Tag Archives: Philip Turk

Ellingwood Point, 2018

July 5, 2018 philturk 2 Comments

Date: July 4, 2018
Partner: none
Height: 14,042 feet
Range: Sangre de Cristo
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek (Class 3)
Overall Distance: 11.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 5,500 feet (TH to summit)
14ers climbed: 19 separate climbs
14ers remaining: 34
Road Condition to Trailhead: The dirt road to the South Zapata trailhead is 3.5 miles from CO-150. Any 2WD car can make it if they take it slow over the rocks and ruts. There is plenty of parking at the trailhead.

This trip marked my first 14er of 2018. I had originally meant to backpack several miles up the trail the evening before in order to get a head start the next day. Alas, on the drive down to Alamosa from Denver, I had to take substantial detours to avoid the 11,000 acre Weston Pass fire. It was already sunset by the time I pulled into Alamosa, so I decided to car camp instead.

There is a no-frills campground run by the BLM right at the trailhead (Zapata Falls Campground) that is perfectly located to do this hike. I watched some thunderstorms rolling in off in the distance for a few minutes, quickly pitched my tent, and then settled in for a few hours of sleep.

I hit the trail at dawn, as the Great Sand Dunes were reflecting the first rays of the morning sun. Pay attention when you are walking out of the trailhead not to take the side trail to Zapata Falls. Otherwise, it is a brisk 4-mile hike up to South Zapata Lake (3,400 ascent). The trail is clearly marked and I felt good as the temperature was cool.

When I got to the lake, I decided to head up the C2 couloir to get on top of the headwall. This is steep Class 3 pitch with no trail. It was filled with loose talus and scree on top of hard-packed sand. For every two steps forward, I took one step back. As this was my first 14er of the season, I was not in the tip-top shape I wanted to be in, so I crawled up to the top of the headwall and was a bit tired. If you attempt this route, be sure to make a note of where you are so that you don’t inadvertently head down the much more dangerous Crossfire couloir on the way back.

From here, the route to the summit was plainly visible. However, again no trail was evident. I headed along the spine of the headwall to the east and picked my way as best as I could through tons of small rocks. As the headwall rose, it bended to the south. The sun was up in full force now and I stopped frequently to get water and rest. When I got to a large prominent outcrop of rock, I tried skirting it to the right and it became dangerously steep. STAY TO THE LEFT! I backtracked several hundred yards, and got on top of the spine. Even though there was massive exposure to the left (a 2,000′ + drop-off), I ignored it since the going was much easier. Pulling myself up with a few good handholds here and there, I was able to get onto the summit.

From the top, I could see three other 14ers in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. There were several active fires I could see billowing smoke to the southeast and from time-to-time an airplane or helicopter would approach them presumably to drop water. With the exception of a bighorn sheep, the entire time I had been hiking, I had not had any company until now — a young couple from the university in Alamosa who had come up a different route.

Coming down entailed backtracking, slowly picking my way through the endless rocks. Even then, a few times I lost my footing coming down the C2 couloir and took a hard fall. Had I not had my hiking poles, it would have been miserable. I was really relieved to make my way back to South Zapata Lake and get back on defined trail. By now, I had been frequently drinking water to the point where I had to carefully ration out what I had left for the remainder of the hike. When I got to the car, I guzzled a very warm bottle of water I had tossed in the backseat 🙂

There are a few spots of ascent heading back to the trailhead, so all told, I would put the total ascent on this hike at 6,000 feet. The Class 3 designation is appropriate. If you are in great shape and move along, you could probably do this trip in 6 hours. If you are in reasonable shape and take a few stops for picture and snacks, then it will take you around 9 hours. I would not recommend this climb to someone who is not in shape nor as a first 14er. If I had to give it a 14er difficulty rating, I would say somewhere around a 6.5, maybe a 7, would be appropriate.

If you like solitude, adventure, remote country with big mountains, and camping options, then you should try this route.

Mount Princeton, 2017

August 15, 2017 philturk Leave a comment

Date: August 14, 2017
Partner: Xiaoen Ding, Thao Tran, Hieu Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen
Height: 14,197 feet
Range: Sawatch
Route: East Slopes (Class 2)
Overall Distance: 6.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet
14ers climbed: 18 separate climbs
14ers remaining: 35
Road Condition to Trailhead: It is an easy drive to the 2WD trailhead out of Nathrop. From here, things get quite a bit more serious. First of all, stay to the right as you depart from the 2WD parking lot as it is easy to miss the road continuing up the mountain. Then, you have a 3-mile slow slog up a steep, rutted single track road to get to the radio towers. My Jeep Cherokee made it with careful driving and using 4WD. There are several places to park at the radio towers if you get an early start to beat the crowd.

This hike is a deceptively long hike time-wise, even though it is not a long hike distance-wise. From the radio towers, you’ll have about 1.5 miles going steadily uphill on a winding forest road. A trail abruptly cuts off to your right and ascends a grassy hill. After roughly 0.5 mile, the trail enters into a perpetual talus field. From here, you have under 1.5 miles to reach the summit. As it gently ascends up to meet the headwall, the trail can be hard to follow in spots. The old trail cuts to the right and veers straight towards the summit. The new trail has been rerouted to cut to the left and switchback up to the headwall. Once on the headwall, things get more challenging. The trail meanders along the spine of the headwall and becomes less defined. You’ll be on the steepest part of the hike and picking your way through a mixture of solid Class 2 boulders and talus. Stay on the spine all the way to the summit.

As with any 14er in Colorado, you want to keep an eye on the weather and your footing while on Mount Princeton. People can and do die on this mountain (including one death this year). A sobering plaque just below the summit memorializes a young woman who died at the spot after being struck by lightning. Keep moving slowly and consistently up the mountain and then get off. Save the resting and celebration for after you are safely down.

And now the best news for last … joining me on this hike were my international student friends from Vietnam, Thao Tran and Ngoc Nguyen (their first 14ers). Congratulations to them on a job well done! Also joining me was Xiaoen Ding from China (her second 14er). Way to hang tough, Xiaoen! Last but not least, joining me was faithful climbing partner Hieu Nguyen from Vietnam (his sixth 14er). Hieu is becoming quite the seasoned mountaineer.

I should add that I ran into two former students from a Statistics graduate course I taught two years ago (Sam Hagopian and Jodie Daglish). One of them had since moved to California. Complete 1-in-1,000,000 random event! We had a good laugh about this and enjoyed quickly catching up. Life is full of good surprises like this 🙂

Mount Lindsey, 2017

July 9, 2017 philturk Leave a comment

Date: July 8-9, 2017
Partner: Amandeep Vashisht
Height: 14,042 feet
Range: Sangre de Cristo
Route: North Face going up (Class 2+); Northwest Ridge going down (Class 3)
Overall Distance: 8.25 miles
Elevation Gain: 3,500 feet
14ers climbed: 17 separate climbs
14ers remaining: 36
Road Condition to Trailhead: This is a fairly long drive from the main road out of Gardner. A 2WD car could make it to the lower parking area by the landslide with few problems. It is another 2 miles to the upper parking lot and unless you know what you are doing, I would recommend 4WD due to big rocks and ditches.

Aman and I arrived at the trailhead around 5 pm to a light rain. We each put on our backpacks and set off down the trail. The first mile of the trail was flat and followed alongside the Huerfano River. There were a few streams running across the trail that had we had to cross before the trail crossed the river itself. Here, we had no choice but to take off our shoes and socks and ford the very cold waters of the river.

The trail took a slight turn toward the east and began to climb in earnest through the forest. Over the next mile, the trail climbed a mountain valley gaining almost 1,500′ of elevation — ouch! Finally, after a couple of hours, the trail broke out of the trees around 12,000′ and flattened out on a ridgeline overlooking spectacular views on either side. It was on this ridgeline, that we decided to set up camp in the fading light and get some sleep. Fortunately, the rain had stopped and we were treated to a nice sunset.

At 5 am the next morning, we arose, ate a light breakfast, and set forth from camp. The trail dropped into an alpine basin, which we crossed, and rose a bit higher into another basin, which we also crossed, before meeting the headwall. Switchbacking up onto the headwall, we crested at 13,000′ between the Iron Nipple and Mount Lindsey. This is where things got serious!

The main spine of the Northwest Ridge came down to the headwall and we veered to the left to begin our ascent of the gully on the North Face. It looked intimidatingly steep but we slowly picked our way up a mess of sand and scree, taking two steps forward and one step back … Around 13,700′, we decided to cut to our right in an effort to get on top of the Northwest Ridge and onto firmer ground. Once there, it was another several hundred feet across talus to a false summit and then an easy stroll of 1/4 mile on top to the summit. By now, the weather was sunny, around 50 degrees F, with no wind. In short, it was perfect. We were treated to wonderful views of Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point to the west.

Now, on the way down, we decided to take the Northwest Ridge instead of the North Face. At first, even though it was a more difficult Class 3 route, it was quicker and more secure than slogging through the scree-filled gully we had ascended. But our route became steeper and steeper until it “cliffed off” at the crux wall. All of a sudden, we realized we either had to backtrack up towards the summit and go another route or downclimb the crux wall. Whether it was because we were tired and lazy or because we were stubborn, we chose the later. There was a large, vertical crack in the center of the wall that required some brief Class 4 rock climbing that we carefully navigated. Once safely off the crux wall, we continued our steep descent and angled down the scoured east side of the ridge before popping back out onto the headwall. To be honest, I believe we saved no time on this route compared to if we had simply stuck with the North Face.

From here, it was a simple matter of heading back down to our camp and repacking the tent, sleeping bags, etc. Happy with our successful summit attempt, we took our time backpacking out to the Jeep.

This was a more difficult 14er climb than I had done in awhile. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone as their first 14er. I’d give it a solid 5 or 6 on a scale of difficulty and effort. In my opinion, Aman did a wonderful job, never complaining, always keeping a smile on her face, and slowly, but unrelentingly, pushing forward.

As an interesting footnote to the trip, no sooner did we start driving home on I-25, then a massive hailstorm hit, pelting us with pea-to-marblesized hail. There was easily over an inch of the stuff on the road and several cars, including mine, had driven off-road to the sanctuary of a lonely, big cottonwood tree to wait out the storm …

San Luis Peak, 2017

July 2, 2017 philturk Leave a comment

I had whirlwind trip the past few days. My climbing partner Hieu Nguyen and I took a trip down to southwestern Colorado to the San Juan Mountains to climb San Juan Peak (14,022′). Of all the 14ers I have done so far, I am most happy to get this one done because it is so remote; even the trailhead is remote. San Luis Peak sits by itself just off of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in some of the most wild, beautiful country in the lower 48 states. Necessitating a 14 mile-hike with 3,600′ elevation gain, a climber is well-served to either backpack into the area and split the climb up across two days or camp at the trailhead, get an early start, and try to do the climb in one long day.

Hieu and I arrived at the trailhead at roughly 4:30 pm, donned our backpacks and set off. The first couple miles were a flat, easy stroll along a 4wd road, which paralleled a stream down in a valley. The trail then made a big ascent up out of the valley to meet the CDT where San Luis Peak come into full view. It was beautiful!

We chugged along with our full backpacks across Bondholder Meadow to the east encountering streams, wildflowers, and occasional patches of snow. After going up and over a ridge, we entered into another vast, expansive alpine meadow and decided we would set up our camp here for the night. A fitting reward for the end of the day was about as fine a sunset as one could see. The temperature dropped with the fading light and we quickly ate our camp dinner and settled into our sleeping bags to try to catch a few hours of sleep.

At 5 am, we arose, quickly ate a light breakfast, and headed off for the mountain summit. We accessed the headwall spine just as the sun was rising. A wind started to pick up and my hands were cold. The remainder of the hike was a gradual walk-up ascent over scree and talus, occasionally passing big cairns to mark the trail. All told from camp, it took us a bit over an hour to get to the summit. The sky was blue with a few clouds and we paused for a few minutes to take in the 360 views of the wilderness below us.

The remainder of the morning was spent heading back down to the camp, repacking our backpacks, and then slowly hiking back out to the trailhead. We were able to get back to the jeep by noon.

If you are looking for a true outdoors adventure in what I can honestly say is one of the prettiest parts of the US I have ever been in, then give San Luis Peak a try. This was my 16th Colorado 14er so far. If I am lucky, I still have 37 more to go, but I just know San Luis Peak, and this trip, will retain a special connection with me.

Return to the Mountains

June 24, 2017 philturk 2 Comments

Today marked the first summer climb of 2017, and I’m grateful to report I summited Mount Sherman. This is my 15th Colorado 14,000′ mountain and I have 38 to go 🙂 My partner joining me was the young and dashing Hieu Nguyen. We both felt this was a steady, but relatively easy, climb of about 8 + miles and ~ 3,000 vertical feet of ascent. There were a couple patches of snow and ice that were easily traversed with an ice axe and micro-spikes.

I spent the past month in Beijing and had some terrific experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life. I saw historical sites I thought I would never see, reconnected with old friends and made new friends, and ate delicious ethnic food every day. The list goes on and on. Amidst all this, and as much as I enjoy travel, towards the end of the trip, there was a longing to go back home. Not my physical home; mind you, the home for my soul … the mountains.

If you have never gone on a hike on the mountains of Colorado in the summer, then you are missing out on a true spectacle of nature. The landscape comes alive with crystal clear streams, colorful fields of wildflowers, blue skies contrasting with remnant snowfields clinging to the shadowy sides of the mountains. There is a stillness that swallows you whole.

The truth of the matter is I can be happy living most anywhere and doing most anything. However, there is an indescribable joy and peace I feel when I am in the mountains. I enter into this place of rest where I feel free. The mountains do not care about what you do for a living, they do not judge you for failures from the past, and they don’t worry about what may or may not happen to you in the future. There is a sense of equanimity about the mountains. Everyone is equal in their eyes. Yes, you too can rest …

Quandary Peak, 2017

February 6, 2017 philturk Leave a comment

Yesterday provided me with the first opportunity to climb a 14er in the winter. This was to be my attempt at number 14 out of 53 of these precious gems of mountains. A winter climb adds a whole level of difficulty and preparation that has to be experienced to appreciate. Joining me was my friend Manijeh, a fit outdoors aficionado up to the challenge.

In the summer, Quandary Peak (14,265′) is a short, steep Class 1 hike. The East Ridge route is a 7-mile route with 3,450′ ascent. However, in the winter, the element of snow provides a good, hard day in the mountains. There is also some avalanche danger to be aware of.

We arrived at the trailhead around 7:00 am with the temperature hovering around 15 F. Almost right out of the parking lot, we donned snowshoes and began the winding ascent through the evergreen trees on a well-defined path. After about one mile the trail emerged from the trees, with the summit now appearing, and briefly leveled out before beginning a steeper ascent on to the top of the East Ridge. As the sun climbed up above the ridge line to the east, the wind began to markedly pick up.

The trail leveled off again on to the top of an ever-narrowing spine. On our left, there was a cornice with a very steep, dangerous drop-off. The snow was so windblown and hard packed, we could have easily worn crampons, instead of our bulkier snowshoes. This trail is touted as a good winter 14er climb; hence, we encountered several other backcountry skiers and hikers.

At last, the trail began a much steeper, 30 degree climb west towards the summit. I’d say there was a good 1,500′ of ascent packed into the last mile — ouch! Manijeh did a terrific job with a steady pace up the mountain, and even though the wind was intensifying and the wind chill biting, she never uttered a complaint.

Finally, after a false summit, we crested out and the summit post appeared. By now, the wind was an unabated 40 mph gale. Snow tornadoes were spiraling around us. We were only able to stay a brief while inspecting the landscape, a breathtakingly, beautiful contrast of white on black, peaks jutting into the sky as far as the eye could see. I managed to take a few pictures on my iPhone before my hand instantly became numb from the cold.

The trip back to the car was much quicker, at least by one hour. Altogether, it was a good, full 7-hour day. If you are looking for a true, winter adventure, then I would highly recommend Quandary Peak. You would be well served to make sure you check the weather and avalanche conditions before trying this. If all is well, you will have a truly memorable experience — I wish you the best of luck 🙂

Mount Lincoln, 2016

October 22, 2016 philturk Leave a comment

I was able to sneak in one last 14er climb before the snow starts falling. Hieu Nguyen and I threw this trip together at the last minute. We targeted Mount Lincoln, at 14,286′, located several miles northwest of Alma.

We decided to go at this from the East Slopes route. Altogether, it is about a 6-mile roundtrip with 2,650′ of elevation gain. I’d put this at a 2 or 3 out of a scale of 10. It is essentially a steep walk up an old mining road with a touch of Class 2 near the summit.

The road getting to the trailhead was a rocky mess and required some care to not tear the undercarriage of my Jeep to shreds. We arrived around 7:30 am and it was sunny and in the low 30s. Right away, the route started to climb a bowl between Mount Bross and Mount Lincoln, heading straight to the west. The wind began to blow and gust as we made easy work of the first mile or so.

The route then wheeled up and around a pronounced cliff and finally the summit came into view. We could see patches of snow here and there and the wind began to pick up even more. Fortunately, I had some winter gloves and was able to stave off the chill as long as we kept moving.

The last mile was a sharp ascent up to the tower-like summit. The last several hundred yards, Hieu and I were postholing through stretches of snow in our trail runners and the wind was now at a full industrial roar (40, 50 mph?). When we got to the summit, the wind chill was cold enough that we could only mill around for a minute or so before we decided to descend.

The walk back out was relatively easy. Again, the key here is to just stick to the old mining road. We were back at the car by 11:00 am and never saw another hiker all morning 🙂 I suspect that it is time for me to get my snowshoes and winter mountaineering gear ready! 13 down and 40 to go …

(One thing that I have decided to let go of is obeying the so-called “3,000′ rule” in my quest to climb all the 14ers. I’ll still stick to doing separate climbs for each 14er throughout my quest but it is not practical nor very much fun to impose some arbitrary minimum elevation gain on each of these climbs. For example, to have met the rule for Mount Lincoln this morning, we would have had to have parked back down on a county road, where it was illegal to do so, to get the extra couple hundred feet of elevation gain. And for what? To experience the “joy” of walking an extra 1/2 a mile on the county road to get to the trailhead?)

Mount Bross, 2016

October 3, 2016 philturk 2 Comments

Autumn is in full-swing, if not winding down. Over the past weekend, I had the opportunity to grab one more 14er before the snow would start to fall up in the mountains in earnest. Joining me on this trip were three international student/friends: Hieu Nguyen (Vietnam), Xiaoen Ding (China), and Amandeep Vashisht (India). For the latter two, this would be their first 14er.

We drove over to Fairplay the night before. Along the way, the aspen stands up on Kenosha Pass were bright yellow, the color intensified by the play of the sunset. The next morning was chilly, about 25 F, as we made the drive up the bumpy forest road to the Mount Bross trailhead, situated several miles northwest of Alma. We decided to climb Mount Bross via its east slope from the Mineral Park Mine. Climbing any 14er is hard but, with the exception of Mount Bierstadt, I would say this was as gentle an introduction to the sport as one could hope. Altogether, the route is about 9.5 miles of a Class 1 hike on an old mining road almost the whole way to the top. The elevation gain is about 3,000′, if not a bit less. Let’s give this a 2 out of 10 on a scale of difficulty for you mountaineers out there keeping score.

The weather was sunny and warmed to the mid-40s. We took our time as the mining road snaked and switchbacked up the east slope past several old, abandoned mining claims. The landscape was barren, rocky, and vast. For their first 14er, Amandeep and Xiaoen did a great job keeping a steady pace at the high altitude 🙂

Once near the top, the trail made a dogleg to the south and it was smooth sailing for several hundred meters up to the summit. From the summit, one can easily see two other 14ers, Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln (and its satellite peak Mount Cameron) in the Mosquito Range. We ate a snack, took some pictures, and enjoyed the magnificence of the Colorado landscape before starting our descent.

Few other people, great friends and conversation, and a nippy October day all combined to make this one fine Sunday …

Mount of the Holy Cross, 2016

September 5, 2016 philturk 2 Comments

Labor Day weekend offered the opportunity for me to tackle Mount of the Holy Cross, located near Minturn. Joining me for this trip was my friend Hieu Nguyen, who was attempting his first 14er.

Let me give you the specs on this climb for those that are interested. It is about a 12-mile roundtrip with a stout 5,500′ of ascent. Most of the route is Class 2 with some Class 3 on the final summit push. On my “14er difficulty scale”, I would give this a 6.

We set off from the trailhead around 6:00 am. Elk archery season had opened up and hunters were getting ready to enter the field for the day. The weather was overcast and rain squalls came and went over the course of the next 1.5 miles, a reasonable 1,000′ climb up Halfmoon Pass. Sunrise was gorgeous and contrasted vividly with the intermittent rain. Over the next mile, the trail dropped abruptly down to East Creek and continued its march to the west. We were offered amazing “Wow!” views of the mountain. It is this drop that makes this hike a moderate challenge, i.e., what lies ahead is over 3,500′ of ascent compressed in the remaining 2.5 miles to the summit.

The trail went straight up the northern ridge of the mountain, through the deciduous forest, before cresting the ridge. Here, we made a hard left turn and started up the ridge, quickly exiting the trees and hiking across a grass plain. By now, the weather had cleared a bit and the sunny was poking out. Zigzagging up the switch backs, we encountered more and more rocks and talus as the ascent became steeper. Our pace was slow, but steady.

The make-it or break-it point of the hike is the final push. After working around a massive bowl to gain an access point to the summit, you are faced with a steep 600′ climb over a boulder field, with patches of snow, to reach the goal. By now, Hieu was fighting through some painful cramps but with the summit so close and in sight, he made the decision to dig deep and push through it. I was real proud of him for not quitting. At the top, we snapped some pictures and refueled with food and water. The wind was howling and the temperature was in the 30s. I was keeping a weary eye on some clouds building to the south; we did not stay up there for long.

On the way down, we took our time so as not to get lost. My guidebook had warned this happens on ocassion among climbers so I was armed with my satellite tracker and had my Gaia GPS tracking our every move. Little bits of mountain rain hit us from time to time. Unfortunately, what goes down, must come up, at least in mountaineering parlance 🙂 Specifically, we had the 1,000′ climb back up Halfmoon Pass waiting for us. In fairness, it is spread out over 1.5 miles but it comes at a point in the hike where you want the day to be done. There is no other way out on this standard route. Surprisingly, we both felt, whether due to adrenaline or the desire to get more food and water back at the car, that this final stress test was not so bad. Then, it was smooth sailing all the way down to the car.

By the way, autumn is coming. I have noticed some aspen already changing to yellow, in addition to the snowfall up in the summits. In a few more weeks, autumn will be upon us. Congratulations to Hieu on his first 14er!

Snow??!!

August 28, 2016 philturk Leave a comment

I feel like I managed to dodge a small bullet today. I was successful in bagging my 10th ’14er’, Mount Democrat at 14,148′, but it didn’t come easy. While this mountain is probably a 2 on a difficulty scale of 1-to-10, the weather conditions were the wildcard.

The morning started out uneventful. I had to park a couple of miles shy of the Kite Lake trailhead in order to obey the 3,000′ rule. It had been spitting drops of rain on-and-off before the sunrise. As I walked up the gentle ascent of the road, I’d say the temperature was in the mid-40s. There were many cars at the trailhead by the time I arrived.

After Kite Lake is when the real work begins in this climb. You have about 2,200′ of elevation gain compressed in the space of 2 miles. The trail heads straight north across a few creeks and a large meadow. I was quite surprised to see Mount Democrat and the surrounding mountains in the Mosquito Range dusted with snow — this is August! The clearly defined trail then starts to ascend quickly, switching back and forth up to the saddle.

Once at the saddle, the temperature had dropped markedly. I could see storm clouds building to the south. Taking a sharp left turn, I began the heading up the east slope of the mountain. The trail was not as defined and consisted of hard-packed snow and glare ice. If I had brought along my Kahtoola Microspikes, then this would have presented no challenge whatsoever. However, in my La Sportiva trail runner shoes, the footing was tenuous, if not treacherous. I tried, when possible, to walk on the talus alongside the trail. Had the trail been any more exposed, I would not have gone on.

Finally, I crested the ridgeline and could see the final push to the summit, about 1/4 mile in the distance. By now, the wind had picked up and it was starting to lightly snow in earnest. I made it up to the summit, snapped a few pictures, choked down a granola bar chased with a 5-Hour Energy Shot, and got the hell out of there.

Coming down was balancing act of being careful not to take a fall on the snow and ice versus my desire to beat the inclement weather. I lost elevation quickly and breathed a sigh of relief when I made it out onto the saddle. From here, it was smooth sailing down to Kite Lake. Yet, the snow turned to rain … a steady, freezing rain. I stopped to put on my Patagonia shell and I put a shell over my pack. Looking back up at the summit of Mount Democrat, it was completely shrouded in clouds. Other hikers, discouraged and turned back by the weather, were milling about at the trailhead. The last 2 miles to my Jeep were done essentially at a trot through the cold rain.

As I write this, it is sunny and 84 in Fort Collins. Hard to believe the extreme difference. The moral of the story is that these are the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. They obey no strict guidelines for weather and seasons and do not always tolerate lack of preparation. Mount Democrat kindly gave me a summit today and I humbly accepted.