La Plata

On to week 2!  Today is the first day I will have a hiking buddy.  I met a guy named Keith at a 14ers.com happy hour and he had a couple Sawatch mountains on his list to check off so he planned to join me for La Plata and Yale.  We met at the trailhead and headed out, along with his super cute rhodesian ridgeback, Buddy.  The trail followed a small river for some time while we were in the trees.

But soon we got above treeline and to some switchbacks through a steeper gully.

We figured that Buddy must be going about double the distance we were traveling due to the fact that he would run way ahead and chase marmots and then come back to meet us.

Keith is definitely a speedier hiker than me, but was gracious to wait for me to catch up.  As the trail lead to larger boulders, cairns led the way pretty well all the way to the summit.

There was a bit of wind today, similar to last week but nothing too bad.  We hung out at the summit for a little bit and had a snack before making our way back down.  About half way down and heading back into the trees, Buddy was starting to slow down a bit and was just exhausted by the time we made it back to the car.  But hiking with him (Buddy) made me super excited to hike with Summit, my golden retriever, once he is old enough (likely next summer).  After a celebratory beer at Twin Lakes, we made our way to a campsite in Buena Vista where we would stay the night.  We actually camped right by the Arkansas River, where I used to whitewater raft as a kid, so that was fun!  And even though the moon was not technically full, it was still super big and bright.  I also got to try out sleeping in the back of my new Xterra, which worked out really well:)

Keith and me...almost down

Pretty cool water fall we saw (tried to capture in the picture with Keith and me above....but clearly my aim is not that great for the selfie pic)

I couldn't resist adding a picture of Summit....but can you blame me?  He is just so darn cute!

Hike Summary
Date:	Monday, June 24, 2013
Mountain:	La Plata Peak
Hike Start Time:	8:14 AM
Summit Time:	12:55 PM
Hike End Time:	3:51 PM
Miles:	10.32
Elevation Gain:	4,171