Mount Elbert is the tallest (14,439’) of all the Fourteeners in Colorado (14ers). There are more than fifty such peaks. Mount Elbert is not the hardest by any stretch. In fact, it is one of the easiest, having a well-marked trail all the way to the top. Even so, it is still a 12-mile walk round-trip from the South Elbert Trail parking lot with an elevation gain of 4,900 feet. I have done this peak four previous times, first in 1991 with Liz Rucker, then other times with my sister Patty, once with Margie Macaulay, and once on my own. This time was the hardest, and I think that is due to not being acclimated, and just possibly, age may play a role? It’s over 17 years since I had done a 14er. That said, it was a great workout and fun experience doing it for the fifth time!
I woke up at 5:40 and had my breakfast at dawn. I parked at a lot at the start of a 4WD road that leads to the trailhead. I used my Garmin bike computer to measure time, distance, and altitude. It is a 1.5 mile walk on that 4WD road from the parking lot to the trailhead. The road is steep in a few areas, but most of it is not too pitched. It winds through a dense forest of mature aspen trees. They are beautiful, and they continue as the dominant vegetation for quite a way on the actual trail. Along the 4WD road, there are occasional campsites available. These are free sites to use in the national forest. Some have amazing views of Twin Lakes!
At the end of the 4WD road there is a parking lot. It did not have any vehicles in it. The road crossed the Colorado Trail at this point, and I turned right on it, a well-maintained single track, in the direction of the South Elbert Trail. The Colorado Trail crosses the state from Denver to Durango in the southwest. It is nearly 500 miles long.
I reached the junction with the South Elbert Trail and turned left, with the trail immediately starting to rise through the aspen forest. The aspens ceded their dominance to evergreens around a half mile later as I approached the 11K’ elevation point. The trail was still a good dirt trail, and it had some very steep sections, but I noted there were some changes from my previous hikes, as some switchbacks had been created to alleviate a particularly steep section. I arrived above the tree line around the 4-mile point. It had taken about 2 ½ hours to get there. Yes, slower than I had thought it would take overall. Altitude!
From here on up it is grassy vegetation with abundant wildflowers. The trail also began to turn rocky in some areas. In fact, it became very rocky in some places. Some were natural settings, and there were several sections where the rocks had been used to create a series of steps along the side of a ridge. It was quite dramatic. This was a new twist to the trail, too. In 2017-2019 there had been a major trail reconstruction project completed, as was noted on signage at the start of the trail. All along this ridge one had a variety of views of Elbert to the west and of the valley below to the east, featuring Twin Lakes on the south end, the town of Leadville to the north, and of Mount Massive, another huge 14er to the north. In the distance to the east one can see another mountain range, The Mosquito Range, with its own set of 14ers.
I had no idea it would take another two hours to reach the top! Along the way, some early morning hikers were coming down the trail. Two guys from Germany had started at 5:45. Two other guys came by about an hour later. One guy was Benjamin, who I had talked with the night before about his plans to begin the hike at 4AM! He was with a buddy from Utah, and it was Benjamin’s first ever 14er! Congrats I said! I passed a couple, Denine and Michael, from the Midwest about a mile from the top. I talked with them again later at the summit, as they were arriving as I was leaving later on.
I continued to make progress on the steep, rocky, meandering trail. There were numerous switchbacks. The views continuously wonderful. It was a perfect day for a hike in the high country. The day began with a cloudless sky, and even three hours in, there were only a few small, scattered puffs of white dotting the sky. At one point, when I looked to the north, I could make out the “peak” with several tiny looking people on it. I say peak, but Elbert does not rise to much of a point. It has a more or less flat area about 100 yards wide at the top. As I neared a final change in direction of the trail, a guy on a mountain bike came riding down! The things people do!
I reached the top in just under 4 ½ hours. It felt great. To my surprise, there was a “crowd” up there, about 30-40 people. There are two other trails that lead to the summit, and apparently, the majority of hikers on this day had come from the North Elbert Trail. One guy told me the parking lot there was nearly full when He arrived that morning. I stayed on the summit for about 30 minutes, taking photos, talking with others. A couple from Germany, Marita and Patrick, took some pics of me for me. I took some of them.
It took about 3 ¼ hours to hike back to the car. It was a relaxing hike down. There was a build-up of clouds and a few sprinkles occasionally, but nothing serious or threatening.
For the day I drank about two quarts of water and 50 ounces of Gatorade, had two energy bars and four slices of raisin bread. I felt good the entire hike, energy wise I had plenty. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually, it was a buzz, an epic experience …
Some data, and some photos of the day ...
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