A few of the Valley Wanderers decided to take advantage of a chilly but sunny day and hike Rendezvous Peak & Mt. Gordon Lyon from the Arctic Valley Trailhead today. It was only 28 at my house and only 30 at Arctic Valley. We hiked up the trail that follows the chairlift and from the top, Jane and I hiked to the top of Rendezvous Peak while the other 3 walked the trail that traverses the back side of the peak. Bella was delighted to climb up the mountain rather than take the lower trail. She always chooses the trail that goes straight up, if there is such an option. The wind was bone-chilling and I was glad I brought my Gortex jacket. I found the hike to the top of Rendezvous to be quite easy and nice. We had to search a little to find the trail down to the saddle where we planned to meet the others. Bella found her own trail and was about to head down the main trail that heads back to the parking lot. Fortunately she came bouncing back when I called her. Then she raced down the mountain and caught up with the rest of our group who were waiting at the saddle between Mt. Gordon Lyon and Rendezvous Peak. As soon as we got down there, Jo had already started up Gordon Lyon. Of course, Bella took off after her. I didn't want my dog climbing the mountain without me so I took off after both of them. I finally caught Jo just below the Gordon Lyon summit. We stopped at the jagged knife-edge granite formation on top. But Bella wasn't satisfied so she climbed up over it and scrambled down the narrow trail that leads up to what is probably the official summit. I followed her and enjoyed a few minutes in the bright sunshine and the howling wind, took a few pictures, then went back to the first summit once Jane got up there too. We started down along the ridge towards the military installation, hoping to find a spot out of the wind to have our lunch break. We never really found a calm place so just plunked down behind some rocks that gave us a little shelter. We ate our sacks, and Bella tried to mooch from all of us. Then we followed the ridge to a narrow primitive trail that eventually leads down to the main trail back to the parking lot. It was pretty muddy but I did fine without wearing my microspikes, although in a few places they would have been helpful. The whole trip was only about 4 1/2 miles but with all that climbing, it felt a lot longer. It was a fabulous day with hardly a cloud anywhere and beautiful bright sunshine.We only ran into a couple of other hikers on our way down. Bella was a muddy mess and found herself plunked into my kitchen sink for a partial bath once we got home. It was a great day to be in the mountains.
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| Puppy kisses on Rendezvous Peak |
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| Bella on Rendezvous Peak |
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| Mt. Gordon Lyon View |
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| Puppy kisses on Mt. Gordon Lyon |
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