I left Steamboat Springs on Sunday (Feb 12th) and was planning on a 1/2 day of skiing somewhere and ending up in Silverthorne/Dillon area. The drive down Rt40 from was beautiful and for the first 40 miles there were all these ridgelines and peaks that were just calling out to be summited. I kept looking, but could never find a plowed forest road or pull off where I could stop.

Finally I passed found the Moument Mt Reservoir Power Project. I decided screw the skiing I wanted to summit Monument Mountain. After review of the map I realized I could park by the Dam at the end of the reservoir and start up from there.

It was damn cold when I got out of car. I put on all the clothes I had, including 3 layers on the legs, 4 on the upper body and 2 layers of gloves. The wind picked up as I started across the dam. Any bit of exposed skin started to burn. I bundled up even farther; googles on, hood up, hands covering my face. Luckily once I crossed the dam and started up, the wind let up and it was more comfortable.

It is not a particularly hard climb, only 2.1 miles and ~1300ft up. The elevation got to me often (~8700ft at the summit). On the way up I tried to follow what I thought was a road up to the top. The road ended after about 1/2 mile. At one point I came to little fence with signs on the other side saying Authorized Personnel Only. Ooops, I wonder if I should be here?

Well after an 1.5 hours I made it to the top. On the way up I saw lots of deer and alot of bird life. I had to cross a bunch of scrub pine areas that had me a little spooked as I did see cougar tracks.

I ate lunch at the summit and was enjoying the sun and the nearly 360 view of the valley below when I noticed something moving on the ridge line. Hmmm what is that? I pulled out the camera and zoomed in. Low and behold it is a bunch of coyotes. Cool! I blissfully keep eating my lunch. Drink of water, chewed on frozen Cliff bar. Drink of water….. I look down the ridge again and … oh wait the coyotes are coming my way…. and there are 6 of them.

Hmmmm…. I put on my pack and started down. I only wanted to worry about the cougars, not the cougars and the coyotes. Going down was easy and it took me less than 45 minutes to reach the car. I snapped only a few pics during the walk. Here is the view of the peak from the car and here is the view of the car from the top

I ended the day by stopping in Hot Sulfur Springs and partaking of their hot springs. It was pretty quiet and a nice way to spend 2 hours. My legs really thanked me the next day.