When I moved to Colorado, everyone told me to do a 14er. I kept thinking to myself why anyone in the world would want to casually do a 14 mile hike and silently said "no effing thanks" to myself.
Little did my naive Delawarean self know that a 14er was actually just one big bitch of a mountain to hike and it meant 14,000 feet of elevation as the minimum height of said mountain. Again, I thought to myself why would anyone want to do that!?
Two months into living here, we thought it would be a good idea to try. Regardless of huffing and puffing up one flight of stairs, coughing up a lung while walking the dog, and regardless of barely being able to hike without rest stops in the foothills, yeah - we were doing it. First, we conquered Mount Bierstat.
Mt. Bierstat, Idaho Springs - 7.8 miles / 2,765 ft. elevation gain / Out & Back
Bierstat was a good one! Although, we did see someone .5 miles into the hike awaiting a stretcher which set my anxiety through the roof, it was a good hike. I almost fainted, had to take a break after ten steps, and felt like a mountain goat was going to attack, she was a good one! This was my intro into 14ers as it is for many and my feet were ready to fall off at the end.
Quandary Peak - Blue River, CO. 6.6 miles / 3,327 ft. elevation gain / Out & Back
"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." This mantra got me up the mountain. Started at dark and walked through what felt like an enchanted forrest and it was so cool. After much incline you finally reach the summit, A FALSE SUMMIT. This was hard to swallow because once you get to the only peak you can see the whole trail, a straight vertical almost-mile-long incline awaits. Coming down was really rocky so poles would be highly recommended. We encountered several weather changes, so definitely bring many layers to strip down to. The views at the top are stellar and it was well-worth the effort.
Mount Sherman via Four Mile Creek Road - Leadville, CO - 5.0 miles / 2,027 ft elv gain
This one was okaaaay. It is a fairly easy 14er to just cross off the list and say you did - which we did but its nothing to rave about. Honestly, it was pretty boring. There are some old mining equipment and houses along the way which adds a nice historical element but aside from that it was boring. Again, easy and doable, and recommended for when you want to just knock an easy one off the list and call. it. a. day.
Mount Decalibron: Mount Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross - Alma, CO. 9.5 miles / 4,500 ft elevation gain / LOOP
HARD. HARD. HARD. EPIC. EPIC. EPIC. I literally felt like an olympic athlete after this one. I wrote more about this under the Hikes section, but for this blog's sake, it was awesome. After you climb one 14er, it gives you just enough motivation to kill the second 14er. Then you see how awesome the third looks (Lincoln - my fav), and by then you know you're on your way home. It was awesome and so doable. Make sure you are in shape and ready for a long day. This took us about 7 hours total and about 8.5 with stops, lunch, etc. Bring lots of food and water. I'd HIGHLY recommend poles. Bross was very steep, very rocky, very loose. It took a long time to safety make it down due to all the scree and narrow, rocky trail. Take your time and have that mindset that you will crush it. As tough as this was, it seriously takes a top 10 on my list of favs. You'll feel so good once your done!
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