One, two – nope.  How ‘bout climbing FOUR 14ers in a day?  Heck yeah, that’s a worthy challenge.

Mt. Democrat Elevation: 14,148 ft.
Mt. Cameron Elevation: 14,238 ft.
Mt. Lincoln Elevation: 14,286 ft.
Mt. Bross Elevation: 14,172 ft.

Elevation Gain: 3,524 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 7.25 miles

Ro & I met up with hiking pal Cammy at a Park n Ride off I-25 at 330am (yep, another early start time).  Just a week earlier I was viewing posted pictures of the McWatters family who summitted 3 peaks in a day.  Super inspired!  Then lucky me, Cammy sends out a hiking invite for the same high altitude adventure – awesome Colorado life, huh?

Quick stop just past Fairplay (TV’s ‘South Park’) to bag a summit sandwich & burrito, then made our way down the dirt road to Kite Lake Trailhead.  Sun peeked over Mt Democrat as we started our hike – gorgeous day.

Wait, back up – today’s weather forecast: Rain & 54 degrees.  Ok, ok – I did say ‘ugh’ but followed that with a quick ‘I’m in’.  Not missing this hike.  Packed layers & a rain jacket.  Beautiful views as we slogged up Democrat (most difficult of today’s climbs).  An hour fifteen later, wow – we had already summitted the first of our 14ers.  Trip log stated today’s roundtrip hike was only 7.25 miles – but seeing is believing.  What a nice surprise 🙂

Photo opportunity, then down a 1,000ft & up again to Mt Cameron – which technically is not a ‘14er’.

The official definition is a mountain peak that is at least 300 feet higher than any connecting ridge or saddle. In other words, two mountains may be over 14,000 high but only the taller one is the true 14er.

Cameron was our windiest summit shot of the day.  Ro’s beard blew into his eyes from strong gusts over this super flat mountain plateau (crazy cold wind but made for a fun photo – HA!).  From Cameron, traveled 30 minutes more over the saddle through residual snow – yes SNOW! 🙂 — to Mt Lincoln.

[Fair n balanced hike day – Lincoln was a Republican president; started our climbing trek on Mt Democrat.]

Caught a nice wind break on Lincoln – favourite peak of the day.  Enjoyed half a sandwich & some of Cammy’s Inka Corn (HUGE fan).  9:30am summit – beautiful sunshiny morning with only one more peak to go!  (Ro snacked on Milk Bones Trail Mix & Pup-peroni.  LOVE my dog!)

Another hour half (along with 15-20 other hikers) we summited Mt Bross.  Technically there is ‘no legal access’ to this peak.  Not sure if they swoop down with patrol choppers — but for the record, we followed a well-defined trail & posed with a wooden ‘Mt Bross’ sign provided at its summit.  Hmmmm….

How to get down?  Well there’s the trail (boring) or there’s Cammy’s way – a trail run down the side of Mt. Bross.  SUPER fun!  Highly recommended (watch your ankles while barreling 3,000ft fast).

Ended the day with a vegan burrito at Chipotle (ok, only half a burrito – they’re HUGE).

14er climb count: K* 13, Ro 11