My second hike above 14,000 feet :)
I, Dr Turk and some of his friends- Eric, Kent and Glenn, decided to hike Mt Evans on June 15. According to forecast, it was going to be windy that day. 20-30 mph winds did make us think twice about this hike.
Finally we started from Fort Collins at about 0300 hours. Kent and Eric joined us at Loveland. Glenn met us at the trail head on Summit lake.
We reached summit lake parking lot at around 0520. The golden hour had started pouring its majestic golden color light on the mountains. Eric measured the wind speed at the trailhead with his anemometer and it was 18 mph at that time.
We started our hike to Mt Spalding. From Mt Spalding we had to take a trail which was full of big boulders. We had to scramble through those boulders. Eric later told us that the wind speed was 35 mph at the ridge between Mt Spalding and Mt Evans. I had to use my heat packs to keep my hands warm. My water reservoir tube and bite valve were frozen by the time we were on Mt Spalding.
We came down from the Northeast face of Mt Evans. We were in the car by 1120 and reached Fort Collins by 1315.
Overall, it was a great hike. It was a shorter hike in comparison to other 14ers but the fast wind made it a bit difficult.
Happy to mark it off "The List" :)
Williamor