Mount of the Holy Cross

Brian decided to hike this mountain on the way back from Grand Junction after working for four days out there at the local Walgreens.
Getting up at 5am to hike in the dark was a first. Pitch black darkness was eluminated by an LED headlamp until about 6am or two miles up the trail. Finally breaking treeline just after sunrise the ascent of 42 switchbacks began. After the last switchback you come to the Notchtop mountain shelter, which was a tourist destination where tourists would go to look at the "Holy Cross". See the shelter on the left.

On the right you can see the cross in the mountain, which earlier in the year has more snow. The route chosen was the Halo ridge which came from the left and up the left side of Mount of the Holy Cross to 14,005ft. Coincidently, you also climbed the high point on the ridge at 13,831 to also bag a top 100 peak in Colorado.

A long day is made even longer with a 900 foot elevation gain in the last 3 miles of the hike. This bluebird Colorado day made for great pictures even at 1pm in the afternoon. One last picture from Halfmoon pass.