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Met Wizzer from 14ers at the TH around 6pm on Friday 6/1. We decided to get some elevation behind us and took off for treeline. The initial ascent through the forest was actually quite nice on the way up. We didn't even seem to mind the switchbacks.
Towards treeline we passed the shack (which was really more like a few stacked logs posing as a structure). We moved just passed them about 5 minutes up the trail and found some excellent camping spots just next to the creek. We arrived around 8 and spent the next hour or so setting up camp. Belford from Camp
This was my first attempt at camping with my dog in the tent. Didn't really go so well. He was cold and stared out the tent all night looking for critters. I definitely need to figure out how to camp better with him along. We rose at 4am per Wizzer's suggestion and hit the trail.
Had good weather for the majority of the hike. Wizzer was a quicker hiker than me so after about an hour he started pushing on ahead. My dog decided to follow him instead. Summitted Belford about 7am.Belford Very windy, but the skies were clear, so we continued on to Oxford rather quickly. Over to Oxford and back to the top of Belford took exactly 3hrs.Trail to Ox So at 10am I was on top Belford again. Minus my traitor dog who had again left me after summitting Oxford and ran up ahead and out of sight as I was heading back towards Belford. It seems he much preferred the company of Wizzer over myself.
Only snow we encountered was at the tops of each summit. But it was light and not really an issue.
Skies were pretty clear at 10am on the top of Belford with some light clouds (see photos).Summit of Belford Started heading down the mt. About 2/3rds of the way down towards our campsite at treeline I started getting hailed on. This was probably about and hr or so after I had been on the summit. Hail was on and off for a 1/2 hr or so with thunder in the background. Made it back to camp where I found my dog safely in my soaking wet tent.
We quickly packed up and headed down the rest of the mt. attempting to avoid any more hail or rain. The switchbacks were much worse and quite a bit longer on the way down. Got back to the TH about 1pm. 2 naps later I was back home in Denver by about 4pm.
Notes to Self:
- Listen when your more experienced climbing partner says lets leave early
- Bring gloves for early summer morning hikes
- Make sure the lens isn't covered on your phone so half your pictures aren't simply black images
- Make sure you've properly secured your rainfly on your tent so you don't come back to wet everything
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for posting this, vallejoclimbr. Sorry to hear your first experience with your dog didn't go so well. Hopefully your tent is now nice and dry and ready for your next adventure!
Your post was cracking me up. You dog trading you in for a wet tent and a better hiker. So funny. I will also take into account your quality references under the ”notes to self” section.
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