Southwest P2ks: August 29th-September 1st, 2024

After finishing my roadtrip to New Mexico, I was eager to start climbing P2ks down there. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me. My cough which had been manageable during the road trip got a lot worse and, at the time of writing nearly one month later, has remained bad, although I have learned to manage it batter. Though, even in retrospect, my original plans to climb 41 P2ks in New Mexico and Texas were untenable due to this fact. After going to urgent care and not seeing any effect from the drugs they gave me, I decided to meet up with my partner who would be living in Spokane this fall. I figured a house was a better environment to recover form sickness than a van in the desert, and if I got better, there were plenty of mountains there as well. So I started up my roadtrip, and decided to drive/bike up as many mountains as I could along the way. Up Sandia Crest and then I was going to do Taylor, but getting off my meds gave me a worse 24 hours or so, so I diverted and instead drove up Kaibab and Brians Head. After feeling better, I was able to do a true hike up Delano, which although strenuous, was manageable overall. After this, I drove across Nevada up to Oregon to escape the heat and get some smaller mountains

Sandia Crest, August 29th

Sandia is best accessed from a paved highway all the way up the eastern side of the mountain. Delightful views at the top and the first time in a long time that I've felt elevation!

Kaibab Plateau, August 30th

After deciding Taylor was a bad idea given my health, I drove all the way to Kaibab for the drive-up to the plateau summit there. It was a long drive, but a very beautiful one. From the highway, it's a few miles of good dirt roads to the summit, but I decided to bike it just for the hell of it, and got a delightful ascent out of it

Brians Head, August 31st

I was originally planning on biking from the highway to the summit of Brians Head, but the road looked good, and upon summiting in it, I believe the whole thing can be done ain a sedan, although it does get a little rocky toward the end. Beautiful views!!!

Delano Peak, September 1st

Delano was my first true hike since Frissell, and it was definitely an ambitious one between the elevation and the coughing, but after acclimatizing the night before, I felt comfortable enough to cautiously proceed. The trail was nice for the sections they had switchbacked up to about 11200ft. After that it was straight up, and I took many a break along the way. It had been over four years since the last time I was in a sea of alpine meadow, and it's good to be back! Phenomenal views the whole hike, and this one was the tallest, 3rd most prominent, and 9th most isolated peak I've every done up to this point! And considering I did it at poor physical health, this peak definitely ranks as one of the most significant hikes I've done up to this point. Hopefully the first of many more with better health!!!