What a day to try to find a mountain top! The higher we climbed from the trailhead, the denser the clouds became. Once we reached the saddle between Meadow Mountain and St Vrain, there was no way to tell where St Vrain might be hiding. Thank goodness for map and compass, a GPS, and a good sense of direction. The trail guide says to find the most clear way through the krummholz, but we couldn't even see where the krummholz started! And thank goodness the summit was marked or we might never have known when we actually reached it. Here is the gorgeous view of all of wildbasin from the summit when covered in clouds.
While we had lunch at the top, we had tiny patches of blue sky open up around us. I knew what the view was like, but the others gasped as Longs and Meeker suddenly came into view. They were so close! We thought that the clouds would dissipate before we finished our lunch, but it was not to be, so we headed down in more clouds.
By the time we reached the saddle, all had cleared and we were rewarded with the incredible views we had expected.
Looking back up St Vrain - now we could see what we had accomplished.
Mountain gentians were blooming on the way down... a sure sign that the summer is almost over and the snows will soon be coming.
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