Summer snapshot #2

I have two favorite experiences from Summer 2013. I blogged about one yesterday (One Direction concert) but my other?

It was this!

Hiking another 14er--Mount Bierstadt--with my neighborhood friends!

SO. MUCH. FUN!

It was my fourth 14er and I am SUPER DUPER proud of that! 

John and I both laugh because he never thought I'd be this much of a mountain girl. When he married me 23 years ago, I was as girly as they come. Colorado has changed me. I love this place so, so much and it has brought out a side of me I never knew existed. 

More photos...

It started raining on our drive to the trailhead and was still raining when we got there. So yucky. I think we all secretly wanted to back out. I know I did.

Super muddy trail.

The views were beautiful but were obscured by clouds most of the day.

It was pretty cold at the top...I wore pants plus 2-3 upper layers all day long and a wool cap. It was July 28. I made that sign I'm holding; I got the idea from a sign that someone left at the top of Torrey's Peak when I hiked that one last fall. 

Mount Bierstadt has a cool geological marker at the top. And in the geo-cache cylinder there was a paper you could "sign-in" on so of course we all had to leave our autographs.

We didn't have much sun the whole day but when the clouds cleared enough for us to see it was beautiful!

This was us at the bottom with Mount Bierstadt behind us. And the photo below makes me laugh EVERY. SINGLE. TIME I see it. I think my feet must have been lead at that point. Smile.

It was a great day with great friends and we made a fantastic memory together. I have plans to do two more 14ers in the next several weeks. It's an exhilarting experience. I'm quite hooked.

Details I want to remember!

4:45 AM - departed from home

6:45 AM - arrived at trailhead (and the road to the trailhead was GREAT!) 

7:00 AM - started hiking

We summited Bierstadt at 10AM. We took short, small breaks along the way, mostly to strip rain gear or layers and once to have a snack. 

We stayed at the summit about 30 minutes taking pictures, snacking, chatting, etc.

10:30AM - began our descent

12:30PM - returned to the parking lot

Starting elevation: 11,700 feet

Trail length: 7 miles round trip