Doug Kreutz / Arizona Daily Star

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REDCLOUD PEAK, Colo. — The altitude: 14,034 feet — more than two vertical miles higher than Tucson.

The air: a little cool, a little thin.

The view: 360 degrees of snow-trimmed summits, rocky ridges, fir forests and verdant valleys.

Even in this era of stupefying gas prices, a journey to Redcloud Peak and other soaring summits in the mountains of southwestern Colorado can be more than worth the expense.

A trek this month to the top of Redcloud, near the mountain town of Lake City, was an excursion into classic alpine terrain.

From a trailhead beside a stream thrashing with snowmelt, the route snaked through evergreen forests and stands of aspen before leaving the trees behind at timberline.

Then it was up a series of snowfields, still frozen hard in the hours of early morning, and into a high, open basin with an almost outrageous outburst of wildflowers — flourishing against a backdrop of snow-streaked peaks.

A zigzagging ascent led out of the basin to a ridge burned free of snow by the intense sunlight of high altitude.

From the ridge, a steep climb up fragmented rock known as talus topped out on yet another ridge — this one leading to the red-rock summit of Redcloud Peak.

"Whew," said a woman with an Aussie accent when she tagged the top. "That's a lot of climbing."

And then, moments later, after catching her breath: "But what an incredible view."

Yes.

Summits stabbed at the sky in every direction. Wooded valleys teeming with wildlife skirted the mountain flanks. Fluffy white cumulus clouds poofed high in the sky.

It wasn't heaven. Only about halfway there.

It's a day's drive to southwestern Colorado from Tucson. From the town of Durango, several routes lead over scenic passes to Lake City. From there, a rough road — barely passable in a passenger car — leads steeply uphill about 16 miles to the trailhead.

The easiest route up Redcloud, which requires no technical climbing gear in summer, involves about nine miles of walking and nearly 4,000 feet of elevation gain. Many hikers extend the trip with an ascent of nearby Sunshine Peak.