Luckily we were able to summit and start hiking back down before the noon storm rolled in. There was lightning and thunder all around us, but far enough away that we weren't in danger. We were very glad to be on our way down from the top at that point though. We did get rained on a little on the way down, but we were lucky enough to see a mountain goat!
The next day we took it easy. We drove around Buena Vista and hung out by the Arkansas River. We were driving along by the river, looked over, and saw 3 big horn sheep! They were standing next to the river, looked up at us for a minute, then decided to get the heck out of dodge. They trotted across the road and up the hill out of sight.
First a mountain goat on a 14er, then big horn sheep- we were livin' large at that point. After that we drove to an old mining town at the base of Mt. Princeton and Mt. Antero called St. Elmo. It was a very strange historic town with houses and buildings from the 1800's. Apparently there was a fire at some point...
That night we grilled hamburgers and talked about our good luck, then my Mom started planning another 14er for the next day. What?! The first one wasn't enough torture? They must be gluttons for punishment because my Dad didn't even put up a fight. We decided on Mt. Sherman. So Sunday morning we woke up at 5am, got to the trailhead and started hiking at 7am, reached the summit at 10:00, and made it back to the car by 12:30. Mt. Sherman was a lot easier than Quandry, and we had beautiful, perfect weather.
After the hike I drove home to Longmont and collapsed on the couch. Then Drew and I decided to have 'early birthday' and we gave each other our presents. Not a bad way to end a fantastic weekend.
Drew's fun fact: Mt. Sherman is the only 14er that has had a successful aircraft landing on its summit.
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