Mt. Antero

For Labor Day weekend I decided to try my Memorial Day weekend trip again, now that I've had the summer to get into better shape. My third attempt to climb Mt. Antero started out horribly. First, traffic Friday afternoon was horrible, and I didn't even make it to Buena Vista before dark. So I stopped at Dominoes for a Hawaiian pizza. I ate a slice in the dark parking lot, then a couple more at the Browns Creek trailhead as I decided not to night-hike and instead sleep in the car. Then, in the morning I discovered that instead of Canadian bacon, they had made the pizza with mushrooms. I HATE mushrooms. I have a phobia against mushrooms. I've been poisoned before I've even started...

Hiking up to Browns Lake on Saturday went much better than my first trip. This time I was familiar with the trail which helps psychologically, but also because I no longer was dealing with all the snow and extra gear. When I got to the lake, however, it was gone! Instead, where the lake used to be was just mud flats with a creek running through it.

Of course, the missing lake didn't stop the mosquitoes, and they were everywhere. I set up camp, but it was too late to do any climbing. Weirdly, I heard thunder down in the valley, but the weather was only some light sprinkles up at the lake.

I decided for Sunday to climb Mt. Antero first, and if the weather and my legs cooperated, cross at the head of the valley over to Tabeguache Peak and then descend directly into my campsite. The first part went according to plan. I made quick time getting up and over to Mt. Antero, feeling pretty good and happy to avoid the eight mile climb (16 round trip) on the standard route.

During rest breaks while climbing, and on the descent, I was constantly checking out how to try and get across the top of the Browns Creek valley. I'd have to stay high enough to avoid the impassable marshes and willows in the bottoms, but stay below the cliffs and talus slopes on the surrounding ridges and peaks. There were so many unknowns that I would have to be closer to before I would know for sure, but it did look possible.

By the time I got to the point of leaving the roads and making my way cross-country, the clouds to the west started turning dark. So I just continued down the valley instead and went back to my campsite, where of course the clouds cleared and it never rained.

The next day I debated climbing directly up to Tabeguache Peak and returning back to camp, but decided that I could either climb the peak, or hike out, but probably not both. So I packed up and hiked out—enjoying the breakfast that mother nature provided.

I knew this would be my last climb of the season. The next weekend was the annual Indian Peaks backpacking trip with the scouts, and then I had surgery scheduled to remove my ascending colon just a few days after that.

Pictures

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