Family Fourteener in 2014

Ever since we moved to Colorado almost three years ago, I've had it on my Things I Really Want to Do in my Life at Least Once (aka Bucket) List to hike to the top of a mountain that is over 14,000 feet high.  That would be called a fourteener (14er) to the local Coloradan folk.  See, Colorado's Rocky Mountains contain 53 (or 55 - depends on the source) such fourteeners.  Lots of people hike them (or bike them, if you're really crazy) and then get hooked and try to bag all 53.  Some people are even crazy enough to try to do them all in the shortest amount of time (the record is 10 days 20 hours and 26 minutes set in 2000).

I didn't have dreams of entering the record books.  In fact, I think after completing one (we did Quandary Peak - one of the "easiest" 14ers, which, after hiking it, I definitely don't want to try a hard one!), I'll be perfectly content with summit-ing this single 14er in my lifetime.  (Although it could be fun to drive to the top of Mount Evans or Pikes Peak since they're paved to the top.)  It was tough.  And we made it even tougher on ourselves (well, on Gregg mostly) by carrying our daughter to the top in a backpack.  Sheesh!  Who does something like that?

But despite the pure physical exertion and all the aches and pains and sweat that accompany such a feat, we really did enjoy it.  We had perfect weather, Callie was a champion of babies (she only fussed for a couple of seconds when she was hungry and even slept a good portion of the way down, plus she loved being on top, singing and pointing out all the doggie hikers and charming the hiking boots off of everyone on the summit), we saw loads of mountain goats (something I was hoping to see after reading about their prevalence on this hike) and we made it to the top!  Success times 14,000 in my book!

Here are our stats:
Trail: Quandary Peak - East Ridge
Start time: 6:30 am
Reached summit: 9:30 am
Left summit: 10:00 am
Back to car: 12:30 pm
Total time: 6 hours (almost on the button)
Total miles: 6.75 (according to 14ers.com)
Total steps: 25,652 (according to my fitbit)
High point: 14,265 feet
Elevation gain: 3450 feet
Total wildlife count: 23 mountain goats (7 on the ascent and 16 on our way down - they could have been repeats, but I couldn't tell), a handful of pikas, and a couple of cougars (the BYU fan kind, not the mountain lion kind)
Total Aggie alumni on the trail: 3 (2 were me and Gregg and the other was a scout leader (who was in the group with the BYU hat wearers) who saw my USU shirt and said that that's where he went to school, too)
Total babies in carriers on the trail: 3 (including Cal), but Callie was the only one we saw on the summit, the youngest person by far above 14,000 feet on Quandary today
Total photos taken of us by other people: 2 (at least, since those were the only ones who asked if they could take our - well, Cal's really - photo)
Total poopy diapers changed above 14,000 feet: 1
Total rocks we stepped on: uncountable, but I bet it was in the millions
Total rocks we brought home: just one, a really small one to save as a souvenir in our treasure jar

And here are the pictures, the best part of this post for sure:

We started early (6:30 am) but we weren't early enough to
get a parking spot here at the official trailhead.  It felt like the
whole state of Colorado was on this mountain with us today!

Early morning light hitting the mountains as we came out
of the foresty part of the trail.

High mountain dams.

Lots of people.  Up, up, up!
I heard someone call it "the train" and
that was an accurate description.

First mountain goat sighting - they were right next to the trail!

Baby mountain goat - cutest little critter ever.

Resting at about 12,800 feet.  We found
some tundra grass for Cal to crawl around on.

The bink was a special treat on this hike
(normally she only gets it for bedtime and
naps).

Our cute little mountain goat with our
destination in the distance.

On the trail again.  Up, up, up we go!

More mountain goats to break up the monotony of rocks.

The moon seemed really close.

And we're at the top at last!

I was fully expecting the beer parties
up on top, but my nose was surprised to
smell smoke up that high and when we looked
around we saw this "classier" act of summit
celebration: wine and a cigar.

Not a bad view for lunch.

Best ham and cheese I've ever tasted.

Gotta have the family peak shot with sign.

And we found the geological survey marker - I knew to look
for it, but we stumbled on it by happy accident.

High snowy lakes.

Looking back down the ridge we came up
(and had to descend, much to the chagrin
of our knees and quads).

Pretty flowers on the descent.

More goats.  (I could have posted about 50 more, so be
happy I narrowed it down to these few.)

That's where we were!

So tired.  (Both of them, though only one got to sleep
on the way down.)

Fun to see a pika up there.

Not much zoom here - he/she/it was so close!

Nice profile, Mr. Goat.

Nine in a big bunch, with one more coming up the hill
just out of frame.

Goats and clouds and mountains.  I was quite happy.

Back below treeline offered some very scenic views.

And a few more pretty flowers.

One last cloud shot from the comfort of my camp chair
in the parking lot.