Summer ‘09 in Pics vol. 16
Wilson Peak
This is the second-to-last last entry for the summer. The week before school started, I went on an ambitious hike to some fourteeners known as the Wilson group. We had initially intended to hike all three in a day, but as it turned out we only managed to do one: Wilson Peak. You may have seen a picture of this mountain before:
Not depicted: me at the top.
Coors uses the mountain in its logo because from some angles it is a very majestic and picturesque peak. I went with my Dad, my brother, and my friend Chris (from the first installment of my summer photoblog). We hiked into the camp at about 11,000 feet in the evening, set up tents, and set our alarms. At about 2:30am we woke up to beautiful, perfectly clear, moonless skies and frost covering our packs. We started up the trail to the first mountain. After some initial confusion we found the path properly, but my brother had an upset stomach and turned back with my Dad early on. I continued with Chris, and we slowly worked our way upward. It was very dark, and we only had our headlamps to light the path. It was also colder than I expected, but I was prepared and ended up wearing all the clothes I brought (but stayed fairly warm).
5am found us high on the side of Wilson Peak, trying to find our way from a saddle up to the main ridge line. We missed a few crucial cairns in the dark, and so we ended up doing some very interesting class 4 climbing across a band of cliffs by headlamp. We later realized that we were supposed to drop down below them and then hike up. This slowed us down somewhat, and we gained the peak much later than intended, just after sunrise. The hike down was fast, and the weather was absolutely perfect without a single cloud in the sky. Unfortunately Chris wasn’t feeling particularly energetic, having recently given blood, and so he didn’t feel up to doing the other two peaks. We also had a hard time finding the split from our route to the next mountain, Mount Wilson, and because of this and the fact that I hadn’t studied the map particularly well beforehand I didn’t feel up to soloing the remainder of the hike. So, we turned back to camp early and took our time heading down. I brought my new camera with me up to the camp, so I took some pictures of the lake and surroundings before we left.
A VW Bus that fell off the road years ago.
The trail to Navajo Lake goes through beautiful meadows.
Scoping out the terrain.
A month ago the wildflowers would have been gorgeous.
The late afternoon sun on El Diente.
The sun was setting as we got near the campsite.
The view out of the valley across Navajo Lake, before turning in for the night.
The first time it was light enough to take a picture. The trail is pretty rough here :)
The final summit approach. The route we chose is on the very right edge of this picture.
Me at the summit. In the background are Gladstone Peak (left) and Mount Wilson (right).
Mount Wilson (left) and El Diente (right). The traverse along the ridge between them is classic. It's definitely on my todo list for next summer.
A very chubby marmot.
There were pikas everywhere.
Gladstone peak is in the distance.
Navajo Lake, by daylight this time.
Looking back up the valley.
Some rapids below the lake.
3 comments to Summer ‘09 in Pics vol. 16
Whoa, Caleb. This looks like it was an awesome trip! The pictures are great, what kind is your new camera?
13 September 2009 at 09:49
The mountains don’t look blue in the pic => it wasn’t cold. Also, AG is still on your comic list here.
13 September 2009 at 09:03