July 11th, 1998, Standard Route from Kite Lake
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Three fourteeners in one
day is a peak baggers dream come true. This trip delivers with flying colors. You
start at picturesque Kite Lake (12,000) and tour, from left to right, the ridge along the
basin above the lake. A few months ago, I wasn't too interested in these 14ers because they seemed so bland. And, from looking at the map, I imagined the Kite Lake area to be completely scarred by all the mining activity (kind of like on the other side at Climax). Well, this was not the case at all. The area was quite beautiful...highly recommended for all. |
| I spent the night at
Kite Lake and woke up around 6:15 and hit the trail at 6:30 The trail up to
Democrat is straightforward. There's a false jeep trail along the lake. Don't take this
trail because it eventually ends lower down in the basin. The real trail (in the picture)
starts at the high end of the campground at Kite Lake. This photo (above) shows the beginning of the route. You take this trail all the way to the Democrat/Cameron saddle (center of above picture). Then, hang a left to get to the top of Democrat. You'll eventually end up backtracking back to the saddle to head up to Cameron and eventually Lincoln. |
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You encounter this old cabin (left) along the way which is a great place for pictures. That's Mount Bross in the background. The hike up to Democrat is enjoyable. You can only see a false summit from here though. This photo (above) was taken 100 feet or so below the saddle and shows the false summit in sun. |
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The saddle is pretty
windy but affords nice views. You can pick out Quandry Peak easily from here. It's
on the right-hand side of the photograph on the left. From the saddle, I began hiking up the talus trail (which is in excellent shape) up to the false summit of Democrat. |
| Once you get to the
false summit, turn right and hike level ground for 300 yards or so, then ascend a gentle
2/300 foot slope to the summit (right photo). There was a mountain goat on
top when I arrived (below photo). No doubt he knew easy food could be found
here. None of mine though! It took me a measly 1.5 hours to get to the top of Democrat. That's a nice change after doing very long fourteeners like Sunlight and Windom.
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It seems like I've seen mountain goats on the most popular fourteeners. I've seen them on Democrat (very popular), and the immensely popular Grays Peak. There's also plenty of mountain goats on one of the most popular mountains of all - because there's a paved road to the top - Mount Evans! |
| From the top of
Democrat, Cameron Point (right) does indeed look like it should be it's own fourteener. If
it wasn't for Lincoln, it would be. Mount Lincoln is very close to Cameron and separated
only by a saddle that dips 400 feet at most. In fact, you can see the tip of Lincoln
peeking over the left side of Cameron in this photo. No, Cameron is no official
fourteener. Once you make it to the top of Cameron, all the hard work is over. It's a breeze over to Lincoln, and it's a simple ridge walk with very little elevation over to Bross. |
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| I arrived at the top of
Mount Lincoln in 1.25 hours from the top of Democrat. Still making really good
time. Lincoln has the most interesting summit of the three but it's still quite
rounded and gentle compared to many other peaks. This photo (lower right) is the
view northward from the summit of Mount Lincoln. That's Quandry Peak in the
distance. In the photo to the right, you can see the broad slopes of Mount Bross. The prominent ridge in view is the one you hike across from the Cameron/Lincoln saddle. In the photo below, you can see Mount Democrat in the background and the route that leads from Democrat to Lincoln. |
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| After leaving Lincoln, you hike back to the wide Lincoln/Cameron saddle and head south. The hike over to Bross is a virtual highway. The trail is excellent (it even converts to a road when you get to the slopes of Bross) and the elevation is minimal. It's a great place for a brisk walk while enjoying superb views. It took me only 45 minutes to arrive at the top of Bross from Mount Lincoln. The summit of Bross (right) is immense. (You can see Mount Democrat in the background of this photo.) |  |
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I never found the
register and I certainly wasn't about to search the whole summit for it. There were
no 4x4's on top when I was there but there is a trail that goes all the way to the
top! That might be fun to do sometime. After lounging around on top for about
30-40 minutes, I began the slog down to Kite Lake (left photo). There's a trail for
a half mile or so but eventually you need to head straight down the talus and scree.
I didn't enjoy that too much but overall this trip was a fantastic, mellow hike. Excluding the leisure time that I took on the peaks (about 30 minutes on Bross!), the whole trip took about 4 hours and 25 minutes. |
| Well, here's a picture
of the Jeep when I got back. This was where I slept the night before. It was
very comfortable. It was the first time that I'd slept in the back of the Jeep. I'd
been very anxious to try it out and now that it's such a success, I'll be taking more
trips where I can take advantage of sleeping in the back. I slept like a log for the most part but I did have to wake up around 3 to pee. Unfortunately it was raining and blowing pretty hard. So, I figured I'd have to roll down the window and do the deed. Well, it didn't work too well from the back seat so I rolled down the window in the front seat and stuck my whole torso out the window. The wind blew rain all over the back of my head. What a weird situation. |
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