Since moving to Colorado in 2000, I have become addicted to backcountry travel.
Colorado offers some of the best mountaineering, backpacking, showshoeing, and climbing there is.
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14ers
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Other Hikes and Climbs |
Backcountry Snowshoeing (Hut Trips)
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Links- Links to my favorite sites |
July 19th 2008. Culebra is the Southern-most 14er in Colorado, only being 9 miles North of New Mexico.
This was another great hike with a group from WPCC and
Focus on the Family. Unfortunately, Culebra is on a private ranch, so you have to make a reservation and pay $100 to have access. As a result,
the Northwest ridge
is the only route available, so there is little choice if you want to bag this peak. I will say that the folks at Cielo Vista Ranch were
very friendly and they maintain the road to the trailhead fairly well. The other interesting thing about this peak is that there is not really an
established trail to the top. They only allow 25 people per day to make the ascent and encourage groups to spread out so as not to wear a trail in
the alpine tundra.
We camped just inside the ranch gate Friday night and awoke early to meet the ranch hands that let us in and led us up to the ranch office. After
signing in and paying the fee, we drove up to the tralhead at approximately 11,400ft. The scenery on the way was awesome, as you pass some gorgeous
meadows and aspen groves. From the trailhead, you choose your own route up through the basin, although it is probably best to stay left of the creek
until you are past the willows. Once on the ridge, you have a good view of the false summit and just barely be able to see Culebra's summit behind it.
Once on the false summit, you'll drop into a saddle and take a pretty cool ridge walk over to the final summit. From there, you can also
hike over to Red Mountain (13,908 ft), but that will cost an additional $50, which I was not willing to do. In all, the hike was just under 7 miles
with about 2,800 ft of vertical gain.
June 28th 2008. John and I made this our first peak of the 2008
season. John had ascended both of these before, so I appriciated him signing up to go with me so I could check
them off my list.
We kicked off from the Grays Peak trailhead which is approx 11,200ft, depending where on the road you start. The parking lot was jammed, along with
most of the roadside, so arriving early is essential for these very popular peaks. This "easy" trail winds up the East side of Grays and places you
on the summit in only 3.75 miles (and about 3000ft of vertical gain). Torreys is then just a short half-mile jog to the North with 600ft of loss/gain.
It was suprising to see so much snow remaining above treeline - we crossed a very large snowfield on the way back from Torreys, which made me wish I
had my ice axe, although we could have arrested a slide with a trekking pole. Aside from the crowds and several "tourist" climbers, this was a nice
morning trek with some great views.
September 2nd 2007. We tackled
this peak the day after climbing Redcloud and Sunshine peaks. The task seemed pretty daunting
after waking up sore and tired from the previous day's excursion. However, we again hit the
trailhead at about 6am and ended up feeling pretty good after about a half-mile in.
From the American Basin trailhead at 11,600ft, the "easy" class 1 trail to the summit covers
about 2.25 miles with 2,500ft of vertical gain. The scenery in American Basin is breathtaking.
The view from Sloan Lake at approx 12,700ft offers a great reflection of the North ridge in it's
deep-green water. The view from the top of Handies is also one of the best summit panoramas I have seen.
John did an awesome job setting pace for this ascent. We made it to the top in almost exactly
2 hours and were the first ones on the summit that day. We were also able to drive all the way
to the end of American Basin Road (which requires a high-clearance 4WD vehicle), which shaved a mile
and 300ft of elevation off the trip.
Sept 1st, 2007. This was the first trip I have done in a while with my
climbing partners Don and John. The last trip we did together was back in 2004 when we
climbed in the Sangre de Cristo range.
We set up base camp just outside Lake City at Williams
Creek Nat'l Forest campground. This is a great recreation area that includes access to the
Alpine Loop nat'l backcountry byway, Lake San Cristobal, five 14,000ft peaks, several excellent
trout streams, and miles of ATV trails. The San Juan Mountains are also among the most scenic
in Colorado with thier jagged, dramatic peaks. The San Juans also have the most land area above
10,000ft in the contiguous United States.
Our Ascent of Redcloud and Sunshine started promptly at 6am from the Silver Creek trailhead.
The route starts at 10,400ft, winds up Grizzly Gulch, and goes around to the East side of
Redcloud. The trip to the top is 4.5 miles over 3,700ft of vertical gain.
From the summit of Redcloud, you traverse the ridge between the summits for about 1.5 miles.
You also drop about 500ft of elevation, which you must re-climb on the return to Redcloud. Some 14er guides show a return
trail off the connecting ridge which bypasses Redcloud, but the
trail is steep, intermittent, and you spend most of the time on loose skree. In all the climb was 12 miles with 4,700ft
of vertical gain.
July 21st, 2007. La Plata Peak is the 5th highest in Colorado. I went with
a group from WPCC. This was a long climb, as the round
trip length is 9.5 miles with 4,300ft of elevation gain. The trailhead is just off HWY 82, about
13 miles West of Twin Lakes. Starting out right at 10,000ft, you take a pleasent stroll through
the forest along La Plata gulch. There is some cool scenery along the way. You'll cross a
steel/log bridge over a deep-cut gorge and a small waterfall, then start to climb a log and rock
stair for about 300 feet. The trail levels off a bit and you eventually turn East towards the
Northwest ridge(to the Southeast). Once you get into the talus above 13,500, the trail becomes
intermittent, so some routefinding is required. The final push to the summit is fairly easy;
you'll pass a big snowfield on the way (probably almost gone by late August), which will provide
for a nice glissade on the way back down.
This was a great trip, although we were dodging bad weather and several other hikers the whole
way. Fortunately, the T-storms and rain held off all day. We also saw several
CFI people on the trail performing repairs and
doing some restoration on erroded areas. This is really hard work; they haul pick-axes and
shovels up to 12 - 13,000ft and perform a lot of hard labor to keep the trails in good shape.
Big thanks to them for maintaining this and all the 14er trails.
July 1st, 2007. I did this hike with a group from WPCC, which was a great experience. Due to the early start (5:30am), some of us camped out overnight just East of the Winfield townsite. The hike starts at the Clear Creek (South Winfield) trailhead at an elevation of 10,560ft. The well-worn path switchbacks through the forest until you emerge above treeline at about 11,590ft. The trail eases off for a bit and you get a breathtaking view of the Three Aposltes (three mountains in a craggy ridgeline; North Apostle, Ice Mountain, and South Apostle). You then end up heading East into the basin on the northwest side of Huron. From here the trail winds up to the ridge crest where it turns into talus and you ascend the last 500ft to the summit. In all, the trip was 5.5 miles with 3,500ft of elevation gain. The trail, weather, and fellowship were great! This climb is among my favorites.
September 11th, 2005. Mount Elbert is Colorado's highest peak, the highest peak in
the Rocky Mountains, and the second highest peak in the contiguous Unites States...so what better choice for an
ascent on this, the fourth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. What made this climb even cooler is that
I met a bunch of Denver police officers on the summit who were with the "Cops on
Top" program. Officers around the country
climb the high points in each state simultaneously during cetain days of the summer to honor their fallen comrades.
There are several routes that one can take to Elbert's summit. I took the South Mount Elbert Trail, which starts
couple miles North of Colorado 82, by Twin Lakes. If you take the 4WD road to the end, the hike will start at
10,400ft. Make sure you have a high-clearance vehicle before attempting to negotiate this road. The route up Elbert
winds through some awesome aspen groves and offers spectacular views of Twin Lakes and the surrounding mountains.
From the Trailhead, he summit of Elbert is 4 miles away with 4,100 ft of elevation gain.
August 12th, 2005. Just West of Fairplay, Mount Sherman sits at the end of Fourmile Creek. This was a fairly easy ascent, with the summit only approximately 2.4 miles from the gate at the end of 18 Road. The trailhead is right at 12,000ft, so you are also only gaining 2000ft of elevation. The hike starts off going through some old mining sites, so try not to stray too much from the established paths. There appears to be several routes through this area to the Sheridan/Sherman saddle. The one I chose actually goes south for a few hundred feet, then skirts along the lower East face of Mount Sheridan behind hilltop mine. This path was well-marked by cairns and was significatly less steep than the alternatives. Once on the saddle between Mount Sheridan and Mount Sherman, you continue North to the summit on a fairly good trail along the ridge. I was disappointed how crowded the summit was; there were at least ten other people there with me.
This was my first solo hike. On July 7th, 2005 I set out for Kite lake, just west of Alma Colorado. Kite lake sits
above treeline at about
12,000ft and the trailhead here gives access to four 14,000 ft peaks, including Mount Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross.
Mt Cameron is one of those that is not on the official 14er list because the saddle that connects it to Mt. Lincoln does not
dip below 300ft. One could hike all four
peaks in one shot, but since I ascended Democrat twice before, (see below) I just tackled the
other three.
From the trailhead, the summit of Cameron is accessible from the Democrat/Cameron saddle. From this
point (13,388 ft), you ascend 850 ft up a well-worn trail to Cameron's summit. From here, Lincoln's summit is only a
½ mile away.
Once on Lincoln's summit, Mount Bross is 1.5 miles away. You head back toward Cameron, but skirt it's summit to the
South. Most of the trail to Bross's summit appears to be two tracks, where vehicles may have once driven. Once on top
of Bross, I was surprised how large and flat it was - probably the size of a football field. The hike then descends
back to Kite lake, but the trail down the Southwest side of Bross is horrible. The trail is very narrow in spots and
you must traverse some very loose skree fields. This was by far the hardest part of the hike. In all the trip was 6
miles in length with 2,760 ft of vertical gain.
In September 2004, John, Don, and I backpacked to the South Colony Lakes and camped
for two days at the base of Crestone Needle and Humbolt Peak. These peaks reside in the Sangre De Cristo range and are
among five 14ers in the area. The scenery here is among the most spectacular I have ever seen, and probably rates up
up there with Yosemite. The hike into South Colony is only 2.2 miles from the end of the 4WD road, but you'll need a
high-clearance vehicle to successfully negotiate this "road." My truck has almost 12" of clearance and I bottomed out on my skid plates once and
ripped my trailer wiring connection from my rear bumper.
From our base camp at 11,700 ft, we set out for an evening ascent of Humboldt Peak. This was very cool, as we watched
the sunset from the peak and then descended after dark using our head torches. Humboldt's summit was 2.8 mi from
lower South Colony Lake with 2,400 ft of elevation gain. Crestone Peak and Needle are
significantly more difficult. These ascents offer good class 3 climbing with some exposure. Be sure to have a helmet
for these. We did not climb the needle during this trip, as Don and John had ascended this on
a previous trip. We did attempt Crestone Peak (the most difficult of the bunch), but gale-force
winds, lightening, and a pack of ravenous marmots forced our retreat (actually Don made the ascent while John and I fought
off the marmots).
I have ascended Mt. Democrat twice. In June, 2004 we had planned to hike Democrat, Mt. Cameron,
Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross in a 7 mi round trip, but bad weather forced us to stop after summiting
Mt. Democrat. At about 13,500, we encountered blizzard-like conditions from a front that suddenly
blew in. Sideways-blowing snow and ice at the summit made for a treacherous decent. I summited
again in August 2004 with my brother Chris and Nephew Matt.
From Kite Lake trailhead, the summit was 3.6 miles with 2150ft of elevation gain.
October 27th, 2003. Quandary is supposed to be one of the "easier" ascents, but low temp and high wind made it more of a challenge. With the outside temperature at about 30 degrees, the 40mph wind gusts not only made the wind-chill close to painful, it slowed us down quite a bit. The Monte Cristo Trailhead is currently closed, so we had to use an alternate route that eventually met up with the East slope trail. The trail was 2.7 miles with 3370ft of elevation gain.
July, 2003. John, Don and I ascended both of these peaks in one hike. We had planned to hike Missouri Mountain the same day, but since hiking the other two involved a total 7100ft of elevation gain, we were too tired to tackle another peak. From Missouri Gulch Trailhead, the summit of Belford is about 3.2 miles over 4500ft of elevation gain. Once on Belford, you then descend into the connecting saddle, then climb 1300ft to Oxford's summit. Unfortunately, you have to return via the same route and climb that 1300ft again when returning to Belford.
July 7th, 2003. Yale was probably the second toughest hike I have done. From the Denny Creek trailhead at 9900 ft, the summit is about 4 miles away. Climbing 4,300 vertical feet in that distance is no easy task, but if you take your time, it is well worth the hike. Watch for the cairns when you get into the high talus. Getting off-trail could get you into some technical climbing and exposure.
June 23rd, 2003. Mt. Harvard (right) is Colorado's 3rd highest peak. We had planned to hike Harvard and Mt. Columbia during this hike, but after summiting Harvard, we decided not to take the saddle over to Columbia due to fatigue (mostly mine). Be sure to watch for the cairns (piles of rocks that mark the trail) as you get into the boulders. Missing the trail could result in some good class 3 climbing. The hike to Harvard was 6.3 miles of outstanding scenery. Bear Lake sits at about 12,900ft (see the pictures).
June, 2002. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera when we hiked Mt. Shavano and Tabegauche Peak. Alan and I did both of these in one hike. The route we took starts at Jennings Creek Trailhead (now closed due to erosion), then ascends 3,700 ft to the top of Tabegauche (right peak in picture below). This part of the trail was extremely eroded. Of the 3 mile trail, about 2 of that is loose skree. From Tabegauche Peak, you then do some class 2 scrambling across the saddle to Mt. Shavano (left). Photo courtesy of 14ers.com
September, 2001. I had the most difficulty hiking Mt Princeton (center). This was most likely attributed to a late season hike which took us across a snow-covered skree field between "Tigger Peak" (left) and the summit. Alan and I also missed the trail off of the 4WD road, so we ended up scaling the Southeast face of Tigger Peak. Aside from that, it was a good experience. I would suggest parking at 11,000 ft, instead of starting at the bottom of Mt. Princeton Road. Be sure you catch the trail at 11,820 ft.
I have ascended Pike's Peak about four times and this was my first 14,000ft peak ascent. Barr Trail, which starts in
Manitou Springs (6,310ft), winds up the East face of Pikes for 12.7 miles until you get to the top.
This hike is rated class 1, but it is difficult due to the length. Since Pike's is one of two
14ers then has a road to the top, I would suggest that you have a ride waiting for you, or reserve
a seat on the Cog Railway.
One of my biggest accomplishments in climbing was my running of the Pike's Peak Ascent Race on August 16th, 2003.
The race takes a slightly longer course @ 13.3 miles because it starts from downtown Manitou Springs, and gains 7800ft of
vertical elevation to the summit. I managed to finish in 5:17.
Every year since I have been working the race as an aid-station volunteer.
I worked at the Cirque aid station in 2005 and 2006 which is at 13,100ft and a mile from the top.
We take a shuttle to the summit at 5:00am, then each person takes about 60 - 80lbs of grapes and candy 1000ft below.
We hand this and water to the runners as they go by. The water is brought down to us through a garden hose (talk about
extreme water pressure!). I have included
pictures from the 2005 Ascent race, which was the second time I have been caught in a lighting storm above treeline -
not a fun place to be under those circumstances. We also got about 6" of hail up there - the runners were miserable.
