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Trail head: 5:50 AM Summit: 9:15 AM Leave Summit: 9:45 AM Parking Lot: 12:05 PM
Amber and I camped Friday night at the Spruce Creek Trail Head just a few minutes down the road. Take CO 9 South from Breckenridge to just after mile marker 85. Turn right onto Spruce Lake Drive, next to a sign that says "The Crown". Follow the road back to this sign:
A view of sunset from the camping area:
We awoke grudgingly to the sound of the alarm clock at 4:00 AM, cooked breakfast, packed camp and headed for Quandary‘s TH. We arrived at the TH around 5:45 AM to take the last parking spot. On the trail at 5:50 AM and our hike began under mostly dark, pre-dawn skies, temps in the 30‘s. Here is our first view of the peak:
Looking back towards the East we could see the sun beginning to creep over the ridge:
The sun began to glow on Quandary:
A look back East at the sun finally peeking over the ridge:
Amber heading up the trail towards the final push:
Once on the top we took in the views in all directions. Here you can see the closed peaks of Lincoln, Bross and Democrat:
Amber and I on the summit:
After hiking up in mostly dawn light we were finally able to look back at the peak and where we had been:
You could tell fall is on its way by the aspens color starting to change:
All in all, a very nice day for a summit as there were virtually no clouds and less than a hundred people on the trail. It did get a bit breezy on the top though, and that shortened our stay. It still did not feel like we had spent 30 minutes at the top. Too much to take in!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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