We could climb another mountain, or just drink another beer.
Clyde Sparklehoof
It’s already July 10th and somehow it took us until today to summit our first mountain of the year. It was a good one though, Centennial Peak, our first summit in the La Platas (finally!). We’d hiked from the Sharkstooth trail head before so the questionable nature of the last mile and a half of the road wasn’t a total surprise. It was still a little scary though, every rock had me concerned we’d have a flat tire and every rut that we’d bottom out.
Upon pulling into our parking spot we realized we’d forgotten pretty much everything: bug spray, trekking poles, bear spray. We also ended up forgetting our lunch at the trailhead. The hike felt great despite our lightened load. We made the Sharkstooth saddle in what seemed like no time at all. As I mentioned we’d been here before, but last time we continued down the other side.
Today’s plan was to scramble up Centennial Peak, the saddle’s south side. The hike was a mix of trail and not, scrambling, very steep hiking, and a whole lot of up. 1,100 feet in just three quarters of a mile. It was a tough climb, but we all persistented. The views from the summit were spectacular, west to Ute Mountain and The Abajos, Lizard Head and Lone Cone to the north, the rest of the San Juan all around us. I’m pretty sure I saw our house as well.
As we approached the summit I noticed a small patch of rain to our north. It seemed to be moving west and radar showed it not moving much at all. As we began our descent it became clear that the rain was now moving directly toward us and intensifying. We moved as quickly down as we could and made it below treeline just as the storm was reaching the saddle we’d just been at.
The other excitement of the day was getting to experience our first open mic at the Mancos Brewery. Sadly, I didn’t know it was happening so didn’t have my uke with. I’ll be back in two weeks though.
