Mount Antero

Mount Antero

Being a rockhound, I had anticipated climbing Mount Antero for a couple of years now.  Since this 14er does not have a technical route, I kept pushing it down on my list.  When peakcowboy suggested we climb it on a Thursday in September I thought it was a great idea.  Any day in the mountains beats a day at work.

Antero Top

We parked by the creek and started hiking up the road.  There was quite a bit of "mining" activity on the mountain with ATVs running up and down the road.  We left the road as soon as possible and tried to avoid the normal route in order to maybe get lucky and find a few semi-precious gems.  I did find a few rocks with aquamarine and jade.

Antero Road

unclegar from 14ers.com joined us on this beautiful day.  We parked by the stream crossing and took the easy hike up the 4wd road.  Once past the end of the road there is some fun scrambling on the ridge if you look for it.  I finally remembered to leave a Colorado quarter on the top of a peak. On the descent I

triskelion

met a guy from Virginia with Antero license plates.  He discovered an aquamarine which is in the Denver Museum of Natural History.  My first 14er not done on a weekend!