Humboldt stats: West Ridge (Standard Route), 12 miles, 4200'.
After a busy 14er season, including 20 Colorado 14er summits since May (and Mt Whitney in CA), there was still time and energy to take advantage of some beautiful fall weather for one more in 2010. This would mark my first 14er climb in the month of October, and I hoped the fall colors hadn't faded yet. Tom and I made the drive to South Colony Trailhead Friday after work, where we parked at the newly christened lot where they permanently closed the 4x4 road. Last year I traveled 2.5 miles further up the road to climb the Crestones, but given Humboldt's gentle reputation, the extra 5 miles RT (all road) didn't seem to be worth complaining about. Especially when the glory of a 14er summit was the reward! Tom slept in his car, and I slept under the stars (my new favorite way to car camp). We were up early as usual, readied our gear, and were signing the trial register by 5:22am. The walk up the wide rocky road was easy in the dark (with headlamp), and in an hour, we had covered ~4 miles to reach the pile of cairns marking the pack trail to Humboldt. While climbing through the pine forest, we passed a group on the trail, and eventually reached timberline, where orange colored shrubs lined the trail. We reached a view of Crestone Needle shortly before sunrise, which gave us the pleasure of watching the sharp peak turn all sorts of firey colors as the sun lifted above the horizen.
Certainly had an autumn feel today. The sun started coloring the tip of the Needle at 7:02am...
These 2 pics, and the 1 above them were taken ~30-45 seconds apart, between 7:02-7:03am. The color changes pretty fast...
1 minute later (7:04am)...
7:09am and 7:18am...
It was surprising to see some fog down the valley that we had walked up. Wasn't there while we were hiking...
A look up the gentle trail to the west ridge of Humboldt...
Still in the shade at 7:43am from near the saddle...
Hiking due east up the broad west ridge of Humboldt. ~1300' gain to go, from the saddle. No sunglasses needed yet...
There's your King of Diamonds from www.14ercards.com...
Tom makes his iway up on this serenely fine morning...
We neared a false summit, and saw the true summit in the distance..
From the false summit we were treated to a fantastic view of the fog pouring into the valleys below! Tom went on ahead to the summit, while I stuck around to take more pics...
Crestone Needle and Peak (from left to right on the first pic). I did the traverse between the two last Labor Day (Peak to Needle). With the telephoto, I snapped a pic of Tom about to top out on Humboldt...
The view of the fog was too cool to leave without taking more pics...
And another...
After an easy hike from the false summit, I topped out at 8:55am. There was a slight breeze, and the air was cool, but the sunshine made for very pleasant conditions. A few minutes later, a guy from the group we passed joined us at the summit. After soaking in the views (the Crestones are among the best in the state) and having a snack, we started the descent ~9:30am.
Tom rests in the rock ring at the summit. A pic of us, with Crestone Peak on my right, and the Needle to the left...
A wide view looking west from the summit...
I hauled up the 2lb telephoto lens, so might as well use it to make a stitched pic of Crestone Needle and Peak. Ah... Memories of the traverse around those gendarmes below the Needle...
Looking down at some green lakes during our descent...
Descending down from the saddle...
A look back up at Humboldt...
Back to the orange vegetation...
Crestone Needle looks mighty...
The Queen of Diamonds from www.14ercards.com is used from this pic. Crestone Needle on the left, Humboldt on the right. Humboldt sure looks like the easier 14er of the two...
Walking back down the 4x4 road amongst the golden aspen trees, back to the parking lot, where they put in a new bridge over the stream...
We were back at the car ~noon, resulting in a very enjoyable 6hr 40min outing. This marked 14er #48 for me, and also yielded the last pics I needed to design my from 14er playing cards. 2010 was a huge 14er year for me: 21 peaks, and several other hikes to collect pictures needed for my 14ercards project.
With 10 14ers left on the list, there is a decent chance I can finish them in 2011. Already looking forward to it!