Thursday after work, Robin and I stopped off at the ISR division picnic and grabbed some free dinner, then drove up to Colorado for some camping and a dayhike 14er. We drove through Pagosa Springs, CO, and ate at the "Europe Cafe" which makes an excellent lasagna. We didn't arrive at the Nellie Creek approach road near Lake City until just after midnight.

We got up at 5:30am and made breakfast, then drove the 4 miles of 4WD road up to the Uncompahgre Peak trailhead. The stream crossings were a little exciting but otherwise the Ranger had no problems making it up this road. We were on the trail by 7:00. The weather was amazing - no wind, no significant clouds, and very warm. There was still a lot of snow here and there but we managed our way through or around it.

The hike was easy and we made it to the summit just before 11:00am. Because of the snow, our route was slightly longer and involved more gain than the standard trail route - about 8 miles round trip and 3,000' gain. The elevation of Uncompahgre (aka Unpronounceable or Unspellable) is 14,309' which makes it my new personal highest elevation. It also claims the titles of the 6th highest point in Colorado, the highest point in the San Juan mountain range, and the highest point in Hinsdale County, CO. In the latter ragard, it made for my 69th county highpoint.

On the way down, we glissaded down some large steep snowfields which cut about 1000' of the elevation off the hike in a very short period of time. As a result we were back to the truck in under two hours. We stopped at the True Grits Steak House in Alamosa, CO, for dinner - highly recommended. They give you a ton of food and it is excellent.

Pictures from the trip are in the gallery here.