Adventures over 14,000 feet...

Enough of the winter snowpack has finally melted in the high-country, enabling us to grab our hiking shoes instead of snowshoes and start back on conquering the 14ers. There are about 54 of these 14,000+ ft. peaks in Colorado, give or take a few, depending on whom you talk to.

After this week, we've got 18 of them under our belt. 18 sounds like a good number, until I realize that we still have 36 to go-yikes!
We took HAM down to Poncha Springs on Wednesday night, and camped out on a Forest Service road, about 5 miles from the trail head for Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache.
Every time we're in HAM, I realize why a truck camper is SO much better than a tent...For example, an epic thunderstorm rolled through about an hour after we got there. In a tent, miserable. In HAM, we cooked dinner and played cards!

We got up at 5am to start our bid for Shavano and Tabeguache. These peaks are typically linked together, if you have the time and energy for a double summit. The fog was thick in the morning, but it lifted as we got above 13,000 feet and the view was amazing. I haven't seen anything like it, except when I've been in an airplane...

Worth getting up at 5am for!

 

We reached the saddle and actually had to consult the map to see which way the summit of Shavano was! The trail was not especially well marked...At 14,229 ft. we were on the top! One down, one to go...

Hal on Shavano, with Tabeguache in the background



Once we snapped the photo on Shavano, we headed down a ridge, roughly 500 feet, before climbing back up to reach Tabeguache. This peak had a bit more snow, and I followed closely as Hal cut in footholds for us in the wet spring snow. At 14,155 feet we were on top of Tabeguache.

 

Sometimes being above 14,000 ft. makes your face look funny!

Though the views were stunning, we quickly headed back the way we came, worried that Miss Delta Rose wouldn't make it over eight hours of being left in the camper!

All told, the two summits took us seven and a half hours to complete, covering a little over 11 miles and totaling 5,287 ft. of elevation gain. Another reason it's great to have a truck camper is that you can shower and collapse after a hard day!

 

After resting for a few hours, we packed up camp and drove north to Nathrop, CO. We drove down the Mt. Princeton road and made camp roughly seven miles from our next goal, Mt. Antero.

This peak was supposed to be easier, because it was just one summit and it was on the second day....

Well, the 4WD road to the trail head was so beat up that we had to walk an extra 5 miles round trip just to get to the start of the hike! I would highly recommend either using a motorcycle to get to the trail head or walking, because it's going to take as long in your truck, and your insides will be so jostled that you'll be too beat to do the hike!

 

Mt. Antero is completely different from Shavano and Tabeguache, even though they are close together and in the same mountain range. Antero has been and still is being mined for aquamarine (my birthstone) and topaz, and possibly other minerals as well. I know it seems strange to personify a mountain, but Antero just seemed tired. Tired of being mined and dug into, tired of having countless jeeps and motorcycles drive up its slopes....

 

Even though there is a 'road' going up to almost the summit, it made the hike no easier. The spring run-off was so high that it was pouring down the road, making it difficult to stay dry. And the road itself was so rough and covered in rocks that walking was downright dangerous. My neck was sore at the end of the day because I spent so much time looking down and watching my footing!

 

We decided to bring Delta with us on this hike, and she enjoyed the outing! Instead of following the road the whole way up, we decided to take a 'short-cut' straight uphill, mostly on some leftover snow.

 

Looking down on what we just came up!



Turns out old crusty snow is no good for little Chihuahua feet, so this is how Delta handled the remainder of the day...

Getting a ride!



The road stops above 13,000 ft. and you have to take a rocky, exposed ridge line the rest of the way to the summit. I don't know if I was tired, or because it was so windy, or because there was a lot of exposure, but I was a bit nervous on the final climb. We made it safe and without incident, but I was happy to be coming back down. Our 'easy' day turned into an eight and a half hour, 14 mile adventure, with about 5,000 feet of elevation gain.

 

Possibly the Clark Family Christmas photo?!



 



It never ceases to amaze me how different each peak can be. The previous day, on Shavano & Tabeguache, I felt like a million bucks! Life was awesome, climbing 14ers was awesome!

Then on Antero, the return hike seemed to take forever and I swear the truck moved itself further down the trail and away from us. Always fun to look back on my emotions/experiences a few days later...

 

So now we have 36 to go, not to mention planning and preparing for our biggest event of the summer-the Colorado Trail! We will be leaving in late July, stay tuned for updates!