The Highest Family in Colorado - (Mt. Elbert)
My wife and I recently tackled Mt. Elbert, the highest 14er in Colorado. If you are planning on hiking Elbert, be warned: There are a lot of false summits. We kept thinking, “oh this is not as big as I thought it would be.” And then there would be another peak behind it. It was a little chilly and a consistent climb, but well worth the effort, (As all Colorado 14ers are) -
We drove up the night before and set up an inflatable mattress in the back of my Nissan Frontier. It was a very, very cold night. I stayed warm in our double sleeping bag, but Whitney didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. We woke up when it was still dark, and temperature in the single digits (F) and began our ascent. I got very warm very fast and had to shed a few layers. Watson, our Golden Retriever, is obsessed with mountains and water, so he led the way, stopping in every stream and river along the trail. He also really enjoys sticks, and always looks for the 10 foot tree stumps to carry up the trail, side swiping us and showing us his power.
The trail was gorgeous the whole way. I read that you can mountain bike this trail...if you’re insane. Seriously that would be the most brutal climb. I think I’d have a lot of fun on the way down, but climbing that seems like only something a superhuman could do. We finished our hike and took the long 3 hour drive back to Colorado Springs and crashed hard. All in all a great day of hiking. 12 down, 46 to go!
