This new weather cycle only slightly dampened our weekend peak-bagging plans, we ticked another 14er off the list, and finally did Ouray and Chipeta Peaks. We left Thursday evening after yoga and drove to Marshall Pass, an old railroad grade that crosses the continental divide just south of Monarch Pass. We had the most delightful campsite ever, saw a few bunnies and a fox on the drive in and awakened to a shiny glorious high alpine morning, full of coffee, granola and eggs.
We cruised up Ouray Peak, a hair under 14,000 feet, then descended to Chipeta in a windy cold hour or two, before the sun burst out again and warmed us up on the Colorado Trail back to the car. If you want to read about Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta, click here. Here is a photo of JC on the approach to Ouray:
...and me on the summit...
Look at those peaks in the background. Endless terrain to explore and slay.
I was kind of struggling that day, not feeling super strong, thinking about how much catch-up I have to do in the summer compared to my ski mountaineer friends who spend all winter at altitude, skinning and skiing above treeline. My legs are strong but my lungs were not quite pulling their weight!
We moved on that afternoon, descended the Atlantic side of the continental divide, ended up in historic Salida, sipping a cup of tea and coffee in a coffee shop until hunger drove us onward to the Mount Princeton Trailhead.
We got a great campsite, which we suspect are typically in short supply, and the amount of rain that fell overnight perhaps explained why we lucked out. My sleeping pad has been leaking and after night #2 of sleeping pretty much on the ground, my ribs, hips and shoulders were tender. But not to be deterred from awakening at first light and launching an assault on Princeton, where we hiked completely enshrouded in clouds, visibility rarely more than 100 feet the entire time.
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| Uh, has anyone seen the summit?
We almost walked off the side of the mountain on our descent, not really but kind of, in an attempt to find our way. Slightly disappointing to have zero views but also kind of peaceful to be in a cloud all morning.
Back at the campsite we snacked and drank tea in the tent, JC sitting in his low rider camp chair and me snoozling on two Therma-Rests, two sleeping bags and two pillows. From hiking in a cloud to lounging on a cloud! That is, until JC rained on my parade and reclaimed his sleeping bag to drape over his legs. So lame.
We rousted ourselves and moved to the Antero Trailhead, after obtaining duct tape for me to attempt a third patch of my air mattress. Spoiler alert: it failed and I awakened on Sunday after fitful sleep and sore bones. My task this week is to find and fix leak or buy a new Therma-Rest.
Anyway, the weather forecasts had been changing by the hour and we finally pieced it together that summiting Antero from the east required twice as much distance and time as we had originally thought. This combined with the draw of Ziggy Marley playing in town park in the evening, plus the lure of a quiet and relaxing Sunday morning resulted in us deciding against Antero that day, a decision that was not easy to make nor did it seem the best when the weather changed and the sun streamed out after our Plan B hike that brought us back to the car before noon. On the drive back towards Monarch Pass we saw that clouds had moved in and Antero was getting completely inundated and pummeled with rain. Meh. Make a decision and stand by it, right?
We paused in Gunnison for a coffee and sitting on a bench watching the world go by, a favorite activity of ours, letting the minutes tick by and making speculations about every passer-by. It's fun to guess about people, based solely on their appearance and behavior. People are fascinating. The roads were terrifying on our drive: huge trucks pulling huge RVs pulling huge boats, all loaded with ATVs, kayaks, bikes and motorcycles. Then you see a Prius and think, why bother?
And then here we are, back home with the clouds lifting, riding our bikes to Town Park and having a delightful time watching Bob Marley's son play a beautiful set of reggae music. I didn't have high expectations of the event or the music but we were both pleasantly surprised by his voice, his band, the song selection and the overall feel of the event. Nice group of friends too.
Anyway, my advice to anyone living here: get up and get out early before you get soaked. There are still trails to be hiked, run or biked and peaks to be summited. You can always nap in the afternoon on a pile of bedding in your tent.
Here is one last photo of Princeton, a moment of clarity before the clouds moved back in:  |
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