Emerald 13,904', Iowa 13,831, Missouri 14,067'
Still on the Centennials quest, Laura and I wanted to get a good hike in while the leaves were starting to change in Buena Vista so we chose to drive to Rockdale Trailhead and hike Emerald and Iowa Peaks. The weather was forecasted to be perfect all day so we got a bit of a late start from home. Driving by the Missouri Gulch Trailhead that leads to three 14ers, there must have been 75 or more cars parked. Seemed like a fiasco and we were happy to continue on past to our trailhead that would eventually lead us to the same mountain they all were hiking to. Our original plan was to drive to Clohsey Lake, a rough 3 mile road, but when we approached the first river crossing we found it to be blocked by a beaver dam. Laura attempted to clear some of the larger logs blocking the way and I gave the truck a good bit of the skinny pedal to push through. We made it and were now at the second river crossing. At the exit of the river is a step up of rock that, even with 4 LO and a locked rear end in the truck, we couldn't get past. After several attempts we backed up and re-crossed the beaver dam. Parked at Rockdale, we would now add about 6 miles to our hike - no big deal. We walked across the rivers in our flip flops and changed to shoes when we reached the road.
So knowing that we had some extra mileage, at 7:45 am I took off at a fast walking pace hoping to make up some time that we had lost driving and now adding mileage. Laura would occasionally jog to maintain my hiking pace and we were averaging 17 minute miles. We were at Clohesy Lake in no time. Just before you get to the lake there is a cutoff to the left that takes you around the lake and to South and then you head east up grassy slopes until eventually reaching an old mining cabin.
From here it's back North and up the crumbly rock slopes to the summit of Emerald Peak.
We reached the summit at 10:51 am. We spent 15 minutes looking around at the surrounding peaks and then started the short scramble down and over to Iowa Peak.
We were there at 11:24 am and wasted no time as we had decided to continue on to Missouri and descend it's easier, grassy slopes back to Clohsey Lake. 25 minutes and we were atop Missouri Mountain along with the first people we had seen all day.
We spent just 5 minutes there before starting down back to Clohsey Lake. The slopes on the west side of Missouri are far easier and have a good trail back down to the lake and are probably faster than dealing with the scree and talus from the Iowa/Missouri saddle. We were back at the lake by 1 pm and still moving fast after 11 miles.
The hike down the road lead us through several changing aspen groves which are always a treat in autumn. We continued the quick walking pace and were back at the truck, having clocked 14 miles in 6 hours at 1:51 pm.
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