Colorado 14ers

A 14er (pronounced fourteener) is a mountain whose summit is at least 14 thousand feet above sea level. In the state of Colorado, there are 58 “14ers,” and up until two weeks ago I had hiked 0 of them. One of the most famous peaks in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, is a 14er too, and several members of my family have hiked it. When back home in Ohio, my aunt and I would enthusiastically discuss our plans to take on the challenge and eventually hike some 14ers ourselves. Indeed, hiking a 14er is more tiresome then lower altitude summits because it can easily cause altitude sickness. This was the perfect kind of challenge for me to take on now that I had finished college. Thus, when it came time to decide what to do for my 21st birthday, I knew I had to finally hike a 14er.

Quandary Peak

On the day of my birthday at 4:30 AM I, as well as my parents, cousin, uncle, and my uncle’s dog Tora, woke up and got ready with haste to head for the mountain in my uncle’s truck. Towards the end of our half hour drive to the trailhead, there was a big commotion when a deer crossed the street and collided with the front of the truck. The deer was no longer, and my dad and uncle got out to drag it off the road while my mom and cousin inspected the truck for damage. Nonetheless, we piled back into the truck for the remaining few minutes of our drive.

After parking and double checking our gear, we started on foot towards the trail at around 5:30 AM. Once we got from the service road to the trail we began traversing steep switchbacks through the woods. It took only a few minutes until everyone was audibly aspirating. Although just minutes ago I was feeling the morning chill, I started shedding layers as to not overheat.

My cousin, Raychel, kept discussing our eminent departure from the “tree line,” which I learned is the part of the mountain where habitable to trees. Once high enough on the mountain this arboreal veil was lifted, revealing great vistas of nearby peaks. Above the tree line the terrain was more rocky, too.

Eventually, the trail leveled out before the final ascent to the summit. This part of the trail still had quite a bit of snow on it. We were wise to bring attachable spikes for our hiking boots which make it easier to hike through the snow.

The steep ascent tired my legs, especially my quads. I didn’t feel like I had to take many breaks, though. It was as simple as putting one leg in front of the either, even if my body felt 5x heavier than it does at sea level. I was the first of our party to summit. The only other people I shared the peak with was another boy my age, hiking solo, and an eastern European man who was facetiming his family to show them the view.

I sat on the edge of the peak for a little bit while I waited for my cousin to summit, as she had been close behind me on the trail. Soon, both her and my uncle were at the top with me. We started posing for pictures with the cardboard sign I made earlier that morning. Apparently this is a tradition for 14er hikers, as there was already a similar cardboard sign on the summit being weighed down by a rock.

A few minutes later, my parents summited. My dad threw his pack on the ground and sighed heavily while we chuckled. Out of his pack he pulled out a beer for each for us to drink. Everyone partook, except for my mom who was already feeling dizzy. The summit was cold due to the wind and the clouds which hid the sun. We decided to stay on the cold peak for only a little longer. This gave me enough time to listen to the song “Alarm Call,” by Bjork, which I had been unofficially planning to do for months once I was on a mountain top. For those unfamiliar, the lyrics go: “I want to go to a mountain top, with a radio and good batteries, and play a joyous tune, and free the human race from suffering. It doesn’t scare me it all. I’m no fucking buddhist, but this is enlightenment.” Once the song finished we began our descent.

On the way back down my cousin and I “glissaded,” which is where you slide down the mountain snow with your butt on the ground, kind of like sledding. The snow was tough, and it made my butt hurt quickly so I opted to go back on foot. Once we got past the rock scramble which led to the summit, I started playing music out of the speakers of my phone again. I played The Smiths, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, and some 80s Europop favorites of mine. I was feeling fabulous at this point, and thought I had escaped any looming threats of altitude sickness.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the car I was suffering a splitting headache, and I didn’t feel right for the rest of the day. By the evening it subsided, and I spent a joyful evening playing cards with my family. I was too excited to sleep that night since I was solving a riddle that had stumped me for over a week. It was lucky I had a few days to recover before my next 14er.

Humboldt Peak

The next peak was Humboldt Peak, a “class II” 14er. Quandary Peak was a “class I” 14er, which are the easiest kind. The class numbers increase with respect to the hikes difficulty, which is measured by a variety of criteria including the length of the hike and exposure (i.e. the possibility of falling off the mountain).

The day before we hiked Humboldt Peak we set up camp at in the area nearby. It had been a while since I slept in a tent, and I have to admit I was restless when we all decided to go to bed. Nonetheless, we got up at 5 AM and quickly got ready to head to the trailhead. Since my cousin was driving her truck, we were able to shorten the hike by several miles by driving up a rocky road leading to the trail.

After what felt like forever on that bumpy road, we got to the trailhead. After eating some last minute snacks, my uncle hooked the dog into her leash, and we set off. The beginning of the hike saw us steadily climbing a slightly narrower rocky road for a few miles. Eventually it turned onto a proper hiking trail which snaked its way through trees, meadows, and past a lake. Once we got to the lake, we decided to break for snacks as to fuel up for the push to the summit. The view was incredible. At the trailhead, we had looked at a map of the surrounding peaks so that we could put names to the mountains. My cousin was already familiar with the two most intimidating of these surrounding peaks, Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. These are 14ers as well, but at my experience level it will remain out of reach for some time, maybe forever.

Back to our current 14er, we finished our snacks and headed off. The next part of the hike was composed of many switchbacks along a treeless ridge next to the peak. After this section began the rock scramble.

I was getting anxious to summit and started pushing towards the peak, leaving my uncle and cousin behind. This may not have been the smartest move, though, as I soon accidentally got off the trail and was self-navigating across a precarious ensemble of rocks. In addition to this, the wind was brutal, and I felt like I had to stop at times to steady myself. My cousin called out to me and told me I was off the trail, so I retraced my steps to get back to the main path. I waited for them to reach me so that we could all summit together. This part was the most challenging. It was mildly aggravating, too, as the hike contained what’s called a “false summit,” which is a part of the mountain that looks like the summit but is not. Once reaching the false summit, the genuine summit, as well as the final rock scarmble, came into view. It was certainly a challenge to push through this last section.

At the top, though, the view was gorgeous. It was just as windy, so we took cover in what my cousin told me is called a “hot tub,” which is a bunch of rocks stacked so as to create a circular fence that one can duck into for coverage from the wind. I rewarded myself by sitting in the hot tub and eating an uncrustable. I tried not to go too close to the edge of the summit, since it was a sheer cliff on the side.

Even though it was windy, I really wanted to just lay down and basque in the sun. My hiking buddies were ready to go back down, though, which was wise given the length of the hike. At the beginning of our descent I felt dizzy, and had to traverse slowly to maintain steady footing. I had a slight headache, but with a few ibuprofen and tylenol it was manageable. Once we got back to the switchbacks portion I started to feel more normal. By the time we were in the woods we were all chatting in good spirits, asking each other questions like “would you rather be eaten by a shark or by a crocodile?”

The cumulative length of the hike ended up at 12 miles. That night, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and didn’t wake until I heard the morning birds chirping. The next day was devoted to rest. We enjoyed the Buena Vista hot springs and got cleaned up, then headed to a different campsite which was closer to our final 14er of the trip.

Mount Antero

Like Humboldt Peak, this hike began with us driving up a winding rocky road for several miles along a mountainside. Doing this shaved 6 miles off of the hike, but it may have shaved 6 days off my uncle’s life as well. He was not a fan of the speed and jostling at which my cousin launched us up the mountain in her truck. The dog didn’t seem to mind, though. She was fast asleep with her head in my lap during the commotion.

This hike was straightforward, and ended up being the easiest one of them all. For starters, the hike began at 12 thousand feet of elevation, which meant that we only had to gain another 2 thousand for our 14er. The gain for Humboldt Peak was over twice that. Mount Antero’s trail began with a long portion of steady gain on a smooth gravel road, which was originally a mining road back in the day.

The road led up to a clearing with lots of grass, and offered great views of the surrounding peaks. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side that morning, and we started to become enveloped by clouds as we climbed higher.

The hike led us to a rocky ridge that we would follow up to the summit. On the ridge just before the final ascent was a rock formation that looked something like a dragon’s back, or a camel.

The summit was also the least exciting of the three, as our view was obstructed by the passing clouds. We got our pictures with the cardboard sign and headed back down the rocks. I almost lost the sign to the violent wind coming across the peak.

During this hike, I had no symptoms of altitude sickness whatsoever. My body had become more accustomed to the lack of oxygen. The hike down was comfortable, and at this point I had caught the 14er bug. I wanted to do more of them, and even considered solo hiking the ubiquitous “Pike’s Peak” before I left Colorado. Unfortunately, I ran out of time before I could, as I had to hit the road for Texas. The 14ers, as well as my camping experience, was a good primer for my road trip; the trip left me feeling confident to take on the upcoming hikes I had planned at Big Bend National Park. Though I may never complete all 58 of them, I hope to hike more 14ers the next time I’m in Colorado.