Genesee Mountain (8,284) & UN 8100 by Brian Schultz Thursday June 11, 2015

Genesee Mountain:

Roundtrip mileage: 0.8 miles

Elevation gain: 125'

Start to finish: 22 minutes

Participants: Brian Schultz and grandson Tyler

I picked up Tyler, my 14 year old grandson, at the Denver International Airport. He'd flown in from Dallas, Texas as an unaccompanied minor while I drove in from an overnight in North Platte, Nebraska. My timing to drive 260 miles to the airport, park my truck, go through security, ride the tram, and pick him up at his gate worked out well as he waited less than five minutes for me. After picking up his luggage, we headed to my truck and embarked on the most important order of the day, which, of course was lunch for a hungry teenager.

Tyler was 9 years old when his family and I climbed Harney Peak in South Dakota. Five years later he asked if he could join me on some high peaks in Colorado and I was more than happy to oblige. After lunch we drove straight to the mountains to acclimatize on a couple low elevation peaks. Getting higher than Denver would do both of us flatlanders good as we headed west on I-70 and took the Genesee exit.

We turned left from the exit, crossed over I-70, and turned right on a road that switchbacks up to a locked gate. We parked at a picnic area and, at 4:10 PM, walked to the gate and continued along the road. A crew was doing maintenance work on a trail and after hiking past them we cut up the slope to the summit. It only took 10 minutes to reach the summit and on the descent we happened upon a trail leading to the picnic area where we parked.

UN 8100:

Roundtrip mileage: 1.4 miles

Elevation gain: 250'

Start to finish: 32 minutes

Participants: Brian Schultz and grandson Tyler

After hiking Genesee Mountain, we drove to Evergreen and followed CR 74 to Bergen Parkway. We turned right at the CR 74/Bergen intersection and parked at the Fillius Park parking lot. We started at 5:00 and walked the road past the gate a short distance before cutting up through the trees to the ridge. After we reached the summit we walked down the east ridge a short distance before turning around. It began pouring rain just as we got back to the truck, which had threatened all afternoon, but we got these easy hikes in without getting wet.

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