This was a great hike on many levels, of course, it was my sixth peak YAY! Only 12 more to go 🙂

The weather was sketchy at the start, rain showers were ending as I arrived but it was foggy/low clouds and cold, it made me glad I layered up and brought a warm hat and gloves. Because the clouds were so low, I didn't see the great ‘far away views' but in a way that was kind of cool because it made me focus on the up-close stuff (hence a fair amount of my pictures are closeups or just things along the trail that I thought looked cool). The greens were vibrant and there was a fair amount of snow left on the ground.

I met some cool folks along the way, including other Challengers (who I recognized from their hike logs!) as well as other hikers just out to enjoy the park. One couple I met and chatted with off and on throughout my trek ended up reaching the tower a short time before me, as I approached the helipad area I saw him get to his knee and I recognized that I was witness to his proposal and her excitement as she accepted 🙂 I was able to take some pictures for them together at the top and was the first to congratulate them on their engagement 🙂  It was great to make new friends who are either current challengers or who are sitting on the fence about signing up, as I usually hike solo, I'm looking forward to joining others for future hikes.

The tower was pretty cool and I hung out there and took a bunch of photos, the clouds were swirling in and around the area and that gave it an ethereal feeling at times, from there I shot over to the summit, a short stretch but very cool. As I wound my way through the trees I dodged melting snow/ice dropping from trees. I chose to take the ladder up as opposed to the ropes and found both of my survey markers. I had a quick lunch sitting up on the rocks at the summit before heading back down. By this time it was clearing and the views that were obscured by fog in the morning were now easy to enjoy. I did have a USMC Osprey Aircraft pass by me flying low through one of the canyons, that was pretty cool as I  heard it well before I saw it. The picture doesn't really give you a sense of how close it really was.

I'd read some reports on AllTrails that people didn't feel the hike was worth the $10 parking fee, I have to say I found the scenery on this one to be amazing, I love the variety of conifers of all sizes. The snow added a nice element, I've always thought I'd had my fill of snow after living in Fargo ND, but it added to the beauty of the hike (and it was nothing that I had to shovel!) LOL.

This was a great hike for #6! 🙂