Max's Mountain Odyssey

Traveling with my 11 year old nephew Max is like traveling with a non stop action packed variety show complete with song, dance, and never ending Why's? A complaint of tiredness and fatigue is quickly contradicted on a dime as we bounce off to an ice cream stand. A brief moment of boredom is cut short with a long rendition of a Wierd Al Yankovick song not missing a word or beat.

My monk like solo travel ways were put on hold over the Labor Day weekend when I answered a call of duty as Uncle to introduce my nephew to the ways of mountain and backpack. I felt a drive and desire to extract him from the grip of video games, television, and computer. To show him a view from a mountain top that can only be reached by foot and to camp in the Wilderness along with elements and wildlife. He had made his interest known so I seized the opportunity. Eleven is the perfect age for an introduction.

As directed he was up at 4 am to get ready for an hour and a half drive to the Quandary Peak trail head. Quandary is one of Colorado's 54 peaks over 14,000 feet. By mountain hiking standards it's a relatively easy Fourteener but that's only if you consider three and an half miles with over 3,000 foot elevation gain in rarefied air easy. Needless to say, its a good hike by anyone's standards. You can only earn the summit by working and gasping for air.

As a rule I shoot for a first light start in the Colorado Rockies. It's insurance. Almost always the weather will be great until 11am. After that anything goes. Lightning is a real issue. It's no fun being high above timberline when deadly bolts are flying about. I compare it to being in a mortar field during battle. With an early start, time is on your side and the odds of having to race down a ridge while the skies rumble is much less. In other words, you will have a much more enjoyable hike and a much better chance of reaching the summit with a sunrise start.

Since I had hadn't climbed Quandary in over 20 years things had changed a little and I wasted about 15 minutes looking for the new trail head. Once we found it and got started Max took off with an ambitious pace. I wasn't sure how he was going to do but halfway up his ambitious pace wasn't slowing much. I told him that hiking fast is not about hiking fast. It's about keeping it steady with a reasonably comfortable pace and just a few short breaks. Steadily we climbed to a false summit that seemed to be particularly discouraging to Max but steadily we continued. At right about 2 ½ hours we reached the top. I was very pleased with Max's well above average pace. The kid can hike!

When we reached the top there was only one other couple. The four of us had the chilly breezy summit to ourselves for about 20 minutes. Shortly thereafter we began the descent which I estimated would take nearly as long as the ascent due to steep sections and rocky terrain.

In Colorado everyone heads up to the mountains over Labor Day so I was kind of expecting European Alp like crowds. We passed quite a few people going up as we were hiking down. Another good reason for an early start. You miss the majority of people who tend to start a little late.

We made the round trip in just over 5 hours. It was after 11am and clouding up. By 12 noon it was raining.

After the peak climb we stuffed ourselves with nachos, burgers, and milk shakes in Breckenridge. We ate enough food to carry us over until the next day. That evening we found ourselves camped off Forest Service Tigiwon road near the Holy Cross Wilderness. It was a peaceful campsite until some redneck hunters down in the valley below started firing an assortment of guns that echoed loudly. Nightfall put an end to that nonsense.

In the morning we packed camp quickly and rolled into the historic old mining town of Leadville for breakfast at the Golden Burro known locally as “The Brass Ass”. From there we drove south to Buena Vista for part two of Max's Mountain Odyssey.

I had originally intended to take him on a longer backpack in the Holy Cross Wilderness but his leg was bothering him from the Peak hike. It think it was the running, jumping, and hopping on the descent that was to blame. After consulting some maps in Buena Vista I felt a 2 mile relatively flat hike along a creek into the Collegiate Peak Wilderness would be perfect for an overnight backpack.

As anticipated the hike in went well and we camped near an idyllic creek with a Beaver dam. Rain blew in off and on but it fell lightly. Cooking dinner kept us busy as I forgot my camp stove fuel and we had to cook over a fire. My fire cooking skill are very rusty but made easier with a little help from a passing hikers butane lighter. By sunset the skies cleared and a nearly full moon filled the night with a dreamy foresty light.

When we awoke early the next morning Max was ready to go. To go home. All gaols had been successfully attained and I was happy to get a jump on beating holiday traffic back to Denver. By lunch time I reunited him with his mother who was anxious to hear about everything after not seeing her son for two nights while trekking around the mountains with Uncle Todd.

I must admit I was a little anxious at first about the weekend but once Max and I got going everything more or less went perfectly. I was especially happy to get him up a Fourteener as hiking peaks is a favorite pastime of mine. It was fun and rewarding to share the experience. As for future trips? Well, we'll see. Kids these days have a million options for activities. It's up to Max to decide. I've made the introduction.