In all the years we’ve been hiking together, one thing Chelsea and I had never done together was climb a 14er.
In early July, that finally changed.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, late June and early July were a rough time in Colorado, the state plagued by multiple large forest fires amidst a severe drought. This meant, among other far more serious concerns, closed trails and smoky skies.
After two really bad weeks, though, the worst of the wind died down and the first bits of monsoon moisture arrived in Colorado. While this wasn’t enough to put out the fires, it did allow firefighters to begin gaining control of them. With clearer skies and the winds in our favor, Chelsea and I set out for a summit attempt of Mount Yale.
With an early morning departure, we pulled into the Denny Creek Trailhead just after 6:30am. We’d both slept terribly, we were both struggling to stomach our breakfasts, and the trailhead bathroom was disgusting. All in all, things were not off to the best start.
(We did see a small herd of elk, a deer, a pronghorn, and five moose on the drive, though, so from a wildlife perspective things weren’t too shabby.)
But we pushed through it, geared up, and set off. The Denny Creek Trail almost immediately begins to climb, which pretty quickly forced my body and brain to wake the rest of the way up. As usual, the fresh mountain air helped energize me as well.
The trail begins just below 10,000 feet (3050 m), which meant we were in the trees for a while. In fact, it was nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) before we emerged into the tundra.
This part of the hike is very straightforward. The trail is well-defined, and the only junction is clearly marked (just over 1 mile/1.6 km in – stay right here). The elevation profile varies, with some steeper sections and some that are nearly flat. But in general, it’s a steady grind, gaining almost 2000 feet (610 m) of elevation up to tree line.
From here, the terrain steepens significantly. In the next mile (1.6 km), as we headed north across the west slope of Mount Yale, we gained nearly 1300 feet (395 m) of elevation.
And the hardest part of the route was still ahead of us: a 750 foot (230 m) climb in just under 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to reach the ridge. Thankfully, the trail is in good condition with well-graded switchbacks. Slow and steady is the name of the game here. It took us about 35 minutes to reach the ridge.
Now it was time for the fun part: a class 2 scramble the remaining 250 vertical feet (75 m) to the summit. The route is defined-ish. In some places, there is a clear dirt path. In others, there are cairns marking the way. But in some places there is more than one visible path. We definitely got a bit off the official route a couple times.
Right: almost to the summit
The good news is, as long as you’re going up, you’ll get there. You just may end up in some class 3 terrain at times. I definitely did, but I didn’t mind. If you aren’t comfortable on class 3, though, stay to the right of the ridge and maybe even use a GPS app to ensure you’re staying directly on the route.
This final section is only about 0.2 miles (0.3 km), but with the rock scramble it took us about 20 minutes.
Finally, we reached the summit!
And despite the poor sleep, we actually both felt pretty good. We’d kept a steady pace the whole time, reaching the summit in just under 4 hours. Not bad for a 4.6 mile, 4300 foot (7.4 km, 1310 m) ascent.
(As a side note, fueling myself on 14ers is something I’ve struggled with over the years. It’s almost always a 4:00am wakeup call, and there’s not a lot I’m able to stomach that early in the morning. Even by the time I reach the trailhead, I’m often still struggling to eat my breakfast.
I also generally don’t get very hungry while I’m exercising – a problem that’s compounded by the elevation on 14ers (though this is not specific to me; biologically speaking, hunger signals tend to diminish at high altitude). It’s taken quite a lot of trial and error for me to figure out what I can eat before and during these 14er hikes without getting nauseous. I feel like I’ve finally figured it out, though, and I’m sure that’s a big part of why I’ve felt pretty good on both 14ers this season.)
But anyway, back to the mountain, which Chelsea and I (and Pudgey) were now on top of.
As with all of the Sawatch Range summits, we were surrounded by mountains. To the east was the Front Range, including Pikes Peak. To the south was the southern portion of the Sawatch, including multiple other 14ers that I’ve yet to climb. Southwest, just barely visible in the distance, were the highest summits of the San Juan Mountains. To the west were the reddish summits of the Elk Range. And to the north was the remainder of the Sawatch 14ers, including Mount Elbert and Huron Peak.
What you can’t tell from the clear skies is that we were actually not that far from one of the forest fires. However, we were well outside of evacuation and closure areas, and fire activity was low.
In the distance, though, we could see plumes of smoke rising from one of the fires in southwestern Colorado, nearly 100 miles (160 km) away. What was perfect weather for being on the summit of a 14er (warm and sunny, with a 2% chance of rain) was not at all good news for the firefighters.
We spent about 30 minutes on the summit enjoying the view before beginning our descent. It was much easier to stay on the official route in this direction, as we could look down at the trail from above. It was still slow going on the rocky terrain, though.
Once we reached the saddle our pace increased, and once we were down the steepest of the switchbacks our pace increased some more. By the time we were back into the forest, we were just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The lack of sleep was catching up with us, and we were ready to be done.
We made it back to the car in just under three hours and were back home by dinnertime.
Not only was this our first 14er together, but Mount Yale was #20 for me, which means I’m now one third of the way to my goal!
Having a list of 58 mountains to climb can be overwhelming at times. But – just like when I’m huffing and puffing my way up the ridge of one of these 14ers – I’m finding that slow and steady is a good strategy.
One mountain at a time, I’ll summit the remaining 38.
Up next: the backpacking trip that wasn’t
The Important Stuff:
- Getting there: this is the standard route up Mount Yale and departs from Denny Creek Trailhead, about 12 miles (17 km) up Cottonwood Pass (from the east side). The road is paved, so any car can make it. There is a fairly large parking lot plus an overflow area, with room for about 50 cars. The main lot was nearing full when we arrived just after 6:30am on a Saturday.
- Fees and passes: none
- Hiking: this hike is about 9.5 miles (15.3 km) roundtrip with 4300 feet (1310 m) of elevation gain. It’s neither the longest nor the steepest 14er, but it’s still a big commitment.
- Route: a complete and detailed route description can be found here. Before heading off on this hike, be sure to download the 14ers.com app and save the text and photos for offline use.
- Where to stay: we did this as a day hike, but there is a campground as well as some dispersed camping areas along Cottonwood Pass. For lodging, there are hotels and rentals at the base of the pass in Buena Vista.
- Other: I really don’t have anything else to add here other than the typical 14er advice: start early and plan to be back below tree line by noon due to risk of afternoon thunderstorms.
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