We fought the mountain, and the mountain lost...kind of

Thursday was the setting of a battle between man and the elements, and it was a very close finish. Who exactly was the winner is still up for debate.


Mom and Dad climbed Courthouse Mountain back, oh, what was it? 20 some years ago? Unfortunately, Steve and I were uninformed of the fact that late June is a little early to climb the mountain. Or else the area just had an extremely hard winter this year. After a long drive up to Owl Creek Pass at about 10,000 feet altitude, we finally found the Courthouse Mountain trailhead from directions we found on the internet. Courthouse Mountain and it's neighboring peak, Chimney Rock (you should be able to tell the difference by the picture!) were in view for the first part of the drive, and we were very optimistic and excited at this point. We also saw a doe and her fawn bouncing across the road, so it was a very enjoyable drive.

Where we parked at the trailhead, there were two other guys gearing up with backpacks and other gear, and since we didn't see them after that, I assume they took one of the other nearby (and longer) trails. The trail to the summit of Courthouse was 1.8 miles, which sounds fairly short until you realize what you're climbing! As soon as we got onto the trail, we encountered the first snowdrifts, and it never really left. There were a few points where we could see the actual trail, but the rest of the time, we followed a pair of bootprints through the snow. As you can see by my graceful movements, it wasn't always easy to get through the snow. Sometimes it was packed enough to stay on top or just up to our ankles...other times, we'd step at a spot and end up with the snow up to our knees or above!



We also spotted a lot of deer poop...

and several bear tracks.
Here's one of our first (of many) rest stops.




At one point we lost the main trail somewhere in the snow and ended up following what appeared to be a deer trail along the ridge line...it must have been easier for the deer. Here's our commentary during another rest stop.




The rest of the hike up was pretty much the same. Snow, steep, and lots of breather stops. We got started kind of late though and there was an approaching thunder storm, so we tried to keep our breaks rather brief. After clearing a STEEP field where the trail zigzagged back and forth, and CLIMBING up the snow banks that were probably 10 feet deep in places, we finally made it to the base of the rocks. We spent another ten minutes climbing up the rocks and then the thunder started. Since the rocks were already treacherous, and we had gone through slick mud and tons of deep snow to get to that point, we decided it might be wise to go ahead and turn back rather than getting stuck in a storm. Here's our final video of that decision.




The trek back down was definitely easier going since we had our own footprints to follow, but the muscles still burned! There was also a pretty steady sprinkle of COLD rain. I also continued with my paranoia about bears, so I tried to make plenty of noise. Some was intentional like asking Steve how he was doing every few minutes, and some was unintentional like me yelling as I slid/fell/tumbled down snow embankments. At one point, I suggested we sing, but Foreverandever Etc. by David Crowder was a little hard to sing when we were already panting.


We finally made it back to the Jeep where we changed shoes since ours were soaked and cold. My pants were soaked up to the knees with snow and mud, so I even had to change pants before getting in. Our feet were red from being so cold, but once we collapsed in the Jeep, I don't think we cared! We drove back down to Ridgway where we stopped for lunch (about 4:00). I called to check on Mom, Steve bought some jerky, and in general, we tried to recover.


The rest of the evening was pretty easy going since we just drove through the mountains down to Silverton, an old mining town, where we camped for the night. We didn't even make dinner...just took ibuprofen and hit the air mattress. Steve actually turned in a little earlier because he wasn't feeling good....guess the mountain was meaner than we thought! I also came out with a scratch on my back from a sharp pine branch. After a good night's rest though, Steve was back to his chipper self and ready to hit the road! Look back in a bit for tomorrow's story!

We'll end with a word to the wise:

Don't climb Courthouse Mountain if there's any snow. :-)