Quandry!

Saturday morning Sean, Chad and I summited Quandry Peak via the Quandry Peak trailhead about 8 miles south of Breckenridge. Quandry is the highest peak in the tenmile-mosquito range and rises 14,265 feet. The 3.3 mile trail gains 3450 feet in elevation. It is a gorgeous hike, espeically this time of year because you get the snowy mountain with some beautiful yellow trees.

The best part of the whole trip was how easy it was to get to the backcountry from Denver. The trailhead was about an hour and fifteen minutes from our place. We left Friday night, but by the time we got to the trailhead it was too dark to start hiking, so we set up camp in the parking lot.



We started our hike at about 8 on Saturday morning. We were below treeline for about the first mile, and there were some really beautiful views during that part of the hike.



Once we got above treeline we were very very exposed. We could see huge clouds on the mountains around us and it became evident pretty quickly that we needed to get to the summit as fast as we could and get down. Usual mountain advice is to get off of the summit by noon because of thelikelihood of afternoon storms. We didn't have that kind of time, as the storms were coming early on Saturday.






After a while, we all stopped talking and each got into our own rhythm. I think we were all dealing with the altitude in our own way. You are so focused on getting to the top that you have to stop and remind yourself to look around. At that kind of elevation every rest provides something beautiful to look at....but nothing like at the top







We were able to get off the summit at about ten to eleven, just in time. The storm moved in pretty quickly and we couldn't believe all of the (unprepared) people we passed along the way. It was definitely in the low 30's on top of the peak and some people were heading up in shorts and after noon. We also met a couple who got enaged on the summit in the morning (we were going up when they were coming down), which is pretty cute. We got back to our apartment- and more importantly, our hot tub- around 4 on Saturday. Literally a 24 hour trip, totally amazng.