Girls' Annual 14er: Mt Evans
Every year we get all of our girls together to hike a 14er (14,000 ft peak) together. This year Mt Evans was the lucky mountain. We left early Saturday morning with snow in the forecast for the day. This is a picture of the Aspens on the way up to the trailhead on Guenilla Pass...notice the little white dots freefalling and lack of blue sky.
When we got out to hike there was already snow on the ground, and it was definitely below freezing. Mandy thought it would be fun to wear dresses to the top...any extra layer to keep warm was welcomed that morning!
We set off from Mt. Bierstedt's trailhead to take the road less travelled up to Mt Evans. All we knew was we had to get up to the saddle with Sawtooth (the jagged edge) and then make it over to Evans...we couldn't see Evans from where we were.
Camelbaks are imperative to hiking...though our's were freezing as we climbed higher.
We got up on top of the saddle and had to turn around. We were about a mile off from Mt Evans' peak but could not see it at 13,000 feet with all of the snow and clouds up there. Not even a cairn (trail marker) was visible at that point.
Once we got down in the valley it started to clear but you could see the next storm on the way in.
We went off our trail a bit and had to pioneer our own trail through the Willows and along the marsh...that was an adventure in itself!
We all made it safe and sound back down to the main trail. Fingers and toes all regained feeling by this point and we were ready to head to Beau Jo's (Colorado's famous pizza joint.)