I won’t go into all the reasons why Grant and I didn’t start hiking until noon today. Suffice to say it involved more beer than is healthy for an alpine start and a scrappy, back-alley game of Four Square that nearly came to blows.
So we borrowed a 4×4 vehicle again and headed to the Oh-be-joyful trail.
The first mile of the trail was crowded with people but they rapidly thinned out as we hiked further in.
Hancock Peak came into view in the upper valley and I got a better look at a couloir that I’d seen on the Crested Butte to Mount Crested Butte drive the other day.
Afley and Oh-be-joyful peaks also showed themselves.
At the south end of the basin, Purple Peak finally emerged. Grant had climbed the peak a week or so before. I noticed several interesting looking couloirs.
Near the head of the valley we reached a junction and decided to hike up to Democrat Basin.
The basin was really lovely with great views all around. We hiked up to a small tarn that still had a pile of snow containing avalanche debris before turning back.
The hike ended up taking about 4 hours for the roughly 11 mile round trip. We had a little rain on the descent, but the skies really opened up as we drove back into town.
