Mt. Bierstadt

Trail Length: 7 miles round trip
Elevation: 11,669-14,060 ft
Elevation gain: 2,850 ft
Bathroom at the Trailhead: Yes
Critters: Big Horn Sheep
Tags: #14er, #coloradooutdoors, #nooxygen

Left to right, Mt. Evans (14,264 ft) and Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 ft) as seen from the Square Top trail. This photo is mine. The rest in this post are courtesy of Lynn Johnson.

Mt. Bierstadt, near Georgetown CO, is one of the easiest 14K ft peaks to hike. Its proximity to Denver, and the lush views Guanella Pass make it doubly popular. Guanella Pass is notorious for sudden thunderstorms, however, so be sure to check the weather before planning your ascent.

The trail begins at the pass itself and descends into a narrow valley filled with willows. This area is boggy and depending upon the condition of the boardwalks, may be wet and slimy. Things get serious after the willows when the trail climbs up to a broad shoulder. The views here make it a worthy destination in itself for those interested in a shorter hike. The shoulder is a wide area for ideal for picnicking and people watching. A favorite pastime is holding up score cards measuring the lung capacity of climbers as they crest over the shoulder. You'll see everything from small children to trail runners using Beirstadt to train for the Leadville 100. When no one is looking, do your best Julie Andrews imitation and twirl around. At high altitude motion sickness takes on a whole new meaning.

Big Horn Sheep on the road to the pass

The more able bodied will want to continue up the trail which rises steeply into the distance. It is rocky so consider hiking poles for added stability. Insider tip: "view breaks" are a great way to catch your breath while admiring the increasingly expansive views of the Continental Divide.

Looking down on the shoulder

Climbers get a nice break on the upper ridge which is flat but full of scree. Take your time crossing. A twisted ankle at this point would make getting down a challenge. The final cone of scree is a jumble and hikers just find their way from rock to rock with little coherence.

Looking down on Square Top Lakes and Square Top Mountain

We were lucky on this trip and the weather was beautiful. We stayed on the summit for over an hour just gawking at the rolling green hills below us. I have been chased off of Guanella so many times by lightening that I have developed a neurotic paranoia about the place but this day there was barely a wisp of a cloud. I still eyed them carefully because Guanella is notorious for brewing storms at explosive rates.

Looking up at the final cone of scree

From the summit, Mt. Evans feels like it is within spitting distance and you can see all the tourists who drove up to that summit. "Look Vern there are mountain climbers over there!" With more time and a car shuttle, you can cross the saw tooth that connects the two peaks and bag two in one day. I have several friends who have done this and say it is easier than it looks and well worth doing.

View from the summit looking west.

So, for those of you who have never climbed a 14er, give Mt. Bierstadt a try. It is an easy walk up but will require you to have gotten off the couch in the last year. Some scrambling is required in the scree field so bring your gloves as well. Do it like I did and take the day off of work to avoid the crowds and meditate on why we love living in Colorado.

Mt. Sherman

Distance: 5 miles round trip
Elevation: 12,000 ft - 14,035 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,035 ft
Date Hiked: 18 September 2015
Bathroom at Trailhead: No
Tags: #14er, #mountainpeak, #gearguide
Other 14ers: Lincoln, Democrat, Handies, Quandary, Bierstadt, Grays, Torres

Looking down on Mt. Sheridan (13,748 ft) from the ridge to Mt. Sherman

Mount Sherman, near Fairplay Colorado, is one of the fifty-four named peaks above 14,000 ft that are such an obsession. "Bag them all" is the rallying cry as experienced climbers and novitiates alike stand in line for their chance to slog their way to the top of each and every one. Mt. Sherman is relatively close to Denver, and so it is more crowded than most. If you can, climb it on a weekday or at least slightly off season.

Heading up at 12,000 ft

Looking up at the ridge from the mining road

Close up of the hilltop mine

The trailhead to Mt. Sherman can be found on County Road 18 (Four Mile Creek Road), located one mile south of Fairplay on  U.S. Highway 185. CO 18 is a dirt road but is passable by passenger cars even up to the gate at 12,000 ft. Where you begin to hike depends upon your vehicle, your temperament, and of course the weather.

Looking back down the route

Heading into the talus

Mt. Sherman is considered one of the easier 14ers to climb and I can't disagree. The first 1.5 miles is up an old mining road and so is relatively smooth and broad. This early part of the route passes two historic mining complexes, the Dauntless Mine at 12,300 ft and the Hilltop Mine at 12,900 ft. Both are rather scenic, particularly the Dauntless Mine, which perches majestically against the ridge line when viewed from below.

Heading towards the saddle

On the saddle

After the Hilltop Mine, the route begins to switchback up true talus to the saddle between Mt. Sheridan and Mt. Sherman. Just before the saddle is a small rock barrier that has been erected to give folks a chance to gear up before crossing into the saddle, which traditionally is blasted by gale force winds. While Leadville can be viewed from the saddle, it is a bit of a walk to see it and most people scurry onwards towards the ridge on the other side.

Heading up the ridge

View of Iowa Gulch to the west

The ridge leading up to the summit of Mt. Sherman is either a jungle gym or a terror inducing experience depending upon your stomach for loose rock, high winds and visible but not life threatening exposure. When the winds are blowing, you might as well pack up the hiking poles and be prepared to lurch from rock outcropping to rock outcropping. On a blissful day, you can bring your  grandmother.

Still not there

The final pitch

The final summit ridge is very flat and it is a short quarter mile to the small bump that is the summit. There are several rock shelters to hide behind, but for some reason the winds on the summit are usually less than those below.

View of White Ridge (13, 684 ft) from the summit ridge

The summit is just ahead

If you have the energy, there are numerous other peaks to be bagged in the area. You pass Mt. Sheridan (13,748 ft) on the way, Gemini Peak (13,951 ft) and Dyer Mountain (13, 855 ft) are to the north, and White Ridge (13, 684 ft) is to the east. As with any 14er, the views makes the struggle worth while.

View of the Iowa Amphitheater from the summit

Mt. Lincoln

Distance: 6 miles round trip
Elevation: 12,000 ft - 14,286 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,286 ft (net) 2,547 ft (cum)
Bathroom at Trailhead: Yes
Fees: $3 to park near bathroom, you can park down the road if you prefer
Dogs: Off leash
Date Hiked: 1 Aug 2013

Looking back towards Mt. Cameron from the summit of Mt. Lincoln

Mt. Lincoln near Alma CO is one of the 54 14,000 ft peaks in the state. Climbing these mountains is huge past time in Colorado and you see every type of person along the way. There are tourists that come here every year just to climb a few and locals who want to bag them all - tattooing the number 54 on their foreheads as a badge of honor everyone will recognize.

The trailhead at 7am on a Thursday

The flat, cushy start of the route. Our destination is beyond the ridge in the distance.

I like climbing 14ers because the physical challenge keeps me in shape all winter. I confess the discrete list allows anal people like myself to start cataloging ascents, reviewing them periodically like stamps in a passport. They are tickets to some of the wildest places on earth, and each one is a milestone to be proud of. There are of course true mountaineers out there that scale the grand peaks of the Himalayas or in Patagonia. I like just being able to wake up one morning and stand on the summit of a mountain without having to trek to the end of the world to do it. This is back yard play for those of us who live here.

And the slog begins

Tallus and skree will be our companions from now on.

The trail to Mt. Lincoln starts at Kite Lake near Alma Colorado. Mt. Democrat, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross are three 14ers so close together that many try to do them all in one day. You need good weather to do this and a tendency towards juvenile delinquency since the summit of Mt. Bross is still officially closed as of the date of this post. All of these mountains are riddled with mining tunnels, some only inches from the surface. It has taken a long time and lots of legal wrangling to open them up to public use. The city of Alma actually kicked in liability insurance.

You can see how Kite Lake got its name

Continuing upwards but don't be fooled, the saddle is still far away.

I climbed Mt. Democrat two years ago but did not have decent enough weather to continue and ran into the same problem this time. It seems like the perennial "get an early start" is not a sufficient safety margin anymore. Our once predictable monsoon period has evolved into an erratic you-never-know kind of world where storms can pop up on days foretasted to be half-way dry. It seems like nowadays you either just have to hope you haven't pissed of the gods lately or wait until September when things really dry out. I climbed Square Top Mountain last September and could have stayed on the peak for days.

The saddle comes into view. There are many hikers in the distance. They are dots compared to the scale of the slopes of Mt. Democrat to the left.

On the saddle looking up at the ridge that begins the route to Mt. Lincoln

The initial part of the route to the summit is a 1.5 mile slog up to the saddle between Mt. Democrat and Mt. Lincoln. It is really an unpleasant segment that I have done twice now. The deceiving thing about Mt. Lincoln is that the peak you see from the saddle or from the summit of Mt. Democrat is not even close to the summit, it is just the beginning of the long ridge you have to traverse before you even get to Mt. Cameron, an uncountable 14er.

Finally we start for Lincoln.  This half of the route is much more interesting.

You could not blink without seeing a Pika. They were all over, chirping, feeding and scurrying between the rocks. This one would fit into the palm of my hand.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Colorado's 14ers, there is a nifty rule, probably established by a group of bored bureaucrats, that says no peak can be an "officially" ranked unless it stands alone. It must be 300 feet above the saddle to any other peak and poor Mt. Cameron just doesn't rate. It is only hundred feet or so between Mt. Cameron and the saddle below. While I totally get this rule, they should not have named the peak because everyone is woefully confused by the whole thing. There are plenty of unnamed 13ers out there, they could have just left the bump that is Mt. Cameron alone. 

Looking back on the route. That is the trail up Mt. Democrat in the distance. You can see tiny ants gathered on the summit to the right.

This Marmot was guarding the upper reaches of Mt. Lincoln.

The surprising length of the ridge to Mt. Cameron is one long, continuous, "don't stumble" view of Wheeler Lake to the north with one 30 yard ridge walk with drop offs on either side. While exposed, this is not Devil's Causeway scary because the ridge is wide enough. I did find my vision going in and out of focus, however, as it shifted from the rocks below to the yawning abyss on either side.

We finally crested the ridge that you can see from the saddle only to see this long ridge walk ahead.

Add the ridge still goes on. We thought perhaps it was Mt. Cameron above us, but no.

Don't assume that any of the broad bumps you pass along the way are Mt. Cameron. We kept assuming we had passed it and were on our way to Mt. Lincoln. The summit of Mt. Cameron is broad and flat and you can see the nipple-shaped false summit near Mt. Lincoln clearly in the distance.

The exposure eases but the route continues. That is Mt. Cameron, far in the distance.

Finally on the summit of Mt. Cameron.  The broad summit and small, collapsed cairn is your clue. The summit of Mt. Lincoln is in the distance.

It was on the broad, exposed summit of Mt. Cameron that our hike became an adventure. It was 10am and we had been hiking for several hours when behind us we heard a huge clap of thunder. The multitudes started spinning in circles, acting like a bunch of disturbed fire ants. The reality was at this point we were all totally screwed. Many chose to head back to the trailhead but that was a several hour journey on an exposed ridge walking into the storm. We chose to descend to the other side of Mt. Cameron and hunkered down in a small depression at its base. While the storm blew over us, we watched some hardier folks continue on to the summit and stand there amidst the swirling black clouds. To each their own. Fortunately for us, the storm moved on and we were able to complete the route.

My favorite part of the route, the broad plateau between Mt. Cameron and Mt. Lincoln. What planet are we on?

Standing at the base of the plateau, looking up at the nipple that exists between Mt. Cameron and Mt. Lincoln. 

The saddle between Mt. Cameron and nipple on the way to Mt. Lincoln seemed like something out of a Sci Fi movie.  Desolate and otherworldly, I could have been visiting Planet X, my space ship behind in the distance. The temperature had dropped quite a bit and all the hikers could have been spacemen, bundled up in all their gear. These reflections made me realize that the tops of Colorado's mountains are really worlds apart. Despite the hordes, they are not meant for human visitation.

Crossing the nipple, the summit is in view

The final approach to the summit

Our journey down took longer than expected. Some people can fly down skree in one continuous controlled fall. I am far too Ma Ma for that and take my time, which gets ponderous after a while. Still, the views coming down are very cool and you will want to stop and admire your physical prowess as you see how steep the ascent really was.

The Class II scramble to the summit is not difficult at all and takes seconds to complete.

Wheeler Lake to the northwest viewed from the summit.

So since the weather prevented us from getting anyway near Mt Bross, I will someday have to get back up there. There were plenty of people who made the trek despite the weather and the rules. I sort of envy them. If I do go, however, I will take a different route just for varieties sake.

Obligatory summit shot with my friend Lynn...go girls!!

If you have to choose between Mt. Democrat and Mt. Lincoln, particularly on a day when the weather is threatening, go for Mt. Democrat. You'll be able to descend much faster if you need to. If you are physically up to it, and the Force is with you, do all three in one day. You'll only have to climb to the saddle once. 

Handies Peak from American Basin

Distance: 5.5 miles round trip
Elevation: 11,600 ft - 14,058 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,500 ft (net), 2,553 ft (cumulative)
Date Hiked: 16 July, 2012
Bathroom at Trailhead: No
Dogs: Off leash

The view from the summit of Handies Peak (14,058 ft)

Handies Peak is a Colorado 14er surrounded by jagged and imposing ridges forged in the fiery belly of a long forgotten volcano and finished in the frozen grip of glaciers.  It is considered by many to be the prettiest 14er, particularly via the American Basin route, which is known for its wildflowers and open meadows.  After completing this climb, I can truthfully say that this is an alpine experience par excellence.  It will leave you awe struck ... if only you can get there!

The wide and flat parking area at the far end of American Basin

Sunlight kisses American Basin.  That tongue of rock in the distance is a rock glacier. 

The journey to Handies is an adventure from start to finish.  The trailhead is located 20 miles up County Road 30 from Lake City in the San Juan mountain range.  This road, which is still advertised as passable by a 2WD vehicle is a washed out, cliff hugging, 4x4 road that will leave you exhausted by the time you finish.  The week before our trip, a huge landslide came crashing down Sunshine Peak (14,006 ft)  and wiped out huge sections of the road. These were plowed out and bumpy by the time we were there, but it just demonstrates how unpredictable these old back country roads can be.  While not technically difficult to navigate, the road possessed a razor thin margin of error given the one lane expanse and the 1,500 ft drop off waiting to consume the hapless 4-wheeler who bounced off the wrong rock.  I am not sure I would drive that road again in my truck, I would rent an ATV, which is much much smaller.

Indian Paintbrush and Bistwort create a colorful tableau 

An early trail segment

Along the way, the road will pass the Grizzly Gulch Trailhead.  You can climb Handies from this direction, but it is several miles longer.  There is a bathroom at this trailhead, which also serves Sunshine and Redcloud.  Four miles or so beyond this point is the turn off to American Basin.  This road is also 4x4 and is particularly bad just before the large trailhead. After the drive, climbing Handies was a piece of cake!

More wildflowers

Looking back down on the route

Early morning glare at the basin perpendicular to American Basin

The initial part of the route heads into the back side of American Basin, hugging the left side. Wildflowers abound here and it was difficult to keep going because I wanted to stop for every colorful tableau. With the weather pressing, there was no time to waste, however, so we pressed onwards.  At the start of the basin is a large rock glacier, which resembled a large amoeba oozing slowly downhill.  Rock glaciers are different from ice glaciers in that the water is not a solid mass, but exists between the rocks so all you see is flowing (in geologic time) rock.

Starting across the basin

Looking back down on the route

Heading up further

Looking back down on the shelf and entrance to American Basin

Before reaching the rock glacier, the trail banks to the left and climbs steeply up to the shelf (at 1.26 miles) to a cirque that is perpendicular to American Basin.  A smaller rock glacier graces its upper slopes.  The route will actually climb to the right of the basin and then down and across the rock glacier to the other side.  At the top of the route on the right hand side is Sloan Lake (at 1.6 miles and 12,941 ft), which is a destination itself.

Climbing 14ers is fun!

Crossing the rock glacier.  The trail will descend sharply and then ascend again across the glacier up the slope in the distance. 

Looking back at Sloan Lake.  The trail from the shelf to the lake is just visible in the distance. 

Once across the rock glacier, the route switchbacks steeply up the side of Handies.  Green tundra grasses and views back down the route make this segment pleasant indeed.  At the top is a saddle with a primeval view of geologic marvels clawing their way upwards from the valley below.  Is this Valhalla? Surely we are above the cares of mere mortals on such airy heights!

On the switchbacks to the final saddle

Approaching the saddle

The primeval view from the saddle

To the left is the final summit ridge.  It is smooth and steep.  Steep as in Sniktau steep.  I dug out my hiking stick and used it to anchor myself as I plodded upwards.  It was hard to turn around and admire the view.  I passed a woman coming down who was afraid of heights.  She was trembling with each baby step downwards.  I began to get nervous but the decent down this pitch but it was actually very easy, so don't let the steepness bother you.

The summit (second hill) viewed from the saddle

Heading up the summit ridge

This view makes the summit appear very close...but is it?

Heading up the steep section

The view from the summit is grandiose.  Jagged mountains abound and we had the place to ourselves, a rare treat in Colorado. Unfortunately, we had Armageddon brewing directly over us, despite our 5 am wake-up call and hardly spent any time on the summit.  I felt comfortable, and infinitely safer bolting downwards after a few hasty pictures.  Therein lies a life metaphor.  Rarely do life's struggles lead us to lasting rewards.  It is the tenuousness of any achievement that reminds us that like Handies life is more about what happens along the way.  

Looking back down from half-way to the summit

Almost there!

View from the summit

The weather held long enough for us to dawdle on the decent.  We stopped at Sloan Lake, which I will turn into a post of its own, watched Marmots frolicking amongst the wildflowers, practically stepped on a flock of Ptarmigan, and stopped to gawk at a trio of baby marmots just starting to explore their world.  By the time we reached the truck it was starting to pour.  Good timing indeed.

The author (left) and Elaine reveling in Colorado glory!

Lynn enjoys the summit

Climbing Handies is so full of view-gasms that I recommend everyone, not just 14er peak baggers, to consider this experience.  I will leave it up to you how to get to the trailhead.  A private helicopter would be my personal choice.  You can pay for the trip in what you save in post-drive therapy fees!

Back down in American Basin, a cheering squad of Frosty Ball Thistle waved us by.