14'er bagging in Colorado with Helen

Jun 2007

Helen and I hike up McCullough Gulch and climb Mt Quandary's West Ridge then descend the east side for a round trip. Then we head south to camp at the trailhead for Mount Lindsey..

We climb Mount Lindsey's Northwest Ridge and descend the same way. Next we drive around the south end of the Sangre de Cristo range to San Luis State Park, near the Great Sand Dunes, to camp and witness an amazing sunset.

We get an early start to beat the heat and hike up the 4WD-only road to Lake Como. We rest and fend off hungry marmots the rest of the day.

Our first goal is Ellingwood Point via that mountain's southwest ridge. Then we traverse over to Blanca Peak and descend past Crater Lake.

After a night of rain we skip an attempt on Little Bear and hike out to refuel in Alamosa. We then haul our backpacks up to Willow Lake, one of the most beautiful spots we've ever seen.

We climb up Challenger Point and meet up with Jim, another climber to tackle Kit Carson Peak. We have to struggle across icy snow patches using stone tools to carve steps, but we make the top. We descend back over top of Challenger then rest up at Willow Lake before hiking out.

Rest Day: Absolutely nothing of consequence happens.

Well rested we tackle Colorado's second highest peak, Mount Massive. We ascend via the southeast ridge with excellent views of Elbert and other peaks to the west, then we descend the normal route.