2 down...1 to go

Yesterday we reached the summit of Wheeler Peak at 13,161 feet.

We left camp early in the morning and started the 2 mile hike to Horseshoe Lake which rests peacefully at 12,000 feet. It is one of the highest lakes in the country and has some incredible views.

From the lake it was only another mile to the summit, but it was another 1,161 feet of vertical. This section o the trail got very steep very fast with some sections of the "trail" devolving into just piles of loose talus that we had to scramble up. Truth be told, my version of "scrambling" up a wall of loose rock involves a lot of cursing, screaming and heavy breathing. To the casual observer it might appear like I am going into labor.

That said, I still made it to the top and on probably one of the clearest days the mountain has seen the whole summer. We could see for at least 50 miles in every direction. On the way down we had to traverse a ridge of the mountain that connected to another 13,000 footer, Mt Walter. We tagged the summit of that one too just for the hell of it.

Looking back on it, the hike to the summit of Wheeler Peak was probably the most scenic hikes I have been on to date. We saw a tremendous amount of wild life along the trail too...much more than I have seen on other hikes. We saw, big horn sheep, mule deer, elk, a whole bunch of marmots and a few alpine hare. There were also a ton of different birds...including some sort of blue tailed ptarmigan that is supposedly on an endangered list. the only reason we recognized it was because there were signs up all over to be on the look out for it.

I have so many pictures to upload, but I still haven't had a chance to get a decent Internet connection. Hopefully these can hold you over until I can get some WiFi.

Right now I am in a campsite in Leadville, CO. It is the highest city in the US at 10,200 feet. Tomorrow we are going to restock some of our provisions and head for the base camp of Mt. Elbert...the tallest mountain in the Rockies!!! At 14,400+ feet it is the 2nd highest mountain in the continental US.

P.S. One of my favorite pics is me lying down on a 13,000 foot ridge taking a hit of bottled oxygen.