Castle Peak @ 14265 feet
It has been couple of years since our peak challenge group has disbanded. Since my friends and I have continued the annual hiking to a 14er (14000+ feet peak) tradition. We had couple of options in choosing which 14er to hike. We were debating whether to drive down to Southwest Colorado to hike Sunshine and Redcloud Peak combo. But since one of our other friend couldn't make it this time, my friends suggested we hike an Elk Mountain 14er, Castle Peak. The Elk Mountains surrounding Aspen in Colorado have had this bad reputation due to the ultra loose rock and difficult to climb mountain tops. Many deaths have been recorded on the top of these mountains. I was initially a bit hesitant. I started reading about Castle Peak. I started reading about Castle Peak. My confidence didn't increase. However my friend, who is really experienced, convinced me that it should be doable based on our prior experience and hiking abilities. So we settled on hiking our first Elk mountain 14er on Aug...