We set off on our journey to hike Mt. Elbert--the highest point in Colorado--around 6:45am. This was a little later than we had planned on, but more on that later.
Once we got above treeline, there was a great view of Twin Lakes - gorgeous!
The trail was basically up, up, and more up. Steep and challenging aerobically, but nothing technical. Just walking, no scrambling.
Yeah! Made it to the summit around 10:30am. My first time ever at 14,000 feet and atop the highest peak in Colorado!
The main mystery of this hike was the reason we got started later than planned. When we pulled up to the trailhead, we saw smoke, red embers, and a few flames. When we got closer we realized that the sign marking the trail was on fire! We grabbed some jugs of water to douse it and so did the car in front of us. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be intentional. There were logs set up directly in front of it and a few beer cans and empty bags of chips. We hung around awhile to call 911 and let someone know what was happening. While we were waiting we met these two guys, who eventually became our main suspects. At first they said that they had showed up at 2am and saw the sign engulfed in flames and moved some of the logs to keep it from burning more. They claimed, "Yeah, dude, it must have been some drunk college kids or something. We did our best to put it out." Once we realized how much these two reeked of 
alcohol, we were pretty doubtful that it was, in fact, "drunk college kids" who started it. The sheriff called us back later to get more information once he got to the trailhead and realized how bad it was. By the time we got down at the end of the hike, one of the three signs had fallen.After this hike, it was on to the campsite to rest up for Mt. Massive.
3 comments:
Oh you are a detective! What happened to the drunk guys?
It's unclear. We saw them on the mountain - they hiked up and down pretty quickly - and exhibited some off-putting behavior that made us even more suspicious. We talked to the sheriff again from the trail and let him know our "theory of the case." I can only hope that the sheriff was waiting to question them when they got back to the trailhead. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for the next weekly edition of the "Leadville Herald-Democrat" to see if it gets any coverage.
I hope they caught the guys that set that sign on fire! That could have spread pretty rapidly.
But good job on your hike. The second day seemed much more difficult.
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