Tuesday, August 16, 2011

fourteener time!

this past weekend marty, myself, and our friends jarrid and liz headed over to minturn, colorado to backpack and summit mount of the holy cross.  after a couple hours in the truck we pulled onto the dirt road to see a huge gate blocking our drive and prohibiting us to continue.  road closed due to logging is what the sign read.  we sat there for a while in confusion and then decided where we should detour.  we drove about 30 minutes more to leadville to conquer mt. massive.  we found a great campsite right by the creek, had a good hike in and fun first night, and a good night's sleep in order to rise early and hike to the summit.  we left camp at about 7:15 and reached the summit at 11:45.  the hike was absolutely beautiful and we could not have asked for more perfect weather.  accomplishing our first fourteener felt pretty sweet and we can't wait to do another one!

the crew
mount massive 14,421 feet 
 Mt. Massive is the second highest peak in Colorado and the third highest in the 48 states, exceeded only by California's Mt. Whitney and its near neighbor, Mt. Elbert
pretty moss and flowers as we hiked up


family of mountain goats just relaxing near the top

views from the summit... and what was even cooler about the views is that they were of our valley where we live!
we made it!

we made it and so did the puppies poco and clancy!



fourteen thousand some feet can make one a bit silly:)