they stick anywhere.

Speaking of the moon, on the way down to Lake City, I decided that it would be pretty awesome to stop near Lake San Cristobal and get a shot of the stars and moon, so that's just what I did. I stopped right off the road heading towards the trailhead and took a 5-shot vertical pano (my camera was vertically orientated vs. horizontally oriented) of the Milky Way, moon, and Lake San Cristobal. I think it worked fabulously! Please click to see a larger version or to purchase on my photography website.

With the shot I had envisioned complete, I continued on up the road towards the trailhead. I finally reached my destination at around 12:45 AM and decided it was suitable to sleep under the stars in my sleeping bag, so I set out to do just that. Shorly after I settled in, Regina arrived and set-up her gear to do the same. I took the time to take one last set of photos (why not). This one turned out even more magical, I think. It is 7 veritical shots as a panoramic of the Milky Way over "Sundog," the 13,432 ft. mountain connected to Sunshine Peak's north ridge. The moon had just set and allowed for a great scene. I was actually inspired by another photographer's (David Kingham) photo from last month and wanted to give this a shot. Click on it to see a larger version on my photography website.

We crashed at 1:45 AM and decided to set the alarm for 5:45 AM, which came all-too quickly. There was one other hiker at the TH that started before us (and did wake me a few times by starting his car), so solitude was looking to be guaranteed. I promptly threw down some coffee soymilk (which was surprisingly good and filling) and we departed! I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do what Roach calls "Point Fever," which is to say, combining UN 13,832, UN 13,632 and UN 13,811. The route is a long but easy 12.8 miles and gains 4,727 ft. in elevation. A nice leg burner. [Colorado's Thirteeners - Roach & Roach, pg. 222]

Here is a map of the route we took from the Silver Creek TH (click for larger version):

So, that's just what we set-out to accomplish. The semi-early start granted us a nice view of Handies Peak and Whitecross Mountain across the valley. It was really great seeing them from this side since my climb of them with my dad in 2010 on Father's Day. 

As we climbed on the trail, we stumbled upon an open area with boulders. I was immediately struck with a rush of nostalgia, remembering vividly coming through that part of the trail and seeing a marmot during my climb of Redcloud and Sunshine in 1987 at the age of 9. Crazy! 

Before long, we were gaining altitude and came across a nice stream. It seemed the perfect spot to test out my 9-stop ND filter, so I put it on my Tokina 11-16 lens and did a very long exposure. I liked how it turned out.

As we gained elevation, parts of Redcloud came into view to our right. It was immediately taken aback by how little snow was left. It was truly remarkable. Indeed, Colorado's state-wide snowpack levels are at 2% of normal. Very dry.

Regina was setting a nice pace for us and the weather was holding up quite nicely. I had no worries about my chances of summiting both 13ers.

Before we knew it, we found ourselves gaining the ridge between UN 13,832 and Redcloud. We had also caught up from the guy that left before us that morning.

Gaining the saddle was no problem, and the views were great from there. As expected, the other hiker turned up to climb Redcloud. Solitude was guaranteed at this point. Here's a 360 degree view from the saddle, with Redcloud at far right and UN 13,832 just under the sun.

The hike from here was just long and gentle - easy class 1 / 2 stuff. Here's a view of UN 13,832 as we approached from the ridge.

Looking back at Redcloud, with Sunshine barely peaking up over the ridge.

And finally, Uncompahgre Peak came into view for us!

Heading up towards the next saddle made for easy and fun trail / ridge walking.

I was impressed by how far apart Sunshine was from Redcloud - much further than I remember.

We finally topped out on UN 13,832 at around 10:30 AM. Regina was loving the view of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre, no doubt. 

Also awesome was the view of the Grenadiers and the Needles. Eolus, Sunlight, Windom, Silex, Guardian and others all stuck out quite prominantly. This perspective really shows you how far part Eolus is from Sunlight. Pretty amazing.

I also did not mind the great view of Wetterhorn from here. Such a cool looking mountain!

Regina decided she was not going to continue over to UN 13,811, so I fired off a few more shots, including the below panoramas, and headed off for UN 13,811. Regina was going to wait for me below the saddle of Redcloud and UN 13,832. 

The San Juans are truly great.

UN 13,811 was still quite a ways off, as seen from this next shot.

I began my hike over and was constantly drawn to the view of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. I just loved those two mountains.

UN 13,632 was one obstacle in the path to UN 13,811, so I needed to go up and over it as well.

All while still enjoying my view...

Within about an hour, I finally made it over to UN 13,811 to complete my 75th Centennial. Pretty impressive and almost there!

I snapped off a few shots for a panorama from 13,811 also , still in shock over how little snow was truly left.

The view back over to 13,832 was sobering to say the least. I was starting to feel a little tired in the legs, so I was not really looking forward to the hike back. I did however, really enjoy the surprising view of 13,832 from here.

I headed back over to UN 13,832, which was quite the demoralizing slog. I reached the saddle of Redcloud and UN 13,832 in quick order and met up with Regina at a small tarn below Redcloud Peak. THe view of Whitecross was very cool from there.

And of course Handies and Whitecross were our guides for the duration.

Regina led the way while I snapped off this super great shot of her hiking out. I think this was one of my favorites from the hike.

We crossed over a small stream that had some wildflowers growing at it. I thought it was a nice looking scene to stop and enjoy.

Before long, we had reached treeline again and Handies was all that we could make out above the trees.

The remainder of the hike went without incident. I will say that these two mountains are pretty fun. The hike is very long, but affords welcoming views of very recognizable 14ers and 13ers in the area. Solitude is almost a given, since most people in the area are there to tackle the more famous 14ers Redcloud and Sunshine. I think you will also enjoy the hike if you choose to take it. 

We stopped in Gunnison on our way home for some much needed sustanance at our favorite Mexican food place on Main St. Until next time... I hope you enjoyed this trip report!

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Mount Adams is one of the last mountains in the top 100 in the Sangre de Cristo Range that I've yet to climb. It has always drawn my attention on other hikes in the area, and I had hopes of climbing it this spring. Instead, I opted to climb California Peak with Ethan, which was a great hike. Originally, I had planned to climb Pyramid Peak this weekend; however, none of my climbing partners had crampons, so we decided to hit Mount Adams instead. I had always read great things about climbing Mount Adams, and Gerry Roach has the west ridge route marked as a classic climb. Since I have more or less always agreed with Roach's ratings for "classic climbs," I figured that it would be the best way to climb it. So, Ethan and I agreed to take the west ridge route instead of the standard route. Feel free to read more about Roach's 13'er guidebook HERE.

This was particularly exciting since I have wanted to go back to Willow Lake for awhile now. Willow Lake is truly a magical place, and should be designated as a wilderness area, in all honesty. The lake is pristine, with a giant waterfall at its head. Additionally, it is surrounded by some of the most rugged and aesthetically remarkable mountains in Colorado, including Kit Carson Peak, Challenger Point, Columbia Point, Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle, not to mention Mount Adams!

Mount Adams is the 66th highest ranked summit in Colorado, sitting at 13,931 ft. 69 more feet and it would be climbed much more frequently, not that Ethan and I are complaining that we didn't see another soul on the summit...

Looking at the maps while driving over, Ethan and I also thought it might be fun to tack on another peak or two while we were out, so we decided that once we reached the summit of Adams, we would evaluate the conditions and how we felt and then decide on the next steps.

The drive over to the town of Crestone was remarkably unremarkable except for two incredible details. First, the pizza at Amicas in Salida was incredible, as usual. Second, the sunset as we were leaving Salida was insane. We drove out of town, heading west into Poncha Springs, and decided we HAD to pull over and take photos of this rediculous sunset. For my photos, I opted to do a minor HDR treatment since the foreground was quite interesting -we had stopped just in front of a huge grassy area used for cattle to pasture on. The results were stunning, with the sunsetting directly behind Mount Shavano.

Here's a zoomed-out version of the same scene, which I personally prefer.

We arrived at the Willow Lake trailhead around 10 PM, set-up Ethan's tent, and hit the sack, with our alarm set for 2 AM. We wanted to ensure that we had enough time to reach the summit of Adams before the weather hit. As soon as the alarm went off, we packed up quickly and hit the trail. The hike was an interesting one since there was a full moon and because we did not get a ton of sleep. Nevertheless, we hiked quickly and reached the base of Willow Lake within 2.5 hours.

The full moon made for some pretty fun photography opportunities, although photographing the moon is always a big challenge unless you have a really nice zoom lens. Most photos you will see of the moon and of a scene are two images layered as one, since it is literally impossible to photograph the moon and your foreground without either overexposing the moon (like above) or underexposing your foreground. Anyways, seeing Willow Lake again was great. We rested there for a good 30 minutes and took some photos. The waterfall was just as awesome as I had remembered it to be.

We saw lots of tents on the way up, probably 15 total. Lots of people were up here to climb the 14ers. We were the only group doing Mount Adams though. We gained the trail to the left of the lake and began to ascend above the lake in quick order, stopping every once in awhile to get some photos.

Before we knew it, we had gone too far and were nearly at the head of the lake near the waterfall. While we knew we were somewhat off-route, we decided to get into a good position to get photos of the sunrise and the full moon over Willow Lake.

We then turned sharply south to gain elevation into the small basin beneath Mount Adams. Since there is no trail up there, we just followed beneath the termination of a large cliff wall that led into the area, looking back from time to time to catch the sunlight on Kit Carson Peak.

I've always like the geology of this area, which is comprised of clastic sedimentary rocks, which appear as large pebbles that are cemented together. These rocks sometimes erode, to leave behind some really interesting features. For more information on Crestone Conglomerate, check out this interesting website.

As we gained the basin, we could not help but notice the amazing hues cast onto Willow Lake by the sun hitting the southern aspects of Challenger Point.

Indeed, the alpenglow on KIt Carson Peak and Challenger Point were quite impressive, and coupled with the moon and the lake it made for a perfect scene to hone my HDR skills. If you've ever wondered how to do HDR, you can do like I did, and read about it a ton, or watch this perfectly succinct tutorial from Trey Ratcliff.

We kept on hiking up into the basin towards Mount Adams and stumbled upon a pair of really nice looking ponds. The ponds were surrounding by wildflowers and separated by a huge jutting rock feature, which made for quite a lovely subject for an HDR panoramic. Additionally, the clouds were insane, and continued to be all day long.

After a few more minutes, Mount Adams finally came into view for the first time.

The route seemed quite straight-forward to us, so we opted to just follow a rock gully up towards the ridge, which was strewn with all sorts of wildflowers.

Ethan was a superb photography this day - he captured many many photos of me throughout the journey, all of which I really enjoyed his perspective and composition on.

We finally gained the ridge!

We were able to look down at South Crestone Lake and some 'miniture' Crestone Needle looking mountains.

As we continued up, Crestone Peak came into view, and eventually Crestone Needle as well.

The wildflowers on Mount Adams were amazing.

And the route up the west ridge was fabulous. In some sections, it really reminded me of Crestone Needle, just not as steep. The same type of rocks made for some enjoyable route-finding. I shall hereby dub Mount Adams, "Baby Crestone Needle." The similarities in the rock were remarkable.

The clouds continued to look awesome, and so I was able to get this photo of Ethan gaining the ridge higher up.

I was also able to get a really nice panoramic photo of Ethan gaining the ridge with the nutty clouds behind him. Click to see a larger version.

Check out this cloud - it looks like its going to eat my soul - thanks Ethan!

We stopped frequently to shoot photos. This is an all too familiar scene - me shooting photos of flowers. Thanks for catching me in the act, Ethan!

We kept on truckin' up to the summit block, which proved to have some enjoyable class 3 options if one so chose, so we did.

Finally, we reached the summit and took a congratulatory summit shot using Ethan's camera on self-timer.

Mount Adams was a great climb, for sure. The summit was superb, with excellent views in all directions.

We also had some insane smoke appear out of nowhere in the valleys around us, and before we knew it, the smoke was gone. It was truly odd. It was almost as if the valley below was on fire and then put out before we knew it. A look to the north revealed some crazy looking clouds over Rito Alto, Venable and Comanche.

We also found an awesome spot with a great vantage point for a celebration pose. We took advantage and marvelled at the sheer depth below us from where we stood.

Naturally, my focus was on Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak, two of my favorite mountains in Colorado. They are so distinguishable and quite honestly some of the freakishly looking peaks there are in Colorado. In fact, Crestone Needle ranks just 4th on the "Most Impressive" list (for ranked peaks) that is based on the work of David Metzler and the ORS/RORS scales.

A view to the east revealed Fluted Peak (far left), Horn Peak (left, in distance) and the Horn Lakes below.  UN 13,580 (ranked 201) was directly south, with UN 13,541 and Obstruction Peak and Humboldt behind. Additionally, Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak stood out like sore thumbs with Columbia Point, Kit Carson Peak and Challenger Point all towering over the basin below.

A closer look at the 14ers of the area. Left to right - Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, Columbia Point (13er, ranked 56th), Kit Carson Peak and Challenger Point.

Ethan was loving the views and the clouds.

And so was I...

Alas - a perfect summit does not last forever, so we decided to head south towards UN 13,580 and beyond to see what we could accomplish. The dramatic nature of the cliffs to our left kept us on our toes and in amazement for quite a long distance.

Also, the traverse over to 13,580 proved to offer some really fun challenges, including this class 3 manuever above a hugely exposed section.

But it also offered some fun boulder scrambling on very solid rock.

UN 13,580 was not too far from us, and the views kept us from moving too quickly.

The rock was all totally solid, but in places it was awkward walking on slanted slopes of what felt like giant fissures in the earth.

A look back at Mount Adams...

We finally reached the summit of UN 13,580 and enjoyed as what Gerry Roach describes on page 155 as "a startling view of Horn Lake." I don't disagree with Roach one bit on this detail, but what I do disagree with him on is that he describes UN 13,580 as a bi-centennial, meaning it is in the top 200 in Colorado ranked by elevation. According to my list, it is ranked 201 and just shy of that mark. When I built my database, I ranked mountains in the following order:

1. By elevation
2. By prominence
3. By isolation
4. By name

So, if two mountains had the same elevation and prominence, the mountain with more isolation is ranked higher. This seemed like the most fair way to rank mountains that had very similar characteristics. I am not sure how Roach or any others rank them.

Subsequently, according to my database, which is based almost entirely off of data compiled by John Kirk of Listsofjohn.com, Clark Peak, a 13er in the Elk Range, is also sitting at 13,580 ft. Additionally, it has the exact same prominence as UN 13,580, making them tied in most regards. The mountain with more isolation (Clark Peak) gets ranked higher.

Sorry to get on that soap-box... here's a self-timer of Ethan and I on UN 13,580.

And Ethan with the Crestones in the background...

With me enjoying the "startling views."

It was really cool signing the summit register for this rarely climbed peak. At the top of the register was Gerry and Jennifer Roach, followed later by John Kirk (of ListsofJohn fame), Susan Joy Paul (a regular on 14ers.com and a Facebook friend), and Doug Hatfield, another regular 14ers.com contributor who quoted on the summit register, "100/100 in Custer County," meaning, this was the last ranked peak in this county that he needed to finish. Quite an accomplishment!

Naturally, the Crestones just kept my gaze for much of our time resting on UN 13,580, so I decided to get some more HDR shots, as well as a non-HDR shot.

We decided to keep going along the ridge to see where it would take us. Much to our surprise, a lone goat crested the ridge to greet us below to the south.

"We're gonna climb that one now?"

Unfortunately, the storm clouds starting building to the west, so we opted to bail at the first opportunity. Since there's no trails in this terrain, we had to do some heavy route-finding. This ended up being quite enjoyable and challenging, and afforded us with plenty of class 4 down-climbing opportunities.

We found a crazy gully just below the first set of slabs we had down-climbed, and decided that the terrain on the other side of this mini-ridge below the gully looked much better as an exit. Unfortunately, the gully was loose and chossy, with eroded garbage and hardened mud. It was a real nightmare to downclimb. I went first, and faced-in for many sections. I kicked down tons of loose debris and tested every hold. It was quite a mess. Once I was down, I yelled up to Ethan that I was clear. Ethan had a bit more trouble, mostly because he was schlepping his trekking poles on his pack still (I opted to not bring any), and his camera bag was not of the LowePro Toploader variety that I have grown to love. His bag got into his way and he had to stop and re-pack the whole thing into his main pack. Almost down, Ethan had a few more moves left. He faced in and placed all of his weight on his feet, which were being held by what appeared to be a very solid and large boulder. Ethan shifted his weight to another rock, and as he did, the rock he was just standing on crumbled and disintegrated, causing huge blocks to go down the rest of the gully and down the mountain. Ethan was quite lucky. Here's some views of the nasty gully:

After the lame gully, we were greeted by a series of steep ledges that had interesting holds, probably rated at class 3 or 4.

A look back up the ledges:

And over to Kit Carson and Challenger...

We descended this section pretty quickly, having to shift directions a few times due to the bands of ledges terminating a few times. I rested a few minutes at the base of the boulder field we came down and found a new friend.

The columbine flowers were really nice too!

Another look back up the insanity we down-climbed...

We re-joined the trail that leads up to Challenger Point and headed towards the waterfalls above Willow Lake.

Which were quite amazing!

Finally, we made it back around and to the lake in short order.

When I was here in 2009, I took a panoramic photo series from the lake, which included the waterfall and a really interesting rock in the lake. I always regretted that photo because it cut the top off of Challenger Point. Not this time!

Also, we stopped below the lake to get some amazing shots of the lower waterfall near the trail.

The hike out was pretty uneventful after the waterfalls, except of course for the insane amount of switchbacks on the lower trail. We made it back to the car at 4 PM on the nose, just 14 hours after we started...

Here's a look at the map, showing our route and elevation profile. Feel free to click on each to see larger versions. 

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Earlier this year I had made plans to climb Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente with my dad; however, plans quickly changed through the summer as Ray painfully realized that he did not have the flexibility, strength, nor desire to conquer those mountains. We decided instead to take a camping trip with my son, Quinn, up to the southern Sawatch range and I would figure out alternative climbing options later.

Being that one of the best months to climb mountains in Colorado is September, I wanted to get in as much hiking time as possible to soak in the fall colors. I chose the far southern Sawatch range to begin my quest for great fall color photos and hoped to conquer my personal nemesis, Tabeguache Peak, as a bonus. Due to it's location, Tabeguache is generally climbed in conjunction with Mount Shavano - which I've already climbed twice in two years due to my quest for Tabegauche's summit. For this trip, I'd planned to hit Tabeguache from the north, while bagging Grizzly Mountain, Cyclone Mountain, and Carbonate Mountain; however, upon further inspection of the TOPO map for the area (St. Elmo Quadrangle), I discovered that there were several other 13ers right near where we were planning to camp, all of which were connected by long ridges, and that it would be a shame not to climb them while we were in the area. My plans quickly changed and I added Boulder Mountain and Mount Mamma to my itinerary.

Trip Statistics:

Summits reached:

Boulder Mountain: 13,528 ft. (ranked 236 in Colorado)

Mount Mamma: 13,646 ft.(ranked 173 in Colorado)

Grizzly Mountain: 13,708 ft. (ranked 142 in Colorado)

"Lo Carb": 13,591 ft. (unranked)

Cyclone Mountain: 13,596 ft. (ranked 192 in Colorado)

Carbonate Mountain: 13,663 ft. (ranked 165 in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 4,883 ft.

Total prominence in feet: 2,723 ft.

Total distance hiked: 11.41 miles

Total time hiking: 10 hours, 30 minutes

Total photos taken: 592

Total wildlife sightings: 1 (Mountain Goat)

Collegiate Peaks - located in the Sawatch Range, including Mount Antero left of center, Mount Princeton at center and Mount Yale at far right.

On Saturday, September 18, 2010, my dad, my son, and I loaded into my Jeep Grand Cherokee and headed for Baldwin Gulch. To get there, we traveled to Highway 285 via Highway 24 and drove south from Buena Vista / Johnson's Corner to Chaffee County Road 162, heading west towards Mount Princeton & St. Elmo. After 12.5 miles, we took a left (south) on Chaffee County Road 277 (Mount Antero / Baldwin Gulch Road).

The aspen changing colors in Baldwin Gulch.

This is a 4WD road and put my Jeep to the test. In fact, when I purchased this Jeep earlier this year, I had this road in mind as a good barometer for how much clearance etc. I wanted to have. The road is fairly rough in spots, and I knew that after the road splits towards Baldwin Lake, it becomes even rougher. Sure enough, after passing the turn-off for County Road 278 at Baldwin Creek and staying right, the road became fairly crazy. If you don't have good clearance, this would be a great place to stop.

We found a great campsite roughly 4.3 miles up the road (1.7 miles from the Baldwin Creek turn-off) near a large boulder field near the smaller lakes below the main Baldwin Lake. We set-up camp and enjoyed the cool yet pleasant fall weather. Speaking of weather, the forecast for the weekend was ideal for hiking - no rain, no storms, no wind. I took a small hike around the area to enjoy the fall colors. I was very impressed by the golds, yellows, reds, and browns of the vegetation - it certainly made for quite the view, and complimented the diverse colors of the mined rock on the mountainsides.

Antero Peak is reflected with vibrant blue colors.

Cronin Peak and lower Baldwin Lake.

Cronin Peak and lower Baldwin Lake.

Baldwin Creek.

The moon was nearly full and much to my surprise, there were great views of the moon rising above Cronin Peak in the early evening.

Cronin Peak with the moon rising above it, reflected in the water.

Cronin Peak with the moon rising above it, reflected in the water (lighter this time).

After enjoying a large campfire and roasting marshmellows with my son, we all went to bed. I set my alarm for 4 AM so that I would have a full day for my planned epic hike:

The route map for Boulder Mountain, Mount Mamma, Grizzly Mountain, "Lo Carb," Cyclone Mountain and Carbonate Mountain.

Elevation profile for Boulder Mountain, Mount Mamma, Grizzly Mountain, "Lo Carb," Cyclone Mountain and Carbonate Mountain.The first 1/2 mile was pure bushwhacking scree hell.

I left camp at 4:30 AM and bushwhacked straight up the side of the ridge of Boulder Mountain. I stumbled across an abandoned mine on the way up and found this part of the hike to be the worst part of the day. As you can see above, the first 1/2 mile of the hike was absolutely brutal - I gained 1,400 ft in the first 1/2 mile on loose scree, boulders and talus. It was the kind of rock where you took one step forward and then slid backwards half a step. It took me only an hour to reach the ridge, where I was greeted by strong, cold wind and pure darkness. The stars were amazing though, and the sun was just beginning to provide the first glimpse of light on the eastern horizon, left of Antero. Looking north, I could see the vague outlines of Boulder Mountain, which seemed to be pretty far away in the darkness. Through the cold wind, I pushed my way up the summit ridge of Boulder Mountain, and reached the summit at 6 AM, a mere 1.5 hours after I began my adventure. The summit had a very awesome looking cairn at the top, which provided nice contrast with the light of the rising sun.

If you've never experienced the sunrise from the top of a mountain before, it should be on your bucket list. This marks the third time I've been able to witness the sunrise from 13,000 ft+ and it never gets old. The sunrise provided excellent outlines of Mount Antero, Mount White, Tabeguache Peak, and Mount Shavano to my east. Additionally, as the sunrise continued to increase the amount of light, it became clear that there were incredible views of gold and red aspen across the valley along the ridgeline for Mount Princeton to the north. It was quite stunning to see all of the colors emerge from the darkness as the sun rose above the horizon.

The sunrise illuminates the sky, revealing Mount Princeton (left) and Mount Antero (right).

The sunrises behind Mount Antero.

The changing aspen are visible from the summit of Boulder Mountain.

Matt Payne on the summit of Boulder Mountain - it was really windy!

Aspen change colors on the slopes of Mount Princeton and it's neighbors.

After enjoying the sunrise, I started to head back down the ridge of Boulder Mountain to the south. As I traveled along the ridge, the sunrise lit up skyline to my right (west) across the slopes of Mount Mamma and to the north, illuminating groves of aspen trees. It was nothing short of spectacular.

Grizzly Mountain in the far distance...

Mount Mamma is lit up by alpenglow.

Aspen are further revealed by the rising sun across from Mount Mamma's north ridge.

As I approached the ridge between Mount Mamma and Boulder Mountain, the full length of my next summit revealed itself in quite an overwhelming way. The distance between the two peaks seemed quite vast; however, I was so entranced by the surrounding views that any doubts I had about going onwards were destroyed.

At center - Cronin Peak. In the far distance just right and behind Cronin were the final two mountains I would end up climbing - Cyclone and Carbonate. The ridge to Mount Mamma is quite long from Boulder Mountain.

The lower Baldwin Lakes were right below me on the saddle between Mamma and Boulder.

Baldwin Lake pools reflect parts of "Lo Carb" to the South from the saddle between Mount Mamma and Boulder Mountain.

About halfway across to Mamma, it still felt like I had a long way to go...

Mount Mamma was quite a long haul from Boulder Mountain...

At 7:30 AM I finally reached the summit of Mount Mamma, just three short hours from the start of my trip. My legs were feeling extra spicy!

Matt Payne on the summit of Mount Mamma - with insane aspen in the background.

A panoramic landscape looking south to north from the summit of Mount Mamma.

Mount Princeton seen at far right among changing aspen, as seen from the summit of Mount Mamma.

A 360 degree panoramic landscape from the summit of Mount Mamma.

Huge groves of aspen are seen to the north and west of Mount Mamma.

A zoomed-in panoramic landscape of aspen trees west and north of Mount Mamma.

A panoramic photo looking west from Mount Mamma.

After taking some time to rest on Mount Mamma, I peered over to my next objective: Grizzly Mountain. Grizzly Mountain would be the highest mountain for me to summit this day, and it was not easy.

The terrain on the ridge from Mount Mamma to Grizzly Mountain is steep and rugged, without a trail. The rocks were looser and slightly more dangerous on this section of the route, so I was careful to choose my foot placements.

After another hour of hiking, I reached the saddle between Mamma and Grizzly and took time to appreciate the sheer northern face of Grizzly that stood before me. At this point, the ridge became quite narrow, and it was quite fun having nothing but sheer drop to my left and incredible views of Grizzly Gulch to my right. Grizzly Gulch contains Grizzly Lake and some of the most photogenic and pristine looking wetlands I've seen.

Grizzly Mountain's north face is quite impressive.

Grizzly Gulch seen from the saddle of Grizzly Mountain and Mount Mamma.

As I approached the summit of Grizzly Mountain, I could really gain some perspective on the hike I had completed so far. It was certainly impressive seeing the distance I had traveled thus far:

Additionally, I was able to get a great view of the entire route for the day, from start to finish. I had traveled a great distance already, but could see that I had a long way to go yet...

A view of Baldwin Gulch, including Baldwin Lake, Boulder Mountain, Mount Mamma, Cronin Peak, Antero Peak, Mount White, Cyclone Peak and Carbonate Peak.

The entire route as seen from Grizzly Mountain.

I finally reached the summit of Grizzly Mountain at 10 AM and dove into my pack for some much needed food. The views from Grizzly were great, but I could see that I still had quite a lot of ground to cover if I were to complete my goals.

Matt Payne on the summit of Grizzly Mountain, with Cyclone Creek Basin in the background.

Cyclone Creek Basin, south of Grizzly Mountain. Taylor Mountain in the foreground with Mount Ouray in the distance.

A 360 degree pano from the summit of Grizzly Mountain.

Knowing that I had a long day in front of me still, I departed Grizzly Mountain's summit promptly and made my way over towards saddle of "Lo Carb" and Grizzly. From afar, the terrain between Grizzly and "Lo Carb" seemed rather intimidating, and I was a little concerned with what I would find once I began climbing to the top of ridge at the end of the ridge-line.

Steeper terrain greeted me at the saddle between Grizzly Mountain and "Lo Carb."

The terrain indeed proved to be challenging, but quite fun. I would rate the tough section of this climb low Class 4 or high Class 3.

At this point, Boulder Mountain seemed like a completely different trip - it was so far away!

After reaching the false summit of "Lo Carb," which is basically the high point between Lo Carb and Cronin Peak, I was able to get a full grasp of the distance I had traveled. It continued to amaze me.

Grizzly Mountain (left), Mount Mamma (center), Boulder Mountain (right of center) and Cronin Peak (far right).

I began the long hike towards Lo Carb, Cyclone Mountain and Carbonate Mountain. Tabeguache was still a long way away, which pretty much sealed the deal for me - I would be coming back for Tab a 3rd time!

I don't know what came over me at this juncture of the trip, but I just remember being overcome with positive feelings and I remember saying to myself, "Man - THIS is so awesome!" I think the combination of solitude, great weather, awesome views, and the sustained time above 13,000 ft. had something to do with it.

Cyclone and Carbonate are really gentle peaks nestled at the top of Brown's Creek Basin, which divides Mount Antero and Mount White from Tabeguache Peak.

Cyclone Mountain and Carbonate Mountain.

One detraction from the view was the large network of roads that connects Mount White and Mount Antero. As many know, these mountains are rather famous for gemstone mining, so a lot of people probably make a living from these roads' existence. With that being said, it seems like there are too many roads up there and it is an eyesore for sure.

Mount Princeton, Cronin Peak, Mount Antero, Mount White and Tabeguache Peak as seen from the saddle of "Lo Carb" and Cyclone Mountain.

Reaching the summit of Cyclone was somewhat of a treat because the summit register there had listings from all the way back to 1349. Of particular note, I saw an entry there from the famed Bob Martin, of Martin and Garratt - Colorado's High Thirteeners, which is one of my favorite mountain books. One more note about Bob Martin - he's probably climbed every mountain in Colorado over 10,000 ft., not an easy task to complete! In fact, at the date of this report, he's climbed 2,563 mountains in Colorado... as compared to my 91 (at the date of this report) and some people think I'm obsessed! :-) My take on it - impressive dedication!

Bob Martin sighting...

From the top of Cyclone, I was able to get a really nice zoom-in pano of Cyclone Gulch and the mountains across the valley. In case you're wondering what that means - I take several photos where I've zoomed-in as far as I can with my camera, and I've combined them. The result is that you are able to see a great deal of detail in the photo. Individual trees can be made out easily. Of course to see this, you need to see the full resolution version of the photo. Let me know if you'd like to!

Cyclone Gulch seen at high resolution. Carbonate Mountain at far left with Taylor Mountain and Mount Aetna in the valley over above the groves of changing aspen trees.

At this stage, my legs were definitely getting tired. I strolled on over to the summit of Carbonate Mountain, and after seeing the huge drop in elevation between Carbonate and Tabeguache, I made an official declaration that Tab would just have to wait for another day.

Matt Payne on the summit of Carbonate Mountain.

Taylor Mountain and Mount Aetna rise above a forest of colorful aspen tree and North Fork Reservoir.

While it was somewhat of a hazy day, I could still see aspen changing in every valley that I could see with the naked eye.

Having summited 6 mountains in one day, 5 of which being ranked 13ers, I felt that my day was a huge success and that I was ready to return to camp for some awesome burgers. I made my way back over Cyclone Mountain and Lo Carb, down to the saddle between Lo Carb and Cronin, and down to Baldwin Lake.

Baldwin Lake.

Once I reached our campsite, it was only 3 PM. Quinn was happy to see me, and many burgers were happily consumed!

"Welcome back dad!"