Mt. Bierstadt & Mt. Evans

This was another 14er weekend; 14,060' Mt. Bierstadt and 14,264' Mt. Evans. [Technically, I'm only counting Bierstadt because we drove up Mt. Evans, but that still doubles the percent complete to 2/53 and means 3 times above 14,000 ft in 8 days.] As we drove up Guanella Pass (the Georgetown exit on 70) Friday night I was relieved that we

• started from 1000 ft higher than last weekend,
• had a more gradual ascent, and
• had already been to 14,000 before;

all of which seemed to make this experience much easier than last weekend. We setup the tent in a nearly vacant lot under a perfect half moon and vivid milky way with the alarm set for 7:00am... only to be woken up at 5:19 by the van parked next to us. I was a bit frustrated by this but took a minute to mentally applaud their enthusiasm (... and went back to sleep). At 6:00 one of two things happened; either we travelled back in time to Shea Stadium on August 15, 1965 and tried to sleep during the Beatles' concert, or half of Denver decided to summit Bierstadt along with us. [Those playing along at home should add one point for guessing option B.] For a minute I honestly thought I was on candid camera and viewers at home were laughing at my pathetic attempt to sleep through the Rose Bowl parade. Realizing 7:00 was a pipe dream (I am NOT a morning person), Ryan and I tossed the tent in the Jeep and ate breakfast.

Overall, the hike up Bierstadt was an enjoyable 7 mile round trip adventure on a cloudless day. The boardwalk across the willows mud-swamp was greatly appreciated. There was still a fair amount of ice on the trail but not much snow on top of the ice for traction (I fell once). It took under 3 hours to get to the top (Ryan beat me by 15 minutes but I was pleased with my time), and about half that to get down.

On the summit we could see several other 14ers including Pikes Peak, Longs Peak, and in this panoramic looking West (sorry, the photos didn't stitch perfectly) you can see Grays Peak (left) and Torreys Peak, about 15% in from the right.

The image below shows the Sawtooth, which is a bridge between Bierstadt and Evans, and Longs Peak in the distance.

Panning to the right from the Sawtooth, you can see Mt. Evans.

Here is a shot of both Bierstadt (right) and Evans (left) from the trailhead:

To be honest, I had a great time but a few things affected my enjoyment of this hike:

1. The crowd (am I a solitude snob or just a jerk?). When we drove away after our descent there were cars parked on either side of the parking lot for several hundred yards.
   
   


2. The lack of preparation (ignorance?) by the crowd. Folks, a 14er is a 14er. I don't think shorts and tennis shoes is a good idea... Neither is forgetting (or deliberately abstaining from?) water. I couldn't hike a flat 7 miles round trip at sea level without getting a little thirsty, and nobody could hike that at 11,500 ft (don't forget 2,500 ft of elevation gain for good measure) without getting parched. And clean up after yourselves. When I got back to the parking lot I had a true fist full of granola/Power Bar/Clif Bar wrappers, twisty ties (bagels or a loaf of bread?), kleenex (if you're going to be rude why not just tear up some 20 year old tundra grass and sneeze into it while you're at it?), etc collected from the trail. That's ridiculous.
3. The view. It was quite impressive, but I think I was spoiled last weekend.
4. I might also attribute the degree of difficulty as well. On a 1-10 scale for difficulty, if Huron Peak was a 7 or 8 then Bierstadt would be a 3. [If, however, you threw in the Sawtooth and Mt. Evans, that number would go way up for time pressure (add on maybe 4 hours?) and technical savvy for the Sawtooth... stay tuned for that one.]

After we made it back to 70 we drove east for about 10 minutes for Mt. Evans and the highest road in the US. This picture shows Bierstadt (above center) from the Evans summit.

We stopped on the way down to see the famous Mt. Evans mountain goats and then headed to Idaho Springs for Beau Jo's pizza and Tommyknocker beer.

Look how small the youngest one was!

It was another great Fri night > Saturday combo for me. I think this day would be an easy introduction to the 14er club for anyone acclimated to at least 5,000 ft. Next weekend is anybody's guess at this point, but I'm pretty sure you can count on mountains :)