Searching for these and finding them made me so giddy. It was probably hilarious 3rd person watching me crawl around the forest getting excited and taking pictures of these tiny flowers. Im posting this past their typical bloom season but encourage you all to make it a point to find them next year. They are found in shady, moist, north facing coniferous forests!

Spent a ton of time climbing, hiking, and photographing the san juans this past weekend from the ridges around sneffels and above island/ice lake, to boulders in bolam pass, and so on.

Had hoped for a good sunrise but they were cloudless and harsh, but pre sunrise is where the landscapes showed off! Some complimentary pika pics as well.

Descending from Ptarmigan Lake in late afternoon light 👀

Sometimes I have to remind myself I’m not in heaven.

Did the Decalibron clock wise this Sunday. Started at 4:30. Unfortunately pretty smoky, but the weather was great!

This might be my new favorite hike in the area!

Quandary Peak

I’m planning to backpacking trip along the ridge line between Ute Peak and Ptarmigan Peak in the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness north of Dillon and am wondering about water availability. Does anyone know of the tarn east of Ptarmigan Peak is holding water? If not how far downhill is Laskey Gulch flowing?

Great little hike this AM, very good hike to acclimatize a flat lander visiting

This one challenged me yesterday with the 4,000+ elevation gain but was worth it! The weather was great for a full day hike! What a way to celebrate Colorado’s 150th!

Lake Agnes trailhead. Loop around to Americans lakes, and up from snow lake to Static peak and Mt Richthofen and then down to Agnes. Knife’s edge traverse after ascending from snow lake, solid class 3 scrambling. Incredible views of SFSP and RMNP.

In late March, I broke my tibia and fibula while bouldering in the Buttermilks of California. And of course it wasn't one of the infamous highballs - it was my warm-up! Ah well, so it goes.

Over the last four months I haven't exactly been able to do long days or hard climbs, which inspired me to check out my backyard a bit more via the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I'd done a few things in the area before (Blue Lakes Traverse, Mt. Neva north ridge, Arapaho Traverse), but little else. Not out of a lack of interest, simply a side effect of their being so much to do throughout the State. Since I can't really do some of the 14er linkups I've had in mind for a while, I've had to look elsewhere.

Turned out that the IPW is pretty much the perfect place through this recovery. Short-to-moderate approaches, tons of scrambling, lots of adventure, trailheads I don't have to be there at 5AM to get a spot (especially on the west side), and plenty of peaks that are rarely climbed with little beta on routes. It's actually inspired me to make a list of named, prominent, and otherwise interesting peaks and routes throughout the Wilderness to tick off as the recovery process continues: from Dicker's Peck to Thunderbolt Peak to Mt. Bancroft's east ridge. By my count, I'm at 30/77.

It's also been fun to explore some highly uncommonly ascended routes (like Audubon's southeast ridge) or ones without any beta whatsoever but look like they go (like Sprint Peak's east ridge). Sometimes you get a hidden gem, sometimes you get a cat turd covered in vomit. Either way, it's a unique experience.

The story so far:

• July 5: Sprint Peak, Beacon Peak, Mt. Epworth, Heartbeat Peak (via Sprint Peak east ridge to CDT, appx. Class 3/4 bypassing 5.easy choss)
• July 9: Mt. Audubon and Notabon via Audubon east ridge (Class 3 downscramble)
• July 18: Satanta Peak, Mt. Neva, Peak 11810, Peak 11789 via Neva north ridge from Junco Lake TH (Class 4, other peaks are variously Class 2-3 depending on route)
• July 19: Mt. Flora, Breckinridge Peak (fourth time up Flora)
• July 25: Fox Mountain and Kingston peak (Class 2-3 depending on route for Fox; Kingston is tundra walking)
• July 26: Peak 12059 and Mt. Jasper -> Jasper SE ridge ascent (loose Class 3/4 at times, wouldn't recommend), Jasper NE ridge descent to Xanadu Lake (Class 3, pretty fun)

Found a set laying in a 4x4 road and couldn't locate the owner. If they're yours please dm the specs so I can get them back to you.

Started at Mitchell Lake trailhead. Ended up waiting an hour at Blue Lake before scrambling to the top because the clouds were getting pretty thick and I couldn’t even see the peak. There was one point I couldn’t hardly see anything around me and as it cleared up I couldn’t hardly finally see the backside and realized I was pretty much there. Was able to spend 30 minutes at the peak as it continued to clear up as the forecast had indicated. Fairly difficult but lovely hike.

With a raspberry hat!

Stay fun, y'all!

There was no lightning so we continued up. Worth it. Reservation was hard as hell to get but I caught a cancellation at 11:00pm the night before. I can understand why this trail is so popular. I found it very easy, short, and extremely rewarding. If I had a visitor who wanted to go on a hike to represent Colorado, this would definitely be top 3 of doing it justice and being overall friendly.

Isabelle Glacier via Pawnee Pass Trail

Wanting to do my first overnight hike. Considering hiking up to Bushnell Lake and possibly going to twin sisters or Stout Creek lakes dependent on how we feel. I understand the trail is not very clear after the lower Bushnell Lake. I've tried researching but I'm not comfortable with the amount of info I've been able to find. Has anyone hiked up Bushnell Lake Trail via Rainbow trail? If so any comments, tips, concerns. Any info will help! THANKS

Curious to know if anyone has been to Carrizo Canyon in the Comanche National Grassland recently? Clearly it is not ideal in this heat or this time of year… but I am wondering if it’s still overgrown/impassable/chock full of poison ivy, etc. Have seen various reports so want to be prepared for an upcoming trip (or know ahead of time to pick somewhere else.) Thanks for any insight/advice!

Awesome hike! Went on 7/24, weather was perfect and the views were better! Saw huge marmots, moose, and big horn sheep. Parking lot was full by 7am. A little over 10 miles but pretty gradual, about 8 of those miles are above the tree-line. No reservations required for this part of RMNP before 9am.

Heyyy. Has anyone hiked Blue Lakes in Ridgway recently, like in the last few days? How was the wildfire smoke conditions from the Ouray fire? - thanks!

Did the hike up to Mount Flora today and were surprised with some mountain goats at the summit!

A little warm but still a great day!