I continued on past tree line and began passing about 200 high school kids coming down from the Flattop. They all assured me that it was very cold up there. I was feeling some of the effects of the altitude by then and the effects of carrying a pack uphill, but I was determined to reach the summit. However, as I got approx. 1/2 mile of hiking from the summit the weather turned on me. The clouds that had been moving in began spitting sleet and snow and wind at me. The wind was literally blowing the sleet and snow sideways. I quickly put on all my layers and rainproof gear and decided to sit down and wait it out because it hurt to try to walk into that stuff.
Well, the longer I sat there the colder I became and my left side was pretty much getting completely covered with ice. After my hands began to get numb I came to the conclusion that I maybe should go down. I didn't want to give up the Flattop, Hallet, Andrews hike, but I decided that maybe this day wasn't the best day to attempt such a thing. So, I began to descend. As I went down the mountain it finally began to clear up a bit and I caught a nice little rainbow below me. Being from Oklahoma, I've never actually been
above a rainbow so I thought it was pretty cool.
I was starting to feel some mild symptoms of altitude sickness so I stopped along the trail to eat, drink and relax for a little while.
As I got below treeline it started to rain a bit and as I made it back to the Bear Lake trailhead the weather was looking increasingly uncooperative. I thought I might try to hike to the Boulder Brook campsite from the Glacier Gorge trailhead, but it began raining that afternoon and didn't really quit until that evening around 7:00 or so (I think). I contemplated hiking to the Boulder Brook site that late but I was sort of apprehensive about hiking by myself after dark in unfamiliar territory so I actually ended up sleeping in my car that night.
This was my first real introduction to Colorado mountain weather. I realized that I wasn't exactly prepared for everything that these mountains might throw at me. My hands had actually turned a little purple which sort of concerned me. So I skipped the night at Boulder Brook and decided I would head into Glacier Gorge the following morning. I'll do that report tomorrow or Tuesday.
By the way... Thanks for all the advice about my trip. Pretty much everything you guys said ended up being true. I didn't exactly get to do everything i had planned due to weather, altitude sickness or sleeping too late, but I had a great time. I'll do a separate report for each day.
Thanks!
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and stuff. Nice report and photos so far - I'm looking forward to hearing about everything else.
