Trip Report: Mt. Antero

As our 14er count increases, our easy and close to home mountains decrease. Antero is another one of those 14ers that we just hadn't gotten around to- mainly due to the fact that we only recently purchased a true 'off-road' vehicle- a Toyota 4Runner. The road to Antero was definitely the most memorable part of this mountain. In fact, if you wanted to, you could drive up to an area (parking lot?) about 200 feet from the summit….so yeah….

It took us just about as long to drive up the 4WD road as it would've taken us to run it, but since we have the appropriate vehicle, we thought we'd try it out. Turns out driving on a true 4wd road is rather terrifying, but it was nice to know we could do it!

We met up with some friends and hit the road. Literally, a road. Almost all of the Antero hike is up a 4WD road that you have to share with vehicles. A bit of a different flavor than your typical 14er.

Creek crossing on the 4WD road to Antero. Many brave souls drove their cars through!

The hike itself was easy and uneventful- just chugging along up a road. The views were a lot prettier than expected, though!

We had to keep going to the side of the road to let cars go past. Everyone was super friendly, but don't get me wrong- it REALLY takes away from the whole 'yeah, i'm in the mountains!!' experience, when people are drinking beers, passing by in their ATVs.

Cars driving up a 14er

These two hams had a blast with their pack of humans, hiking up a 14er!

Once we got to the almost top of the mountain, we forgot about the whole 'road' thing and just enjoyed the amazing scenery:

There is just a tiny bit of 'scrambling' right at the top, but it is very mild, and only requires about 2 hands:

And here is a 4Runner, about 200 feet from the summit:

The best part of the whole day was the company we hiked with!