8-12-14

Me: Anna & I had a du-athlon 14'er day!

First we HIKED to the top of Mt. Bierstadt.

14,060 ft.

Then we BIKED to the top of Mt. Evans!

14,130 ft!

Here's the story with all kinds of pics to go along. :-)

Click on any to enlarge & scroll thru...

Before the sun came up Rich, Anna & I left Breckenridge & arrived at the trail head of Mt. Beirstadt & Mt. Evans. Mt. Bierstadt is the highest rounded peak you see on the right. You can't see Mt. Evans which is behind the rounded peak on the left. The famous "sawtooth" are the jagged rocks in the middle (which is the hiking route from Mt. Bierstadt to Mt. Evans).

We didn't take any photos on the climb up but instead hiked a steady (& fast-ish) pace to the top. We made it to the summit in 1.5 hours!! That's the fastest summit of any 14'er we've done. We passed a LOT of hikers! :-)

We took our summit shots. Love Anna's smile!

Mt. Bierstadt

14,060 ft.

August 12, 2014

In this photo you can see where we started. The trailhead is by the road just north of the lake you see in the middle of the pic.

We had a snack and enjoyed the view.

Since Mt. Bierstadt it one of the easier 14'ers (and close to Denver) it's a busy mountain!

While eating PB&J we contemplated our next move. Our original plan was for the 3 of us to hike across sawtooth (the jagged ridge now on the left of above photo by the snow) to Mt. Evans. For sure Rich was needing to do that as he has to check off summit #52 in his quest for reaching all 54 Colorado 14,000 ft summits this week. But Anna & I didn't have that pressure and we weren't so sure we wanted to spend that long of a day hiking the technical sawtooth and then coming back through the marsh, willows & loose rock route from Mt. Evans.

Hard to tell in this pic but all the water ponds = marsh & willows. This area is part of the route back from Mt. Evans. We've read hiking reports that this section alone can take hours as you sink knee deep in mud & get scratched up from willow branches trying to find your way back.

We've also heard the sawtooth is easier than it looks but still requires careful climbing along the ridge of  narrow paths & rocks.

So, in the thin air, Anna came up with the idea that she & I should hike down the Bierstadt trail while Rich would cross over on sawtooth to Mt. Evans as planned. Anna & I would then bike to the top of Mt. Evans (we'd first have to get in our cars & drive through Idaho Springs, up the Mt. Evans road a bit to the fee station and then bike from there). We also made the plan to meet Rich at the top of Mt. Evans & save him from having to hike down through the nightmare return route. He'd still get his summit checked off having met all the requirements of elevation gain. It was about 8:45am when we parted ways on top of Bierstadt peak and agreed we'd see Rich around noon on Mt. Evans. Now, does that all make perfect sense? Keep in mind that Rich had no cell phone in case we needed to reach each other & noon was merely a 1/2 educated guess of when we might all arrive. At 14,000 ft it all seemed logical and off we went. What could possibly go wrong? :-/

Rich started his expected 3 hour traverse to Mt. Evans.

And Anna & I hustled down the Bierstadt trail to our cars. We made it down in an hour!

A look back at Bierstadt, Sawtooth and our morning trek.

Once in the cars we made the hour drive to the Mt. Evans Road fee station (14 miles from the summit). We got our bikes ready, grabbed our jackets & started riding. Up, up, up!! This was only my 2nd time on a bike since my hand surgery so I was not sure this was the best idea but it sure sounded like an adventure. It was! We didn't take any photos along the way as we needed to keep pedaling (realizing that we were unlikely to make it to the top by noon). Instead our ETA was likely to be 1:30pm. We wondered?? Would Rich be there when we arrived? The ride up slowed tremendously for me at 13,000 ft. It was hard to breathe and my legs were tired.

But Anna was a good cheerleader and WE MADE IT!!

And, Rich was there waiting for us!!! 

What a relief that our plan (with big potential for failure) turned out perfectly!

Cool that Anna & I biked the highest paved road in the contiguous United States at 14,130 ft! I've never biked that high before. :-) And fun that Rich easily made the traverse from Mt. Bierstadt to Mt. Evans to bag his 52nd CO 14er!

From the Evans road parking lot I hiked the remaining 134 ft to Mt. Evans highest point. 14,264 ft. 

Since our bike ride was over 3,000 ft elevation gain and under my own power (no motor) I am claiming Mt. Evans as an official 14er summit for me.

That bike ride to the top was every bit as hard in effort & time as walking to the top. What a unique adventure and what a blast! In above photo you can see some of the road we biked up (just right of summit lake).

From the top of Mt. Evans, Anna & I had a thrilling bike ride down to our cars while Rich hitched a ride with some tourists to the cars. From there I drove Rich 1 hour back to his truck at Mt. Bierstadt trailhead and then we each drove another hour to Danielle and Mike's to spend the night. Anna went on from Mt. Evans to pick up her boyfriend at the Denver airport. We will all reunite tomorrow for another 14er: Pikes Peak.

WHAT A DAY!!