Saturday we got up early and headed for the summit of the 14,265 foot high Mt. Quandary. Arriving at the trail head around 6:30a it was apparent we were going to be behind a few dozen hikers who have already started towards the peak.

The trail starts out in the trees but pretty quickly they thin out and the rest of the trail is all rock.

Here we are nearing the hard part of the hike, the steep climb up to the snowy top.

Finally at the top we were greeted by a none-to-shy mountain goat that Kate posed with.

The views from the top were spectacular and Kate mentioned several times that this was her favorite hike that we’ve done so far. And here’s a few more photos from the trip.

UPDATE: Here’s a video taken from the summit.

I’m back from California and over my cold/sunburn and the weather is gorgeous! Kate planted some flowers in the pots on the porch and it looks like our first poppy has blossomed.

Today we went for a little bike ride up the Ten Mile Canyon Trail along with the rest of Colorado. Today was also the conclusion of “Ride the Rockies“, a 435 mile bike ride from Durango to Breck… so the roads were a bit congested.

Oh, we FINALLY got our truck back from the shop yesterday evening. Three weeks later, we now have our poor 4Runner back… however the rear hatch door doesn’t open still. It broke when we were in San Francisco and now I can’t figure out how to fix it. Without opening the door, I can’t take it apart, so if anyone has a suggestion I’m all ears. (and driving it 2 hours to the nearest Toyota dealer isn’t on the list of possibilities at the moment)

Kate and I got to do some rafting today down the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. We couldn’t take our camera, so we improvised. We also didn’t want to pay $$$ for the standard photo taken on the Zoom Flume rapid.

Our guide was Kate, an EMT that works with my Kate at the clinic downtown. The weather was perfect, and the water raging at levels not seen since 1995. We’re already planning our next outing on the river this summer when Abby comes to visit. Speaking of which, Abs is in Africa for two months doing missions work. We wish we could have gone with her.

Our final day was spent driving through Nevada, Utah and half of Colorado. We noticed the whole truck start to shake pretty violently the more we drove. Finally home and grabing our mail in town, I noticed the whole truck smelling of oil. Sure enough, the entire undercarriage and rear of my poor 4Runner was covered in oil, and there was a terrible knocking sound as we drove to the house.

First thing the next Monday morning I dropped Kate off at work then drove to the shop. After several hours they finally got back to me that it was the rear differential that was blown. I guess somewhere along our trip, a seal got blown and leaked oil from the differential, which caused the bearings to overheat and basically blow up. Thankfully the rear axle was still in good shape, but the $1,600 repair bill wasn’t something we wanted to hear. The trucks still in the shop and in the meantime we’re being gouged with a $60 per day rental car. You don’t have very many options here in the boonies.

If you haven’t done so already, I’ve posted all of our good photos on the site. You can see them all by following this link:
Pacific Northwest Road Trip Photos

You may also want to scroll down to the bottom of the page to start from Day 1.