CO summits
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Colorado 13ers: Hagar Mountain
I skipped a hike. I don’t know how it happened, but I did. Back in early August 2021, Chelsea and I summitted 13er Hagar Mountain together. When I got home, I recorded it on my hike spreadsheet. I even started writing this post. But somehow, I never actually finished the write up or uploaded it… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Mount Bancroft, Parry Peak, and Mount Eva
Sometimes, a hike ends up being more laid back than you thought it would be and goes more quickly than you expected. And sometimes, a hike is far more intense than you anticipated and it takes 8 hours to hike 7 miles (11.3 km). This hike was one of the latter. Chelsea and I set… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Father Dyer Peak
On so many occasions since moving to Colorado, my fiance and I have been sitting at a lake gazing up at the surrounding mountains, pointed, and said “whoa look, there’s a person up there!” Well… this time I was the person up there, gazing down on half a dozen lakes from a 13,596 foot (4144… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Flattop Mountain and Hallett Peak
It was a long time coming, but this was the year my friend C and I finally stood atop Hallett Peak! I don’t remember when we originally decided we wanted to do this hike, but it was a while ago. The first time we made plans for it, C had to cancel. The second time,… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #2: Mount Bierstadt
I’ve been hiking since I was too young to remember, and in that time I’ve accumulated quite a few hiking accomplishments. But one thing I’d never done in all 30+ years of my life was go hiking alone. In general, I don’t consider myself an anxious person. Sure, I have my moments of anxiety when… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Estes Cone
Estes Cone was not plan A for Chelsea and me on this particular weekend. But April and May in Colorado are part of what Coloradans call the “spring of deception.” No matter how warm and sunny it is, no matter how many days in a row the nice weather endures, make no mistake: it’s not… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Greyrock Mountain
The wild fluctuations and extremes of mountain weather is something that can be hard to grasp, particularly for someone who hasn’t spent much time in them. Hell, I’ve spent most of my life living near and exploring the mountains, and I still underestimate them from time to time. Mountains do weird and intense things to… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Deer Mountain
It’s not every day that you hike a trail and find yourself nearly face-to-face with its namesake animal. But such was the case on Deer Mountain. (Better than coming face-to-face with a bear on Bear Peak, I suppose.) There were four of them, and they couldn’t have been more than 15 feet (4.5 m) away.… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Twin Sisters Peak
2020 was a rough year for all of us, Rocky included. First, the park was closed for weeks in the spring due to the pandemic. Then it closed again for 15 days in October and November due to forest fires. In all, nearly 30,000 acres of the park burned. It was absolutely devastating to watch… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Bison Peak
Above tree line is one of my favorite places to be. I love the panoramic views and the tiny plants and the beautiful desolation of the tundra. Tree line here in Colorado is around 11,600-11,800 feet (3535-3600 m); above that elevation, you can generally expect either an endless jumble of rocks or a vast expanse… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Lily Mountain
Due to the pandemic, entrance into Rocky Mountain National Park was a little more complicated in 2020. In addition to a fee or pass, one needed to reserve a timed entry permit. This allowed the park to reduce the number of visitors and spread them evenly throughout the day to better facilitate social distancing. Plenty… Continue reading
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Colorado 13er #3: Mount Audubon
The day began in a fairly typical fashion when it comes to hiking in Colorado: Mount Audubon is a 13er located in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of Colorado. To reach the trailhead, one must enter through the gates of Brainard Lake Recreation Area, which is (a) gorgeous, (b) exceptionally popular and crowded, and (c) a… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Mount Ida
Summiting Mount Ida turned out to be a ‘third time is the charm’ situation for us. We wanted to climb it our first summer in Colorado, but forest fire smoke severely limited visibility for much of the summer and we weren’t about to walk along the Continental Divide and not be able to see anything.… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Spruce Mountain
How in the world does one meet people and make friends as an adult? It’s a question I grappled with when we first arrived in Colorado. This wasn’t the first time I’d ever moved to a new state. But this time, my job didn’t start for a couple months, and I realized I needed to… Continue reading
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Summiting our Second Colorado 13er: Mount Sniktau
I must admit, within about two minutes of beginning our hike up Mount Sniktau I was regretting our decision. I know summiting 13ers and 14ers requires some substantial climbing, but this hike gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘elevation gain.’ The trail basically goes straight up the mountain, gaining 1000 vertical feet (305… Continue reading
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Summiting our First Colorado 14er – Quandary Peak
Most everyone hoping to summit their first Colorado 14,000 foot (4267 m) peak faces the same dilemma (or, shall I say, quandary): what’s the easiest one to start with? By most accounts, Mount Bierstadt and Quandary Peak are two of the “easier” ones, but I put easier in quotes because it’s all relative. There are… Continue reading
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Summiting our First Colorado 13er – Mount Flora
Because of the risk of altitude sickness at such high elevations, we were very careful with our hiking selections during our first summer in Colorado. We worked our way up to almost 12,000 feet (3650 m) over the first few weekends before deciding we felt acclimated enough to attempt a summit hike without getting sick.… Continue reading