The above picture was taken in the day on the way back--when the river was much lower. We crossed this at night when the water levels were much higher. Water was thigh-high at least and moving really fast. Pretty cool!
Spent the evening playing "Catch Phrase" (without the electronics) and boozing (my tequila-induced idea).
Saturday morning we hiked our way up to the next campsite which was not far from the Conundrum Hot Springs. This was probably an additional 6 miles or so. I got there shortly after noon and spent the entire afternoon in the hot springs drinking tequila and socializing with all the visitors. Chris, Charlie, and Ai Lee joined us in the afternoon.
Sunday I attempted to summit Conundrum Peak (14,060 ft) with Ryan and Josh. We didn't get started until after lunch and heavy snow kept us from making it all the way. After Josh bailed, Ryan and I scrambled up rocks--at some points gripping onto the edge of the mountain for dear life! We only could have gone higher with rock-climbing equipment.
Monday morning we started back the way we came towards the trailhead parking lot (~8.5 miles I think). The amounts of snow still up there in mid-July were astounding (generally there is no snow at those altitudes at this time of the year). We walked through snow fields, ice-cold rivers, thick vegetation, mud, you name it.
The flowers were blooming everywhere too (which appealed more to Allison than me)--although I will admit it was beautiful. She filled my camera with pictures of about every flower variety.
Finished off the trip with a stop at Hickory House Ribs in Aspen, CO to get some high-altitude BBQ.
