Saint Vrain Mountain (12162') from Rock Creek, 07/08/2007
Taking the gravel, then dirt road toward the St Vrain Mtn Trailhead, but turning left at a fork in the road a few tenths of a mile before the trailhead, we parked at a sharp bend in the road a couple tenths of a mile from the left turn.
We started hiking at 9:50, up the Rock Creek Forest Road. We passed a number of campers on the first half mile. Further up when the road began to switchback we left it, heading straight up through the forest. As we climbed the forest became more sparse, interspersed with alpine meadow. The whole way was quite a beautiful pastoral setting.
Eventually we caught sight of St Vrain Mtn to our west and we continued up nonstop, reaching the summit at 11:50. I felt fortunate for having reached the top before any thunderstorms had developed, since there was a 30% chance today. It was still partly sunny and the wind was unusually tame on this summit. When we had been up here a month ago, it was ridiculously windy. Except for two cute picas, the summit was empty. Stefan took pictures of Mt Audubon, Paiute Peak, the St Vrain Glaciers, Copeland Mtn and Longs Peak.
Just before descending, two people from Boulder arrived, and we met two more people on their way up, as we descended. On our return, we hiked along a nice ridge south of Rock Creek, before getting back on the Rock Creek Trail further down. We returned to our parking place at 14:50.
| Parking place near Rock Creek | 8730 | 32 | 40.17208/105.52773 |
| St Vrain Mtn Summit | 12178 | 12 | 40.16117/105.58571 |