After leading a hike up Mount Parnassus and my third trip to The Castle, joining a CMC trip to Jacque Peak where I didn’t have to think about routefinding or group dynamics would be a nice way to finish up the weekend.
Today’s leader was Dominique who I last hiked with on her East Partner Peak trip at the height of the Aspens’ fall color change.
After breaking trail through snow in the trees we started to reach timberline and began to see the great views I hoped we’d have today.
Centrally located between the Tenmile, Gore and northern Sawatch ranges I was praying for a clear sky day. However, to actually reach those views it looked like we’d have a long hike on a ridge to the summit.
The wind certainly wasn’t as strong as on Mount Parnassus, but we found other obstacles to our ascent, including a foot-high rock wall built across the ridge.
The summit was far more pleasant than the finger-numbing top of Mount Parnassus so we lounged around telling stories, eating lunch and picking out the distant peaks.
To make the hike a loop, Dominique planned to take us over the bump known as Tucker Mountain, at the edge of the Copper Mountain ski area. The descent from Jacque Peak was on loose rock only partly covered with snow.
Once near the ski area we found route finding a breeze with signage unusual for a mountain peak.
We then took an extreme way down from Tucker Mountain.
Our descent route turned even more extreme when we encountered a couple hundred feet of young aspens to bushwhack through.
We soon reached the cars and stopped at a brewpub on the way home to complete a perfect day in the mountains.
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