The Summer of 14ers

As we continued to navigate COVID restrictions, we decided to stay in CO a bit longer and check off a few mountains from our CO bucket list. So we moved the house to Buena Vista, a quaint little valley in the Sawatch mountain range within the CO Banana Belt, and thus the summer of 14ers began... 

Buena Vista sits in a valley that is surrounded by twelve peaks that rise above 14,000 ft, making this area home to the largest cluster of 14ers in the state. If you are a regular reader, you know that these CO natives love the challenge of a tough hike, and we were over the moon with the chance to conquer so many in such a short time. When we lived in Denver, the drive to Buena Vista was too long to complete any day hikes, and finding a babysitter for several days so we could make a weekend of it was tough. The opportunity to spend any amount of time in Buena Vista seemed like an awesome way to do something we had been trying to do for the last several years. We gave ourselves eight weeks to conquer as many as possible......spoiler alert, we conquered them all, then added a few more on from surrounding ranges!! If any of you still have questions about how we stay in shape without a gym membership or any sort of home equipment, this post should answer your questions 😊  

Summit of Mt. Massive

Because of the strenuous and often times dangerous nature of 14ers, there was no way we could take the kids on any of these hikes. Not to mention, the 14ers in this range were particularly lengthy hikes – many were over 10 miles with over 4,000ft of elevation gain (I.e. long, hard days, of booty busting elevation). We also knew that we would not have time to hike them all individually, so we had to try combine hikes where possible to summit two or more peaks in a single day. On top of that, we did not have enough weekends to each take our own solo hikes, so several of these hikes started WAY before the sun came up to make sure we were back in time to start our day jobs at a reasonable hour. Sound like fun yet?? 

Given the task at hand, we decided to divide up the twelve closest 14ers between the two of us to ensure we as a family were able to achieve our goal. I should note that there are technically fifteen 14ers in the Sawatch Range; we had already summitted Mt Elbert some years ago (during my first pregnancy believe it or not!), and were not looking for a repeat, while Huron Peak and Mt of the Holy Cross were just too long of a drive to access as the trailhead was on the other side of the peaks and thus are not typically counted when searching for peaks near Buena Vista. As such, the breakdown went something like this: 

Brian: Mt Yale (14,196’), Mt. Massive (14,421’), Mt Oxford (14,153’), Mt Belford (14,197’), Mt Missouri (14,067’), Mt Antero (14,269’) 

Judith: Mt Princeton (14,197’), La Plata Peak (14,336’), Mt Shavano (14,229’), Tabeguache Peak (14,155’), Mt Harvard (14,420’), Mt Columbia (14,073’) 

Without recounting each hike to you, I can tell you there were a few main themes we both experienced while summitting these mountains. First, I can tell you that mountain air is even sweeter when you are surrounded by alpine wildflowers. Equal parts delicate and hardy, alpine wildflowers grow in some of the harshest environments we have in the US. The contrast of their vibrant colors and graceful appearance to what I can only describe as rocky bald mountain tops is truly mesmerizing. Only around for a brief time each summer, we had never found the right time or place to really enjoy them when we lived in Denver. It was most certainly a happy accident that we happen to spend time in Buena Vista at the peak of wildflower season! Hiking early in the morning as the sun was first kissing the horizon, and emerging from the forest into an open alpine meadow filled with thousands of wildflowers is something I will forever remember about these hikes. Did I sing The Sound of Music while dancing thru the alpine meadows? Yup, I sure did, and I swear I heard the sweet sounds of bird song, flowing water, and the chirp of nearby marmots all singing in tune with me. 

Second, outside of the incredible wildflowers, these peaks were not nearly as scenic or rugged as the other 14ers we had completed in past travels. This made climbing them a bit easier (no rock climbing, minimal scrambling, LOT’S of talus/scree), but also made the view from the top feel not quite as spectacular as we had come to expect. Granted, you are still seeing the surrounding mountains from an incredible perspective, its just not as stunning when all of the surrounding mountains are large talus deposits. However, there was a total sense of accomplishment that came with these summits that was not quite as strong with the other 14ers we had summitted. This was due largely in part to the nature of our hiking – heads-down, little to no breaks, and overall with the mission to complete them as fast as possible (work still started at 9am!). This, combine with the fact that we were crushing long mileage and lots of elevation gain had us feeling incredibly accomplished, strong, fit, badass...you pick the adjective, but we felt great. Keep in mind, when we were combining summits, the milage and elevation gain was more than what we experienced climbing down the Grand Canyon and back up again. Both the Mt. Oxford/Mt. Belford and Mt. Shavano/Tabeguache Peak combos were 11+ miles and over 5700’ of elevation gain. But I can tell you this much, the beer at the end of these days never tasted so good. 

View from the summit of Mt. Harvard

After completing all twelve of these peaks, you would think we would have had enough. And yet, there was one hike that had alluded us for years when living in Denver, and was suddenly within reach – the Decalibron loop in the Mosquito Range. For those of you unfamiliar, this is a traverse across Mt. Democrat (14,286’), Mt. Cameron (14,238), Mt. Lincoln (14,286’), and Mt. Bross (14,172) in one hike – that's right, summitting four 14ers in one day. It seemed like an incredible challenge prior to this summer, but the loop is only 7.5 miles and 3,700ft of elevation gain, which for us, felt like a walk in the park after what we had accomplished in the weeks leading up to it. And as I write this, I realize this might now make us hiking snobs, but damn it felt good to end the summer knowing we had each summitted eleven 14ers. Before we started living tiny and the traveler lifestyle, we were lucky to get two or three 14ers completed in a season; conquering eleven was something we never thought possible.  

I will leave you with this – many unexpected and wonderful things have happened to us since we started this crazy adventure. Completing these hikes is just one example of how incredibly blessed we have been since we made the transition to this lifestyle. All good things in life are wild and free, and that is exactly how this family feels as we gear up for another adventure!