Green Mountain 10,421' 08/14/04

With limited time horizon lately, I tought I'd get to work on a new list that had some meat on it closer to home. This was my first prominence outing per se. I had been out to the area before in November of the prior year to bag Buffalo Peak. The roads were washed out fairly bad this time from all the recent rain. I started my bushwhack at 6:00 a.m. and followed my bearing for the summit. Little did I know before parking at Stoney Pass, I could have driven another .8 miles East on a road that I was hiking parallel to. After a mile into the hike, the terrain drops to traverse the small creek and regains a gently sloping ridge to a saddle north of Green's summit. The bushwhacking intensified with the altitude gain, but wasn't as bad as I remember on Buffalo Peak. Staying near the highest part of the slope and taking a good look around when altitude was lost in between taller sections of slope helped to avoid unnecessary descents.

One section was slightly tricky that traversed underneath a large cliff via a boulder/deadfall blend. I was able to avoid this on the return by staying a little more south. I could see sun peering from a low point of the saddle, and set my course. At the saddle, the rest was very straight-forward, just staying on the ridge traveling south for .2 miles. There were several spots that looked like candidates for the highest point, because the views are so obstructed. Finally, a cairn appeared accompanied by a benchmark on the "not the highest" boulder. The real deal is behind it on the east side. It was somewhat silly to be on the summit of one of the 100 most prominent peaks of Colorado and only be able to see 20 yards. Then again, it is the 97th most prominent...wait La Plata Peak is 100th - didn't have any trouble seeing from there. The day soured when my font bumper and a Subaru Outback passenger door's trim met at a blind corner close to the school before Wellington Lake.