Kyle heading up the Mist Trail. Yosemite National Park, June 13, 2010.
Near the top of the mist section, rainbow behind. Water beaded up on Kyle's sunblock.
Vernal Falls.
Nevada Falls
Bridge over Nevada Falls.
Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls from the Muir Trail. The "waterfall" on the Muir Trail was still there but very weak compared to in May. The hike was 6 miles and took 4:17.
Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park, June 14, 2010.
View down toward Snake Valley.
On the Mountain View trail, with only the tip of Wheeler Peak visible. I took a much better picture of the mountain on my 2007 trip. It's a beautiful mountain, and I want to hike up it some day.
On the trail to Delicate Arch. Arches National Park, June 15, 2010.
The slickrock was especially fun to hike up.
Delicate Arch comes into view. The La Sal Mountains are in the distance.
Kyle and Kyoko under the arch.
Kyle and I climbed up an area I'd call the "ampitheater" because lots of kids were lined up on the "steps" that lead up. You get another view at the top of the arch.
A terrific short hike. 3 miles and we took 1:46.
We arrived in Frisco, Colorado early that evening. After checking into the hotel and dinner, I took a short walk to the lake. The lighting and scenery were so good I went back and got the camera so I could take some pictures before sunset. Here is Peak 1.
I'm pretty sure now that this is Mount Guyot.
Two of these are Grays and Torreys, but I'm not sure just which two and what the third peak is.
Okay, here's my current guess: Grizzly Peak, then Torreys, then Grays.
Peak 1 from a different angle. To the right is Mount Victoria, and further down and to the right is Royal Mountain, where we would hike to the next day. You can see the rock outcropping to the far right where I took the best pictures.
June 16, 2010. I had to take Kyoko and Kyle up the Mount Royal Trail, a favorite I've done now 3 or 4 times. For some reason it is called the Mount Royal Trail even though you are climbing Royal Mountain. Don't ask me why. This sign didn't explain it.
This is just a short hike, 3 miles roundtrip, but quite steep, gaining about 1400 feet. The first mile gains 1000 feet, at an average 20% grade. There is a long section (0.45 miles) that goes straight up with no switchbacks at average 26% with extended 30% sections. So a fun hike. The views get better and better as you go up too. Here's one fairly low down.
Grays and Torreys from a different angle than yesterday.
Higher up.
I'm pretty sure now that the left peak (which I could see yesterday) is Mount Guyot, and the right one is Bald Mountain.
Now I'm not sure what this one is....
Torreys and Grays again, with Lake Dillon below.
Once you get near the summit you get the views on the other side, including I-70.
Tenmile Canyon
I left Kyle and Kyoko on the summit and continued to the lower rock outcropping (another 6 or 7 minutes) which has the best view. Here's a stunning one of Frisco and Lake Dillon.
More pictures from the rock outcropping.
We then headed down together. Mount Victoria, unnamed on the USGS maps, is in the background. I've been up there at least twice as well. It's an extra 1200 feet of climbing, and then you can continue on to Peak 1 and beyond, something I want to do later this summer.
Kyle loved the hike, and was in a great mood on the way down, running when it wasn't too steep.
Views on the way down. Beautiful tree colors.
Back down in Frisco. Notice there are a lot more clouds. No thunderstorms, but there were very strong winds in the town.
That afternoon, we went on a short walk to Lake Dillon.
Kyle took this one.
June 17, 2010 we drove up Mt. Evans Road, the highest paved road in North America, to the end. We got to see some mountain goats at the parking lot.
Although it was in the 80s lower down, the summit temperature was below 30 and there was an extremely strong wind, so it must have been below 0 wind chill. Kyle and I quickly put on some cold weather clothes while Kyoko opted to stay in the car. Kyle and I wanted to hike up to the summit, seen here, even though the trail was coated with ice.
It took us over 30 minutes to make it up the 134 feet of the trail, being very careful on the ice. The views at the summit were certainly worth it.
Looking down at the parking lot and observatory.
Kyle on the summit. Another couple also make it up and are signing the summit register which we had just signed. Kyle's first 14er! (14,264 feet) And my first time up Evans. In a way it's cheating to drive almost all the way up, but given the weather and condition of the final trail, it felt like we still put in some effort.
Surprisingly Kyle didn't have any real altitude sickness, despite having trouble with it on several previous occasions. Our acclimatization in Frisco must have worked.
We asked the other couple to take a picture of us together.
The view from the parking lot.
Ruins of Crest House at the road's end.
