Colorado 14er's

The ultimate camping / backpacking adventure is to climb one of the 55 Colorado 14000 ft (4267 meters) mountain peaks.

August 18, 2002. Mt. Lincoln, near Breckenridge, Colorado, 14286 ft (4354 m) elevation.

August 18, 2002. Mt. Bross is near Breckenridge, Colorado, just a short saddle away from Mt. Lincoln. Mt. Bross is 14172 ft (4320 m).

August 14, 2003. Huron Peak is near Buena Vista, Colorado, and is 14003 ft (4268 m) elevation.

August 15, 2003. Belford Mountain is near Buena Vista, Colorado, and a few miles from Huron Peak. Belford Mountain is 14197 ft (4327 m) elevation. The idea was to climb Belford Mountain, Missouri Mountain, and Mount Oxford all in a day --- they are each connected by saddles. But the weather turned stormy, so we only did Belford Mountain. Mount Oxford is in the background of this picture.

August 26, 2004. Sunshine Mountain is 14001 Ft (4268 m) elevation, and is the shortest Colorado 14er. It is near Silverton, Colorado, but due to poor roads we went the long way, via Lake City.

August 26, 2004. Redcloud Peak is a short saddle from Sunshine Peak and is 14034 ft (4278 m) elevation. Also on this trip we visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, August 27.

August 20, 2005. Mt. Harvard, 14420 ft (4395 m), James & Dad. Not pictured. Also we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado) August 21.

August 5, 2006, Mt. Belford. 14197 ft (4327m), Lisa & Dad, pictured below. It was pretty cold.

Mt. Elbert, 14433 ft, is the highest 14er in Colorado, the highest mountain in the Rockies, and except for Mt. Whitney in California, the highest mountain in the continental USA. We camped overnight at Trujillo Meadows, Colorado, on August 2, backpacked up to 11700 on Mt. Elbert on August 3, reached the summit the next morning, August 4, and then car camped in pouring rain at Lake Fork Colorado on the Conejos river that night. Mt. Elbert is named after a governor of Colorado who turned out to be fairly mediocre. But the mountain is great (except no running water for backackers!) with a gentle ascent, well-marked trail, and the best views yet of any 14er I have seen. Below: at the top someone had conveniently made a sign ...

Mt. Massive (below) 14421 ft - July 13, 2008 with Lisa & boyfriend Matt Courtney. 2nd highest in Colorado (Elbert is 12 ft taller) and 3rd highest in continental USA. Most land area above 14000 of any continental USA mountain.

Mt. Massive (below) July 13, 2008 - Lisa & Matt on the ascent.