So we packed up the E on friday and in closing the bottom hatch i jamed my thumb since the E was to full the hatch stopped before i thought it would and that resulted is a stream of foul words out of my mouth, in true Jenn fashion i put some ice on it and got on the road. (back from doc today with a splint on) we had a LONG 3hr drive to the camp site. we were about 10min behind the group so it was all good, got our site and unpacked and chilled by the fire. on Sat we got up and drove to the top of independence pass to head to an un named 13,500ft peak that would then lead us to the true 13er we were after, Twining Peak. when we reached the top of the UN peak we learned we were going to drop down and lose about 500ft of elevation and have to gain another 1000ft to the summit, based on the time it took to do the first 1000ft of elevation we decided to turn around and head back. for a 2hr 45min hike it kicked our ass heading straight up right away. we got back to camp hung out, the boys shot some guns and we called it a late night. we got woken up sunday morning by eddy warning of rain on the way, it came soon and we packed up camp in the rain and headed back to denver, we were home by 10am. it then took another 2-3hrs to unpack and dry everything and repack it, rain and camping suck! the dogs were wiped out as were we but it was sill fun! ok here are our pictures.
here is our tracks from the hike
http://goo.gl/maps/TqAVk


camp set up


the start of the un named 13er, elevation gain right away!


sioux and jack




snow break


Ptarmigan, damn thing was picking on the dogs acting all hurt!


Me


summit is the mound under the cloud




Twining Peak, where we wanted to go


sioux and coco


S&J on the summit


mt elbert, the tallest peak in CO, gonna hit that one with Meredith i hope this summer!


Limbaugh on the summit with ridik in the back


family summit shot


heading back down off leash


more snow


jack found something to eat




water break at the end


fast cars at the pass


jack napping at camp


fire time


heading home


tired sierra

till our next adventure!

It doesn't look like there's much of a trail...how do you know where you are going?

Love the last pic of Sierra. She always looks so sweet  

in the 2nd pic you can see a faint trail on the right side of eddy in the red with the backpack, there was a narrow trail up, and some cairns that show you the way, then you just kind of wing it to the summit! on the way back we ditched the straight trail and made our own switch back way down to save our knees. thats why i love hiking with eddy for the most part we just wing the trail, keeps us away from the masses of people taking the standard way up to a summit.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I miss Colorado so much. I was born in Englewood, and lived there until my parents split up when I was 10. My fondest memories are all when I got to go to the mountains.

Looks like your pack had a blast

Wonderful pictures! It looks like they all had such a blast! I miss the west. Such expansive views and grand mountains. All I can see in MS are pine trees.....lots and lots of pine trees.... and most of the time it is too hot for Shaqua to do any long hikes with me.

The "snow break" pic cracks me up. I don't know who it is front and center, but they look like "OMG I'm exhausted!!!! Please stop!" Ha ha