After Mt Princeton, I could have stayed in Colorado and tried to climb some more 14ers. Missouri Peak was one I had missed climbing three years ago, so was on my maybe list for this trip. I could still do some thru hiking, if I wanted to. Maybe it would be easier to do it since I had all the 14ers conquered already for this trip. The west side of the Collegiate Loop might be nice to do by itself without the pressure of time or climbing 14ers.

But with bad weather coming into the forecast later in the week and me feeling really spent after the nine 14ers, I decided that was enough for this trip.

So after staying at the hotel in Monarch after successfully climbing Mt Princeton, I headed back to California.

With a full day of driving, I’d be able to get out of Colorado, into Utah, and to Nevada before I had to stop and stay at a hotel for the night. I’m too old to do a full 16-17 hour drive to go all the way home in one big drive.

While there was some smoke from the Oregon and California fires while in Colorado (mostly just a haze on the horizon), the smoke got really noticeable as I drove through Utah. Even the vast salt deserts were pretty bad looking.

The smoke got even worse in Nevada to the point were you could smell it and couldn’t see most far away mountains. I ended up stopping in Elko to get a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, I headed west again and stopped in Reno to loose some money at the Casinos and to have all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch. Burp.

Oddly, the smoke started to lift after I entered California. The winds seem to be blowing most of it eastward without funneling it into the Bay Area like it did last year.

After getting home, I didn’t even unload my Jeep or do much of anything other than collapse onto my couch and try to get my cats to recognize me again. Dealing with unpacking would wait for the next day.

I do wish I had gotten more chances to see the sunset or sunrises in the mountains. My focus on climbing 14ers did shift the times I’d be at the summits. Before returning to California, I almost drove up the 4WD road to the summit of Mt Antero and camped out of my Jeep for a night to get to see the sunsets and sunrises from there. But I ran out of energy and willpower to stay in Colorado another couple of days.

In retrospect, I wish I’d started the Collegiate Loop from Monarch Crest instead of Mt Princeton. Maybe doing a section without 14ers would have been better to start with.

In the end, I ended up returning the Ursak bear sack. It was just too awkward to use and having to find a tree branch strong enough to hang it from wasn’t much fun. I’ll stick to my my bear canister, even if it’s 2 pounds heavier.

Having bought a new pair of convertible pants when my old pair ripped, I never ended up unzipping the pant legs to turn them into shorts. It never got that hot. But I’ll use them going forward, so no harm.

I did have one of the chest straps detach on my big backpack, but I was able to fix it once I got home.

Otherwise my equipment held up pretty good.

My body on the other hand…

I did have the usual sore feet and knees. I had a couple cracked toenails, but my Injinji liner socks kept my toes and feet blister free.

I had some finger bruises and cuts. One finger had a infection, but I was able to drain the infection and clean it. It was fine after a few days. It’s not the first time that’s happened, so unless it doesn’t get better I don’t usually have to get it looked at.

My right knee does have some soreness still, but hopefully that doesn’t stick around and become a long term problem. I do expect to need some bionic knees sometime in the future, but I’m waiting until they have built-in shock absorbers. 🙂

Otherwise several showers cleared up the rest of the effects of hiking the Colorado Trail and climbing nine 14ers. And time to rest my tired body helped a lot.

What’s next for Colorado? It’s usually good sign when you’re already making plans for your next visit to a location while still in the process of visiting the place.

There are 58 14ers in Colorado and I’ve ‘only’ done 17 of them (16 ranked official 14ers and one unofficial one (Mt Cameron)). There are plenty more that are in my skill range. I’ve covered most of the Sawatch range 14ers, so I’ll have to broaden my scope the next time I go.

Maybe I’ll finally ‘conquer’ Mt Evans and Pikes Peak with my own two feet next time.

And I’d like to take another shot at theCollegiate Loop someday. Maybe I was just overly focused on the 14ers this time that I couldn’t get motivated enough to spend 14+ days on the trail.

But Japan is next year and there are California 14ers I really should get to. Can’t catch up to the 16 Colorado 14ers I’ve done (there are only 12 CA 14ers after all), but I’d like to climb more of the California 14ers.

Plenty of other things to climb and hike…