| Realizing a Dream (the Northeast Ridge)… Trip Report |
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| Realizing a Dream (the Northeast Ridge)…   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 39.11780°N / 106.4447°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jun 30, 2008 Activities: Hiking Season: Summer | Page By: dwhike Created/Edited: Jul 28, 2008 / Aug 5, 2008 Object ID: 425769 Hits: 340 Loading... Page Score: 86.98% - 4 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Realizing a Dream...Ever since I cut my teeth hiking the mountains of New Hampshire my gaze has always traveled west. There, towering snow-capped peaks dwarfed the fuzzy green mountains of the east. For over a decade now I have lived & hiked numerous hills high and low all over the eastern United States. Life (aka. college, marriage, and kids) was good but never had things come together just right to make that trip west. Finally, this summer, we had our excuse to do something big…our 10th Anniversary.
As anyone who has made a first trip to Colorado knows the shear number of things to do in the state boggles the mind. We had eight short days to see and do all that we could. I wanted to climb at least a couple 14-er’s but soon realized that to do anything else would require a less ambitious hiking schedule. The choice was obvious. When you can only climb one mountain which one do you choose…well, the highest one of course!! As it so happens Colorado’s highest point is only a moderate hike-up, easily done in a day, which is just what we were looking for.
We would ascend via the north-east ridge which is one of the two standard hiking routes up Elbert (the other being the south ridge). We arrived at the trailhead at about 8:00am and were welcomed with clear blue skies and cool temps. It was time to make my dreams come true…off the flatlanders went to bag their first 14-er…
9,500' - We headed into Leadville from the north and were treated to some wonderful views of Elbert in the distance...
10,040' - Mt. Elbert Trailhead. The northeast ridge, the one we'd be climbing, rises above the trees...
10,040' - We were both pretty pumped to get on the trail. Only 4,700' of vertical to go from here!!
10,600' - We passed the remains of an old mining shack about 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead...
10,560' - At the junction with the Colorado Trail this sign pointed us toward the ridge...
10,700' - The trail climbed quite steeply above the Colorado Trail as it attemts to top the ridge. We were looking forward to tree line…
11,600' - We finally reached the little clearing atop the ridge, about a quarter mile before tree line, and were treated to some views ahead as a reward...
11,750' - I had been warned about afternoon thunderstorms in the high peaks so these clouds worried me a tad…
11,900' - Treeline...the mosquitoes were pretty bad at this point and the nice breeze we were looking for was non-existent...
12,000' - The halfway point of the trail, but still some 2400’ of vertical to climb...
12,200' - Amazing views were ever-present but this is the view the hiker sees for most of the ascent...the seemingly endless trail...
12,350' - The smells of the alpine wildflowers combined with the views resulted in a pleasant assault on the senses...
12,600' - I believe this pretty little flower is Moss Campion that has yet to fully bloom...
12,600' - This large flower with the tiny leaves is known as Hooker's mountain-avens, or Dryad. I was impressed with the size of this flower despite the elevation...
12,650' - Mt. Massive, to the north, is only a few feet shorter the Elbert and offered a good gauge as to how far we had climbed...
12,650' - Here, the trail crossed from the north to south side of the ridge allowing the blue-green waters of Twin Lakes to come into view...
12,700' - As the trail once again gained the top of the ridge we were quickly reminded there was a lot of climbing yet to go...
12,850' - We broke for lunch before the big climb and took in the view across to the south ridge. We could just make out a pair of hikers slowly making their way up the ridge which provided some entertainment…
12,850' - This ridge, which my guide called the "crux" of the route, is the toughest section of trail. We'd be climbing around 1,000' in less than a mile...
12,850' - As you can see we made sure to pick a spot with a nice view for lunch…
13,200' - It wasn't long after lumch that we were sucking wind pretty hard again. Breaks were becoming more and more frequent...
13,300' - Numerous times we'd look up to find we were being watched by one of these cute little guys...
13,400' - The trail closely followed the edge of Box Creek Ravine for a time...
13,450' - It really didn't feel like we were making much progress at times...
13,600' - I did notice, however, we were no longer so much looking UP at Mt. Massive as OVER. This was a good feeling...
13,850' - FINALLY, the steep section was behind us, only...
13,600' - ...yet another false summit ahead, this was getting depressing...
13,950' - Taking another short break before climbing the next false summit...
14,400' - At long last, the summit ridge...you have no idea how relieved we were at this point...we were going to MAKE IT!!
14,433' - The summit of Mt. Elbert, with all of Colorado spread out below...
14,433' - On our honeymoon we had climbed Mt. Washington, now on our 10th Anniversary we were on Elbert...what an amazing road it has been...
14,433' - The view up the valley of North Halfmoon Creek to Mt. Massive (14,421), right, was particularly impressive...
14,433' - Looking west along the summit ridge across the jagged peaks of the Sawatch Range...
14,433' - Looking the almost a vertical mile down to Twin Lakes was quite amazing...
14,433' - We decided to have a snack on the north side of the summit enjoying the view 4,000' down to Halfmoon Creek...
14,433' - An endless sea of snow-capped peaks stretched away to the western horizon. Just how I always dreamed it would be...
14,433' - Our half hour on the summit seemed over all too soon. Regretfully it was time to descend...
14,000' - Our thoughts now turned to getting down and getting our hands on dinner...a milkshake at Wild Bill's in Leadville looked a LOONG ways away...
13,900' - I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to do something like this again, but I thank the Lord for the ability to have the chance now...
***At this point the clouds were really starting to move in and darken. I decided to stow the camera so we could make the best time down to treeline. Sure enough by the time we made it back to the upper junction with the Colorado Trail huge claps of thunder were rolling down from the summit. Thankfully, the rain held off until we were on the road. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. It was a perfect end to one of the most amazing hikes I've ever had the pleasure of doing. I can only hope someday I'll be back.***
Trip Info...Trailhead: Mt. Elbert Trailhead north of Halfmoon Campground
Distance Hiked: 9.0 miles round-trip
Elevation Gained: ~4,700'
Mosquito Bites: at least 12
Marmot Sightings: 6
Fellow Michiganders Met on Trail: 4
Blisters: None!!!
Time on Trail: ~8 Hours
Morale of the Story:“I Ain’t As Good As I Once Was, But I’m As Good Once As I Ever Was…”
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Sawatch Range > Mount Elbert > Realizing a Dream (the Northeast Ridge)…
