| Report Type | Full |
| Peak(s) |
Humboldt Peak - 14,068 feet |
| Date Posted | 08/29/2006 |
| Date Climbed | 08/27/2006 |
| Author | 14ergirl |
| Humboldt- from south colony lakes |
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Left Denver on Sat. afternoon at 3:10pm, stopped at a 7-11 in the Springs and arrived at the bottom of the 4 wheel drive road (where 2wheel drive vehichles should park) at 7:15. It was raining and there was considerable traffic on 1-25 in several places. We have a 94 F-150 super cab with a short bed (4wd) and so we decided to attempt this infamous road. We'd been up it once before on foot and saw similar trucks at the top so we were confident. The first 2.5 miles were no biggie. The rest was a different story. I got out a few times to help guide my hubby through the easiest line and he was bouncing all over the place. I imagine if we cared about the truck we probably would have stopped here. About 1.5 miles from the top we hit a pretty decent sized rock with the left wheel and it threw out the steering box and the alignment. We don't know what else right now b/c it's in the shop as I type.  Anyhow it did make it to the top finally at 9pm. The 5.5 miles takes some time to get up esp. if you damage your vehichle. So on to the hike. It had snowed on all the peaks during the night hours and when we awoke at 5:00am it was pretty cold. I started up the road to meet our friends who were camped about .5 miles from the top of the parking lot. Had some B/F and we were off. Pretty fast easy hike up past the lakes, good trail all the way. When we got to the switch backs it got very windy and cold and we started to see snowflakes on the ground. The view of the Crestones was a view of clouds.    We then started up through the rocks, talus and Boulders. It was true class 2 hiking with a broken trail, a decent amount of Cairns marks your way through the rocks and boulders. There was one small section I had to pull myself up onto the next rock, but not dangerous. There was a small amount of ice and snow on the rocks which made for less than pleasant conditions.     The sun had started burning the clouds off and I captured quite the view of the Crestones.  On the top it was windy and cold so we decided to take a few quick photos head back down to the saddle for lunch. We were on top at 10:20am so the ascent took us 3.5 hours with 2-3 short stops along the way for clothing changes and food requirements. A few people past us going up. We were on the summit for about 10 min. The summit is very large and flat.  The descent was fine b/c the sun had melted some of the ice and it wasn't nearly as slippery. We were back at South Colony lakes by 12:30 and we stopped for a quick bite. All in all this was a typical class 2 hike with some fun rocks and boulders to climb over and a perfect distance of 7.5 miles. Lots o marmots!!! Beautiful views of the Crestones, Kit Carson, and Challenger. 
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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