Posts Tagged ‘San Juan Mountains’

Newer Entries »

Mountaineering – San Juan Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Day 3

Saturday, August 17th, 2013

Day 3 of SJPBE did not start out very well. It was raining at 4:30am. So we slowly got things ready while it was raining. We were not excited about hiking in the rain. Finally, around 6am, it cleared up a little and became just a slight sprinkle.

Good enough! We charged down the road; two girls on a mission. We had no idea how our day would go, we just knew it would be a good day!

Summit of Redcloud Peak (14,034 ft) Erin All Fired Up on Redcloud Peak (14,034 ft)
Clare and Erin all fired up on Redcloud!

Erin and Clare Walking on Sunshine (14,001 ft)
We’re Walking on Sunshine…Yeaaaaah!

Clare on Summit of Pt 13,832
On Summit of Pt. 13,832 (A Centennial) with Sunshine and Redcloud behind me.

Redcloud, Sunshine, Pt 13,832 Topo Map
Map of Approximate Route

Redcloud, Sunshine, and Pt 13,832 Elevation Profile
Elevation Profile showing 15 miles total with 6,300 ft of elevation gain. Whew!

(more…)

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – San Juan Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Day 2

Friday, August 16th, 2013

Erin and Clare on Summit of Jones Mountain (13,860 ft)
All Smiles on Summit of Jones Mountain (13,860 ft). The Grenadier Mountains are behind us!

Jones Mountain Topo Map
Topo Map, with our approximate route.

Jones Mountain Elevation Profile
Elevation Profile, showing our gain of ~2,000 ft with a distance of 4.25 miles. We left high camp at 12,400 ft, hiked to the summit of Jones Peak, and then back to the truck at 11,400 ft.

Then, we moved the truck to the Grizzly Gulch Trailhead to secure our camping spot for that night. As it was a Friday, we wanted to get to Grizzly Gulch before the masses from grasslands arrived.

(more…)

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – San Juan Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Day 1

Thursday, August 15th, 2013

Today our schedule for the day was to climb Handies Peak (I also did the bonus bi-centennial, Pt 13,795) and then set up base camp (somewhere above 12,400 ft) in American Basin. We had a great day and it went exactly as planned.

Summit of Handies Peak (14,048 ft)
On the summit of Handies Peak (14,048 ft)

Clare on Summit of Pt 13,795
On the summit of bonus Bi-Centennial, Pt. 13,795

Handies Peak and Pt. 13,795 Topo Map
The Topo Map, with our approximate route and camp spot.

Handies Peak and Pt 13,795 Elevation Profile
The Elevation Profile, for Handies and the bonus point, showing 4,900 ft of gain with 9.5 miles.

(more…)

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – San Juan Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Drive Out

Wednesday, August 14th, 2013

The San Juan mountains of Colorado have some of the most rugged, remote, and beautiful peaks. Erin and I wanted to try our hand at bagging several summits in one long weekend. Our three day schedule was jam packed:
Day 1: Handies Peak (With optional Bi-Centennial Pt. 13,795)
Day 2: American, Jones, and Niagara (As many as we could get of these!)
Day 3: Redcloud and Sunshine (With optional Centennials Pt. 13,832 and Pt. 13,811)

Thus, on a Wednesday, I drove to Erin’s and we filled Bertha with mountaineering gear, coolers, beer, and camp chairs. We were both giddy with excitement; to get the heck out of Denver and into the mountains.

Road to American Basin
Bertha on Cinnamon Pass Road

(more…)

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Newer Entries »