My sister Kayla wanted to go camping, and I was the only one she could talk into it, so we went just the two of us. I talked her into climbing South Arapahoe Peak, but could not convince her to continue to the northern, taller summit.
We drove up to Fourth of July trailhead, which is next to Buckingham Campground, where we camped for free, much better than the $25 Angi and I had just paid in Manitou Springs for Pikes Peak. After a rough night of eating fresh caught trout and watching DVDs, we set off for the summit at first light, 5am.
The hike went well, and we were on the summit after only 2.5 hours. I actually had fun calling Angi from 13,390' on Kayla's cell phone and waking her up at seven in the morning. Try as I might, I could not convince Kayla to continue across the somewhat difficult traverse to North Arapahoe Peak. We sat on the summit and fended off the marmots instead.
On to the pictures:
