The morning sunrise over Quandary was beautiful as we woke up early this past Saturday to get some altitude training and hike the peak. Surprisingly, I have never been up this mountain as it has never been too high on my list due to it's popularity. Of course it is a holiday weekend so there were even more people than normal. It is just over 3 miles to the summit mostly above treeline. We got started on the trail at about 7 am and we quickly passed quite a few people and dogs. We also got to see a mountain goat that didn't seem to care about us. He was very keen on watching the dogs though, almost looking like he wanted to charge. We made sure to keep the dogs close. It was Fisher's first encounter with a mountain goat and of course he could care less. He was more interested in the Marmot chirps. We made it to the summit in about 1hr45min. It was very windy which made for quite a chill at the top but it was nice to have the wind to cool things down going up and coming down! Everyone did great and the dogs had a blast! The way down was quite an obstacle of even more people and dogs going up! Some of those people I didn't think were going to get up the mountain. And there were still people going up when we got back to the car about 11.
On the way up just below treeline!
Looking down at Blue Lakes.
The mountain goat!
Melissa coming up!
Fisher looking out ahead!
The summit! We were thankful to have extra clothes!
Our precious dogs- Fisher and Oliver!
John and I at the summit!
Snack time on the way down! Oliver was desperate for a bite!
The goat again!
One last stop before getting back to the car!Although there were a ton of people on the mountain, it was a good morning and a good way to get altitude in preparation for next weekend's Imogene Pass Run! We were done early and headed into Breckenridge for lunch at the brewery before heading back to 12 Mile to stay the night!
Next time.........I would love to go up this mountain in the winter!
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