Square Top Mountain:
12.41 miles
2,970 feet elevation gain
7 hours, 11 minutes round trip




It began the 24th of May with a little comment I had made about Clark Peak on the following Saturday. Turns out I was completely backwards and thought that was the weekend Jenn was headed to Cameron Pass to the cabin she had rented. Eh, just about exactly one week off. That left a gap in the plans with several of us still thinking there was going to be a hike on the 29th. Several hours of trip report searching ensued and one mountain stood out as a clean approach... Square Top Mountain, due west of 14ers Biestadt and Evans. This sounded delightful as I had stood atop Bierstadt last summer scoping out the 13,794' summit of Square Top, wishing I had the stamina to lose and regain nearly all of 3,000 feet elevation. There was no way in hell that was going to happen, and I knew that mountain would have to be moved to the 2010 schedule.

*RING*, the sound of my phone ringing at what looked like 3:05am through half hungover blurry eyes brought me right to attention. I overslept. Ideally we were to be out the door in ten minutes. But the call from my mom brought news that I had a bit of time to make coffee and shower before her arrival (a subsequent text would also inform me that Jenn was right in line with us). Rushing between tasks made the dogs light up in a flurry of excited full property hot laps which included the upstairs and the backyard. I only needed one more cup of coffee for the road and it was time to book it. Except gas. As the black LCD screen clicked past $5.00 I realized the thermos of coffee I was so careful to prepare was still on the kitchen counter. Fugg. "Say, mom? You think you could go back to the house and see if my coffee is on the porch?" The time it took her to rally back to my place and return to King Soopers was almost identical to the time it took to fill a Dodge Caravan gas tank. At least there was coffee.

My mom's and my brother's arrival at my place...


Somewhere around 90 minutes later we were making the final push up Guanella Pass from the extra long southern approach...


Once we arrived it was a hurried fenzy to just get geared up and on the trail to shut the f*****g dogs up...




Shortly after leaving the trailhead we rounded the first lower ridge line and caught a good glimpse of most of the route. The two snowfields on the lower right of the picture ended up being quite the chore. It was just deep enough to stop the Malamutes dead in their tracks. This required some significant re-routing to avoid the snow, only to end up fighting bits of rock the size of squared off basketballs...


Finally my brother and I got Sioux around the edges of snow and rock so he could take off in a dead sprint towards the rest of the group...




Once past the Square Top Lakes we were greeted by a straight push up nearly 800 vertical feet to what was our visual high point...












Gunny squat...


It was relentlessly uphill for a good deal of time...


The first steep slope just would not go away...




Then around 12,600' we had to give in and take a long lunch break...




The hike up the last 1,000 feet was an exercise in focus. Just one foot in front of the other. Sometimes you'd end up in a snow drift and wonder how in the hell you had got there. Then you would keep moving along looking back at the others cresting the plain of view...










Finally after much work to gain the ridge line of sight, the summit was in view nearly a quarter mile to the west. Almost there...


At this point we were all keeping a pretty good pace across the ridge...








My brother on the summit...


Summit shots!...






Pikes Peak...


Holy Cross...


Evans, Bierstadt...








Buffalo Mountain...












There I are...






The descent was something else. It was the single most calve shredding workout I've ever done...


At best a person could zig zag to reduce the grade under 40%...


My mom said it was around the third time that Jenn took a spill that she let the Huskies loose on the way down...










We saw a group of folks climb the snow ridge to the summit...












Words will never do justice to the task we had getting the dogs across that big snow field. It was hard enough for a person to kick their way through it. Then we had the whole Sierra, Sioux and Coco thing to deal with. Those dogs were not up for the terrain in front of them. But with a little leg plowing and coaxing we all made it to the last stretch...








Back at the pass, finally. That last leg took for FREAKIN' ever...



Sorry this isn't as detailed as I would have liked. The fact that I had almost four times the amount of good pictures made it hard to get things done timely while the trip was still fresh in my mind.

Now for Jenn's pics...

and my pics and stories will have to wait till tomorrow as i got to run to my other job but i do have some to add

So after Eddy told me his mom would take care of Gunny on the hike I told him I was in for the 3:30am wake up on Sat morning, my husband being the great guy he is was ok with me heading out on the hike even thought I had complained all week about getting things done at the house this weekend. Unlike Eddy I woke up at 2am and then every 15 min after that worried I would sleep past my alarm. When I did get up I saw that he was running late and that made me feel better about not having to rush around to get out on time. Feed the dogs got in the car and headed out in the dark, funny how many people were on the road at 4:30am on a Sat on a holiday weekend. I sent him a text when I was getting close to the area and found he was somewhat behind me. we got everyone geared up and started on the hike, my first fall came shortly after in a snow field and his brother came and helped me up as I was stuck. I got out my hiking poll for the next show field. Somewhere in the middle of the hike as I was trying to breath I asked myself like I do on every hike why the hell am I putting myself through this! And then I always look up at the views around me and smile and say to myself, that's why! I kept the dogs on the leash up to the top and we rested and took in the views. What Eddy did not mention was how less than halfway up his mom let Gunny lose and that dog is just crazy and funny at the same time, he can out run all of us put together! At one point on the steep incline heading up that dang dog started cashing a rolling rock DOWN the mountain, we did not think he was gonna stop, but the rock did and Gunny came running back UP the mountain! We also thought he was gonna go off the side a few times as well. Which is why I kept my 2 still leashed up to the top. I will be the proud momma and say that they were doing a great job, on the way up we worked on our heal commands when I needed a break and they healed. On the way back down and I think Eddy is right after my 2 falls heading down I realized I just did not have the strength to hold on to the dogs anymore and we were away from any cliffs so we all stopped and I unleashed them. I was so proud of my 2, Sierra stayed by me and Jack took off with Gunny and Eddy's pack. What made me happy was even as far as Jack was ahead of me if I called his name he stopped and looked up and came if I called him back. The dogs had a blast playing at the lake. And when we got close to the start of the trail we stopped and leashed them back up and both dogs stayed next to me and let me hook them up. I was so happy with them! I can't wait to take them back up this Sat. Ok picture time

Great pictures you two! I wish I could be on these hikes with you!

I don't know if I could trust Koda off-leash, but maybe in a pack like that he would be better behaved. Hailey would be no problem.. Koda, I don't think so.

Tori, i felt the same way you do. but Jack he made me so happy on Sat.! he just stayed with the pack, i don't think i would have trusted him so much last year but after being in our home over a year he i growing up. i am still not sure if i will leave them unleashed on the peak though that scares me, am im not sure if i would do it with just me, the pack works.