Climbers: hobo and tortoise
Location: Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, USA
Trailhead: East Shore Trailhead (Grand Lake)
Summit Objectives: Shadow Mtn and Mt. Bryant
Summit: Shadow Mtn at 10155 ft
Starting Ele: ~8200 ft
Ele. Gain: ~2000 ft
Distance: 10.0 mile
The actual weekend objective here was to revisit the wedding site, ensure that we knew how we were going to set it up, and make sure that it was in the condition we want it to be in (it needs to be mowed a little). Having achieved that on Friday afternoon, we (especially the bride) were feeling much less stressed about the state of all things wedding. After this and a few other wedding-related stops were completed, we headed out on County Road 491 into the National Forest to find a spot to free camp. It took us awhile to find our way out of the McMansion territory, but very shortly after crossing the NF boundary, we found a nice spot to settle for the night.
We set up camp and fired up the stove for dinner. Unfortunately, our timing was perfect for the onslaught of mosquitos and after scarfing her pork chop, tortoise holed up in the tent and watched the little buggers just try to get in at her. Hobo, meanwhile, found a convenient fire ring, and luckily, the wet spring that has brought mosquitoes to Colorado has also kept the fire danger low enough to have a campfire. Over the fire, we watched a spectacular lightning show going on over RMNP.
The next morning, we hit the East Shore Trailhead on the far side of Grand Lake at 7:30 am. The hike up Shadow Mountain was a very pleasant one - not too steep, shady and treed, lots of flowers, including a large patch of gorgeous columbines.
We reached the fire tower just after 10am, and has spectacular views of our wedding venue, Shadow Mountain Reservoir, Lake Granby, Summit County, the Never Summer Range, and the West side of RMNP. We shot a lot of pictures so that we can show our wedding guests and say, "We climbed that mountain right over there!!"
The fire tower is not on the true summit of Shadow Mountain, and of course, we needed to bag that, so we scrambled up the trail-less bump to the craggy, cliffy summit complete with a little exciting exposure. Deciding that it was getting hot and we had had a most excellent day already, we decided to head down and save Mt. Bryant for another day.
Quite a pleasant little hike, and one we'll be recommending to our wedding guests!!
