Huron Peak

July 1, 2007

This hike was a group hike that we did with ten people from our church. Jason, Aaron, and I had done Sherman the day before with 17 others from the church. The weather was perfect for a hike. Mount Huron is a great fourteener for those who are still getting started but looking for more of a challenge than Sherman or Bierstadt. However, I think we only had one person on this trip who had never done a fourteener before. This had been Jason's first fourteener and it was fun to return and do it again with different perspective. The first trip we were not in shape, new to high altitude, wearing cotton from head to toe, and Jason even had steal toed boots. This time around we were far more prepared.

We started this hike at 5:30 just as the moon was setting.

Not long into the hike the alpen glow began to light up the surrounding mountains. I especially like this hike because you start off surrounded by mountains.

The group heading up to treeline still in the twilight of the morning.

As we broke treeline the sun lit up the Three Apostles.

Our group got pretty spread out as we began working our way up the switchbacks on the ridge. This was the first sunlight we'd been in that day and it really started to get warm.

These views during the ascent are why I love this mountain so much.

The ridge does seem to go on for a while, but the trail is in great condition so all you have to do is push on.

The view of the Three Apostles is great from Huron.

This is part of the group that climbed that day.

The view of La Plata from Huron, this one is our goal for the next group hike.

My solo shot on the summit, I finally broke down and went for the full brim hat. It's ugly, but practiacality won out finally. I loved it.

Some people (Jason and Cliff specifically) spent 2 hours on the summit that day, I think they were glad to be going again when we finally left. The summit was very comfortable that day though. Very little wind and warm temperatures.

This is Aaron, a guy that works with me at Focus on the Family. He was a huge help on this weekend.

Here is the Dentons descending the ridge. The final pitch to the summit is a little steep and loose, but overall this trail is in fantastic condition. Thanks CFI.

The descent went very quick even though Cliff was dealing with a toe he'd messed up the night before.

The flowers were fantastic on Huron. There were many different species in bloom.

The last time we'd done this mountain the basin was filled with soft snow that was a postholing nighmare. This year it was just a little marshy.

This is my favorite spot for a picture on this trail.

Temperatures that afternoon got pretty warm, it was a nice relief to finally make it back to treeline for some respite from the sun.

On the descent it seemed like there were twice as many switchbacks than we had done on the ascent.

It had been a long day, so we were glad to be back at the vehicles.

June 15, 2002
I think this was Jason's first successful fourteener, and it was Anne-Marie and I's first one since moving back to Colorado from Kansas. That being said for how easy this should have been, we had a hard time climbing this mountain.

Here is a few inexperience mountaineers. Wearing lots of cotton and hardly carrying any water.

We did pretty good getting to treeline, but soon after this picture we hit a huge soft snowfield that wore us out quickly.

We did make it though, and the weather was holding out reasonably well.

We were quite exhauseted though so Jason and I took a little catnap.

We were able to take advantage of a couple of snowfields on the way down to glissade.

However the ends of the snowfields were quite soft. Jason in this picture sank up to his waist.

This is still one of my favorite pictures from hiking. The three mountains in the background are known as the three apostles.

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