 Sept 16: Geared up and ready to go on this beautiful cool sunny day -- perfect for hiking. I'm ready for a challenge, and choose the super-strenuous 9-mile hike up to Flattop Mountain. It's not the distance, but the elevation that makes this hike the "big" one for the trip. Starting at around 9450 feet elevation (near the Bear Lake trailhead), this trail climbs a huge (for me) 2874 feet straight up to the 12,324 foot elevation of the mountain-top -- higher than I've hiked before. I'm not sure what to expect -- but there's only one way to find out.
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