Thursday, July 28, 2011

La Plata Peak

We finally managed an early morning climb by sleeping in the truck at the La Plata trailhead. The truck had been slow in starting, and that morning when John tried to turn it on so we could warm up for a few minutes, it didn't start at all. The prudent thing probably would have been to try to take care of it that morning. Instead, we went for a hike.

It was a gorgeous morning, how could you not want to be up in the mountains?!


I'm not sure what this summit pose is supposed to represent:


Parkour!


Scenery ... again:


Fun rocky trail:




Nice marmot:


On the way back to the truck. I wonder if it will start now?


Checking out the fast-moving water - glad there was a bridge for this one:


And... no, the truck (which is named Tug, by the way) wouldn't start. No amount of fiddling or reading the manual or jumping it would help. So began the work of figuring out how to get it to the repair shop in Leadville. I almost got a picture of Tug on the flatbed tow truck, but the camera was still IN the truck at the time, bummer. The nice guys at the shop did some diagnostics, but it was clear we weren't getting it back that day. And it was Friday afternoon before July 4 weekend. Hmm....

Our friend Danny is so kind, he loaned us his truck to take to Silverton, then his friends Mark and Ken drove it up to Silverthorne for us. What a bunch of wonderful guys! We are very much in your debt.

And that concludes our pre-Hardrock mountain climbing. Excellent training in a beautiful state!

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