This year, for the pre-Fourth of July holiday, we made a foray into southern Colorado to explore two mountain ranges we’d previously only spied on from a distance. The first stop was the Spanish Peaks Wilderness:

We were lucky to snag one of the thee camping sites at Cordova Pass, which made an early morning start to hike West Spanish Peak a lot easier. The volcanic granite dikes that surround West Spanish Peak are pretty nifty, and it was cool to see them from above. However, the hike to the peak was a bit of a grind, not particulary difficult, but seemingly unending. And the trip down was less fun – all that scree. I hate when the ground moves beneath me with each step.

After taking a day off, we entered the Crestones via the infamous South Colony Lake Road. We did not take the Subie all the way to the upper trailhead. Yes, we did see some much less capable vehicles parked back there, but we bailed halfway in when things started to get really hairy. We hiked in to an established campsite about a half mile before the junction for the trail to Humbolt Peak, our ultimate goal, which left about 4 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain for early the next morning.

We lucked out with perfect weather – the monsoon storms held off until mid-afternoon, so we were able to take our time and enjoy a leisurely trip up our first 14er (I know, about time, right?). I can see why Humboldt is such a popular destination.The trail is a lot of fun, coming and going, and, you know, beautiful is sort of an understatement.  Oh, and then there are all the marmots catching up on their human TV.