Huron Peak (14,012′) Leadville Colorado
The summer hiking season was winding down but I still had summit fever from Mount Cameron and Lincoln a few weeks before; so it was an easy decision to make one last quick trip before winter set in.
The plan was to fly into Denver then drive a few hours over to Leadville to scope out the trail head before setting up camp for the night. Let’s just say I didn’t end up sticking to the plan.
Once I turned off the highway outside of Leadville I quickly realized I had been on this road before. A few miles down I passed the old mining town of Vicksberg, where we had camped for Mount Belford and Oxford last year. This eased my mind as I knew the road at least to a certain point was well maintained.
Eventually the road seemingly ended at a warning sign reading “4×4 High Clearance ONLY”. I had rented a 4×4 Toyota Tacoma, which in most cases would have done the job had the tires not been nearly bald. There was one guy who looked to be packing up his SUV, and another guy sitting in a Tundra loaded down with adventure gear. I assumed they had just finished summiting Huron Peak since it was nearly dark by then so walked over to see how it went…noticing the beat up Alaska license plates as I approached the truck.
“Hey man! Did y’all just come down from Huron?”
“Naw me and my buddy Eric are about to go up right now” As he pointed over to the guy packing his gear.
He had an unfamiliar accent, definitely didn’t seem Alaskan but I wasn’t sure I had ever met anyone from Alaska either so I didn’t think much of it.
“Damn, Ive never done a night summit, I was planning on going up in the morning”
“Us either, should be fun. My names Nate by the way”
His truck had a camper shell covering the bed with all sorts of gear meticulously attached to the side. It looked like a war wagon with a water tank, tire jack, gas tank, spare tire, shovel, and a bicycle on the side that looked to be older than me. Once I got closer, I could tell the back seat was also loaded to the brim with gear but everything was well organized. It was clear who ever this guy was, he was definitely living a life on the road and I was jealous.
He pointed towards my truck and said “Your tires look pretty bad, I can give you a lift, if you want to go for the summit with us?”
He had a point about the tires.
I thought about it for a split second…
“Fuck it, let’s go!”
This was my 12th summit adventure so I felt good knowing what I was getting into but I had never attempted one on such short notice. I had been at sea-level 6 hours earlier in the day, not exactly an advisable situation.
I could feel my heart rate increasing and my mind started to race as I gathered my essentials. Water, headlamp, hiking poles, and a shitty crushed granola bar that I knew id never eat.
I asked myself, “what are you thinking trying to summit a 14,000’+ peak at night with strangers, with zero time to acclimatize?! What if you cant keep up? Would they wait for me at the bottom? Or would I have to walk the additional 3-4 miles back to my truck?”
Point of no return…
A few minutes later, I wedged myself in the backseat between the pile of gear. It took a few tries to close the door but as soon as it slammed shut I realized I was now at the point of no return.
On the way to the trail head I learned Nate was from Israel. He was on the return leg from road tripping from Alaska to Mexico, and back. Eric was from Virginia and was working as a travel nurse in the Denver area. They had both met while working in Alaska and were going on a few Colorado adventures while Nate was in the area.
There was no doubt they would have some interesting travel stories to tell. Which was reassuring as we parked and set off on the trail up Huron Peak. Two hikers were just finishing the hike and seemed rather mind-blown when Nate told them we were headed up right then. They would be the last people we saw anywhere along the trail, a rare occurrence on a Colorado fourteener hike.
Here goes nothing…
The first section of trail wasn’t overly steep but once we were above the tree line the steepness increased dramatically. Nate had pulled ahead quite a ways but I was struggling to keep pace from effects of the altitude. I kept telling Eric to leave me behind and go catch his buddy and that I would be fine.
He told me there was no way they were gonna leave me up on the mountain and we just kept hiking, never getting more than 30 yards apart.
Caught off guard by the Huron Peak GOAT!
Wasn’t much chatting since I was so out of breath but once we got close to the summit we were both caught off guard by the mountain goat we were now sharing the trail with.
Summit in sight!
This was the first mountain goat I’d seen with a winter coat and it was a welcome surprise. As we rounded the corner we could see Nate at the top of Huron. We were just within reach and there was no doubt we were making it to the summit.
We took a few quick pictures with the sign that had been left at the top. Then Nate took of his pack and pulled out a stick of salami and cut off a slice for each of us (a summit tradition for them). We didn’t waste much time as the sun had fully set and the temperature was dropping fast. After we threw on jackets and headlamps we headed back down.
Let’s make a break for the bottom!
I could feel the life coming back to me every step we took towards lower altitude and was finally able to hold a conversation. It didn’t take us very long to get back to the truck once we got in a rhythm, focused in on the circle of light our headlamps were providing in the otherwise pitch black darkness.
We stopped a few times to shut off our lights to get a glimpse of the cosmos above, one of the highlights of the journey for me.
When we made it back and went our separate ways I was so thankful for the stories that were shared and the friendship that had been made. Simply by my willingness to say YES when adventure presented it self a few hours early.
Continued changing of plans…
The plans continued to change as it was now well past 10:00 PM. I was absolutely exhausted, I had never setup a campsite. Nor did I have clue what the following day would entail since I had already bagged the peak I came to summit, mere hours after landing.
One thing was certain. I knew more adventure always laid ahead.