Sunday June 27, 21.8mi/35.1km

Gold Hill TH (104.4/9199ft) to Guller Creek (126.2/11775ft) (CO)

Back to the Colorado Trail!

I woke up very early at home, and packed up my gear and food.

I drove the hour from Golden, and met my friend Kumi at the Colorado Trail trailhead near Breckenridge. She is visiting Colorado this week, and we hiked together most of the day.

The first part of the trail was thru a clear-cut area, done to prevent further spread of the destructive pine beetle.

After an hour, we entered a burn section that was eerily quiet.

We passed quite a few dayhikers today, and one older couple was inspecting a meadow full of Corn Lillies.

As we climbed higher to 11,000ft the wildflowers became abundant.

As we climbed ever higher, a wonderful view of Dillon Lake emerged.

The mountains to the south appeared to have received some snow last night.

We finally finished climbing around 1pm, and stood at the top of the Tenmile Range ridge. There were still a few leftover cornices from last winter!

Kumi looking down on Breckenridge (to the east).

Of course we each had to get a summit photo. Copper mountain is in the background.

We descended 2500ft, all the way down to the Copper Mt parking lot.

We said goodbye to each other, and Kumi gave me some delicious snacks.

The next few miles weaved thru Copper mountain ski resort, with an unusual perspective of ski lifts in summer.

Finally the trail left the developed area, and re-entered a tranquil forest.

It was a very well built section of trail, with little bridges over the streams.

I spent an hour following Guller Creek upstream, and the shifting clouds made interesting photos.

At the end of the day, I emerged above treeline again, just as the clouds started to disperse.

I setup camp just before Searle Pass, and had a wonderful view of the sunset, and the whole river valley that I had just hiked up.

I was exhausted from getting up early, so I passed out just after 9pm.