We headed out Sat. morning for a family hike. I was trying to get with Eddy but we could not so i got to find a peak and figure it out
Google is great and i found this great trip report that i followed.
http://www.protrails.com/trail/summit-county-eagle-county-clear-creek-county-james-peak

Close drive from Denver at just under 1hr 30min. We parked at the $5 lot for St. Mary's Glacier trail, its the simplest way to get to James peak with a trail the whole way. you MUST get there early, we got there at 6am and there was only one other car in the lot, we got back down at noon and it was PACKED and hot out.
here is our track in google maps
http://goo.gl/maps/41yDD
we covered 8.7miles in 6 hrs with a 3054ft elevation gain for a summit at 13,256ft.

ok on to the best part, pictures!




the trail to the lake is really rocky, not much fun.


at the lake there is a bridge to cross to keep on trail, jack hates open bridges!


lake at the base of the glacier


pic of lake from glacier


you need to climb up the glacier to get to the trail, here is ken and Sierra


we went straight up the middle


then you hit the vista and thats james peak dead a head


wildflowers


grays and Torreys peaks on the left

heading up the side of James you get a great view of some alpine lakes







looking back at where we came from


snow break


the wind was BAD on the way up, ken wanted to bail and i "forced him" to keep going!




did you see that marmont mom!


family summit


in the clouds


lunch time


me


heading back down


marmont was posing!

and this is my proud momma moment, S&J are off leash huskies when it is SAFE for them to be, once we were off the peak and back on the flat land with NO ONE around we let them go and they were doing so well we kept them off leash till we were almost back to the car. here are some free roaming shots.






they had a ton of fun back on the glacier running all around and greeting all the people climbing up it. im sure there are at least 15 people with pictures of them on their camera!


all the people on the glacier


having fun

we also stopped at the lake as there were other dogs running around so they got to have even more fun, it was a great day for all of us :)i say if your in CO this is a great trail to do even if its just up to check out the glacier!

till our next adventure....

As usual, amazing pics Jenn! I'm jealous of all your hiking adventures.

Nice photos! I wish I lived near beautiful hiking spots. I'm jealous too.

Amazing pictures! Just curious, what kind of lead do you have that has the traffic on the handle? They look really sturdy and awesome. Now I want to move over there right away xP Can't wait to try out some of those trails!

These pictures are so beautiful, I love your hiking posts! I just seriously started looking around for jobs in Denver, and other areas since I have finally saved enough money to get there and have a little bit of a cushion. Hopefully I will move sooner rather than later, and get to do all these amazing trails too!

Megan, i had custom leads made for me by Adanac, http://stores.adanacsleds.com/StoreFront.bok i worked with them 2yrs ago i think it was testing different material and distance for the handle and how to make it.
in fact claudia called them up and they made some for her to!
here is my post about them
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t2238-adanac-sleds-and-equipment?highlight=adanac

Erica, hope you get out here sooner then later!

I might have to look into those leads as well! I have the jogger leashes from Alpine and I know that they are strong but for some reason I just get a bad feeling about them, and when I get bad feelings with these dogs eventually I turn out right, and yours look a lot sturdier!

Yeah, I hope so too. I have applied to a couple jobs over the last few days, I have a marketing degree so its pretty versatile. Hopefully I will get some call backs, but the only problem is that a lot of people won't do interviews unless you go there and thats really hard to get time off from my job now. So if this doesn't work out, I will probably wait till mid winter (wait for my Christmas bonus) and go out right after, and just find one once I'm settled. My boyfriend wants Breckenridge, but thats expensive and kind of unpractical so I'm going to keep pushing the Denver area.

siku&nikolai wrote:

I might have to look into those leads as well! I have the jogger leashes from Alpine and I know that they are strong but for some reason I just get a bad feeling about them, and when I get bad feelings with these dogs eventually I turn out right, and yours look a lot sturdier!

Yeah, I hope so too. I have applied to a couple jobs over the last few days, I have a marketing degree so its pretty versatile. Hopefully I will get some call backs, but the only problem is that a lot of people won't do interviews unless you go there and thats really hard to get time off from my job now. So if this doesn't work out, I will probably wait till mid winter (wait for my Christmas bonus) and go out right after, and just find one once I'm settled. My boyfriend wants Breckenridge, but thats expensive and kind of unpractical so I'm going to keep pushing the Denver area.

I'll be following you shortly I need to pay off my car and get a loan for school, once I'm finished with school I'll be applying to places in Colorado and then making the move once I find someplace to work over there.

Everyone wants to go to Colorado! I loved it out there when I went for my week long externship and the job market for my career is good. But I've been thinking about how the droughts and wildfires keep getting worse and how water issues are bound to be big in the next few years and little old Michigan surrounded by fresh water doesn't seem so bad...

MGoBlue wrote:

Everyone wants to go to Colorado! I loved it out there when I went for my week long externship and the job market for my career is good. But I've been thinking about how the droughts and wildfires keep getting worse and how water issues are bound to be big in the next few years and little old Michigan surrounded by fresh water doesn't seem so bad...

Yeah, there is just something about how beautiful the mountains are that makes me want to go, I will miss the ocean though. I've lived by it my whole life, and thats a little weird but I think the views will make up for it there! And thats my major concern. The wildfires and disasters like that. I'm from Maine, where we don't have anything bad, nothing poisonous, no hurricanes, tornado's. Its very peaceful and worry free, but pictures like this just make me want to go soon!

Jenn, once again you had another amazing trip! Love the pictures, and love that the boys got to have some time to romp around. I'm with you, the only time mine are off leash is when I know they'll be completely safe in an area. I just love Colorado. Ever since my trip to go skiing two years ago, I just wanna come back!

crap i better stop posting... one day it will all come back to me and i will be the reason Colorado is over run by huskies!!!!
denver is safe from the fires, its all the wonderful places to visit that burn down and camping with no fire sucks with restrictions. but man i do love sitting on a summit looking at the views! im from PA and do miss the ocean for fishing but thats about it, dont miss the muggy summers at all!

jbealer wrote:

crap i better stop posting... one day it will all come back to me and i will be the reason Colorado is over run by huskies!!!!
denver is safe from the fires, its all the wonderful places to visit that burn down :(and camping with no fire sucks with restrictions. but man i do love sitting on a summit looking at the views!  im from PA and do miss the ocean for fishing but thats about it, dont miss the muggy summers at all!

hahahaha. yeah I would say give it a few more posts and this whole forum will be moving to Colorado!

Great pix, Jen! Looks like Sierra and Jack enjoyed themselves.
(I climbed Grays and Torreys long ago.)

What are you doing about hiking in heat? I have to start very early or go on cloudy days.
Bright sun early means Bodhi can't go.
He just can't handle much direct sun. Maybe it's because his color is black (?)
In my last post about our hike here Sunday, I showed him seeking out the shade.
On our way down, I noticed he always sought to walk on the shady side of the trail.

Michael, i did G&T 2yrs ago, same time and miles as this hike but that was 2- 14ers, i was also alone on that one and it was so busy with people i just wanted off them and back home so we were booking it we start our hikes super early like 5:30-6am when it still cool out, im not sure how fast it heats up for you but we do still hit snow so it helps to cool them off, i think when we were headed back down and got off the glacier it was like 70 degrees at the lake and it was HOT, we took it slow from there. we also get some wind on the summits and that helps with cooling them off as well. i could not get over the people just starting the hike up at noon just to the glacier as it was well for us hot. Eddys pack has a much harder time with the heat as the mals and St. over heat fast. its always a gamble on how they will do.

Gorgeous pictures! But you don't have to worry about recruiting me to CO, I lived in Lake Buena Vista, FL (right outside of Orlando) last fall for an internship and hated the fact that I was so far from the Gulf lol. But your pups looked like they had a great time I love the pic of Sierra rubbing her face on the ice.

I am coming with you one of the days!! Looks great.
Is the baby girl feeling better?
Hey the malamutes are here too!

St. Mary's and James Peak hike is awesome since it is so close. Looks like you all had fun with snow too! There was snow/ice on that glacier last August even with all the record breaking heat in the Denver area. Always count on snow being there! Last time I hiked that was in Feb. the wind was sooo bad, at least 50mph climbing up...crazy windy haha

Wow great pics! Looks gorgeous up there. Luckily, I can drive about 2 hours north and be on a mountain which is nice about New England! Here's one of my favorite pics from Cannon Mt in New Hampshire last year!