• 4 Miles
• Elevation Gain 780 Feet

First hike of the "54 for Dave".  Really the first hike of 2015 for me.  Driving to the trail-head the sunrise was beautiful.  There were clouds in the east that the sun had gotten under and turned an intense red.

As I started the hike my first impression is that I am way, way out of shape and still had not adjusted to the altitude yet. Had to stop multiple times to catch my breath as the trail starts rising immediately.  That was OK as the morning was beautiful.  Took the left start of trail which goes down by the creek.  Vicki and I have been there before and there are several spots where you can get close to the stream.  Taking pictures there would allow me to catch my breath a bit.  

I was not disappointed.  There was a small bend in the stream that drop several feet as it turned creating this beautiful cascade.  Spent 15-20 minutes taking several shots.  There was not a lot of room to maneuver the tripod so the angles I could use to frame the image was limited.

After getting some images I continued on up the canyon.  The trail leave the creek side and stays high above the creek.  I was still near enough to the stream that I could hear sound of the stream rushing down the valley. To the west, the colorful rock of Mt. Aggie (11,561-ft.) and Mt. Morrison (12,268-ft.) fill the skyline.

I was not sure how far I was going to go but it kept getting prettier as I went.  The trail slowly winds to the left (southwest) up the canyon and behind a ridge.  Decided at a minimum wanted to get to the point where the ridge was. As I proceeded up the valley there was plenty of songbirds providing a wonderful musical.  I reached the spot I had targeted as a goa.  The trail and the morning were so nice I said to myself maybe just a little bit further.  I did the “little bit further” a few more times and as the trail continued to curve to the southwest way up on the horizon I sawas treated to the image of the snow covered Mt. Crocker (12,458-ft.) rising at the head of the valley.

I was hoping the trail would come back close to the creek but it did not look like it would for a while.  So I decided to turn around and head home with the first “54 for Dave” hike under my belt.  I would later look up where I was on the web and realized another half mile or so there are some beaver dams that would have been cool to see.  That is OK because I will definitely come back and go farther up the canyon.  Hopefully in better shape so there will be less huffing and puffing!