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NW Ridge - Nice Weather, Wildflowers and a band of brothers
Left Boulder at 4:30 a.m. a later start than I like but this was a group thing. Arrived at the TH at 7:05 a.m. after stopping for gas and supplies. Again, a group thing. My biggest disappointment of the drive up was the fake cop of Twin Lakes was gone (anyone who was through Twins Lakes 15-20 years ago remembers coming around a tight curve with a very low speed limit to be faced with a police car driven by a what turned out to be dummy).
Jason who camped the night before reported the parking area was full at 9:00 p.m.
Dan (his first 14er ... congratulations DAN and MARIO AWESOME JOB OF WILL POWER), Mario, Jason and I left the TH and crossed the bridge.
The first mile is filled with the sound of rushing streams waterfalls and oh yes, mosquitos. Not too bad but really annoying. By the way, this trail has very little snow and very little water in the trail.
The day started overcast but thin cloud cover. It was a nice break from the recent hot weather and providing a comfortable day. The walk through the forest includes a REALLY well maintained trail including stair steps.
The trail continues and is very straight forward. Once you break through treeline the views of the valley and the summit ridge come into view. The wild flowers are in full bloom.
On the ridge the trail continues until you reach some scrambling sections around talus.
View down to highway 82 climbing towards Independence Pass.
Ellingwood Ridge
Snowmass on a hazy day. Later it was clear that anyone around the Elks was getting rained on.
The Bells
West view
NW ridge sentinel
These pics do not do justice to the building storm to the southwest. The afternoon brought a couple of very big claps of thunder but in the end, only a fews drops fell.
All in all, an awesome day and comfortable weather.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
We left the car at 7:30 and reached summit at about 11:00. There was some waiting on group members. Return was about 2:00pm. The route is worthwhile with the views of Ellingwood ridge.
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