Kite Lake campground sets right around 12,000 feet above sea level and is ringed by very tall peaks. That being said I did not sleep well due to both the elevation and the wind that was gusting down from the mountains around us. A bad nights sleep was the last thing I needed after an almost sleepless last three days. I crawled from the tent at about 7AM feeling a lot better than I expected after not resting in what felt like weeks. The air was mild but the blustery wind gave the air a serious chill and I was glad for my down jacket. I sat in the for a while with my brother talking over the days climb and waiting for the sun to crest the horizon and bring some light and warmth to the frigid mountains.
Our plan was to bag four 14ers in one shot. Mounts Lincoln, Bross, Democrat and Cameron are some of the easier of Colorado’s 14ers and are pretty commonly wrapped into one trip. We were anxious to get some peaks in since we got shut down the day before on Maroon Peak. Andy, who is an avid smoker, was going to attempt at least one peak with us. He was looking for a new experience and challenge and thought this would fit nicely into both categories. The dogs too were joining us for this hike. Yukon has summited three 14ers already, during a trip we took in 2007, but Rainy had never been up that high so I was excited to climb with her.
We packed up and set out for the peaks climbing steeply from our campsite. The weather was fine with a mix of sun and clouds and a stiff breeze. I am not in my top walking shape after a reletively sedentary fall and a summer spent sitting on my butt in a kayak so the climb was tougher than I expected. Andy’s fitness was also being challenged but his ability to stick to his slow and steady mantra was impressive. We crested the saddle between Lincoln and Cameron and sat for a while waiting for him. Rainy’s paws were getting a little sore so I put her boots on and she seemed happier than ever. The push to the summit of Mount Lincoln was easy, gaining only a couple hundred vertical feet. The false summit was a bit disheartening but an obstacle easily overcome. The summit was cold and windy, as you would expect and my coughing was getting out of hand. The sickness I had been fighting was not doing me any favors at 14,000 feet. I was a little tired and sick but feeling pretty good about getting to the top. Rainy couldn’t have been happier. She was obviously cold but she was running around and wagging her tail like mad. I was really proud of my mountain dog. My brother and Yukon came up a few minutes later and we had the obligatory summit photo shoot. We waited for Andy for about 20 minutes but the cold was getting to us so we grudgingly moved off the summit.
We met Andy just below the false summit moving steadily toward the top. I felt bad that we couldn’t be up there with him when he bagged his first peak but if we were going to do three more we had to keep moving. We congratulated him preemptively and moved back toward the saddle.
Next we set off up to Mount Cameron, which technically doesn’t count on the official 14er list due to the fact that it doesn’t rise more than 300 feet above the saddle with the next nearest 14er. The wind seemed to rise up almost immediately. It was blowing with such intensity that Rainy was sliding across the snow even when she sat down. The strength was just being sapped from both Rainy and I as we fought through the wind to the top. The wind chill was well below freezing and it was pretty miserable. We didn’t linger on the summit long. It wasn’t anything special, just a mound of gravel, and the wind was unrelenting. We got a few photos and set off for our third peak of the day.
Image Courtesy of 14ers.com
The descent into the saddle between Cameron and Bross was getting windier as we hiked and Rainy was getting pretty unhappy. When we got to a sign that said the trail was closed due to private property we decided, much to Rainy’s relief, to turn around and head back down the way we came, bagging only two of the four peaks we had intended on. We knew the private property sign was coming before we started, it has been a point of contention on these peaks for years, and we just intended to continue on but this seemed like an appropriate time to retreat from the weather and do what was necessary for the dogs (not to mention I was miserable too).
I was a little disappointed to bag only two of the five peaks we wanted to but you can’t fight the weather and you just have to make the best decisions at the time. It is one of the big troubles with our adventures. We tend to go during the off seasons, late fall and winter. The weather is unpredictable this time of year and it just becomes another challenge. Sometimes it is great, sometimes it creates epic hikes and sometimes it simply shuts you down. There isn’t much arguing with it.
Rainy and I caught Andy just as we got back to the car. All three of us were exhausted. Andy made the summit of Mount Lincoln but was too tired to even get a picture. I am going to try to talk him into writing a guest blog about his experience on the mountain since his perspective as a new hiker is so much different than mine. I was super proud of him for fighting through the pain and exhaustion and achieving a tough goal.
We rested at the parking lot for a while, repacked the Jeep, ate some left-over pizza and talked over our next move. We were all pretty tired, Rainy was unwilling to even move and just laid in the grass. We decided to head north toward Rocky Mountain National Park to a campsite my brother and I had stayed at a few years back and visit the Park in the morning. I was a little leery about this because this campsite is where the now infamous fist fight took place and this area always seems like it breeds contention between my brother and I. But what the hell, I decided that the fist fight wasn’t that bad and it least it gave me a story to tell so why not.
We ate another meal at Fatty’s in Breck, an absoluetly monsterous burger and heap of fries and all for a reasonable price. I was feeling full and sleepy as we set off and drove a very scenic stretch of highway through the mountains to a spot just south of Estes Park. Unfortunately it was dark and we really couldn’t enjoy any of it. There was some confusion as to where this campsite actually was and tensions began to rise as weariness turned to irritation. Fortunately, we found the site and settled in before things boiled over and we retired to our tents in fine spirits and fist fight free.
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