Oh my goodness, this was one of the prettiest hikes I’ve ever done. The forecast was perfect, so we slept in; no 4 AM wake-up for us! Actually, we went to bed not knowing if we were going to hike at all on this day because it would be three days of hiking in a row. We couldn’t not hike with the weather being perfect.
We parked right before the road got too risky for the SUV we were renting. Even with our own SUV, I don’t think we would have risked it. The first pic is at the parking lot. The other pic is from farther up.
On the road walk.On the road looking left. Mountains abound!Finally at the trailhead. The road walk to this point was about 1.7 miles.Heading into the woods. They’re so beautiful, I didn’t want to leave.Soon after the start of the hike there’s an easy water crossing. This is looking back after going over it.A view to keep you moving.Pretty gradual trail with lots of switchbacks.Go up the stairs to a gorgeous view.The gorgeous view.There’s the summit of Huron Peak, though you have quite a bit of trail and elevation gain until you’re there.Switchbacks through a grassy area with wildflowers in bloom. We saw lots of marmots and a couple pika.The trail is getting rougher, but you still have switchbacks.The rest of the ascent is gravel, scree, and talus. I hate gravel. It’s also the steepest part. This section is what makes this a class-2 hike.No more switchbacks.Follow the ridge up now. On the way down I grabbed some snow from this spot and was going to throw it at John, who was WAY ahead of me on the descent (he doesn’t get scared of going down steep gravel like me). I decided not to do this because he was at a tricky spot, using his hands to stabilize himself. I didn’t want to be responsible for a potentially bad situation.There were two mountains goats to greet us on the summit. How nice!On the summit. Notice the shaggy/shedding mountain goat behind us.View from the summit facing north.View from the summit facing west.Okay, this was concerning. The goats were following me, and they were A LOT faster than me, especially since I was creating a switchback situation of my own to level out the steep gravel section, kind of like how I ski down a mountain. Curious boogers!Returning the way we came. The switchbacks are noticeable. I used my poles on the descent from the summit until back to treeline.Okay, here’s the situation with this guy. He kept moving closer to me as I was talking to him. He got close enough to me that I slowly extended my hiking pole, and it kind of swatted the pole with its right front paw and bit it a little. It never ran away, but, eventually, we had to say goodbye.View looking east, almost back in the trees.
The woods were even nicer on going down. Half way to the car on the road walk we stopped at a stream that ran parallel. I rinsed off my legs, and I had to scrub to remove the dirt and grim. It was numbingly cold, so I didn’t go in all the way. I finished my Gatorade before we arrived at the car. I highly recommend ALWAYS bringing some on any 14,000′ hike; I think it helps me mitigate the effects of the altitude. You’re welcome for the advice. 🙂
For dinner we stopped in Buena Vista. The line was out the door for the Simple Eatery, so we left to check out another place, but returned and waited a VERY long time. It was worth it!
Adventuring with Mel and John 