New Places and Plans
Leaving California, I decided to head for Colorado instead of New Mexico. Wheeler Peak in New Mexico had a long stretch of good weather forecast, so I though it would be best to go get Mt Elbert in Colorado right away while there was relatively good weather forecast there for Thursday. After Thursday it didn't look that great for Elbert.
So on Tuesday I said goodbye to Mom and I drove towards northeastern Arizona, spending as much time as possible off the interstates. I went through the Joshua Tree and 29 Palms area; endless miles of empty desert. I did stumble across two Marine Corps Ospreys (V-22 tilt-rotors) out in the middle of the desert, and I watched them take off and fly around. I've never seen an Osprey in person, so that was pretty neat.
The temperatures along this stretch were very high, ranging from the low 100's all the way up to 116 degrees. Ouch. I did see one nutty guy apparently doing some bicycle touring in 110 degree heat, and that did not look pleasant.
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| AC on full blast |
I went through Needles and took the interstate to Kingman, where I jumped onto old Route 66. After leaving the Kingman area, Route 66 got more and more beautiful as I headed east. It was a fantastic drive, and I was unhappy to have to return to the intersate a bit west of Williams.
I had an okay steak dinner in a touristy steak house in Williams (where many of the Grand Canyon's visitors stay), and then got back on the road.
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| Meh Steak House |
At Flagstaff I jumped off the interstate for good and headed northeast. I got to Kayenta, Arizona, near Monument Valley, a bit before midnight, and I took the gravel road off the highway to the edge of Kayenta's little municipal airport. I parked in an out-of-the-way spot next to the airport fence and slept there in my car for the night. I didn't want to spend a hundred bucks for less than 8 hours in a motel. Showering is overrated anyway.
I was up at 7 on Wednesday and I got some crappy McDonald's coffee in town to de-groggify myself. It's either that or Burger King--Kayenta is not a big place. I then took advantage of being close to the four corners area to visit that monument (tourist trap), and also to drive by the impressive 1,583 foot high Shiprock before turning north and heading up to Cortez, Colorado.
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| Obligatory Four Corners Selfie |
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| Yep, that's the spot |
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| Shiprock |
I cruised through southern Colorado, going to areas I've never had the opportunity to visit before, and then headed north towards Leadville. The valley north of Pagosa Springs is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen. Spectacular.
I made it to Leadville in time for dinner, and then I found a motel. After all the changes and cancellations on this trip, I'm done with reservaations. I'm playing it by ear in each town.
Leadville is at roughly 10,000 feet elevation, so spending the night there was good acclimitazation for the day to come on Mt Elbert.
I was up before 4 AM on Thursday, and I headed for the Mt Elbert trailhead about 20 miles southwest of Leadville.
The Mt Elbert trail starts at 10,000 feet, and goes to the summit at nearly 14,500 feet. Elbert is Colorado's highest mountain, and the second highest mountain in the lower 48. I knew this was going to be a very difficult hike, and it made me a little nervous.
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| One Tough Hike |
I was expecting to be huffing and puffing on the trail pretty quickly with the altitude and the relatively heavy pack where I carried my just-in-case cold weather gear, but it really wasn't bad for the first couple of miles, and I made decent time. I stopped for a break and to eat some cheese crackers, and the Gray Jays came up and ate out of my hand. They are bold little beggars.
Then at around 12,000 feet, the altitude kicked in. It slowed me down considerably and made my stomach churn. I had trouble drinking, even just plain water, and I couldn't eat anything. I had to completely loosen my waist belt on my pack and carry the full load on my shoulder straps because the belt pressure made me more nauseous.
Elbert's trail is grueling, and there were a multitude of false summits, raising and destroying the hopes of hikers who wanted to get to the top. It seemed to go on forever. The slopes were littered with hikers like me, struggling to maintain any sort of pace and stopping frequently to catch our breath. I expected it to be difficult, but I underestimated how difficult it would be.
Finally, after nearly 6 hours of rock-hopping, I made it to the summit. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, but a cold wind was howling so I got some video and snapped some selfies before hunkering down behind a rock windbreak for a rest.
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| Just above treeline, looking up at the first false summit |
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| The light-colored aspens look great in the fall |
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| Mount Massive to the northwest |
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| I thought the rockpile would be the summit, but no... |
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| The summit is up over there |
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| Looking northwest from the summit |
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| Summit Selfie |
I headed down after 20 minutes or so on the summit, and down was just as hard as up. It just went faster with the gravity assist. Fortunately, even though the trail was extremely rocky and rugged, I did not destroy my feet and they're in pretty good shape, so I'll be ready for another hike after a couple of days' rest.
The descent only took 3 hours, and I was pretty happy at being successful and with the whole experience in general. It would be bad to come so far only to fail.
I then drove 5 hours to Taos, New Mexico, where I am resting for 2 days before trying Wheeler Peak just to the north of Taos. Wheeler is slightly easier (on paper) than Elbert, with only 3,100 feet of climbing to a 13,200 foot summit. The last 2,000 feet are brutally steep, though, so we'll see how that goes.
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| The Climb to Wheeler Peak in New Mexico |
From here, I'm still looking at mountain weather forecasts, but I think my best bet may be to go back to Boundary Peak in Nevada for another try, and I can do some touring and see some stuff on the way there. Stay tuned...
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