On Friday, I summited my 6th 14er, Humboldt Peak! Lindsay and I had a long day - it took us 9 and half hours or so. I was so drained by the end, I slept forever that night.
Now that I'm actively collecting 14er summits, I wish I'd kept better track of the number of times I've summited Pikes Peak.
My first summit of Pikes was in 2008, and I've summited at least a few times each training season from 2014 on. I know I collected 6 summits of Pikes last year, and I'm at 5 for this year. If I had to guess, I'd probably say I've summited Pikes Peak around 20 times.
But I suppose it doesn't matter too much; only unique summits count, right? :) If I'm counting by the "extended list," there are 58 14ers total, which means I'm at 6 down and 52 to go. But if I'm going to get a nice "overview" of the 14ers, I'd like to at least summit one peak in each sub-range or group.
Humboldt Peak was an excellent choice for the Crestone Group. It's mostly class 2, and not difficult - just really really long.
Lindsay and I started off right as the morning twilight was setting in, giving us just enough light to begin without a headlamp. We started hiking from the 2 wheel drive trailhead, as the road to the Colony Lakes is known as one of the worst in Colorado.
Lindsay kept pointing out how rough the road was, and I sure didn't blame her for not wanting to drive on it - there were a few places where it looked like even a 4 wheel drive car with a lift would get stuck.
We kept an active pace and it felt like we quickly got to the 4 wheel drive trailhead. (This road would feel much much longer on the way down.)
The trail wound gradually upward through the montaine forest. I found it interesting that where we parked down below at the 2 wheel drive trailhead was a completely different bio zone, as it was a high plains/desert area, lacking in trees but filled with tall yellow grasses and hardy shrubs.
Lindsay and I discussed "forest bathing," a concept that I'd brought up with Jill on our Barr trail run.
Check here if you missed that post and would like to read it.
The whole idea of "forest bathing" is to take in the wilderness as it presents itself to you; to touch, smell, look, breathe in the forest in a way that it fuels your soul. To put it another way, it's an old meditative concept of
being present. Forest bathing is just another way of taking in the outdoors and being a part of your surroundings.
I pointed out that part of my own experience of forest bathing includes using my body and pushing my limits a little, and that can be an integral part of the whole process.
In the midst of all this philosophising, we came to a clearing and had our first view of the Crestones ahead of us.
Soon the trail begins to ascend a bit more steeply. Not long after the view of the first lake, we reached treeline.
The Colony Lakes continue to be visible below as we ascended through the basin to the west. Crestone Needle was prominently visible the whole time, and as we made our way along the trail, Crestone Peak also came into view.
Soon we came to the Humboldt saddle, turned east, and began the climb to the summit. This part of the adventure was a little more rocky, as expected with 14ers. There were a few parts at the ridgeline that were very exposed - surprisingly so. If you fell off the ridge to the north, you'd fall a few thousand feet. I tried to get a photo that would show this, without also risking a fall.
And finally, after about 5 hours and 15 minutes, we made the summit. A couple on top the summit had brought their own sign, so we got to take our summit photo with it!
The view from the summit was fantastic. To the west, we could see the 14er summits of Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, and Kit Carson. We could make out the San Luis Valley down below. I think I could even see a small corner of the Great Sand Dunes.
To the south, the prominent Blanca Group was visible, as well as the Spanish Peaks.
To the east, Greenhorn Mountain and its surrounding area dominates the view.
And finally, to the north, looking along the horizon, the ultra prominent Pikes Peak comes into view. I find it interesting that every 14er I've attained so far has had a view of Pikes from the top; of course this means that you can also see these summits when you're atop Pikes. When you're as familiar with Pikes Peak as I am, its massif is super recognizable from every direction.
Sitting atop the summit of Humboldt, I took out the compact binoculars I'd brought with me, and I was able to see the south face of Pikes, along with the clear cut where the Cog train runs (or, rather, temporarily
doesn't run, at least until they repair it). But it was tough to keep the binoculars still in the wind.
We basked in our success for about 15 minutes, but the winds were high and a fire burning to the west was blowing smoke in, so we began our descent. It was going to be a long day, but we stayed tough and stuck it out, finally finishing in around 9 and half hours. (I'm pretty terrible at descents.)
Thanks to Lindsay for going with me, and for hanging in there with me throughout our long trek! My GPS indicated we'd done 17 miles total, and 5500 feet of elevation gain.
I slept like a rock on Friday night.
On Sunday evening, I went for a short shakeout run at Palmer Park, watching the sunset from the western bluffs. I took a photo as nautical twilight began.
I reflected back on Humboldt Peak, and happily wrote another successful day into my memories. Despite it taking much longer than anticipated and being quite difficult due to fatigue on the downhill, I'm glad we were able to accomplish it. After all, it was just another chance to bathe in the forest.
