This is our view looking West down to HWY 24. Mt. Elbert, Mt. Massive, and La Plata, and the Elk Range are pictured in the distance.

You all know how much I love flowers. I found this rock that looked like white flowers with an orange center, nature is so creative!

Summit of Mt. Arkansas.
Here's an idea of what we were doing along our hike up.

This is what happens when you try to save $$ by purchasing cheap shoes. Your boots fall apart, and hopefully one of your trusty friends has duct tape.
This is looking EAST toward Mt. Democrat, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross.

Mt. Arkansas- 13,795 feet

View of Mt. Arkansas from Freemont Pass. This was a good samaritan hike, to help two gentleman carry water for them, to enable them to hike with a lighter pack. For one of them this might be their last hike.

There were beautiful wildflowers everywhere, especially the Columbines!

Here's a view looking North at the Climax mine, which is being reopened shortly, amazing how they just cut down the mountainside.

We had to get our big smiley,typical face shot, before proceeding over to Tabeguache.

Toby has a nose for those snow fields and this one in particular had a lovely orange hue, which made for some fun "war paint" as Brian put it for our hike up Tabeguache Peak.

And, yes we summited Tabeguache Peak, which is 14,155 feet tall. Tabeguache is a shortened name for a band of Utes called Mogwatavungwantsingwu, meaning "cedar-bark sun-slope people."

Mt. Shavano & Tabeguache Peaks Double Header!

As any good 14er hiker should do, we too started at o'dark thirty (as Ms. Sarah Heath would say) around 5 AM. Hiked a good consistent pace for three hours until we peaked Mt. Shavano.

Mt. Shavano is 14,229 feet tall, the southernmost fourteener in the Sawatch range, 15 miles northwest of Salida. Mt. Shavano was originally given the French spelling "Chavanaux", it was named after Ute Chief Shavano who signed a treaty with the United States."

Brian is standing near the sign in log.

Toby had a pretty incredible view as well, looking back from where we hiked up.

Here I am striking a hurry-up and take the photo summit pose, seconds before we headed over to Tabeguache Peak.

Yes we did reach the summit! A little chilly up there. This second photo is a view of the west facing slope of Mt. Yale from the Hartenstein Lake Trail.

Mt. Yale June 2008. Stands 14,196 feet tall. Started at Denny Creek Trailhead, and hiked for 9
miles round trip with an elevation gain of 4,300 feet. What a gorgeous hike, steep, but breathe taking views!