Babcock Peak

Got a wild hair to climb Babcock Peak, so today I combined a bike ride up there with a hike to the top of the peak. Mighty fine day, I must say! Round trip it was 14½ miles with a 2700' elevation change. Climbing to the top through all the boulders was great fun. I mean it! I always love scrambling around on granite boulders. This first picture is Babcock Peak from Last Chance Creek. Looked a long way off in real life too. Eventually I started getting closer and the green meadows and wildflowers were a nice contrast to the dead burnt area from last summer.


I'm not sure why the monument on the peak has been ground down like it is, I have never seen one like that. There was no posted elevation but my map said it is 7015. Not much up there, a broken down wooden thing with some wire, and this monument. I laid out and sunned on a rock. It was pretty windy, and since it was so hot today, the wind felt great.


The meadows up here are still very green and lush. The cows haven't worked their way up there yet and many of the flowers are in full bloom. I even found a snow plant that was still flowering. Those have long since done their thing in most of my bike riding areas lately. I took a picture but maybe I'll post it on my web album, with more from this trip. Didn't see a soul all day but there were many fresh vehicle tracks, so the weekend must have been more busy. I saw fresh bear tracks in the soft dirt in the road in several places.

Cradle Valley

Rode around Cradle Valley and around Clark Peak today... very nice, hot day, almost too hot for sunbathing. I know this country like the proverbial back of my hand but I was on some new trails today. I knew exactly where they were going, so even though they were new to me, the country wasn't.

Found a little pond along Clarks Creek and saw a little fresh beaver sign, so beavers could have been responsible for this pond too, I suppose.


There was some smoke in the air which didn't help the scenery pictures much so I tried to keep the subjects in the foreground.

My GPS said 13 miles for this trip, with a 1500 foot elevation change. Wasn't a long ride but I took my time, laid in the sun for a couple of hours, stopped often to take pictures and smell the flowers, so it was all good. I even ran into someone I know up there... he was riding his motorcycle. Small world, or what?