For me, climbing Mt. Elbert would be the realization of one of my oldest dreams...to climb a Rocky Mountain 14,000'-er. We decided on Elbert not only because it was the highest in the state (and second highest in the lower 48) but because it has a well-travelled non-technical trail to the summit. Neither my wife or I are rock climbers so this was a necessity. We decided on the popular route up the north-east ridge of Elbert. The 9-mile round trip route climbs from an elevation of about 10,000' to the 14,433' summit. Sounds straight forward enough but for a couple of flatlanders the sheer elevation would be a powerful obstacle to overcome. It promised to be a memoravle day on the trail...
12,300' - The trail was wearing on us by this point but the nice thing was there were plenty of nice places to stop for a breather!
12,350' - The smells of the alpine wildflowers combined with the views resulted in an pleasant assault on the senses...
12,350' - Looking the 2,300' down to the parking area...impressed with our progress...and then realizing we'd only made half the climb...
12,400' - Mt. Massive (14,421')
12,400' - The colorful alpine tundra...
12,500' - Despite all the views, for much of the climb this was the view we were concentrating on...a seemingly endless hill...
12,600' - I believe this pretty little flower is Moss Campion that has yet to fully bloom...
12,600' - This little flower, Phlox, is responsible for much of the pleasant smells above treeline...
12,650' - We couldn't help but keep looking back to the beautiful view behind us...
12,650' - Mt. Massive, to the north, is only a few feet shorter the Elbert and offered a good guage as to how far we had climbed...
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