Get the gear

Hiking is a simple activity.  A walk in the woods requiring nothing much more than strong legs and sturdy boots.  It’s certainly less involved than cycling.  Or is it?  If you’ve browsed any of the hiking-related retailers like REI, Backcountry, etc. lately you’d think you couldn’t possibly survive a hike without carbon fiber hiking poles, high-end Italian hiking boots, the latest GPS watch and a complete water filtration and storage system.  Which made me think of this.  An oldie but goodie and if you live in Colorado (or Portland, I presume), probably more relatable than ever.

A Massive Day

Mt. Massive from the east

Mt. Massive is the second highest mountain in Colorado, only 11 feet shorter than its neighbor across the valley, Mt. Elbert.  It makes up for those 11 feet by being the mountain with the most area over 14,000 feet in the contiguous 48 states.  With a summit and four sub-summits over 14,000 feet and a three-mile-long summit ridge Mt. Massive is truly massive.  If you’ve been to Leadville, you’ve seen Mt. Massive and you may have mistaken it for a whole mountain range.  Massive doesn’t so much dominate Leadville’s western skyline as it IS Leadville’s western skyline.

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