I decided to hike the Hobbit Trail just north of Creede.  It's a 3 mile round-trip hike to the top of a rock outcrop overlooking Creede.  However, my plans to drive to the trailhead were thwarted because the road up the Bachelor Loop was closed so I had to park my vehicle and hike up to the trailhead (2 miles one way).  Fortunately, I had enough daylight to do the extra miles.  As an added bonus, I ran into a local hiker that I had heard a lot about, but we had never met.  We ran into each other on the road up Bachelor Loop so he and his dog joined me on the hike and we got to know each other.  Super nice guy that has hiked all over this county for decades so I learned a lot from him about the trails and areas.

In honor of Veteran's Day, Army, Navy and Air Force veterans and/or active duty service members as well as others that support our military traveled from all over the state of Colorado to join together for a group climb up Quandary Peak (14,271 ft). It was cold and blustery with gusts up to 35-40mph, but everyone marched on without complaint. Ages ranged from the 20s to 77 years old.  Trail was well marked, maintained, and easy to follow.

Over a course of 3 days, I hiked/climbed to the top of Blanca Peak and back.  Day 1 was an uphill hike to Blue Lakes, where I camped.  Day 2 was the day I summitted and camped again at Blue Lakes.  Day 3 was a hike back down to my truck.

This route to Blanca Peak is considered a hard Class 2 or Class 3 climb.  It was very challenging for me at my age.  Going up was hand over hand in many places with many treacherous spots with no room for error.  Coming down was even harder and scary at times.  In summary, it was the hardest mountain I have climbed, especially since was very windy and there was 2-3" of snow/ice to make it slippery.  I saw no one else on the trail or on the mountain so I had it all to myself.

Bagging Blanca Peak was my 10th 14er.

My track file only shows the route one way (7.8 miles), so total distance was 15.6 miles.