Colorado Trip Part Six
November 28th, 2023
After Crested Butte, we went to Breckenridge, where we went on one bike ride and summited four 14ers ranging from the ninth tallest in the lower 48 to the 28th tallest in Colorado:
- Quandary Peak (Hike and 2nd 14er)
- Bike Ride at Keystone Resort
- Mt. Democrat, Lincoln, & Bross - DeCaLiBron (Hike and 3rd, 4th, & 5th 14ers)
Quandary Peak - 14,272' (Hike - 2nd 14er)
My second 14er was Quandary Peak, which is considered one of the easier 14ers. However as the saying goes, "there are no easy 14ers". We started hiking at 5:00-5:30AM or so, while the best times for starting 14ers is 2:00-6:00AM due to afternoon storms typical for parts of Colorado, particularly the Front Range. We were at the summit by 9:00AM or so. Once at the summit, we got amazing views of the surrounding area. We were higher up than nearly everything else as well as being able to see Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Bross, which are two other 14ers that we did several days later. Overall, I would consider this more of a hike than a climb thus one reason it is rated as a Class 1 14er. There are 5 classes of 14ers/13ers in Colorado - the lower the class number the easier and less exposed it is. Mt. Sneffels, for example, is rated as a Class 3 14er.
Bike Ride at Keystone Ski Resort
Rode on: Jackstraw Road, 3P Road, Suz's Cruse, Let it Ride, Celtic Way, Bluegrass, and River Run Trails
Our first bike ride in Breckenridge was a one at Keystone Ski Resort that I personally would put on my top five favorite bike rides. The Half Enchilada and a bike ride in Sedona would be also on that list. This ride started off with about 4-5 miles of climbing up Jackstraw road without any break in the climbing. Once at the end after about 2+ hours of climbing, we flew down the trails and was back at the base within 45 minutes to an hour. This whole ride gave amazing views of mountains with several of them being 13ers and so many other amazing views that in my opinion represents Colorado - including the beautiful aspen trees.
The DeCaLiBron: Mt. Democrat, Cameron*, Lincoln, & Bross (Hike - 3rd, 4th, & 5th 14ers)
*has only a 152' prominence when it needs at least 300' to be considered and "official 14er"
Mt. Democrat - 14,154'
The first 14er on the DeCaLiBron was Mt. Democrat, which is the 28th tallest 14er in Colorado at 14,154' above sea level. This summit we started climbing at about 6:00AM. We reached the summit by 7:30. This was the start of an extremely cold hike due to several factors: 1: We didn't have any winter coats on, 2: My estimate for the windchill was 30+ mph, and 3: It felt like the wind didn't blow around you and made it feel like it was blowing through you. At the summit we were still able to get good views, and thankfully the wind died down for 5 minutes or so.
Mt. Cameron - 14,248'
The next 14er on the DeCaLiBron was Mt. Cameron. Even though it is above 14,000' (14,248'), this peak only has a 152' prominence above the ridgeline connecting it to Mt. Lincoln, and therefore can't be considered an "official 14er". This peak would probably be one of my least favorite peaks on this climb due to the summit being basically a plateau as well as the coldest portion of the hike. I almost got blown over during one particularly strong gust of wind. We didn't stay on the summit long enough to really see the views, but I would imagine that they would be similar to Mt. Democrat and Mt. Bross.
Mt. Lincoln - 14,293'
Our next peak on the DeCaLiBron was Mt. Lincoln, which is the 8th tallest in Colorado, the 9th tallest in the lower 48 states, and the 37th tallest in North America. This peak was exceptionally difficult compared to the other three peaks on the route due to having to cross a narrow ridgeline. However, it was not super difficult compared to other 14ers like Mt. Sneffels, but still difficult for this one. Once we had crossed that ridgeline, which was about 1,000' long, we arrived at Mt. Lincoln, where we were rewarded with views very similar to Quandary Peak. We were able to see Quandary from the summit. Overall, this would probably be my favorite peak on this hike.
Mt. Bross - 14,178'
Our last 14er on the DeCaLiBron was Mt. Bross. This "peak" was on our descent back to the truck. Unfortunately, the current owner of Bross, who also owns Democrat, Cameron, and Lincoln, has the summit closed due to the number of mines at the top. This is due to several of them being collapsed right before the peak was closed. The same is true with Democrat, however they reopened it in 2017. Due to the summit being closed, the official "summit" is along the side of the peak where the trail starts heading down to the parking lot.