The stars and stripes proudly fly from the summit of Mount Elbert! The flag was the idea of my great-uncle Frank for the Mountain Donation Project. As you can see by the clouds, it was a windy and stormy day atop the highest peak in Colorado (and second highest in the lower 48 states--only Mount Whitney in California is higher). This was my fourth time up Elbert and I blazed up and down, covering the 8.9 miles and 4,400 ft. of gain in 4 hours 20 minutes (it's all on trail hiking). As it turns out, I spent 5 hours driving--so I was in the car more than I was on the mountain!
The day before, Jody joined me on a perilous hike of Pacific Peak. Bad weather kept opening and closing windows of opportunity; we finally decided to push for the summit and had perfect timing. Pacific was in the eye of the storm and we got up and down just before the thunderheads set their sites on the mountain. Brought up to the summit was a beautiful pacific ocean sand dollar Sheila and I found on the Pacific Northwest coast after our successful climb of Mount Rainier last August (I'll have the pictures up on the Mountain Project page soon!)
This weekend will be at least 2 more hikes, maybe a third on Monday before I leave for St. Lucia--whatever peak I do next will be number 10--woo-hoo double digits!
