Hike: Mount Belford and Mount Oxford

The colossal slopes of these mountains and their siblings are so enormous and amazingly beautiful, that's about all I can think about when trying to describe the hike. That and getting up at the ungodly hour of 3 AM. And the physical exhaustion of climbing two summits and then the first one all over again. So I'll leave it at that. A headlamp and sunrise over colossal slopes, gold-tinged with approaching autumn's color. Here are a few snapshots of the arduous 11 mile trek.

Sunrise adds alpenglow to Missouri Mountain. I climbed this one a few weeks ago from this side.

Morning light on Mount Belford. Unknown hikers in the foreground.

Mount Oxford from the Summit of Mount Belford. It's two miles from here, and all I can think is that I have to go down, then up, then down, then back up again to stand on this same place a few hours later.

Mount Belford from near the summit of Mount Oxford. (Are you keeping all this straight?) The summit of Mount Belford is that little pointy thing on the right.

Some turning aspens on my back down reminded me that autumn is not that far away.