Colorado Porch

Tag

fourteener

17 Porch Notes tagged “fourteener,” from counties across Colorado.

Outdoors and wildfire - Lake County

Lake County's fourteeners sit on national forest land with its own rules

Mount Elbert, Mount Massive, and the high country around Leadville are managed by the Forest Service through the Leadville Ranger District.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Lake County

Two main trailheads reach Mount Elbert, and they start in different places

Mount Elbert has a North and a South trailhead off different roads south of Leadville, and knowing which one you want saves a long, confusing drive.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Summit County

Climbing Quandary Peak in summer means a parking reservation or a shuttle

Quandary Peak is the popular 14er south of Breckenridge, and in summer you reach its trailhead by a reserved parking spot or a shuttle, not by parking on the road.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - San Miguel County

The Lizard Head Wilderness holds three fourteeners and bans motors and bikes

The Lizard Head Wilderness southwest of Telluride contains the Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente fourteeners and the Lizard Head spire, and it is closed to bikes and motor vehicles.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Chaffee County

Chaffee County's fourteeners sit on national forest land

The Collegiate Peaks above Buena Vista are public peaks managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and some of the high country is designated wilderness with its own rules.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Costilla County

Climbing Culebra Peak means booking a date and paying the ranch first

Culebra Peak, a 14,047-foot summit in Costilla County, sits on the private Cielo Vista Ranch and can only be climbed by advance reservation for a per-person fee on set days.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Clear Creek County

Mount Bierstadt is the 14er most people reach from Guanella Pass

Mount Bierstadt, a 14,000-foot peak in the Mount Evans Wilderness, is climbed from the Bierstadt Trailhead on the Guanella Pass road south of Georgetown.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Custer County

The Sangre de Cristo Wilderness rises right above Westcliffe

The high peaks west of Westcliffe sit inside a designated wilderness in the national forest, where the rules are stricter than on ordinary forest land.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Alamosa County

Blanca Peak and the rough road to Lake Como

Blanca Peak rises on Alamosa County's eastern edge, and the Forest Service describes the jeep road to its Lake Como trailhead as extremely rough and rocky, so most people walk it.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Clear Creek County

Grays and Torreys are two 14ers reached by one rough road

Grays and Torreys Peaks, a pair of 14,000-foot summits on the Continental Divide, are climbed from the Stevens Gulch trailhead reached by a rough road from Bakerville off I-70.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Costilla County

Reaching Blanca Peak means walking or crawling up the Lake Como road

Blanca Peak, one of Colorado's highest summits, is reached from a trailhead off Highway 150 where a rough jeep road to Lake Como turns back most vehicles.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - San Miguel County

Wilson Peak is reached from the Rock of Ages trailhead, up a long mountain road

The standard route up Wilson Peak west of Telluride starts at the Rock of Ages trailhead, reached by county roads and a forest road off Highway 145, and tops out as a serious Class 3 fourteener climb.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Pitkin County

The Maroon Bells are beautiful to photograph and dangerous to climb

Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak are two fourteeners above the famous lake view, and the Forest Service warns that climbing them is hazardous because of the loose, crumbly rock.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Saguache County

The Crestone Group: a wall of serious 14ers above town

A tight cluster of fourteeners rises straight off the valley floor above Crestone, free to admire from town and a real objective for prepared climbers.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Hinsdale County

The Uncompahgre Wilderness holds two San Juan 14ers above Lake City

Uncompahgre Peak and Wetterhorn Peak rise inside the Uncompahgre Wilderness west of Lake City, where wilderness rules apply and the trailheads sit at the end of rough roads.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Park County

The DeCaLiBron 14ers above Alma share one trailhead at Kite Lake

Four high peaks above Alma — Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross — are reached from the Kite Lake trailhead, but the Mount Bross summit has been on private land with restricted access.

Read note ->

Outdoors and wildfire - Gunnison County

Castle Peak is reached from Brush Creek Road near Crested Butte

Castle Peak, a high Elk Mountains summit, is approached from the Gunnison County side up Brush Creek Road and into Cumberland Basin, on a long backcountry route.

Read note ->