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We woke up in Vail at 3 am and were on the road by 3:20. Heading up Vail pass I almost hit a red fox that was feasting on a deer that had been hit and dragged to the side of the road. But seeing the little guy dart out into the road helped to wake me up for the drive. The other cool thing was that as we were heading south out of Breckenridge, we all saw the hugest falling star. It was very low in the sky and lasted so long I thought it would hit the ground.
When we got to the trailhead we were the first car. We started up the mountain a little after 4:30.
It was actually refreshing to hike in the dark. We had put fresh batteries in our headlamps so they were nice and bright.
Stopping a few times as we got to the crest of a ridge, we turned off the lights and took in the multitude of stars. There was no moon, so it was (is) a wonderful sight. As we ascended, way off to the south we saw lightening flashing up the sky and got a little concerned but it dissipated and the day turned out to be perfect.
It was getting lighter as we left tree line and snapped a few photo's as the sun peaked over the horizon.
There are many rock cairns that help to mark the trail which at times is scree and other times is picking your way through larger stones.
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As we begun the last 3rd of the hike we spied to other groups behind us. My pace slowed as we gained altitude and incline. The 2 groups behind us eventually caught up and we chatted a bit. My 17 year old son wanted to be the 1st on the summit so he scampered up to the top while my 22 yo stayed with me at a slower pace (56, from Florida) and we submitted about 30 minutes after my younger son, around 8am.
Spent a few minutes up top taking pictures, taking in the view.
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But without the exertion it was getting chilly so we started down. Not far from the top, we ran into a mountain goat.
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I read about these goats on other trip reports and we were all hoping to see some. The goat was kind enough to stand on a rock in an awesome pose for a picture.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. Legs and knees felt a bit wobbly coming down. Although we only saw 2 other groups ascending we saw PLENTY of groups as we were heading back down. Some starting as late as 10:30. We made it back to the car at 11:00am.
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I agree with earlier reports, that it was not an easy hike for us. I felt we were super prepared. We had sat down together and read through the route descriptions on this site with photo's and read a few trip reports. When we started at 4:30 am the temperature was 43 degrees and I felt great wearing shorts, 2 thin base layer (short & long sleeve) with a fleece. Shed the fleece after awhile. We all brought rain shell but never needed it. I only saw 1 mosquito. We were all well protected from the sun. We were all well hydrated to start the hike and two 32 oz of water was perfect for this hike.
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