Hiking – Geneva Mountain

• Total hike time: 5 hours with a 20 minute break at the top, and some stopping for wildflower photos. 
• Average speed: 1.49 mph
• Recorded mileage: 7.91 without the initial mistake from the parking lot
• Gain: 1916 feet. Everyone else in the group recorded lower gain numbers than me. 
• Off trail terrain: grassy, tundra, some willows, mellow grades for the most part and no exposure or technical aspects

We met at the Twin Forks Park n Ride at 6 am and reached Guanella Pass at 7:10. We were on trail at 7:30. The Rosalie trailhead is on the road a bit south of the lower trailhead parking lot -- don't take the trail from the parking lot, or you'll end up in the willows on your way to Bierstadt. We made that mistake, then backtracked to the road. 

Once on the Rosalie Trail, we enjoyed a mellow rolling walk with great views of Bierstadt, the Sawtooth, and the mountains to the south. We came to a divergence of the official Rosalie Trail and an old road or unused trail with a "trail closed" sign on it. We kept going on the Rosalie Trail, and at about 1.25 miles there is another divergence, this time with an old road. You can take the road to the three peaks of Geneva Mountain (we took it on the way down), or continue on Rosalie trail further and then bushwhack uphill to the peaks. We did the latter - continuing on Rosalie til about mile 2, then we went off trail to the right, bushwhacking through very manageable willows uphill and southwesterly, aiming for the saddle before the first of the three peaks that make up the Geneva ridge. This was fun and not difficult -- we found our way to the saddle in good time. Once on this grassy saddle, there are three peaks ahead/south of you --the two subpeaks of Geneva, and the summit is the third peak. Here the old road picked up, so we took this faint road up the first peak. The going got slower here, as we hit 12K feet and the steepest grade of the whole hike. After the first peak, we easily hit the second, and then on to Geneva proper. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to reach the top. we took a 20 minute break there, then headed back. We decided to take the road all the way back, which was a fun, rolling track through higher ground above the Rosalie trail, a bit longer in distance but likely faster due to not bushwhacking and route finding. The group enjoyed doing both options, one up and the other on the way down, for a mini loop in the middle of the hike. Clouds came in but we encountered no weather.