What I got out of the trip was the rare joy of doing a backpacking trip with a good friend -- my schedule does not allow for such luxuries -- and Dan got to cross out two more 14ers from his peak list in his quest to climb all of them in Colorado.
We both also gained the new expression for our vernacular of Como Lake Road long. Anybody who has ever hiked up the jeep trail -- ranked as the worst in Colorado -- will know what we mean. It is long, it is steep, it is dry and it is demoralizing.
Near where we parked
Dan still early on when spirits weren't crushed
It took us four hours to plod up into the alpine zone and the banks of Como Lake. We set up camp and then relaxed for a couple of well-deserved hours.
Views around the lake
We both got antsy, so we just went wandering up to Blue Lakes, talking and climbing boulders along the way.
Blue Lakes basin
The next morning we made our way up to the top of Blanca Peak. We quickly caught up to a number of people who left earlier than us to achieve the same summit. I found my groove when we got on the mountain and quickly led us up the talus slopes of the 14er to a little bit above a saddle on the ridge connecting Blanca Peak from fellow 14er Ellingwood Point.
From there we stayed on the ridge crest and enjoyed some fun scrambling on solid rock with good exposure to the east. This is why we toiled up this high!
Some Summit Shots
We went back to the saddle and Dan went over and ticked Ellingwood Point. The loose pile of choss held no allure to me, so I relaxed for a while near the saddle while a pika played hide-n-seek with me.
Instead of traversing back the way he came, Dan picked a way down the steeper detritus pile that is Ellingwood's west face. We met back in the upper basin and made our way back to camp.
Dan a speck among the rubble
We packed up camp and made the never-ending hike back to my truck -- over 6,000 feet below.
Some parting shots
1 comment:
way to go guys!! :)
jess
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