Backpacking trip to Chicago Basin and North Eolus Peak day 1

Chicago Basin/N. Eolus Peak backpacking trip, 07.10-17.16
On July 10th I left with 6 friends for the backpacking trip of my life! We stayed Friday night in Amarillo then drove to Pagosa Springs to stay Saturday night. We got up Sunday with the mind set of a day to get use to the elevation but the excitement of being on the trail got the best of us so we headed to the trail about 2pm. This was my first hiking trip outside Arkansas and I was very excited.
We got onto the trail and right away was fighting mosquitos, then shortly after it started raining. We made our way down the trail about 4 miles to the first campsite. It rained into the night but was nice by morning.
Monday was going to be a long day, it started easy. We left camp @ 8am with a 7 mile hike to Needleton Creek Trailhead, the trail is fairly flat and runs along the Animus River the whole way so it's a pleasant hike. Across the river is a set of train tracks where a train runs from Denver to Silverton, after hiking about 2 hours a train came by and I could see the passengers were waving at us. I got to the TH about noon, this is where the fun begins. It's now a 5 mile hike along Needle Creek (8,000') starting up to the Basin (11,000'), it took me 3.75 hrs to make it with a 40 min break on the trail.
We set up a base camp and looked around and found a place to get water.
Tuesday was a rest day, we finished setting up camp the hiked around the Basin. I went to look at an abandoned mine and it started raining again, one thing I know about Colorado is no matter what time of the year the rain is always cold! We ran back to camp and made plans to climb a 14,000' peak the next day. It rained on and off until 4:30am next day.
Wednesday we were going to start at 5am but the rain stalled us, at 6ish the sky was blue so we made our way to the Twin Lakes above the Basin. Once there we ate a snack then headed up, only 3 of us went on. We had to cross 3 snow fields to get to the base of Eolus/North Eolus Mount. We chose North Eolus to climb, one was as high as he wanted to go so only 2 of us got to the top. We wanted to go across to Eolus but it started to hail and we were afraid of it raining and making the rocks slippery so we headed back down. We also wanted to go up to Sunlight and Windom Peaks but were told they still had a lot of snow. After getting back to camp we decided we would head back down Thursday.
Thursday we packed up and started down at 9am, we got to Needleton Creek TH around noon so we stopped for quick lunch. We headed back down the trail with intentions of getting to the same campsite we stayed at Sunday night and camping there. We made really good time, it was just after 3pm when we arrived. After talking, we decided to head to the truck. It was about 4 miles and we had 5.5 hrs to get there before sunset. I think we all had forgotten how tough this section was, lots of switchbacks and for the most part all up hill. Also, the mosquitos were there waiting for us in full force. We hiked around 15 miles for 10 hrs, I was wore out but really glad to see the truck. We found a hotel in Durango and ordered in pizza, WOW was it good!
Friday we left Denver thinking we would stay in Amarillo again but by the time we got there we were thinking how nice it would be to go home, 17.5 hrs latter we were in Little Rock.
I know this is long, I tried to keep it short but there's so much to say. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever been able to do. Without a doubt I'd go again, if it's possible I would recommend a trip like this to everyone. There's just no way the pictures can come close to explaining what it's like to stand on top of a 14,000' mountain looking around 360°.
I'd like thank God for giving me a healthy body, allowing me to go and keeping the others and myself safe. I'd also like to thank Stacy (my wife) for letting me go and letting me come home. I feel I am a very blessed individual...

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Great videos Greg. I'm ready to go back