Arrived at the Quandary parking lot at 6:15am after leaving Boulder at 4:15am. I was surprised to find very few cars, and was able to park right near the trailhead. Started my solo climb up the mountain at 6:30am. It was a steep climb right from the start, with the sun starting to rise, it was a beautiful ascent through a wooded forest. As soon as the trail moved above tree line, it transitioned from soft dirt to lots of loose rock. The second half of the climb was all talus, which was a scramble at a times, leading you straight up to the summit. Sometimes it was hard to recognize where the trail actually was, but there were many cairns that helped direct you. Two mountain goats were intimidating hikers near the trail where the talus leveled out before the steep pitch. On the way down, there were more goats in the valley to the left. I reached the summit just before 11am. The most difficult attribute of this 14er is the short mileage but steep elevation gain -- 3,450' in a short 3.33 miles! The weather was perfect - very little wind (approx 10MPH) and the temperature was 45 degrees at the summit. Got an early start because rain was forecasted in the afternoon. On the way down it sprinkled a little but thankfully no storms even though the clouds looked threatening in the distance. Was back to the trailhead by 2pm. The descent seemed almost as hard, especially on the knees and I was worried about rolling my ankles, but I was fine. This was my fifth Fourteener, and even though it's classified as an "easy Fourteener", I would concur with the sign at the trailhead that read, "There are no easy Fourteeners."
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i agree with you, it was a great hike, though strenuous. and the hike down was not easy either (i had the trail running shoes, hoka one one, and that helped cushion the impact). the weather, very windy at first, became calm and warm as i reached the top. spectacularly clear when i was there. great experience. did the snow patch on top melt away? am curious. what were the other fourteeners you scaled?