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Photo Gallery Forty-five

Capitol Peak Climb Trip - Colorado

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Downtown Denver

Sculptures near the Sheraton Hotel on the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

Fountain adjacent to The Pavilions shopping complex along the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

Zoomed view of fountain along the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

The Pavilions shopping complex on the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

The Pavilions shopping complex on the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

The Pavilions shopping complex on the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

The Pavilions shopping complex on the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

View northwest along the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver with the Clocktower in the distance.


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Downtown Denver

A Lawerence Halpren designed water fountain complex adjacent to the Clocktower along the Sixteenth Street Mall  in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

Another view of a Lawerence Halpren designed water fountain complex adjacent to the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Downtown Denver

Another view of a Lawerence Halpren designed water fountain complex adjacent to the Sixteenth Street Mall in Downtown Denver.

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Mt Goliath Bristlcones

Bristlecone pine trees in the Mount Goliath Natural Area along the Mt. Evans Road.

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Mt Evans Summit

Adjacent and very close unnamed peaks from the Summit of Mt. Evans.

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Mt Evans Summit

Zoomed view of adjacent unnamed peaks from the Summit of Mt. Evans.

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Crest House Mt Evans

The remains of the famous Crest House Restaurant and Gift Shop located at the end of the Mt Evans Road.  Operated from 1941 to 1979 when a fire destroyed the facility.  The insurance settlement did not cover the expense of repairs so the money was used to convert the ruins to an observation platform.

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Capitol Peak Trailhead

View south from the Capitol Creek Trailhead in the White River National Forest near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

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Capitol Peak Trailhead

Close-up view south from the Capitol Creek Trailhead in the White River National Forest.  Capitol Peak is clearly visible on the horizon in the center of the image.

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Capitol Peak Trailhead

Zoomed view south from the Capitol Creek Trailhead to Capitol Peak.

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West Capitol Creek Trail

View generally south from the West Capital Creek Trail.  This trail stays higher than the Capital Creek Trail by skirting a flanking ridgeline.  The trails rejoin at approximately the half-way point to Capitol Lake.

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West Capitol Creek Trail

Zoomed view generally south from the West Capital Creek Trail.  This is a good trail that is not as heavily used as the Capital Creek Trail.  It can be more difficult to follow and there is some up and down in the route but it provides great views of Capitlal Peak.


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West Capitol Creek Trail Wildflowers

Great wildflowers in season on this trail.  This image is of  "Fringed Gentian" along Capitol Creek near the point the West Trail meets the Capitol Peak Trail.

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Capitol Creek Trail

View of the main Capitol Creek Trail as it skirts a hillside above Capitol Creek.

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Capitlol Creek Trail Wildflowers

Maroon Indian Paintbrush along the trail.

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Capitol Creek Trail

View southeast along the main trail looking at Mount Daly, the flat top mountain right , and an unnamed lower peak left.

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Capitol Peak Trail

View south along the trail with Capitol Peak in the distance and wildflowers left and right.

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Capitol Creek Trail

View of Capitol Peak taken from the trail as it climbs up to the level of Capitol Lake.  The distance from the trailhead to the Lake is approximately 5.5 miles and 2500 feet of elevation gain.



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Capitol Peak

This is a view south from the meadow above Capitol Lake toward the dramatic west face of Capitol Peak. 

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Zoomed View Capitol Peak

Zoomed view to the massive west face of Capitol Peak.

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Capitol-Daly Saddle

View southwest from the Capitol-Daly Saddle.  It is a 1000 foot climb from the meadow below to the saddle.

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Capitol-Daly Saddle

View southeast from just below the saddle into the bowl between the Capitol Peak ridgeline and an intermediate ridgeline adjacent to Clarks Peak east.

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Capitol Trough

Crossing a mostly ice and dirty snow tongue while climbing back out of the bowl.

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Capitol Peak Trough

View back toward the Capitol-Daly Saddle from near the top of the tan slabs below K2.

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Capitlol Peak Trough

View east at the top of the tan slabs toward the intermediate ridgeline that separates the bowl from Clark's Peak.

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Capitol Peak

View southwest from the edge of the ridgeline above the top of the tan slabs to Capitol Peak.  The Pierre Lakes Basin is down and to the left and quite a sight.

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Pierre Lakes Basin

View into the Pierre Lakes Basin from the location of the previous image.  It is a large four square mile plus area.  The ridgeline on the horizon connects Capitol Peak to Snowmass Mountain.

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Pierre Lakes Basin

Another view into the Pierre Lakes Basin with Snowmass Mountain on the horizon.

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K2

View up to K2.  Climbers just visible near the top.

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View from below K2 north

View generally north from the base of K2 where it connects to the Knife Edge.  Mount Sopris is visible in the distance on the horizon and the Capitol Creek drainage is the darker green stuff.

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The Knife Edge

View south from along the Knife Edge.  Climbers are visible in the middle of the image.  There is a lot of broken shards of granite that make up much of what you stand on near the base of K2.

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The Knife Edge

View farther along the Knife Edge.  It is quite steep on either side but the rock is much better and not loose like the smaller shards near K2.

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The Knife Edge

View straddling the Knife Edge and looking down to the Pierre Lakes Basin below.  We made it to a "V" notch just beyond the Knife Edge and decided because there was a very dark black cloud approaching and it was almost 2 PM to return to our base camp at Capitol Lake.


See a full report of the climb.

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Capitol Creek Trail and Horses

On the return the next day we had the company of two horses that followed us for the last half of the trip until we made the final crossing of Capitol Creek near the climb out.

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Capitol Creek Trail and Horses

The horse companions.

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Capitol Creek Trail and Horses

More of our horse companions.

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Capitol Creek Trail and Horse

The white horse companion.

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Marsailles Mountain

After an evening stay in Carbondale and dinner at Juicy Lucy's in Glenwood Springs we headed for Crested Butte the next day by way of McClure Pass and Kebler Pass.  View is of Marcellina Mountain near Kebler Pass.

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Crested Butte Sculpture

Checked out Crested Butte for several hours.  This sculpture made from chrome car bumpers sets along the road on the way south out of town.

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Crested Butte Sculpture

A companion piece to the chrome bumper dragon.


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Crested Butte Sculpture

Both the Knight and the Dragon chrome bumper sculptures.

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Dillion Pinnacles

View of the Dillon Pinnacles from Hwy 50 with very good late day light.

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

View into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River at the south rim of the National Park.

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

View into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River at the south rim of the National Park.

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

View into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River at the south rim of the National Park..

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

View into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River at the south rim of the National Park..

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

View into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River at the south rim of the National Park.  We stayed the night in Gunnison and drove over Cottonwood Pass the next day and had lunch in Buena Vista.  Continued east across South Park and visited Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument and drove back non-stop to St. Louis from Colorado Springs.

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