Hiking The Long Trails: Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans

I started out at Guanella pass very early, but since Bierstadt is one of the most popular 14ers many other people had the same idea. It was just getting light on the trail as I walked along the flat muddy ground and began passing people. The trail was muddy and required some puddle jumping on the way up the where the climbing begins but since it is such a well maintained and popular trail, there was a board walk along the muddiest of spots. The climb along the well maintained trail was fairly uneventful until I got very near the top and the clouds began to roll in. It was very cold and windy and caused me to throw on my rain jacket in order to break the wind. At the top I saw a man celebrating his 70th birthday with a friend and his son in law dressed in a suit and tie. It was pretty cool to see them supporting his desire to climb bierstadt on his bday. At the top it was so cloudy I only took a couple pictures in which you cant see anything but the surrounding clouds. Then I headed towards the sawtooth traverse to make my way accross to Mt. Evans. The traverse was rocky and gravelly to climb down to and one on the connecting ridge it was one of the "Create your own adventure" moments where you can take the more technical and challenging high route or the lower much more comfortable route. Of course I chose the high route and with only a few challenging sections I navigated it just fine. From on top of Sawtooth it was picking out a cairn on the Mt. Evans trail and making your way to it. It was smooth sailing from here to the summit. After all there is a road that goes up this high. It is a little demoralizing to see people three times your size taking pictures on the same peak as you. The way down was a new adventure. Instead of going back over the traverse I went down the hidden gully. It was very steep, slippery and rocky the entire way down. It did not help that my poles are pretty bent and beat up and did not provide much support. The plus side of this route is the amazing view and beaver ponds that I got to walk b. The downside is the six inches of mud and continual wet shrubs that I had to walk by for a couple miles. I was wet, muddy and soaked. Luckily I got to see some goats, pronghorns and ponds full of fish to take my mind off the quagmire I was navigating. By the time I reached the trail I was quite a site for those taking the traditional trail and I got asked a few questions. I made it back to the car and was off to beat the afternoon storms to the top of Grays and Torreys Peak to round out the weekend.

Pictures: To see photos of all my adventure check out my instagram: @jgar15