Four thousand feet above East Vail, Colorado is a mountain known as Outpost Peak, at 12,362 feet. It's on a high ridge between the Pitkin Creek and Booth Creek drainages of the Gore Range. I set out one Saturday to climb it via the ridge just outside East Vail, beginning on Pitkin Creek Trail. After four hours of off-trail bushwhacking up the ridge I had reached 12,000 feet. It was late in the day and I was tired so I reluctantly turned around without summiting. It's disappointing not to reach a goal but safety comes first and I returned home satisfied, with this nice panorama from just below the summit.

Click here for a climbing log by Theron Welch, of another route to Outpost Peak.