Twin Lakes, CO

The following was originally posted (see page 13) as part of a mega stoke thread on mtbr called "Do you like to get HIGH, man? (post your high country riding photos)"

Base camp on the forebay. Mount Elbert is the innocuous-looking lump on the left:



Sunrise over Twin Lakes:



Things started off plenty chilly:



But layers were quickly shed:



Start of the South Elbert Trail proper. The profile showing singletrack climbing from 10400 to 14400 in 3.7 miles (i.e. >1000 ft/mile) says it all, really:



Klucks thought we might be able to pedal up some of the lower elevation stuff. He thought wrong. Almost 4 hours of pushing, dragging, and carrying of bikes started here:



Above treeline now. Which normally means the summit can't be much higher, right? Of course normal doesn't apply to 14ers. Almost 3000 ft of vertical remains above treeline. (Oh no! Oh yes!):



Hikers came in waves:



Trails came in waves:



False summits came in waves:





Mountain bikers came in waves (well, there were only two of them, but they were really whooping it up!):



Boy Scouts from Oklahoma wearing orange shirts came in waves:



Finally, at 11 am, the highest point in Colorado was gained!

Moments after we summited via the South Trail, two other bikers summited via the North Trail, (literally) cursing their unfortunate route choice. That brought the totals for this fine Saturday to 6 bikers and about 600 hikers on the mountain. Almost all the hikers were some combination of impressed, confused, curious, encouraging, and courteous. Pretty cool.:



Klucks borrowed a sign, de rigueur 14er ritual, apparently:



We also borrowed a tourist who took a shaky panorama of us. Came out kinda weird and looked fake as heck, but I liked it and figured I'd complete the job by photoshopping in the borrowed sign too:



A new friend shares the scene at the top of the Rockies:



This spot really lends itself to observation of lesser mountains:







Considered dropping off the backside, but reckoned skis would probably work better than wheels:



The frontside was intimidating enough, a steep puzzle featuring every type of obstacle a mountain biker might imagine: loose rocks, narrow benchcuts, tight switchbacks, trenches, roots, trees, and last-but-not least, unpredictable humans.

Speaking of which, it was time to deploy my cowbell and get to plummeting:



The first part of the descent was incredible!



The second part of the descent was incredible!



The third part of the descent was incredible!



The fourth part of the descent was incredible!



The fifth part of the descent was incredible!



The sixth part of the descent was incredible!



The seventh part of the descent was incredible!



Even the eighth part of the descent (the road) was incredible!


It's true, Elbert is something of a novelty ride. But it's a pretty incredible one.