Whew! If all goes well, I'll finish up my 50th hike on Thursday or Friday of next week! Here's a look back at the trip of a week-and-a half ago. (Oh, and the clown costume pictures will be in the next update! Haha--gotta give you all something to look forward to!)
Mount Blanca is the second of my "Street Fighter" peaks (the other obviously being Bison Peak). Blanca is a special mountain; besides being the 4th highest peak in Colorado at 14,345 ft., it is also considered one of the four sacred mountains of the native people of northern Arizona (along with Mount Hesperus and Humphries Peak, which I've climbed, and Taylor Mountain). To access this peak, you need to hike 6.5 miles up a rugged 4x4 road. Since my car was no match for this one, I had to backpack in and base-camp. The road itself is amazing, with the higher parts being test pieces for the best 4x4 vehicles in the state.
The transformation from desert at the start (7,850 feet) to a gradual evolution of Aspen stands is a nice portrait of Colorado ecosystems. As I hiked in to base camp at 12,400 ft. the afternoon was blue and clear. I felt relieved to finally have a nice day, especially after my blind ascent on Mount Ouray a few days before. I set up camp beside a soothing stream and relaxed my legs after gaining a good 4,000 feet of elevation. All was well and sleep came easily.
In the morning, as I began to wake up, I noticed it seemed a little dark for dawn and the sounds of the little river were oddly and softly muted at random intervals. Oh no, I thought...and as the picture shows, I did ANOTHER hike in a total white fog out. This was even worse than Ouray, as the fog enveloped my entire route and base camp. Nonetheless, I somehow found my way to the peak--and met four other hikers on the way up! They materialized out of the mist here and there as I passed them and continued up.
After scoring Blanca's summit I figured what the heck, I might as well traverse over to Blanca's sister summit (and official 14er) Ellingwood Point. Because I had to concentrate so much on route finding, I forgot to get shots of the two things I brought up Blanca: a picture of Blanka and my great Aunt Edith's project donation, her cat's blue collar. I remembered to snap a shot of the collar on Ellingwood but forgot the picture, which eventually made it to the summit of Golden Horn, much to the consternation of anyone who uncovers it in the summit register tube. On the descent the skies abruptly cleared and by the time I was back to my tent, the day was as sunny and beautiful as the previous afternoon. Ah well...
Next up was West Spanish Peak, a lovely mountain and one that holds spiritual significance for me--it was the first clear day I had since Mount Sopris! I didn't have to rush up the peak and I was alone (with the plastic Senior Mysterioso, donated by John and Megan Ragozzine). After a night of powerful and vivid dreams of things gone past, I had a very relaxing and enjoyable day on West Spanish. No Storms, no crazy route finding, just good clean fun!
My streak of good luck continued as I headed to Silverton to climb a seldom visited peak called Golden Horn. This may have been my favorite hike! The approach is stunning and the peak itself is delightful to scramble up! Paul L's inflatable sheep made the trek up this one, though for the sake of the children, I'll spare you any graphic pictures! Let me just say trying to inflate such a toy at 13,700 ft. is no easy task! In a neat coincidence, the twin summits of Golden Horn almost perfectly emulate the twin summits on the Citadel. To reach the eastern summit, one must jam oneself into "wiggle notch", a gap you can kind of chimney up to reach the summit plateau--just like the Citadel!
Finally, I concluded this pack of hikes with Cross Mountain, a peak about which I found NO information. This was a shot in the dark, but ended up being a perfect peak for the book! The surprisingly exposed and fun ridgeline brings you to an amphitheater of towering peaks that dwarf Cross, making it seem like an alter laid out before a council of mountain-gods. Ninja Gaiden fans may recount the cut scene in 4-2 where Ryu first gains a glance at Jacquio's castle. One neat thing about this peak: as I approached a small summit cairn, I thought I saw a guy up there behind it, wearing black sweatpants. Weird I thought...until the "guy" revealed himself to be an enormous and majestic bald eagle! He was huge, one of the legendary birds with a 7-foot wing span. When I approached, he calmly flapped his powerful wings and drifted freely in the air between the mountains. Envy!
I added a neat element of fun by hiking to the base of Lizards Head (no apostrophe), Colorado's most difficult 13er. The summit block is a 400 foot tower of crumbling rock, impossible to climb safely (but people do it)--looking up at its broken heights, I actually felt my knees get weak, envisioning the massive, airy exposure and run out protection. As a note, fewer people have stood atop Lizards Head than Mount Everest! So that's all for now--I also got up Storm King Peak and Uncompahgre this past weekend, but those are for the next update! Tomorrow is Geissler and Friday is a return to Mount Alice.Until next time...enjoy the onset of autumn!
