Huron Peak: And beyond

 A record of the fact we survived moving in (or at least we are mostly there at this point), our first 3 day trip, our first 14-er and most importantly, a reminder of just how much gratitude and joy I'm feeling about pretty much everything right now!

Wednesday afternoon, we set of in the over-packed 4-runner. Carb-loading in Leadville was part of the plan and as it turns out we timed our stop there to coincide with some crazy dangerous thunder and lightening storm complete with flash flood warning! It took a while to exit the car but not long after that we found ourselves in a bar type place with food and live music. Quite nice, if I do say so myself. 

The road to the Huron Peak Trailhead is rough (as you might remember from last year's blog post). We pitched tent and inflated camp mattresses with the aid of 4-runner headlights in the forest not far from the TH and set alarms for 4:30am in order to secure a parking spot there tomorrow.

Coffee, breakfast and go! We had 3400' to climb and a 7 mile roundtrip to do it in. Ambitious but worth it, I'd say.

Huron is one of my favorites. 

By late afternoon we had summitted, bumped back down Cty Rd 390 and were headed over Independence Pass toward Aspen... where good food, great people and a hot shower awaited!

Greg and Chris were our hosts and what a treat it was to stay in Chris' amazing riverfront condo downtown. To eat, drink and be merry before a hot-tub soak and an early-ish night. 

The next morning we wandered the river, had breakfast together downtown and biked to the outskirts of Aspen and back. Scott and I ventured into a basement bar called Buck and devoured the elk chili as the clouds moved in. Cozy!

Does an evening get much better than high-end crepes, tasty beverages and Rumikub with friends? NOPE! 

And just like that, it was over. With Aspen Farmer's Market kettlecorn in hand (thanks Greg!) we motored out of town...

A quick stop to meander the continental divide atop Independence Pass then homeward bound. We had Spamalot tix at Denver Center for Performing Arts tonight and a really nice steak dinner with friends ahead of that. Time was ticking... This gal still needed a good hair-washing and face-improving before throwing on some "nice clothes and heels" for a night out with her man in Denver!

(Side Note: Gratitude for the guy who has slept in 5 different places with me this week and woken up happy every single morning! Life will get less hectic and more relaxing soon... I promise.)