For one brief, glorious moment I was the highest point in all of Colorado.
Then, I sat down and had a snack, because I'm nothing if not humble.
On a less happy note, because of a nearby wildfire, the northern route to the summit was closed so I took what's called the "southern" route but is actually southeastern. It has the same gain but it's spread out over almost twice the distance. Which is a kind way of saying it's interminable, which is what I said to myself as I was on the way down. There are two trailheads: one that any car can get to, and a 4WD road the shaves almost four miles off the distance. I parked a short distance up that road but didn't save much. I'd spent the night in my car at one of the many camping spots that branch off the road.
The start of the trail has a bit of an elfin forest feel, including a wooden bridge and a narrow leafy section where I could imagine running into a bear. From there until treeline the trail is packed dirt and I made good time on the return. Above treeline the trail gets a little looser, but nothing like Redcloud. It also has a few rock steps but nothing too high.
Unfortunately, it looks like the register had been in a flimsy plastic box and someone had left it open. As a result, animals had got into the register and scattered it to the four winds. There were, however, several cardboard summit signs, including one on the back of an oatmeal box. At least someone believes in a healthy breakfast.
On an even more unfortunate note, I lost the phone I use as an internet connection somewhere. I know I had it in my car the night before the hike. I either dropped it somewhere, or it's somewhere in my car hiding out. My brilliant plan was to organize things in a series of reusable bags. But, for the next roadtrip I think I'll look into a series of bins.
Returning to the happiness for which this site is renowned, the tableau of 13ers and similar from Elbert is one of the more striking landscapes I've ever seen. I tried to capture it in the first image, but as you can see I failed miserably because it was something else.
