My first 14er!
This is an absolutely beautiful hike! You can see for miles;
Summit and Eagle Counties, Buena Vista and beyond. It’s pretty spectacular.
This is one of the easier 14ers, but don’t be deceived it still is 14,000 feet
up. I had not been hiking and decided that this was the one for me. Let me tell
you my legs hurt for a few days after and I questioned whether I would really
summit or not.
The
morning start well before the sun came up, but was nice and warm by the time I
made it to the summit. This is definitely they way to start the hike, early in
the morning. By midday there were so many people hiking it was crazy, getting
early start let me beat the crowd.
You
start out hiking through the trees and it’s a well-set path and the trees are
pretty dense. They gradually start thinning out and then are gone. Here is the
beginning of the views and they just keep getting better. Once out of the trees
you will think you are getting close to the top, but that’s just the first
hump, there is still another 1,000 or so feet left. Out of the trees it gets
rocky and stays rocky. Going up this isn’t to big of a deal, but on the way
down, be careful. The rocks are loose and make the path down a little sketchy. The picture on the right is on top of the first hump with a view of the actual summit in the distance.
On
the hike we were able to see some mountain goats. They were really familiar
with people and let us get pretty close.
Overall,
a great Saturday morning endeavor. Just make sure to bring and apply lots and
lots of sunscreen. I put it on 3 or 4 times and was still a little pink at the end
of the day. And drink more water than you think you can handle. The combination
of hiking and being so high up in the altitude is a little rough. I’ve found
that having some fruit is a great refresher while hiking.
Most
of all just enjoy all the beautiful views. Take in a deep breath of mountain
air and smell the pines. Just stand in awe of the grandness of it all.
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