There was a group of friends we had scheduled to do a 14er hike last week, but right at the last minute, they all bailed for one reason or another. So J and I got to have some good bro time and decided to drive a little farther and climb on of my favorite San Juan peaks. I no longer have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, so we backpacked 4 miles up the 4 wheel drive road to the upper trailhead and hung out with a campfire.
We woke for an early start as there was a chance of thunderstorms before noon that day. As we reached treeline, we were rewarded with a colorful sunrise on the mountain. I ran ahead to take some photos off the trail in the wildflowers. J must have missed me and hiked way up the trail figuring I had gone farther ahead. I didn't notice him passing on the trail and we got separated. I went a ways back down the trail and couldn't find him, so I figured he must have went up ahead. I finally caught back up to him as he was heading toward the saddle. Whoops!
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| Nellie Creek |
Once on the ridge around 8 am, it began to rain a bit and became quite windy. We continued up through it because it looked to us like those rain clouds would soon burn off. After some unfriendly warnings to turn back from other hikers, the clouds did indeed burn off and the weather turned out to be very nice for the rest of the hike. We enjoyed some fun little scrambles toward the summit. The top of this mountain is one of the most interesting with some of the best views IMO. There is a spot where you can stand and the cliff below looks like it drops about 2000 feet and gives some good butterflies.
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| Wetterhorn Peak |
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| Handies Peak |
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| Sneffels (right of center) |
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| Precipice Peak |
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| Dragon's Back? |
We had some great conversations on the way back down including creating our own "rules for men". For example, a man should never dye his hair for any reason. A man should know how to shoot a gun and start a campfire. A man should do at least 80% of the driving on family road trips (our wives don't like to drive)...etc...etc. I'm thankful for the good memories and a fun and rare hike with my brother, especially with how busy he is with his business -
Dry Out Restoration.
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| Nellie Creek Falls |
About half way down as we were packing out on the road a friendly couple from Texas who owned some land in the area offered us a ride the rest of the way down. Thanks Texas couple! You saved our knees some soreness.
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