South Arapaho Peak
South Arapaho Peak is a 13er (or mountain over 13,000 feet tall) located in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I had been wanting to hike this mountain for a few years now, and I finally went for it this fall! I knew it was going to be a cold day in the high alpine, but I wasn’t expecting quite as much snow as I encountered on this hike. I started by 7:30am, and the temperature was right around freezing. After the first 2 miles or so there was consistent snow on the ground until I reached the summit. This first image is of a willow, and shows just how much snow I saw early on.
Shortly after taking this image, I saw a bear cub!! This was the first bear I’d seen since moving to Colorado over 3 years ago, and it was definitely a shock for both of us. Thankfully I didn’t see the mother, but I was definitely careful and made a lot of noise before continuing up the trail.
I continued making my way up the trail, climbing step by step into the high alpine tundra. I was being constantly reminded that just because I had hiked 1,000 miles on the PCT, I was not acclimated to being at high elevations like I encounter in Colorado! My legs felt good, but I was frequently needing to stop to catch my breath. Finally I began the approach to the summit, which required some scrambling and route finding up a boulder field. The photo below captures how high up I truly was on this peak!
I started to descend quickly after reaching the summit because there was a weather system rapidly moving in towards me. Soon I was being enveloped in the clouds, and snow flakes were falling around me. The image below shows some of the dynamic clouds that were blowing through.
Looking back at South Arapaho Peak after summiting.
As I continued to hike down the trail, the snow stopped and I was treated to spectacular views of the entire valley. The yellow and orange color in the tundra mixed with the blue tones in the snow made for some beautiful pictures! I couldn’t help but keep stopping to take more images.
After connecting back to the main trail, I stopped by some small pools of water that I had scoped out on the hike up. I knew exactly the shot that I wanted to take, I just had to wait for the right lighting. In just a few minutes I took this picture, which was exactly what I had imagined! This is a special image for me, with the lighting on the prominent peak, the incredible orange colors in the grasses, and the beauty of these ponds. You can find prints of this image on sale in my store!