For the culmination of my trip I decided to do Handies Peak (14,048') as an overnight trip with my backpack. It was actually not that hard to do and was really fun. I started at the Grizzly Gulch trailhead. My civic made it there without any problems and I didn't bottom out, despite the nature of the shelf road. I packed up the trail (with what I estimate to be my 35 to 40 pound pack) to Handies Peak and got to the summit in about 3 and 1/2 hours. I was tired and really happy to be there. I then went down to Sloan Lake at the upper end of the American Basin and made my camp. I spent the night at what is now my new record, 12,920' above mean sea level. It was not a bad night and I had no problems with the altitude. The only real problem was that I was kept awake by the heavy rain pounding on my tent, and the temperature was higher than normal at night because of the rain so I was hot at times. Still, I enjoyed it.

The next morning I hiked down to the American Basin trailhead and back up to my camp so that I could say I did both trailheads, and I wanted to see the basin. I broke camp and put my pack back on and headed back up Handies. I crested and then descended back into the Grizzly Gulch side and on to my car. Back in Lake City I enjoyed a $10.95 Buffalo Burger at the Packer Bar. They definetly do know all the customers who frequent it.

I started on the 6th and finished on the 7th. The time is for packing/ hiking only. My mileage and elevation are higher than the Dex because I did both trail heads and summited twice.