Day 14 Gold Hill trailhead to wheeler trail

Thursday , July 17 2014

Mileage 10 miles 

Elevation 9,500 -12,500 feet and toes

Early morning rise. Needed to do a quick run to the post office and then we were on our way to the trailhead . Took the free summit bus in Breckenridge a few miles down the highway. Got dropped off at the trail head and then the amazing climb began .. It was an oh my gosh day.

Seven miles up the trail and we encounter snow.  It was a huge patch of snow that did not seem to be melting . Naturally Pippy sported a pose near the edge of it.

We had no idea where this hike was leading us to. Well we knew it was going to go near the top of the mountain, but guess whattt... It took us to the very tippity top! Here are  some photos along the way...

Steepest incline yet...we were almost face to face with the dirt... Well it felt like it. There's goes Pippy

View looking from behind us at our rest break. Still had about 800 long butt-kicking feet to climb 

Almost to the very top...so we thought. This was just the first little hill 

Look who likes to live where the air is thin and nobody can bother me

View from another rest stop (we took many)

We began traversing the side of the massive never-ending mountain. Were as high as the other mountain across from us!

Just when we thought we had done it all, this huge ice glacier showed up out of nowhere! We had to trek on the side of it to avoid an unfortunate event of a giant snow slide down the mountain. No thanks!

Finally, the top emerged and we could see mountains for miles all around us!

Pippy taking a gratifying protein bar rest 

And then Zippy arrived just in time for our celebration dance! 

Making our way down the side of the mountain traversing for several miles.

The words beautiful , majestic ,amazing and spiritual are the only words that can fully describe this very day.

Collecting water from the snow melt.

High country wild flowers aligned our path . So pretty.

They were having a welcome party for us. 

Zippy was in love with the yellow flowers. 

Nature's bouquet in full display 

The multitude of colors mix perfectly 

And then the grand finale appeared 

The powder blue butterfly on a light purple daisy 

We can't imagine what the next couple of days will visually bring. The people we meet along the way are reminding us of howi much prettier it'll get as we continue further on the trail. Sleep on that thought...because we are.