I was visiting a couple of friends in Lake City trying to get ready for a through-hike of the Colorado Trail and decided to try these two as a warm-up exercise. Plus I wanted to see how six months of physical therapy on a back injury was working out. These two mountains are #23 and #24 for me, and were definitely a slog, not unlike Oxford and Belford. Apologies for the lack of photos, but I was more focused on getting up and down the mountain than I was on taking pictures.

The day started off cool and crisp, I was camped at the trailhead and it got down to a frosty 35 degrees overnight. I got started at 5am, in between the wave of people starting at 4 and the second wave that must have started around 6ish. The trail itself is steep, rocky, often loose, and unrelenting. On the plus side, the views are some of the most spectacular ones I've seen, whether you're in the meadow, on the ridgeline, or enjoying the summit.

Back to the trail -- there's several downed trees near the trailhead that require easy navigation either over, under, or around. Or at least they were easy in the daylight when the way was more obvious. The section that traverses the meadow and parallels the river has multiple rough patches where segments are giving way. I could not tell if there was a concerted effort to build a new trail around those pieces or if people were just creating multiple social trails. I observed similar issues on the ridgeline pitch up to Redcloud -- the "official" trail was not always obvious and often appeared to be a less desirable route than one of the numerous social trails. As I mentioned, the trail was quite rocky and often loose; I had many a conversation with other hikers about whether the mountain was trying to give us a thorough ankle workout or just trying to break both of them.

All of that said, the views more than made up for the challenges. A bit breezy at times, it was clear blue skies for the entire day, which made for an overall enjoyable experience. To top it off, the back held up with only minor complaints on the day.

Finally -- there was a young lady in a green jacket on Sunshine that lost a pair of gloves to the wind. I found them but didn't find you at the trailhead. If you see this, I have them; message me and I'll get them back to you.