Matt and I arrived in Colorado on Saturday, July 6th, rented a car and headed up to Boulder for a few supplies. We found Boulder to be a great little town with a wonderful downtown pedestrian mall. We stumbled upon the mall while we were looking for one of the local outdoor shops, Boulder Mountain Sports, on Pearl Street. We had a great time wondering up and down the mall, window shopping and people watching, but the day was ticking away and we wanted to get to our camp site before nightfall. We finally found the store we were looking for, but the one item we needed, white gas, they didn't have. Their prices seemed a little high also. We found an Army,Navy surplus store on Pearl St. just east of the mall and they had everything we needed, topos, etc., at reasonable prices. Once stocked up we were on our way to the 4th of July campground at the Arapahos.
The ride up from Boulder was interesting as we drove through Netherland, and Eldora, following the spot on directions in Roach's guide to the Indian Peaks. We left Boulder in the mid-seventies and were greeted at the trailhead with temps hovering in the low forties. Matt was in heaven. Crisp, clear air and extraordinary mountain views that leapt out at you. The 4th of July campground was great. It's not commercial at all. There is no charge for camping, decent toilets, and beautiful camp sites along Middle Boulder Creek. They even have picnic tables! Talk about western hospitality. We set up camp, then scouted out the start of the Arapaho Pass trail up to the 4th of July mine. We managed to walk up about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile and were huffing and puffing like old steam engines. Going from 300 feet to 10,000 feet in one day sure put a crimp in our stamina.
We started out very late the next morning. Matt's not the best
early riser. We didn't get on the trail until 8:45. We made good time up to
the 4th of July mine, arriving there in about an hour. The trail to this point
was easy to follow as it wound its way gradually up hill sides. 
The
views were quite spectacular for someone from "back east", and though
I'm sure the altitude was hurting us, it wasn't obvious. We took a break at
the mine, then headed up the Arapaho Glacier trail to the saddle between South
Arapaho and peak 13,038. There were quite a few hikers ahead of us, but why
not on a beautiful weekend day? The trail from the mine to the saddle was a
little steeper than we encountered from the campground to the mine, but still
not very demanding. The view of the final hike up to the summit was a little
intimidating to a couple of flatlanders, as we headed towards the saddle, and
both Matt and I wondered how difficult it would be. Would we be hiking, climbing
up the east edge with that precipitous drop-off keeping us company on the right?
Boy, and this is rated a class 2 climb? These westerners are tough! As we got
closer,
we discovered that the route up stayed well to the left (west) of the path of
our concern and our fears were allayed. The final 1/2 mile was essentially a
steep walk up a rocky slope with an occasional need to use a helping hand up
a rock step. We arrived at the top around 11:30 to spectacular views, a handful
of people, and one guy who just had to relate his accomplishment to someone
via his cell phone. Oh well... it's a free world, isn't it? This was out first
Colorado peak and we were both happy about it. Our plans were to take a break,
then head across, tag north Arapaho, then retrace our steps back to camp. I
was a little concerned about the weather, considering everything I had read
about afternoon thunderstorms, the time we would spend on the ridge, 
and
the clouds that were building to our north. Also, everyone else on top was talking
about the weather and I'm certain they knew better than me. Anyway, we decided
discretion was the better part of valor, so we dropped the north Arapaho idea
and headed back down after about 30 minutes on top. Matt got quite a ways ahead
of me heading back down to the Arapaho Glacier trail, but he was gracious enough
to wait for the slow poke at the intersection. The views down into the Arapaho
glacier were spectacular and to this day I can't understand why I didn't take
any pictures of it.
I need a more accessible spot to carry my camera. I found the hike down the
trail back to the mine a little hard on the feet. Guess they weren't acclimatized
either :) A shower hit us about 45 minutes before we got back to camp, but it
hardly lasted as long as it took me to get out my garbage bag and put it over
my pack. I believe we were back at the camp at 1:30, then we packed up and headed
on down towards Gray's Peak.
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