Continuing on the Centennial peaks lead me to Fletcher Mountain this past Sunday. Even at 13,951', it's a relatively short hike from the Blue Lake TH which worked out perfectly as I was meeting up with family and friends afterwards for a few days of rest and relaxation in Avon, CO.

Nearby Quandary Peak is known for it's mountain goat sightings. Would I see some on Fletcher? I wouldn't have to wait long to find out. I got to the TH around 7:30 and was surprised to see a mama mountain goat and her two kids just tooling around the parking lot area. Good ol' Colorado.

Suited up and started the hike I was enjoying the beautiful and unpopulated trail. Fletcher Mountain is poking out as a distant point in the center of the below.

After hiking a bit, you come to some waterfalls.

I didn't take a lot of photos on the way up. I suppose I was focused on navigating the basins and gullies. It's said that there's more route finding on 13ers than 14ers but along the way I saw my fair share of cairns guiding me up the mountain.

Soon enough I found myself at ~13,200' in the large open area with an immediate view of the last of the hike. On the way up I roughly took the route in blue. However, there appeared to be a trail of sorts generally following the red line which I took on the way down and it seemed nicer.

Here's a view of the mountain without the route marks.

With the goal at hand there's not much to do but put your hear down and head on up. A little before 10 am I found myself on the summit. The below shows neighboring 13ers, all Centennials of their own, Atlantic Peak, Pacific Peak and Crystal Peak.

The requisite summit selfie with Quandary Peak in the background.

A better shot of Quandary, the SE ridge to get to the top of Fletcher and a few hikers (would you call them descendants?) for perspective. That ridge is no joke, so you don't want to get too close to it. From this angle you can also see the West Ridge route up Quandary, but only in person. My camera/phone isn't that good.

Looking northwest reveals the Mayflower Gulch TH off CO 91.

It was my bittersweet and self-imposed duty to bring my Dad's cane to the top. My small tribute this year to his passing in 2020.

It's become my habit to use the cane on the way down which seems to work well to provide some additional stability and also because my Dad was a bit taller than I am. Once off the summit, the trail was easing out and again I was navigating the route from cairn to cairn.

I found myself thinking of all those who have come before us in all walks of life. How we may think of ourselves as original, and indeed sometimes we are, but I feel that more often than not we're treading the path of those who've come before us. For which we will be forever grateful.

Still, all that sober reflection can sometimes send a person in the opposite direction! On the way up I was enjoying seeing the snowfields. Then a thought hit me. Do I dare do it? Would it somehow be disrespectful? When I remembered some of my Dad's last words regarding the most important thing in life is having fun then the answer was clear. Of course. I'd try glissading with his cane!

For the non-14er crowd, the below provides a brief 'How To' on glissading. (Note: Let's not critique the nice cartoon gentleman's hair style.)

I can safely say the cane was no ice ax. Not knowing how this was going to go I tackled a short and not too steep snow field first. So much fun...

A little success can go to a guy's head though. I next tried glissading a longer and steeper snowfield. The descent this time was, well, let's just say a little less controlled at times. The ride was over quickly with just a small tapping of the rock field below. Kids, don't try this at home...

Because it was so pretty, here's a look at the second snow field from further down. My route was off to the left and not the long set of tracks you see to the right.

Because this was Colorado in July, no trip report would be complete without some columbines.

And what I was considering after the Fourth of July fireworks.

Arriving at the TH around 12:30 who did I see but the same family of goats! I suppose maybe they're a little too used to human interaction.

In memory of Larry Baker, 11/30/1933 - 12/15/2020