Climbed with my friend Greg on Monday, July 11, 2022, Mt Antero is Colorado's 13th highest peak. The trailhead is at 10,850 feet making the climb about 3,400 feet in elevation gain in 8 miles round trip. The climbing route is for the most part one of the state's most popular 4-wheel drive roads, so it wasn't the standard kind of route through a secluded forest and quiet alpine environment. On the route this Monday we saw about 15 or so pickups, 4 Runners, Jeeps, and quads driving up and down the same route we climbed up. They weren't intruding on our trail, we were climbing up their road. We drove the first three miles of the 4-wheel drive road, then camped. That road ended at 13,800 feet where they parked, then it was a climber's scramble for the final 500 or so feet to the summit.
Pertty easy driving for them on the first small section past our camp site, and Greg is in agreement that it's pertty easy hiking for us. But the road gets much worse later on. I saw a bumper sticker on a pickup higher up on the mountain that read "Don't follow me. You won't like where you end up" For 99.9% of the vehicles out there, that is undoubtedly true
Usually while climbing, the best photos are behind you with the early morning sun hitting the mountains. So it's not unusual to stop, turn around, and soak it in a bit, like the following three pictures.
A Jeep working their way up a tame, but high, section of the road.
The end of the road where all the vehicles had to park. That's the summit in view now, which is a 500 foot scramble to the top straight up that ridge you see in the middle.
Summit reached. WooHoo!
And now, a series of photos from the summit. Note the threatening clouds that would later form a storm we encountered on the way down.
Greg leaving the summit. That little dark area in the middle is all the parked Jeeps and Quads, etc.
On the way down, it was raining and hailing in this area a bit. Looking down at a group of quads hanging out.
The flag is the last thing I like to pack up after breaking camp.