What does it look like from the top of a fourteener?

I finally did a fourteener.  This past week I climbed to the top of Mount Massive from the North Halfmoon trail head.  This is the shorter but steeper route to the top.  The people in my group who have gone the other way said this side was much more interesting.  I'll have to agree since we had amazing views, tons of wild flowers, and many, many marmot sightings.

We left the house at around 4:30 am and began hiking at 6:40 am to beat any bad afternoon weather.  The sun was just starting to shine on the far mountains.

There were a couple of water crossings on the way up and down. 

We reached the top at 9:59 am.

Besides the views from the top 

(views of Leadville)

the marmot convention that was happening on the way down was by far the most interesting part of the hike. These guys reminded me of the ground hog in Caddyshack. They just didn't seem real.

Wildflowers were everywhere and you had lots of time to take pictures as you were gulping for air.

Columbine

 Chiming Bells

 Sky Pilot

 Columbine

 Indian Paint Brush

 Purple Fringe Flower

 Indian Paintbrush and Purple Fringe Flower

 King's Crown

 Forget Me Not

 Aster

Columbine

Hike: Mount Massive

Trails Used:  Trail from North Halfmoon Trailhead

Distance: 8.05 miles

Difficulty: Difficult
Overall average: 1.3 mph
Overall Time: 6 hrs, 5 min
Total Ascent: 3887 ft.

A cabin in the woods...it sounds like the beginnings of a horror story!

 

Instead it was a fun filled day and night!  The family all snowshoed to a cabin in the woods @ Tennessee Pass.  Our cabin slept 8 people and was well equipped (stove, 

 

fireplace, cistern water, solar powered refrigerator, grill, games, blocks, high chair, pack n play, sleds, outhouse).  We strapped on our snowshoes, hefted our heavy back packs, 

 

attached the sled (carrying important supplies),

 

and began our hike in.  It was only about .7 miles to the cabin with a slight uphill tendency.  My little man made it with no problems. 

 

 We melted snow to cook and drink with.

 

A beer or two was consumed that evening.

We took a couple of snowshoes on the Powder Horn trail and the Tree Line trail.  It was very peaceful.

 

It 's a good thing the snow was covering everything and I wasn't tempted to pick up objects from the ground.  Boom!

 

There were two other cabins around us and various other buildings:

 

 

We boiled a lot of water.  Melting snow doesn't equate to much water so we did have to haul quite a few buckets in.  We had sloppy joes and coleslaw for dinner, popcorn for a snack and eggs in a bag for breakfast in the morning.  This was something our friend's had showed us a long time ago on a camping trip.  These were nice since I was able to make each person's eggs to their desired taste.  The day before I read on the web that Ziploc does NOT endorse putting their bags in boiling water but I decided to take my chances since I didn't die the previous time I did it.  The only thing that I needed to remember was to not let the bags touch the edge of the pot (they burn and melt).

I was pleased with the result!

The outhouse was a small walk from the cabin but covered.

Everyone had a great time.  The kids loved rustling around in their sleeping bags and playing in the snow. Everything is always an adventure for them!

Hike: Point Breeze Cabin
Trails Used: Continental Divide Trail
Distance: .73 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 1.3 mph
Overall Time: 45 min
Total Ascent: 181 ft.

 

 

Hike: Powderhorn Trail
Trails Used: Powderhorn Trail to Continental Divide
Distance: 2.91 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 1.8 mph
Overall Time: 1 hr., 37 mins.
Total Ascent: 454 ft.

 

Hike: Tree Line Trail
Trails Used: Tree Line to Continental Divide
Distance: 1.86 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.0 mph
Overall Time: 56 min
Total Ascent: 340 ft.