San Luis Peak: 14,014 feet

Today Brad and I climbed a mountain! In Colorado there are over 50 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet tall. They have been named "fourteeners". There's also plenty of peaks over 13,000 feet, but they get no attention. Who knows why?

Anyway, Brad has climbed two fourteeners previously, but I never have so we wanted to do one together. We dropped Cora off with Mom and Dad B. in Montrose on Monday and drove to the Stewart Creek trail head. We camped there for the night and got up at 5:30 this morning. After enjoying a few more minutes of warmth in our sleeping bags (it was 42 degrees outside) we packed up camp, ate breakfast and started hiking at 6:20.

It was 6.5 miles from the trail head to the summit. We started around 10,500 ft and summited at 14,014 ft. For the most part, the trail is a slow, steady climb. There were only a few sections that were steep, but nothing even as steep as climbing to the top of the basin at the cabin! So the trip to the top seemed pretty easy and steady. We enjoyed the sights along the trail: a number of beaver ponds, one beaver swimming around (burrr!), purple pine cones, the bubbling brook (Stewart Crk) and tons of wildflowers. We also saw a couple elk from a distance, marmots, pikas, chipmunks, birds, and butterflies. It was a really beautiful trail.

We took two snack breaks on the way up and summited at 10:45 am. We took it easy and really enjoyed the hike up. We spent an hour at the summit, enjoying the amazing view of the Rocky mountains from above. After a sandwich and some gorp we headed back down the trail. It was less fun than going up, since all the excitement of reaching the top was over. We arrived back at the car and headed home around 2:30.

It was amazing being on the top of a mountain and looking around seeing hundreds more mountain peaks in every direction. It's a humbling reminder of how small a part we are of God's creation, and what a gift this beautiful earth is for us. Just getting to the peak was such an exhilarating feeling. I hope to be able to do another fourteener some day!

Here's a link to more pictures on Facebook.