Photo Journal & Trip Reports

South Colony Lakes

June 2009 | Sangre de Cristos, Colorado

This weekend I went on a little road trip to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Westcliffe, Colorado, to meet up with a friend for some camping and hiking around South Colony Lakes. The lakes are situated at the foot of three 14ers, making them a perfect basecamp for several days worth of hiking.

The weather was grim during our first two days, with rain, hail, lightning, thunder, and relentless Patagonia-esque winds. On the third day, however, I woke up at 2:30am to clear starry skies, so I jumped out my sleeping bag, got my stuff together, and started hiking via headlamp up to Broken Hand Peak, hoping to get a sunrise shot of the Crestone Needle fourteener from the neighboring summit. After some tricky routefinding around some cliffs and up some snowfields, I made it to the summit at about 5:00, and witnessed a spectacular sunrise from the top.

Sunrise light illuminates the Crestone Needle, 14,197 feet, as seen from the summit of Broken Hand Peak, 13,573 feet.  June... — Crestone Needle Portrait

Sunrise light illuminates the Crestone Needle, 14,197 feet, as seen from the summit of Broken Hand Peak, 13,573 feet. June.

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Broken Hand Sunrise

Awesome sunrise as seen from the summit of Broken Hand Peak, 13,573 feet - June.

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After the Broken Hand Peak hike, I made my way back down to the lake where my friend was hanging out, and since the morning was still showing great blue-sky weather, we decided to hike up Humboldt Peak, another nearby 14er. Having just climbed one mountain, I wasn’t expecting to immediately go do another one, but I was feeling good and perhaps still had some more pent-up energy after the two previous stormy days. The weather held out, and we got to the summit around 11:30am along with about 20 other happy hikers.