July 4th 1995, was our nation's 219th birthday, and I decided to celebrate by driving a loop south of Phoenix to Coolidge (motto: "We're 10 degrees hotter!") to visit the old Casa Grande Indian Ruins for a visit, and then up and back through the Gila River Indian Reservation. Coming in to town, I spied the Gila River Casino and decided to try my luck at the slots. Playing 10 $1 coins, I won nothing on my first 8 drops, and then a cool $400 on my 9th coin! That was that: I took my winnings and left, happy as hell and thinking of what to do with this found money... Highpoints! I decided to buy cheap plane tickets to Colorado Springs for an Elbert hike, and to Las Vegas for a Boundary Peak, Nevada hike a week later.

It was a very welcome respite to leave the blast-furnace called Phoenix for the cooler climes of the Rockies. It had been 121 F a few days earlier, the second hottest day on record for Phoenix, and we were in the middle of what would eventually be 20 consecutive days of 110+ F daytime highs, which is one day short of that particular record! So Colorado Springs and its 95 degrees felt absolutely chilly for a desert boy such as myself. I arrived in the late afternoon and found most of the hotels with no vacancy, so I drove up the highway a bit into the mountains and found a nice little place to spend the night. The next day, I drove into Leadville, which sits at over 10,000 feet (the highest incorporated city in the USA. The lowest, which I've also visited, is Calipatria near the Salton Sea in SE California, -180 ft). I planned to spend the entire day just looking around, mainly to acclimate to the elevation. I noticed an enormous number of bikers traveling through town on gorgeous Harleys... turns out this was the big Sturgis rally week and many were on their way to the festivities. Anyway, I retired early to my hotel, for an early start the next morning.

I awoke at 4 am to begin my hike, arriving at the Black Cloud trailhead before dawn. There are three well developed trails to the summit of Elbert, the Black Cloud from the south, and one each from the east and north. Most people take the east trail since it's slightly shorter with less gain. However, I specifically wanted as few people as possible, hence my choice for the southern route. I began hiking just as the sun started rising, starting up some moderately steep switchbacks in dense forest. It was like this for about an hour, the trees not allowing for any good panoramic views. But soon, after about an hour, the trail grew less steep and the trees a little sparser, and I had my first views of the awesome valley below, and of the equally impressive peaks across the valley, some of whose peaks are only a few feet lower than Elbert's.

At this time, I was at around 11,000 feet, and the trail followed a small stream for a ways. The trees were not as tall as below, showing the obvious stunting of being so near tree line. I made excellent time, and soon came upon a talus field and an abandoned shack in serious disrepair among the rocks. After that began the steep trudge up to the ridge proper and on to the summit. I was forced to take shelter under a small tree as a small rogue storm blew through, dropped some rain, and then left, all in about 15 minutes. Back on the trail, I simply put my head down and marched up the steep switchbacks to a small cairn signifying the ridge. The weather was now bright blue and clear, and Elbert was in sight for the first time, about 1.5 miles away. Now, at nearly 14,000 feet, I walked slowly and deliberately, stopping more often than usual to suck in some more air. In about another hour I made the summit, following a faint trail and skirting some snowfields. By 11 am, I was at the top. I had not seen anyone the whole way up on my route, but there were about 6 people lounging among the rocks, having come up from the other routes. I stayed for about a half hour, ate lunch and rested before starting down.

The hike down wasn't bad. My baseball cap blew off in a stiff wind and sailed down onto the snowfields below. Coming back down along the ridge and skirting small false summits along the way, I was slightly alarmed at not being able to find that cairn signifying the trail down the ridge... until I hiked a little further and found it. It's definitely there for a reason! Otherwise it would be difficult to locate the trail, since it's pretty faint up so high. Anyway, the hike down was nice, a little hard on the knees, but enjoyable. I did see a few others out and about. I was back to my car by mid afternoon, a successful trip and a beautiful hike. I stayed another night in Colorado Springs then flew back to Phoenix the next day.