About a week before the end of summer my wife and I drove up to Loveland Pass, west of Denver, with plans to climb Mount Sniktau.
The area had received the first snow of the season the day before, so there was a pretty dusting of white everywhere.
On top of a 12,915-foot summit. This man-made rock shelter gave a little protection from the biting, cold winds.
On top of a 13,152-foot summit along the ridge, mistaking it for the top of Sniktau. I'm skilled in reading maps, and always consult them while planning a hike, but my memory failed me this day.
That evening I consulted the map again and realized we did not get to the summit of Sniktau. This bothered me so bad that I insisted we try again the following weekend. To avoid retreading the same ground we headed up a different route. It was shorter, but steeper. Despite it now being autumn, the snow had mostly melted and it was much warmer.
Someone is not paying attention
I'm not sure what these are called, but they are not flowers, but rather leaves that have turned red in the changing season.
A week later we finally reach the real summit.
Obviously we were not the only people on top
We found an old rock hounding dig on the way down. Not sure if the excavator found anything other than white quartz and mica.
Cool. Amazing photos as usual. Thanks!