Sunday, July 24, 2011

Prospector Campground, Colorado



We took the Tabelot on a great adventure for our first camping trip to Colorodo.  The Rocky Mountains are beautiful! We stayed at the Prospector Campground outside of Frisco.  The campground is conveniently located off of I-70 and near the highway out to Breckenridge.  The area had incurred some pine beetle damage, but the scenery was still breathtaking.

View of Prospector Campground
 Our friend Karla came along for the weekend so we could all do some training hikes for our upcoming trip to Kilimanjaro.  I think the weekend was a great success.  We managed to climb 4 peaks above 14,000' in two days.  On Saturday we got up at 0-dark-hundred to force down some breakfast and then drove about an hour to the Kite Lake Trailhead.  We arrived with droves of other excited hikers, up early to tackle the big peaks before the afternoon storms rolled in. 

Start of Mount Lincoln Trail

We were on the trail by 8:00 a.m. (which as a bit later than we wanted, but better than it could have been).  The trail starts above the treeline at 12,000' in a beautiful alpine meadow.  Kite Lake is the trailhead for four peaks in the area, inlcuding Mt. Democrat (14,148'), Mt. Cameron (14,238'), Mt. Lincoln (14,286') and Mt. Bross (14,172').  We didn't do Mt. Democrat, but we managed to do the Cam-Lin-Bro loop which hits three of the peaks with pretty easy access across broad saddles and expansive views.
Karla heading up to the first saddle

Three of us on top of Mt. Lincoln

The next day we drove further east to do Grays Peak.  The Grays Peak trailhead was just as crowded as the Kite Lake trailhead with lots of people heading out on a beautiful but crisp morning.  Grays Peak was a great hike and an amazing climb up the scree switchbacks that seemed to go on forever.  Here are some of my favorite shots from our hike up Grays.


Heading up the Valley

Mary near the final ascent

Three of us on top of Grays Peak