1999 Climb - Hike on Pajarito Mountain
at the height of aspen gold season- October 8, 1999

Chuck Mader and Bob Cowan heve climbed all 54 0f Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks, and all but a handful of Colorado's highest 100 peaks. They are veterans now, and don't climb as many as they used to, but every now and then they get together for a "reunion" hike. It was a perfect crisp, fall day in 1999 when they got together with me to climb Pajarito Mountain, which overlooks Los Alamos, New Mexico. We had a ball that day, and it show on their faces.

(As usual, click on the thumnails for a larger view. Click ONCE to get the STANDARD enlargement, then click on the STANDARD enlargement a second time if you wish to see the more detailed JUMBO enlargement.)


1. Men of legendary climbing adventures. Bob at 80; Chuck at 69; both of them younger in heart and spirit than most men half their ages.

2. Climbing Pajarito. In the distance, Caballo ("horse") mountain and beyond it, Tschicoma, the sacred mountain of the Jemez Indians.

3. Towering aspens, gold against the cyrillean blue of the Northern New Mexico sky.

4. Following Chuck along the mountain path

5. Through the aspens. They have a distinctive and dizzying, intoxicating smell of freshness and joy you never forget.

6. Chuck stops to check his bearings. He never loses the trail. Well, maybe once in a great while...

7. Dropping the pack to get out the camera.

8. Bob stops to admire the view.

9. Chuck enjoys a drink from his battered old canteen that has accompanied him on all 54 14er climbs.

10. Nothing much surprises Bob any more; he's the ultimate "been there; done that" guy.

11. The young "Old Men of the Mountains" enjoy a laugh along the trail.

12. May they always hike and climb together, in that place where last campfires never die, and the aspen leaves make a pathway of gold beneath their feet..