Steps in the Right Direction: Four Fourteeners on the Fourteenth

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: GPS, 7.85 mi.

7 1/2 hours

Total hiked: 116.55

Hope you got up early today, because we need to get cracking to beat the thunderstorms!

The road to this trailhead is listed as a gravel 2 wheeled drive road, that was a really big rock and roller. At one point we were rocking so hard that Kathi and I got the giggles. The last quarter mile of this road is considered a 4 wheel drive road. Not so, you can drive pretty much right up to the trailhead. But if you park at the trailhead parking lot, plan on paying $3 for the privilege.

We arrived at the trailhead shortly after dawn, to find 45 women ready to go for a hike. These ladies, who were participating in "Freedom Climb" are out raising money to raise awareness on modern day slavery, oppression, and human trafficking. I have included more of this organizations mission and plan for the week below.

The climb up Mount Democrat was interesting as the group of Freedom hikers were plugging up the trail. Since this is their first day hiking, they were moving really well. Many of them live in low elevation locations (Florida)so they were pretty gassed and had not picked up on the "go slow" concept. We had to poke through the congestion while encouraging their efforts. Each of these ladies had to raise about $3,000 plus travel expenses for the privilege of this hike.

The first part of this hike to Mount Democrat was a pretty big climb going through some loose talus sections, but not bad. Once on the mountain itself, there where those crazy chunks of talus that teeter totter when you step on them, but still way easier than Mt. Sopris! The mountain has one false summit, but as you come over the top you see the real summit rising up in front of you. Why it's just another mere 200 vertical feet. No problem. From the top of Democrat you can see the Maroon Bells, Climax mine, the Mosquito mountain range, Quandary Peak, Mt Sherman, and lots of fallen mining ruins. We also met a dog up there named Jake. Jake's tag said "My name is Jake, I'm friendly I belong to the dome home." The dome home was a very distinct home we passed on the wiggly, giggly road. It looked like two golden domes connected with a breeze way. Jake must spend the day up on Mount Democrat whenever people are hiking.

We took some pictures and wanted to get off this mountain before all of those ladies arrived at the top space was limited at the top of this mountain summit. You have to go down Mount Democrat the same way you came up, so we had to side-step past a bunch of the Freedom ladies. We made our way down to the saddle and started the up to Mount Cameron. Mount Cameron is a climb of 800 feet to get to the top which stands at 14,238. Mount Cameron is actually not considered its own mountain or even an official 14'er. It does have an * but so do lots of baseball players in the record book who found they could aid their play with performance enhancing drugs.

The reason why Mount Cameron is not considered a 14'er is because the saddle on the far side of Cameron, which leads up to Mount Lincoln, is 150 feet short of being considered official. In order for a mountain to qualify as a 14'er is that the peak must have at least 300 feet of prominence. Since there is not a 300 foot elevation drop to the saddles below Mount Cameron, it falls short so to speak. I say start shoveling! Shovel a little rut in there and make it official! When climbing up to the to top of Cameron it feels very "official". The top is very windy and we meet a man trying to hang onto his floppy hiking hat. He wants his picture taken, but he does not really know how to use the camera he has. His wife bought the crazy thing... Well, it seemed to work like any other camera I have taken pictures with. I clicked off a few pics for him, and he put it back into his camera case... A ziplock baggie. He looked kinda funny as he is wearing hospital scrubs and tennis shoes. The wind just blew his scrubs into big balloon legs. Makes for an interesting summit picture...

We exit Mount Cameron and go over what seems like a flat moon surface and climb up Mount Lincoln at 14,286 feet. Some of this climb was a bit edgy or as they say here "exposed", but we just hiked past it while looking at the mining ruins hanging off the side of the mountain. There is a survey marker on top of Mount Lincoln so we took a few shots of that. We also swapped photos with Scrub man and then head off for Mount Bross.

We head back down Mount Lincoln the same way and then tale another moon walk over to Mount Bross at 14,172 feet. Ok, let it be known Mount Bross is actually privately owned and it's official status is closed to the public. I did read that the city of Alma (closest town to Mt. Bross) was working on resuming access as of 2007...) The sign reminding us that Mount Bross is closed looked newer than that, but it was sort of like an interstate of people heading up there so we did too. Yes, it is clearly posted that the trail is closed... Well it is also clearly posted to drive 55, but how many of you keep the needle pointed to 55? Hmmm hmmmm. I bet you would walk up to Mount Bross too! Mount Bross is very flat and smooth. In fact it once served as a runway in the 1960's when a plane had to make an emergency landing on the summit in a snowstorm. Scrub man hiked ahead of us and was on his way down over the top before we made it to the official top. He waved at us and kept going. Kathi and I take a few shots with the mini tripod and stop to have lunch. Soon we are joined by two locals and they think the clouds are starting to get backed up, so we better get moving.

To get down from Mount Bross you either have to hike back 1.5 miles to Mount Cameron, then go up and over that, and then down the trail you hiked up. That is considered the easy way, but is longer! The way we took is a trail that has a very dramatic vertical decent of 2,100 feet in a mile crossing a loose and rocky trail. My personal experience on this exit wavered between "holy cow!" to "hey, this is fun", right back to "holy cow" to "who the heck built this trail?" This part is considered a class 3 climb. Neither Kathi or I fell off, but I can see how it could happen. A few of the Freedom climbers also came down this way, but most of them trekked back and around.

When we finally got back down off of the vertical exit trail and to our car, Jake the friendly dog was waiting for us at the trailhead. What a nice mountain dog!

Then it was off down the giggly wiggly road.

Here is some information from the Freedom Climb website regarding the hikers we met today:

Modern day slavery, oppression, and human trafficking are global problems. They are not isolated to one continent, one race, or one reason. It is a global stain on all humanity! The Freedom Climb has taken women to Africa and Asia so they can be a loud voice for those who have been silenced. And now the Freedom Climb is coming to North America to be a voice for these women and children.

The Freedom Climb invites women from all over the globe to join us in Colorado, July 12-18, 2014. We will summit 7 mountains over 14,000 ft. in elevation in 4 days. Why would anyone want to do this? Because they have a strong desire to raise awareness and funding for projects all over the world which specifically reduce the vulnerability of women and children and bring them hope.

Women are invited to get dirty, completely uncomfortable, and stretched beyond their wildest imagination as they climb these mountains in a symbolic gesture of the climb to freedom for women and kids around the world.

http://www.thefreedomclimb.net