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Peak(s):  Missouri Mountain  -  14,071 feet
Date Posted:  09/15/2014
Modified:  09/16/2014
Date Climbed:   09/14/2014
Author:  speach
 Solo Summit, Wisely   

I'm becoming quite good at not completing combos of mountains that ought to go together.
I did Blanca but not Ellingwood,
Belford but not Oxford,
Crestone Needle but not Crestone Peak,
and Columbia two years after Harvard.

To redeem myself, I thought, oh, perhaps I'll do Missouri and Oxford!
But, I also thought, oh, perhaps I'll do my long day of running before hiking.
And oh, perhaps I'll sleep only 4 hours.
And oh, perhaps I won't really think too hard about the route.

So I drove to the Missouri Gulch trailhead knowing fully that I would be doing only Missouri Mountain, and knowing fully that I'd have to come back.

But OH MY, what a lovely day it would have been for a long, long hike.
Weather: perfect.
Leaves: trending towards fall in the most beautiful way
Mountains: duh, mountains.
Animals: I didn't kill any on the way up.
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I started hiking just before 9am (ALPINE START ALL THE WAAAAY), and was treated to a neon leaf rave as the sun peaked over the hills.
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It was somewhat disorienting to be on this trail under these conditions. When I hiked Belford a few years back, it was snowy and required much trudging and grumpy post-holing and trail-losing:
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Instead of recalling those fun times, I kept having flashes of La Plata, which I hiked at exactly the same time last year, amidst the leaves and the beautiful. Quite a confusing mishmash of memories!

Mostly though, I was focused on my heel. Which is to say, the pain in my heel. Which is to say, the blister on my heel. Now, I've hiked a lot (A lot. (A LOT!)), and I just don't get blisters. But I guess running for too long in VFFs the day before weakened me?
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Sigh. I tried, in various iterations, a bandaid and some moleskin and some tape and some folding-down-my-sock. None of that seemed to work. So I tried the best blister-care known to man: ignoring the shit out of it. Onward.

Missouri is weird. There's a lot of upup in the beginning and then a whole lot of flatflat and then some more upup and then some more of the flatflat. That's my trip report right there, and all of the advice I can offer you.

When I got to the saddle at 13,700' just after noon, I was really perplexed to see several other people. I had been hiking alone for three hours, with the occasional stray hiker pair descending appropriately early from ox/belford or elkhead pass. There was no one else on the Missouri Gulch trail. Oh, right, there's a backside trail. Of course, I thought.
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I passed by these mysterious hikers who appeared out of no where, and reached the summit around 12:45 with their fearless leader, who took my requisite handstand photo.
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When the rest of the crew scurried up the summit, I discovered that they were full of enthusiasm, snacks, fake accents, and matching hats! I took perhaps a thousand photos of this "Will Hike For Beer" crew, and in return, they fed me chocolate, nuts, tuna, and cookies. +/- a Clif bar, sadly turned down due to peanut content. Miguel ate one of my carrots, so I suppose I contributed a little.

I ended up staying on the summit for awhile chatting with them, and then after they all departed, proceeded to do a little mountaintop meditation. (Cannot recommend the Headspace app enough! Give it a try!) I had a little debate with myself as to whether to descend or to head over to Oxford via the traverse.

Reasons to do it:
- Not coming to this damn gulch three times to do a set of 3 peaks that can be done in one loop.
- Feeling gooooood!
- Great weather that looked like it would hold.

Reasons not to do it:
- Knowing literally nothing about the route.
- Feeling goooood... because I'd only done 5 miles thus far. Lack of sleep and the previous day's excessive activity would be hurting me later, right?
- Wait... didn't I have a blister or something?

Okay. Fine. It wasn't much of a real debate. Stupid Oxford. Stupid mountains that are supposed to be done together. Bleh!

I headed back down the same route and shared a few parting words with the beer crew before returning to my solo hiking endeavor. The pikas and marmots were out in full force for the afternoon, so there was a lot of squeaking on the descent. I passed a dude coming up the gulch at about 2:30; a weird time to ascend, but given the weather, he had infinity time to make the summit. Mostly though, just pikas and marmots and insects. In fact, I have never seen so many large insects on a 14er. Maybe that's because most of my ascents have been in snow? Is it cricket season right now??? Hard to say.
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The afternoon was just phenomenal. Several people were sitting down to take it in, like this turquoise-shirted lady who I startled.
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And, the leaves? Ah, those guys. It's not peak yet, but definitely come up to Missouri Gulch next weekend, because it is looming. Even at not-yet-peak, I couldn't take my eyes off them.
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When I got back to the car and peeled off my boots, I was startled by this blister. When I had last checked on it (10am), it was a small, manageable thing. But now? It nearly consumed the entirety of my foot.
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I'm really glad that I didn't hike the combo. Plus, driving down 390 in the dark would've been pretty terrible.

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Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
mtgirl
User
Heads up
9/16/2014 12:51pm
Those aren't mountain goats in your first photo. They are bighorn sheep. I was up in Missouri Gulch the same day to hike Belford and Oxford. Saw the same red crickets on the saddle between the two peaks.


summitbound
User
ouch!
9/16/2014 5:39pm
Congrats on the summit! we were across the valley that same day. I agree the fall colors were looking good!

Wow that blister looks painful. I have had a few just like them in my days so I can relate. I ended up going with a lighter weight sock and it solved mine.

Crickets: Funny when I did that trio back in 2007 I made this comment in my TR:
”The one thing that still stands out in my mind about the trek up was all the %$& crickets, I don't know why there were so many of them but they were everywhere!”

We (me and my son) may have passed you mtgirl or even said hi..


JROSKA
User
In common
9/17/2014 1:51am
I'm kind of like you - it always seems like I do one peak without getting to the other. But most of these 14er areas are so beautiful, I have no qualms about going back a second time. Nice pictures.



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