Flag Pole Mountain

I don't know the history behind it, but long ago, someone put a flag on top of one of the peaks visible from St. Elmo. According to my topographic map, its 12351 ft high. One of the days there, Carl told us that we needed to climb the mountain, so we did. With Carl as our guide, we 4-wheelered our way as close to the top as possible, several hundered feet short of the summit. Now, I should mention that behind the Flag is Christolite Mountain aka Mt Doom at 12822 ft. As Jenee and I were climbing the clouds rolled in and the sky started to rumble quietly. Climbing is no easy task. Jenee and I needed to take regular breathers because the air is starting to get pretty thin. We implemented a 30 steps policy. You take 30 steps up, stop for 30 seconds and then repeat.


Once at the top you are rewarded with yet another stunning view of the surrounding area. In the picture above you can see St. Elmo in the valley to the right. As soon as we got there, the thunder started and the look on Jenee's face said it all. We took the short way down to the 4-wheelers. We were still out of breath when we got there and the thunder was getting louder and the lightning more brilliant. Of course I couldn't get Jenee's bike started and when I did it stalled. Eventually everything came together and we bolted down the mountain. Think my favorite moment was when a huge bolt flashed directly above and when I turned to check on Jenee her face was one of pure terror. Poor thing. We got home safely. Wet but safe and once again and (warning: camera plug) my Naneu Pro bag kept my camera safe and dry. I have to admit, my new Nikkor 18-200 VR lens paid it's self off too. All the pictures you see were taken with it bar a few of the humming bird pictures, it was definitely a good investment and saved me from carrying alot of extra lenses and even my tripod in most cases.

Now who wants to climb a mountain once when they can do it twice? Yep, the very next day I went through it all to take Eddie and Shellee, their boys and Hoppy and his two kids up to the top. On the way I witnessed one of the most amazing displays of fatherhood/manliness/strength, where Hoppy gave each of his kids a ride for a few minutes or so up the mountain so that they could catch their breath. I was in awe. We all made it to the top safely, took some pictures and once again it started raining and we had to flee down the mountain getting soaked to the bone yet again. So much fun.



Of couse why would we stop there, that afternoon, The Carters, Hoppers and Stevens' got geared up again and drove up Tincup Pass to another point of the Continental Divide. This time we left in the rain and it was cold and hard work. I had Garrett riding with me on his fathers Polaris Sportsman 700 (sweet), and his brother riding his smaller 4-Wheeler. Dillon got so cold that he had to get into the Jeep. We were treated to more amazing vistas once we got there (12154 ft) but we were all so cold that we turned around and went home. As you would expect, it stopped raining and warmed up a little half way down...