When I climbed Mt. Sherman first time I also climbed Mt. Sheridan and White Ridge. I wanted to get Gemini Peak, too, but didn’t get a chance.

Two years later, I finally got back around to it. It was weird trip in a way, because it was my first time up Gemini Peak, second time up Mt. Sheridan, and third time up Mt. Sherman. It was also the first time I hiked Mt. Sherman when it wasn’t snowy.

Other than that, it was a typical 14er/13er hike. I took a few pictures, but I don’t think they add much to the collection I took the last time I was up Sherman.

Here’s the GPS track.

Hiked Mt. Ouray, Chipeta Mountain, and Pt. 13472 today. It was only 11.8 miles, but with 7250 feet of elevation gain and no trail, it felt longer. Only saw two other hikers all day – a nice change from the crowds on the 14ers. I was going to do a full “trip report,” but there’s not much to add other than that.

The photos are on Flickr.

Here’s the GPS track.

I originally planned on hiking Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak yesterday, but felt like sleeping in and reading a book instead. That lasted until about 3:00, when I decided to go camping and hike some 14ers. Being 3:00 on a Saturday limited my options, but the 14ers around Mt. Democrat seemed like a good choice, since it’s only a couple hours away and there are several great camp sites along the road to the trailhead.

I ended up camping at one of pull off sites a few miles from the “official” camp ground. I was hoping for a clear night so I could stargaze for a while, but it ended up cloudy all night. The only upside was the sunset:

Soon after that picture, it started raining, and then it rained off and on until sometime after I fell asleep. Fortunately it cleared up by morning, and the weather was perfect for hiking.

The road isn’t open to the trailhead yet, blocked by a snow drift about a half mile from the trailhead. The road looked clear past the drift, and what I could see of the trail winding up the mountainside looked clear, so I decided to leave my snowshoes and ice axe in the car.

I hit the trail right around 7, and quickly got to the biggest obstacle of the day: the stream crossing just past the trailhead. The spring snow melt is in full swing, and the rocks that usually serve as stepping stones were completely submerged. I ended up taking off my boots and wading across. Super cold, but a lot better than having wet feet all day.

After that, it didn’t take long to pass the 5 or 6 people who started before me, and by 8:15 I was standing on the summit of Mt. Democrat:

I hung out at the summit for 10 minutes or so, then headed over to Cameron. I wasn’t paying attention at the time, but the timestamps on the photos say it took about an hour to get from Democrat to Cameron’s summit. I only stayed on Cameron long enough to snap a few pictures of the surrounding 14ers. Here’s the next stop, Mt. Lincoln:

The trip over to Lincoln went really fast, and that was fortunate, because there were already clouds moving in. Here’s a look back towards Cameron and Democrat:

Getting to Bross seemed to take forever. Again, I only stayed long enough to snap a few pictures, then headed back to the car. Here’s Mt. Democrat from the summit of Mt. Bross:

I spent most of the day dreading the scree slope on the way down Bross, but to my surprise it didn’t seem so bad this time around.

I was back at the car by 11:15, back home by 2, and by 3 I was sitting on the patio with some iced tea, reading another book. Not bad for 24 hours.

Here’s the GPS track.

The full photo set is on Flickr.