Beauty Fall Colorado

After such a beautiful fun-filled summer with lots of hiking and mountain biking around Summit County, it was finally time to get prepared for - you guessed it -- SKI SEASON!  But not without getting to enjoy some of the beautiful fall colors around Keystone and Breckenridge.  We haven't done any of the same hiking trails twice yet and are only beginning to scratch the surface of the many trails available.

These aspens are right at the entrance to our condo complex in Keystone.

More aspens just outside of Breckenridge

Our timing was impecable when we took a drive over Boreas Pass near Breckenridge

A week later, we were hiking just outside of Keystone along Peru Creek on our way up to Chihuahua Lake.....

More beautiful aspens and evergreens.

Just a few more long hikes this past summer, and we finally decided that we needed to get a new toy to get us to the trails instead of beating up Dianna's SUV or Kent's truck just getting to the trailheads.  Kent was immediately all over this one and jumped at the chance when Dianna commented that it might be kinda fun to have a little Jeep to help us in our exploration trips around Summit County:)

Jeepers Creepers!

On our final hiking weekend this fall, we got the subtle reminder that Arapahoe Basin was getting ready to open up for the ski season, and Keystone would only be two weeks behind them.....  Time to get our ski equipment ready for winter!!!



Grays and Torreys

Starting out at 6:30am on 9/11, Gray's Peak on the left and Torrey's on the right - it's a long way up there, 8.5 miles round trip!  Our hike STARTED at 11,244' - WOW

We're above 13,000' looking back at the trail coming up with lots of hikers behind us.  Mt. Kelso (13,144') sits below us.

 

Pretty steep with lots of cool boulders on the way up!

In mid-September, we're 3/4 of the way up and still wearing jackets and gloves!  Our trail up the mountain lies in the valley behind us.

More shots of the trail we just hiked up.  That's the Continental Divide on the right.

Nearly on top of Gray's Peak - that's Torrey's Peak to the north with lots of hikers on it already.  The saddle between the peaks is a 565' drop, but seemed like thousands more than that after already hiking up Gray's!

Finally reached Gray's summit at 14,243' - whew!  Spectacular views in all directions when you're this high.  That's Pikes Peak,nearly 75 miles south of us in the middle of the picture.  Argentine Pass, the old stagecoach trail from Georgetown to Keystone (in the foreground) is on our list of hikes to do next summer.  We had tried to hike up Gray's Peak a week earlier, but had to turn around as the terrain was just too difficult on this side.

That's the Continental Divide below us!

Gray's Peak summit (14,243')

Sign on top of Gray's Peak pointing to Torrey's Peak.  Hey Dianna, it's only .7 miles more, so let's go ahead and do it since we're here!

Down in the saddle between the peaks, 1/2 way to Torrey's.  Wow, it seems like a lot more than .7 miles.....

More cool shots of the trail we just came up.

Dianna resting on top of Torrey's Peak (14,253') with Lake Dillon just above her head, Keystone runs just to the left of her, and Arapahoe Basin ski area summit immediately above her.

A zoomed in shot of Lake Dillon, Keystone Valley, and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area summit.  Our condo sits just to the left of the highway in the middle of the picture just before it tucks behind the rocky peaks.

Nearly back to the bottom again, looking back at Gray's (middle) and Torrey's (right of Gray's).  It was a long 9 hour hike, but was awesome for the scenery and scratching two 14'er's off our to-do list!