At least once a summer you need a getaway into the mountains. In the past few years for me that's meant getting together with friends - camping, hiking and kayaking. I got a later start Friday afternoon than I wanted to but ultimately we found ourselves a great spot to spend a few nights on the rough dirt road to McNasser Gulch trailhead.

We set-up camp Friday night, had some laughs over a good camp cooked meal. Earlier in the week it looked like we'd have a wet weekend but the forecast for Saturday was surprisingly good. This meant that we weren't in any big rush to get going the next morning. After breakfast and getting our day packs together we drove to the end of the 4WD road and were on the trail at 7:30 AM.

The hike in is incredibly straight-forward. You're on an established trail until you get to the old mine. After leaving the mine the trail becomes fainter. For me, one of the most important decisions of the day was where to go up the x hundred feet of suck to gain the ridgeline. I attempted this hike before and turned up too soon so choose your route with care.

We'd planned to do Grizzly and Garfield Peaks. Once we got close to the ridge we got our first good view of Garfield Peak on the right. I learned later that Red Mountain is on the left.

Staying to the east of the ridge you never leave class 2 hiking around the gendarmes. There's a bit of a trail in spots and here things started to get a little more interesting.

Another gendarme to get around. Same instructions, stay low and to the left, look for a trail or cairns and you'll be alright.

At last, you get over the ridge line and get your first unobstructed view of the summit!

Right before the summit is probably the hardest climbing you'll have to do, though it really wasn't bad at all. The rock is very solid and no tricky moves to make.

A little V to look through and the valley below.

And in just over 3 hours we reached the summit of Grizzly Peak, the tallest 13er in Colorado.

Initially you descend Grizzly the way you came, but only for 20 feet or so, and then turn left to head for Garfield. The rule of thumb for getting to Garfield's summit is to stay to the right of the ridge. I'm sure we weren't 'on route' 100% of the time to Garfield but getting there was no trouble at all.

And what did we see on Garfield Peak but a dog wearing ski goggles!

Probably the hardest moves all day were descending Garfield Peak. Just a few class 3 moves. Again, nothing too tricky to contend with.

The route down into the basin was scree filled and loose. One step, slide, another step, slide...

There was a bit more hiking to get down and into the valley again. We took our time and reached this lovely little spot to fill a water bottle and dunk our heads around 1 pm.

Once the hike was over we were happy to get the boots off and rest and reflect.

When all is said and done, getting a summit is great, but just getting out into the backcountry, losing your cares for a few short hours and spending time with friends is what it's all about.