Sierra

Sierra
Sierra

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Thursday, 9/25/08 Green Mountain

6 miles
2,500

Went up past the First Flatiron again to the top of Green. Went pretty easy, going up in 42, down in 29. Awesome fall day, the colors are getting to be really nice on the mountain, but it was a little warm, felt good though.

Wednesday, 9/24/08 South Twin Cone Peak, LCW

~12 miles
2,420 vertical
Jeff, Allison and Sierra Valliere

Allison and I met her parents at the Fort and carpooled up to Kenosha Pass. We were hoping to do one of our favorite fall hikes on the Colorado Trail heading East through the HUGE stands of towering aspen. However, when we arrived at the pass, we noticed that our favorite stands were still green, yet the trees on the approach to N/S Twin Cone looked to be changing nicely.

We walked the extra mile from the pass along the smooth dirt road, to the 2wd TH described in Roach’s book, then past the gate and along the public right of way through the 1.5 miles of private property. The trees and willows through this stretch were stunning and I was snapping pictures like mad. The road switchbacks up the hillside through some great aspen that are now at their peak and we found an amazing rock outcrop over looking the valley to have lunch.

I did not intend on going up S. Twin Cone, but with it right there staring us in the face and the fact that we (I) intended to climb it 2 years ago when we were up on N. Twin Cone in the winter, I had to go. Allison and Sierra joined me, as her parents hung out and took a nap. We were tight on time, so we went pretty fast, doing some high speed bushwhacking through the trees on the way up, then some serious (but luckily not too long) willow bashing on the way down to regain the dirt road. It was a quick cruise out on the road and we eventually caught up to the rest of the group.

Pictures:

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/jeffvalliere/South%20Twin%20Con/