Twilight 14ers

[XterraRob]

Doing the Sawtooth from Evans to Bierstadt around midnight was the closest I ever felt to the heavens.
The glow of the city, plus the stars.

+1

[My-Therapy]

My wife and I had an awesome experience on Windom Peak. We arrived on the summit just as sunset was at peak colors. Being deep into the San Juans on top of a 14er with that much color hitting the peaks all around us for miles and miles is something I’ll never forget. Once it was dark we starting making our way down and started noticing the occasional moth in our headlamp light. By the time we were a couple hundred yards off of the summit there were millions and millions of moths all around us, I have never seen anything like it before and we both couldn’t get over just how many there were and so close to the top of a 14er. Once we got closer to tree-line the stars really put on a show for us in Chicago Basin. Between the intense quiet when we stopped to turn off our headlamps and look up at the sky and the incredible amount of stars that we could see so clearly, I would have to say this was one of my favorite 14er hikes of all time. No one around on the trail and the basin totally quiet was the way to do Windom Peak. This was early September 2019.

[andrew85]

It's in my Chicago Basin trip report but I summited Mt. Eolus and North Eolus at night (8:42pm and 10:25pm) in an attempt to go train to train in 24 hours, which I would have made it if I didn't get altitude sickness between Sunlight and Windom which killed my pace from then onward. Lol was considering repeating this effort, but seeing that several people since have gone Purgatory to Purgatory in 24 hours my quest seems kind of pointless .

[JQDivide]

Anyone else feel...
Perfectly normal hiking in the dark in the morning, no worries?
But hiking down a peak in the dark evening feels eerie, noises are creepy, and you wonder what is watching you? Is that a cougar?
Why the difference? Maybe just used to the morning darkness?

Have done a few peaks at night. Mostly just to do it. Was OK. You can usually find people on the easier peaks during fool moons in the summer and early fall.

I really love sunsets on the summits. Few people, if any. Watching the colors change to the night sky, pretty incredible up high.

Joel

[ellenmseb]

I overslept when heading up for Belford/Oxford/Missouri, in September just after the big snowstorm. This resulted in heading down Missouri just around sunset. This sunset was stunning, the very best picture I've ever taken on a 14er.



On the way down the bowl from Missouri, in the pitch dark and snow, I heard a lot of eerie screaming/howling. I knew it was a fox because I heard the same sound coming from a fox previously, but it would've been easy to convince someone it was a hungry wolf or a person being murdered! If you haven't heard fox sounds before, they're extremely creepy: [YouTubeVideo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk1mAd77Hr4[/YouTubeVideo]

[Alpine Guy]

I drove over from Kearney NE one afternoon to hike Yale. I planned to camp at the South Yale saddle but I just never stopped walking and reached the summit right at sunset. It was too windy to camp there so I headed down the Denny Creek trail for the descent. That probably wasn't a great idea in the dark but I made it and what I still remember to this day is the night sky at that altitude. I've been a casual astronomer for several years and I couldn't hardly make out anything familiar - so many bright stars.

[Hiking_TheRockies]

did Longs starting at around 3 am. didn't really start getting light till the Boulderfield. does that count?

[BillMiddlebrook]

My wife and I had an awesome experience on Windom Peak. We arrived on the summit just as sunset was at peak colors. Being deep into the San Juans on top of a 14er with that much color hitting the peaks all around us for miles and miles is something I’ll never forget. Once it was dark we starting making our way down and started noticing the occasional moth in our headlamp light. By the time we were a couple hundred yards off of the summit there were millions and millions of moths all around us, I have never seen anything like it before and we both couldn’t get over just how many there were and so close to the top of a 14er. Once we got closer to tree-line the stars really put on a show for us in Chicago Basin. Between the intense quiet when we stopped to turn off our headlamps and look up at the sky and the incredible amount of stars that we could see so clearly, I would have to say this was one of my favorite 14er hikes of all time. No one around on the trail and the basin totally quiet was the way to do Windom Peak. This was early September 2019.

Cool

[Geckser]

I had a really good twilight experience on Elbert.

What about you CaptCo, I heard you had a really nice twilight experience on Belford/Oxford.

[ltlFish99]

I hiked Torreys later one day just to hang out on top for the sunset.
My favorite experience of this type was leaving camp Muir on Rainier at 1:00 am. It started l to light up as we approached dc, and was rising as we got above dc and headed for the summit. It was very enjoyable as I was young and had only started hiking about 18 months prior.

[Wentzl]

Full moons are nice, but I have learned that half full waxing is better than full if you want light after dark!

[pbarn]

I liked Antero at night by a full moon. I think the jeep trail up there is pretty ugly in the day, but by night you don't see it and it actually makes walking in the dark easier.

I once tried Pikes from Crags in the dark. Got up to just above treeline and stopped to have a snack, started feeling lonely up there all by myself, so turned around and came down. Whole way down through the trees I pictured that scene from Get Out where the guy is running straight at you through the trees and freaked myself out. So basically I drove to Colorado Springs to go for a walk by myself in the dark and scare myself s***less... A good time had by all.