Two Weeks of Colorado Hiking Heaven

From Sunday July 5 through Friday July 17th, with both of my kids at overnight camps, I took the opportunity to do some serious hiking around this fine state. The first week would involve 14er hikes in the San Juans by Lake City and Ouray, while the second week would involve peaks and lakes in the Indian Peaks and Rocky Mountain National Park areas in the Front Range. This post details the highlights of those hikes.

Total miles - 78.12
Total duration - 44 hrs, 38 mins
Total elevation gained - 25,028 feet

July 6th - Uncompahgre Peak

7.58 miles, 3,686 feet gained

My 18th 14er summit, done with Laura Chren, Kim Styles and Nicole Smathers.

July 7 - Handies Peak
5.29  miles, 2,541 feet gained

My second time summiting this peak. Hiked with Nicole, Kim and Laura.

July 8 - Wetterhorn Peak

4.70 miles, 1,669 feet gained

No pictures this day. The hike was rained out and the summit was not reached. Hiked with Nicole.

July 10 - Mt. Sneffels

3.68 miles, 1,885 feet gained

This summit was not reached either, but I did get a few pictures on the way. Hiked with Nicole.

July 11 - Cannon Mountain

2.30 miles, 656 feet gained

Kathy and I saw a trail head near our house above Jamestown and explored it on this day. It took us up to 8,615 foot tall Cannon Mountain with some nice overlooks of Longs Peak. A short wooded hike, no pictures on this day. Hiked with Kathy.

July 12 - Bluebird Lake

13.68 miles, 3,007 feet gained

This is a longer hike from Wild Basin. Without the kids or a dog to worry about, we set out to find this alpine lake at the base of Copeland and Ouzel Peaks. We also checked out Ouzel Lake, Ouzel Falls and Calypso Cascades while carefully dodging moose along the trail. Hiked with Kathy.

July 13 - Deer Mountain

10.60 miles, 3,029 feet gained

This was a last minute decision for a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. A wooded hike with a great overlook of Estes Park and the RMNP big peaks. We opted to hike the longer loop rather than the up and back route. Hiked with Kathy.

July 14th - Blue Lake

5.39 miles, 1,041 feet gained

This hike originates in the Brainerd Lake recreational area. It is a relatively short but incredibly beautiful hike to an alpine lake surrounded by Pawnee Peak, Mt. Toll, Paiute Peak and Mt. Audubon. Hiked with Kathy.

 

July 15th - Pawnee Peak

10.32 miles, 3,130 feet gained

While it is true I am on a mission to climb as many 14ers as I can, I am also just as interested in climbing as many of the major Indian Peaks mountains as I can as well. Pawnee Pass leads up to an easy opportunity to summit 12,943 foot Pawnee Peak, and although it was completely clouded over when we got there, we summited it anyway. Hiked with Kathy.

 

 July 16th - Sky Pond

10.73 miles, 3,053 feet gained

I had heard great things about this RMNP hike and was especially interested to see the steep scramble up Timberline Falls to Glass Lake just below Sky Pond. We left from the Glacier Gorge trail head before 7 AM and saw very few people along the way. We even managed to have the lake to ourselves for about 15 minutes before the later starters began to arrive. We hiked back past Lake Haiyaha and passed hundreds of tourists as we made our way back around Dream and Nymph Lakes.

July 17th - Lily Mountain

3.85 miles, 1,331 feet gained

Our last day of hiking, we were looking for something relatively close and short. 9,786 foot Lily Mountain, just north of the Longs Peak trail head, fit the bill. It was only a couple miles to the summit, but the last mile was where most of the elevation was gained, and the last 100 yards included some good scrambling. Great views of Longs Peak, the Twin Sisters and Estes Park. Hiked with Kathy.

This is how Kathy and I celebrated our birthdays (July 18 and 23) and anniversary (July 9), and it was great to explore so much of Colorado with her and some good friends over the past couple of weeks. So much more to see...I love this state.