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| Mt. Belford from the summit of Missouri Mountain |
I spent the previous night in Buena Vista. The whole week prior I had felt like I was fighting a cold, so I was a little concerned about how I would feel the morning of my attempt. 14ers usually destroy me when I'm feeling really good physically, and I didn't need any additional handicap for this one. With the help of a lot of Advil, a great dinner at Eddyline restaurant (highly recommend by the way), and a pretty good sleep (which is unusual for me before a big hike like this), I woke up at 4:30 Sunday in pretty good shape. Off to the Missouri Gulch trail head, which was about 45 minutes away.
The standard route up Belford and Oxford is 11 miles round trip and about 5900 feet of gain. This was a similar distance and gain to Shavano and Tabeguache, which I had done last year and consider one of the most difficult hikes I had ever done. I anticipated a good 10 hours on the trail, so I wanted to get a relatively early start to make sure I had time to finish and make the three hour drive home before it got too late. Weather was not going to be a factor today. I arrived at the trail head about 5:45, and while this trail head is usually packed in the summer at this time, this time when I arrived there was just one car there. This made me a little nervous, because my last solo hike of Missouri Mountain from this same spot still involved a lot of people in the area, and now it appeared I was truly going to be alone for awhile. I actually hung out in my car a few minutes in hopes that someone might show up, but no luck. At 6:00 I geared up and headed into the woods.
As I mentioned, I had just climbed Missouri Mountain from this same trail head a few weeks ago, so I knew the first two miles of trail and its 2000 foot gain to the Belford-Oxford/Missouri split. I remembered this being a lot harder for Missouri than I anticipated, so I tried to pace myself this time but still got to the split in about an hour and a half, exactly as long as it took the first time.
I stopped here about 20 minutes to have a snack and take in the views.
From here, the trail wastes no time in getting down to business. I saw the 2300 feet of switchbacks up the northwest ridge of Belford as I was making a much more gradual approach to Missouri last time and was grateful I didn't have to go up it that day. Today, however, I would have to tackle it head on. It was perhaps the slowest progress I've ever made on a climb, and I eventually was moving forward no more than 20 feet or so before I had to stop and breathe a few seconds. It was incredibly slow, but more importantly it was maintainable and I knew I had some time. Plus, the views of Missouri Mountain across the valley were incredible from up here and got better with each step.
I'm not all that fast but I'm incredibly persistent, and I slowly chipped away at the elevation until I got to this flatter area just over 14,000 feet and I could finally see the summit.
This was about as much snow as I saw the entire time. The trail went through it but it was only a couple inches deep and pretty frozen at this elevation. I had my spikes with me but didn't use them. That summit block was a pretty small pile of rocks that is usually very crowded in the summer, but today I would have it all to myself. No one was here to get my traditional picture with all the fingers, but this was my 31st summit.
Looking southwest, Emerald Peak is the pyramid shaped one near the center, and Missouri Mountain is on the right.
Towards the east, Mt. Oxford is a mile and a half away.
I spent about 15 minutes on the summit of Belford before starting toward Oxford. The standard route here sharply descends...
..into a saddle at 13,500 feet...
...then gradually ascends to the summit of Oxford.
None of this was very technical, but I knew I would have to retrace every step I was taking down from Belford, as the standard route reascends the first peak. I counted on knowing I would have no choice as my motivation to push me over it, and in the meantime, I enjoyed another summit all to myself, number 32.
To the southeast, Mt. Harvard (the 3rd highest 14er in the state, on the left of this picture) loomed above everything.
Looking east. This summit was pretty big and flat.
Looking back toward Mt. Belford, which is the high point near the center of the ridge waaaaaay back there.
Again, apologies for the windy audio.
Another 20+ minutes on the summit. I had a sandwich and a couple granola bars as I put off heading back up the ridge where I could finally begin my descent back to the trail head. The ascent back up to Belford is a notorious point of immense suck on this route, and I knew it would be another slow go. Again, in a series of 10-20 foot increments, I got back up just below the Belford summit and rejoiced knowing that I would have no more elevation gain for the remainder of the hike.
The standard route goes back over the summit of Belford and descends on the same nasty swtichbacks that one would use to ascend. I had been considering a different descent, along Elkhead pass, which would add another mile or so but would be a much more gradual descent. In the spring, this entire hillside is just loaded with wildflowers, and I've heard from many people that this is a much more enjoyable way down. While my upward progress was pitifully slow, I could still move quickly downhill, and I decided the extra distance would be worth it to see this trail (even without the wildflowers).
The Elkhead Pass trail slowly descends following the ridge on the left of this pricture and makes its way to a junction at the base of Missouri Mountain, which is right of center in this picture.
This is from the above mentioned junction, looking up at the East ridge of Missouri Mountain.
This is the view south from the same junction. 13,904 foot Emerald Peak is on the right. The twin peaks near the center of the picture are simply point 13,762 and an unnamed point. You'd think these would at least be named, but apparently not.
This picture looks back along the ridge I had just descended. Imagine this covered with flowers.
I continued my descent along the foot of Missouri. The route I had used to ascend it last time gains the ridge on the far right of this picture, then makes its way all the way across to the summit on the left. I'd never seen this mountain from a perspective this far east of it, and it was really spectacular.
A little further down, I came across a covey of ptarmigan. I've never seen these in the wild before. I knew they are well camouflaged, but I was amazed when I nearly stepped on this one in the snow.
I would soon pass the Elkhead / Missouri Mountain split and be back on familiar ground as the trail gently rolled across the upper basin below Mt. Belford. Though it would have been more direct, I knew I had made the right choice to take the route down Elkhead. The ridge up to Belford looked really cool from down here.
The rest of the hike went quickly, and I made my way back through the woods that I ascended in the darkness earlier that morning. Near the trail head, I checked out grave site that I had heard about but had never checked out up close. William Huffman, a 1 month old infant, died of pneumonia in 1884. I'm not familiar with his whole family story, but he will always be the gatekeeper of these mountains.
At 4:00 PM, exactly 10 hours after I set out, I made it back to my car, 11.5 miles and 5800 feet of gain. I was not as wiped out as I had expected to be, and maybe that was because I was going so slowly up the steeper ascents and was able to conserve some energy. My pack was as heavy as I'd ever taken on a hike, but I still had good legs to descend quickly which was good. In all, I saw 6 people the entire time I was out, which is a condition you'll never see here in the summer. This kind of opportunity this late in the year is extremely rare, and I am thankful I was able to get out there for (maybe?) my last 14er hike of the season. These were my 8th and 9th 14er summits this summer, which was my goal when the season started, so mission accomplished on that front. I only have two of the fourteen 14er summits left in this range (Harvard and Columbia), and from here on the summits are either much further away and/or more technical, so things are bound to get interesting.
Break out the snowshoes, and let the training begin!
