Mt. Lindsey
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While I was taking a week to canoe with a group of Scouts at Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, the climbing helmet I ordered finally arrived. It had a much more adventurous trip, going from Charlestown, MA to Boston, MA to Chelsea, MA, back to Boston, back to Chelsea, 6 days in transit before it showed up at Chelsea again, then another 8 days in transit before it got to—you guessed it, Chelsea. Then the next day it was in Nashua, NH, a couple days later in Providence, RI, then finally Denver three days after that, and finally delivered the next day. Only took 24 days.
I had made several plans for climbing Mt. Lindsey (14,042') earlier but something always seemed to come up and it never seemed like the right time. Now that I had a climbing helmet I was ready for the infamous gully that is an unavoidable part of the route (unless I wanted to try the Class 4 route). Well, the climbing helmet and 4-wheel-drive, as the trailhead is at the end of a 15.5 mile long road that gets progressively worse, but covers private property with no parking for the 2WD portion.
I camped at the Huerfano / Lily Lake trailhead and started hiking during the false dawn. The morning was very quiet and quite pretty. About a mile in the trail crosses the Huerfano River. Many hikers will carry an extra pair of shoes for this, but I picked up a good hiking staff for balance and crossed over on a fallen tree. Shortly afterwards I lost the trail skirting a muddy section; the trail had turned right in the middle of it. I turned uphill to try to rejoin the trail, but it went upward just as steep as I was climbing. I found the trail when it levelled out for a bit.
I stopped for a breakfast snack near an old mine, and was passed by a very large group that I later learned was the men's basketball team from Kansas State University. About half the team turned back at timberline, but a handful made it all the way to the summit.
Once the trail gets above the tree line at 12,000', a mile long flat section is a welcome respite before the climb to the saddle. From there you can see the two routes: (1) the infamous gully full of loose rock or (2) the ridge with high exposure and a short Class 4 wall. 
The recommendations are to climb the gully when it is full of snow, and take the ridge when the gully is free of snow because the rock on the ridge is more stable.
Now that I had a helmet, I chose the gully route even though there was no snow. I stuck to the side of the gully and didn't have any issues. Above the main gully I turned and made my way up to the ridge to avoid another section of loose rock and successfully bypassed the ridge wall.
My hiking style is a bit different—my uphill speed can be pretty slow and most other climbers will pass me at some point. In real steep sections, however, I do have an advantage because my long legs make the steep rocks more like a staircase. I somehow got in front of most everyone on this steep section, making it to the summit well before most everyone else.
From the top of Mt. Lindsey there is a great view of three nearby 14ers less than three miles away: (left to right) Little Bear Peak (14,037'), Blanca Peak (14,345', which I climbed in the snow back in June of 1988), and Ellingwood Point (14,042') which is my next planned peak and the same height as Mt. Lindsey.
On the way down the marmots were out, and didn't seem concerned by the hikers. They didn't bother to whistle warnings, and this one big guy came right up to me looking for anything interesting.
Pictures